Hello.
I am stuck at a passage from Alciphron:
ἔλεγε δʼ Ἀραίου τινὸς εἶναι σοφοῦ τὰ μετέωρα, καὶ ἦν ὅσον ἀπομνημονεύσαντα οὐχ ὅλον εἰπεῖν ὧδε εἰρημένον: ‘ὀλίγον δὲ διὰ ξύλον ἄϊδ ἐρύκει
specifically: “καὶ ἦν ὅσον ἀπομνημονεύσαντα οὐχ ὅλον εἰπεῖν ὧδε εἰρημένον”
I have looked at the follwing translation: “I cannot repeat all that he said; but, as far as I remember, one of the verses ran as follows”, but i am not able to make sense of the grammar. Any help is greatly appreciated
I thought that the subject of ἀπομνημονεύσαντα was the same as the subject of ἔλεγε. As much as he could remember of it.
Hi al123,
You must be copying from a bad source. Ἀραιου should be Ἀρατου, the enormously popular astronomical poet Aratus.
I find this very difficult, and think it must be corrupt. I have not seen a critical edition, but a text on the web square-brackets ουχ ολον. That may make it a bit easier, but does not solve the problem.
I take it that the main structure is καὶ ἦν ὧδε εἰρημένον “and it was said like this:” (i.e. it ran as follows), introducing the quotation of Aratus’ verse.
Beyond that, the grammar breaks down. “as far as I remember”?, “as far as he remembered”?, but the participle is subordinated to ειπειν apparently.
I’d need to get better acquainted with Alciphron before venturing further. He’s a strictly Attic writer with a very elegant style, but with a poor transmission. A new edition is clearly needed.
Hi. Thanks to both for having given it a look. I had not considered the transmission. The letters are very interesting so a new critical edition would be great.