Thucydides' Book 2: a great doubt with an adjective

Greek Learning Greek
1

Hello, everyone,

There has been a doubt that I have not yet been able to solve because I have, in the 38th paragraph of Pericles’ speech before the Athenians, an adjective in comparative mood that seems nearly impossible, at least to me, to translate into English.

‘καὶ μὴν καὶ τῶν πόνων πλείστας ἀναπαύλας τῇ γνώμῃ ἐπορισάμεθα, ἀγῶσι μέν γε καὶ θυσίαις διετησίοις νομίζοντες, ἰδίαις δὲ κατασκευαῖς εὐπρεπέσιν, ὧν καθ᾽ ἡμέραν ἡ τέρψις τὸ λυπηρὸν ἐκπλήσσει. [2] ἐπεσέρχεται δὲ διὰ μέγεθος τῆς πόλεως ἐκ πάσης γῆς τὰ πάντα, καὶ ξυμβαίνει ἡμῖν μηδὲν οἰκειοτέρᾳ τῇ ἀπολαύσει τὰ αὐτοῦ ἀγαθὰ γιγνόμενα καρποῦσθαι ἢ καὶ τὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων.

How you would you translate litterally this last sentence, trying to respect the Greek one if possible?

Thanks a lot!

PD: Is there any chapter in any Greek syntax that explains somehow this use or is it a peculiarity of Thucydides?

2

“and it happens to us to benefit from the good things produced here with no more familiar enjoyment than those of the rest of mankind.”
i.e. Imported goods are no less readily available to us than our own Athenian products.
There’s actually nothing peculiarly Thucydidean about any particular feature of the syntax, but it’s not surprising you had difficulty with it.