ἐπόθει / ἀντεπόθει

Greek Learning Greek
1

Dear Friends,

I’m trying to get a nice translation of a line from Libanos’ Progymnasmata Progymnasma

The line in question is this, which seems to force one to fill in the blanks.

Δηιάνειραν τὴν Οἰνέως ἐπόθει μὲν Ἡρακλῆς, ἀντεπόθει δὲ καὶ Ἀχελῷος ὁ ποταμός.

I have:

Deianeira, daughter of Oineus, desired Herakles, but had already desired the river Achelous.

Am I translating the ἐπόθει / ἀντεπόθει well? Unfortunately GPT-3 Davinci 003 is having much difficulty with this one.

Full excerpt:

Progymnasmata Progymnasma 2.31.1.1-7 (ed. Foerster)

Δηιάνειραν τὴν Οἰνέως ἐπόθει μὲν Ἡρακλῆς, ἀντεπόθει δὲ καὶ Ἀχελῷος ὁ ποταμός. εἰς ἔριν δὲ καταστάντες ἐκ πόθου ἀγῶνι μὲν τὴν ἅμιλλαν ἔκρινον καὶ ἆθλον τὸν τῆς κόρης γάμον προὐτίθεντο. καὶ προςπεσὼν Ἡρακλῆς παρασπᾷ μὲν Ἀχελῷον τοῦ κέρως, τὸ δὲ καταρρεῦσαν αἷμα τοῦ τραύματος κατεβάλετο Σειρήνων γένεσιν.

GPT-3 Davinci 003 and Molinari:

Deianeira, daughter of Oeneus, desired Herakles, but had already desired the river Achelous. They stood in contention and he judged the match, and set the prize of his daughter’s marriage. And Heracles, falling upon the task, removed Achelous’ horn, and the blood from the wound was poured out and begat the race of the Sirenes.

2

You’ve got this the wrong way round. Herakles desired Deianeira, but so did Acheloos; he “counter-desired” her.

3

Thank you–the passage seemed very strange, though there are some early gems that feature Deianeira waving off Herakles’ attack on Acheloios. In any case, thank you!

4

Herodotus 3.137:
πλέοντες δὲ ἐνθεῦτεν οἱ Πέρσαι καὶ διώκοντες Δημοκήδεα ἀπικνέονται ἐς τὴν Κρότωνα, εὑρόντες δέ μιν ἀγοράζοντα ἅπτοντο αὐτοῦ. τῶν δὲ Κροτωνιητέων οἳ μὲν καταρρωδέοντες τὰ Περσικὰ πρήγματα προϊέναι ἕτοιμοι ἦσαν, οἳ δὲ ἀντάπτοντο καὶ τοῖσι σκυτάλοισι ἔπαιον τοὺς Πέρσας προϊσχομένους ἔπεα τάδε.

Trans. Godley:
The Persians sailed from Tarentum and pursued Democedes to Croton, where they found him in the marketplace and tried to seize him. [2] Some Crotoniats, who feared the Persian power, would have given him up; but others resisted and beat the Persians with their sticks.

Godley translated ἀντάπτοντο “resisted” but like in your example, it really means “counter-seized”. I can’t say how concretely this is meant to be read, but we can almost imagine a tug war taking place in the marketplace, with Persians grabbing Democedes by one hand and Crotonians by the other, and each party pulling opposite ways!