“οὕτω τὸ λίαν ἧσσον ἐπαινῶ τοῦ μηδὲν ἄγαν:”
What are the last three words? I can puzzle out the rest near enough (“thus I praise [it] much less”, but feel free to correct me) but I can’t make sense of the last three words.
This is from the anapaestic dialogue between Phaedra and her old nurse in Euripides’ extant Hippolytus. “I commend ‘excessively’ less than ‘nothing in excess’.” μηδεν αγαν was a traditional maxim, exhorting moderation in all things. The neuter articles substantivize λιαν and μηδεν αγαν. The nurse is disturbed by Phaedra’s strange behavior, which with good reason she considers extreme.
Ah, that explains it. Thank you very much.