Theaetetus 144a

I thought I’d dip into Theaetetus and I ran into a sentence I just can’t get my head around.

Theodoros is telling Socrates he met just the kind of kid he’d really like, interested ‘in geometry and other philosophy’ - Theaetetus. And he’s not superficial like most kids.

So I understand what they’re saying, but in the bold sentence I have a hard time figuring out how to construe the Greek.

εὖ γὰρ ἴσθι ὅτι ὧν δὴ πώποτε ἐνέτυχον —καὶ πάνυ πολλοῖς πεπλησίακα—οὐδένα πω ᾐσθόμην οὕτω θαυμαστῶς εὖ πεφυκότα. τὸ γὰρ εὐμαθῆ ὄντα ὡς ἄλλῳ χαλεπὸν πρᾷον αὖ εἶναι διαφερόντως, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀνδρεῖον παρ᾽ ὁντινοῦν …

It’s too bad that there are virtually no commentaries on the Greek once you’re past the Republic, the Symposium and the Phaedo, or so it seems. I guess when you’re interested in the later dialogues, such as Theaetetus, Parmenides and Timaeus, you’re on your own.

It’s an articular inf. with a participle at the outset. You’d probably find it easier to understand without ὡς ἄλλῳ χαλεπὸν. By the looks of it you’ve cut off the quote before reaching the point where the articular inf. will have been given a construction.

This better?


εὖ γὰρ ἴσθι ὅτι ὧν δὴ πώποτε ἐνέτυχον —καὶ πάνυ πολλοῖς πεπλησίακα—οὐδένα πω ᾐσθόμην οὕτω θαυμαστῶς εὖ πεφυκότα. τὸ γὰρ εὐμαθῆ ὄντα ὡς ἄλλῳ χαλεπὸν πρᾷον αὖ εἶναι διαφερόντως, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀνδρεῖον παρ᾽ ὁντινοῦν, ἐγὼ μὲν οὔτ᾽ ἂν ᾠόμην γενέσθαι οὔτε ὁρῶ γιγνόμενον.

Know well that among those whom I have ever come across, and I have associated with many, I have never seen anyone so marvelously endowed by nature. To be [so] quick to learn, as it is hard for anyone else to be (ὡς ἄλλῳ χαλεπὸν), and again, to be pre-eminently gentle, and besides, to be braver than any - I would have never thought all this existed [in one person], and I do not see it [in anyone else].

Thanks to both of you, I guess it was the close juxtaposition of χαλεπὸν πρᾷον that kind of threw me.

Yes that’s why I bracketed off ὡς ἄλλῳ χαλεπὸν. Now you can see that χαλεπον is neuter and πραον masculine. And εὐμαθῆ ὄντα is subordinate to πρᾷον αὖ εἶναι (not clear in CP’s translation). The articular infin. extends down to ἀνδρεῖον παρ᾽ ὁντινοῦν.

Yes, when you suggested bracketing that part off, things kind of fell in line, so thanks Michael.