Today I read some Strabo on the basis that he may be an easier writer than Xenophon. I reckon he is indeed easier but on idiom confused me. My guess is that καὶ γάρ ἐστιν μέρος means for it is a part while ὡς ἂν means in some sense.
To speak shortly, the southernmost point of Our Sea is the recess of the Greater Syrtes;1 next to this Alexandria in Egypt, and the mouths of the Nile; while the most northerly is the mouth of the Dnieper, or if the Mæotis be considered to belong to the Euxine, (and it certainly does appear to form a part of it,) the mouth of the Don. The Strait at the Pillars is the most westerly point, and the most easterly is the said recess, in which Dioscurias2 is situated; and not, as Eratosthenes falsely states, the Gulf of Issus,3 which is under the same meridian as Amisus4 and Themiscyra, and, if you will have it so, Sidene as far as Pharnacia.5
Difficult to translate. Maybe more literally “the innermost part of”. The loeb turns the sentence round “the head of the greater syrtes is the most southerly point..” It’s interesting to see mare nostrum in a Greek text. I don’t know Strabo but I wonder whether this reflects Roman usage.
Yes μυχός did look to me a bit odd - Strabo seems to be using in a different sense than the dictionaries, “the innermost part of” makes sense.
(Strabo apparently wove into his works lots of praise for Augustus so for him to be following a Roman usage such as our sea is what you’d expect).
I don’t understand.
Yes you do put it better than I did but what about ὡς ἂν ?
I thought anphph had supplied the answer. Isnt it an ellipsis for “ὡς ἂν εἴη”? The Loeb has “in some sense” which I suppose is better than the more literal “as it might be” or “as some might suppose”. I think that “καὶ γάρ” is quite strong and so it is modified by “ὡς ἂν” to make it less emphatic.
As to “πρόσλαβε” I thought you hadn’t translated it.
Yes, I should have made that clear. It was only the phrase καὶ γάρ ἐστιν ὡς ἂν μέρος that gave me trouble. (Why is Xenophon considered a beginners text when Strabo is so much easier?)
Yes supplying εἴη as anphph suggests does solve my problem but what you add makes it even clearer.
Thank you both for the help (and apologies for not making it clear that the chunk at the end wasn’t my translation).
That’s the Perseus translation that Daivid is citing – one of those 18th century literal translations meant for students.
It actually dates to 1903, although it looks to have been first published at the end of the 19th century and I have no idea what text the authors chose to translate. Unless I have misunderstood the syntax this particular crux shows the limitations of a literal approach. The authors claim it is the first English translation so I imagine it was intended for A Greekless public not as an aid to students who wanted to translate Strabo. I had at first assumed this was Daivid"s translation. The first three words “to speak shortly” do indeed confirm the shortcomings of the literal approach. “συλλήβδην δ᾽ εἰπεῖν” may be perfectly acceptable English but “to speak shortly” makes little sense. I would use these words only in the sense of I would speak (to you) presently or in a moment. I dont think it seems natural to use shortly as a synonym for briefly. Although i am sure there must be examples where it might be possible.