I understand it perfectly with the exception of οὐδ᾽ ὣς ῥᾳδία ἐν τῷ παρόντι ἐδοξάζετο. This is my interpretation: “…but it (the sense that the degradation was alleviated somewhat by being a shared experience) was not thought of as easy.” That is, the fact that they all shared that same fate did not make it any easier to bear. I am not sure how to take the ὣς here. I’ve read the entire entry in the LSJ and I’m not sure where it fits. I invite your comments.
Thank you Hylander. I find references to LSJ most helpful. I know that the Cambridge Greek Lexicon has received some criticism on the forum, but I am finding it more suited to my needs at the moment. Perhaps it is because my reading level is not sufficiently developped to understand all the citations in the LSJ. Yet, I recognize that it remains the authority. I should add that I would not have found the relevant section without your help. I was looking in the wrong place.
ουδ’ ὥς is simply “not even so”, picking up the ὅμως. Although it was alleviated somewhat by its being shared, “not even so” was it easy to bear. That it was shared did bring some lightening (τινα κουσιφιν) but even so it didn’t make it easy. In less elevated diction ουδ’ ὥς would be ουδ’ οὕτως.
EDIT. Posted independently of Hylander.
Charlie, I have the Cambridge Lexicon as well as a hard copy of LSJ, but the reason I turn to LSJ is that I’m lazy and I can access LSJ on my computer, tablet and phone right in my recliner without digging out and leafing through two cumbersome volumes or one monster volume.
