“Let wallet to wallet give succour, and cudgel to cudgel,”
And the footnote gives the reference to the Iliad (2.363). But am I correct in thinking that “wallet” is more likely “cripple” here? Only πηρή instead of πηρός to make the Iliad paraphrase work? Of course, since these cudgels are βάκρα “blind” seems as likely as “cripple.”
Also, is the dative really πηρῃφιν (for either πήρα or πηρός)? Or is that done for to make the quotation apparent?
Aside: My current reading technique is to read each page in Greek (with the English facing page turned off) a few times until I understand as much as I can. There are usually a few words that I can only guess at, and one or two tough sentences. Then I turn on the English to see the parts I missed (and the parts I misunderstood).
which means something like, “let clan help clan, tribes help tribes”. Nestor tells Agamemnon to divide up the troops by tribes and clans, and then urges the clan members and tribe members to help their fellow clansmen and tribesmen (or perhaps he means for one clan to help another and one tribe to help another).
Addendum: I have revised what I originally wrote, which I see now was wrong. However, the following is ok, I think.
πήρα does mean wallet.
-φιν is an archaic inflectional ending, which in Homer is usually instrumental but sometimes dative and sometimes genitive. Here, Lucian has used the the odd Homeric-looking form πήρῃφιν to mimic the Homeric verse in a kind of snarky, sardonic way.
Yes, exactly my thinking. Except that I thought the “blind (stick users) helping the blind” was a bit of a pun, since they are at the moment also “cudgelers (stick users) helping the cudgelers.”
So Lucian’s verse seems to mean “let beggar help beggar.”
I don’t think begging would necessarily be associated with philosophy (except perhaps the Cynics), but Lucian is implying that “high class” philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle are no better than beggars.
Lucian couldn’t use the word used in the Odyssey for the beggar’s staff, σκῆπτρον, because it would yield a metrically impossible sequence of syllables, σκῆπτρα δὲ σκήπτροις. [δ]ὲ σκ[ήπτροις] would be a long/heavy syllable. So he used a synonym, βάκτρα δὲ βάκτροις, which yields a well-formed hexameter. Lucian’s parody cleverly preserves the inconsistency of grammatical number and of course the archaic -φιν of the Homeric original.
πήρα is probably better translated into contemporary American English as “bag,” and βάκτρα as “sticks.”