Translation Help: Thucydides VII

Greek Learning Greek
1

Thucydides VII, 78.7:

οἵ τε ἄλλοι* τευξόμενοι ὧν ἐπιθυμεῖτέ που ἐιδεῖν καὶ οἱ )αθηναῖοι τὴν μεγάλην δύναμιν τῆς πόλεως καίπερ πεπτωκυῖαν ἐπανορθώσοντες

Others will achieve that wish you desire… but what’s the epidein doing?

Thucydides VII, 84.5:

καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ εὐθὺς διέφθαρτο*, ἀλλ’ οὐδὲν ἧσσον ἐπίνετό τε ὁμοῦ τῷ πηλῷ* ᾑματωμένον καὶ περιμάχητον ἦν τοῖς πολλοῖς.

I get the idea here: they drink muddy and bloody water, but I’m not sure how it works grammatically. Especially the homou

Thanks in advance.

2

Hey there,

The epidein is an infinitive dependent upon epithumeite, i.e. those things which you are desirous to see (=aor.act.inf. of ephoraw).The next bit is really nice Greek - “the Athenians will ressurrect the great power of the city, fallen though it is”.

As regards the second passage, the first phrase is simple, “and immediately the water became contaminated”, then "but it was drunk (epineto) no less (ouden hsson - adverbial comparative of kakos) together (adverbial homou) with the mud, though it was bloodied (this is the concessive use of the perfect passive participle of haimatow), and it was (hn) fought over (perimachhton - adj. from perimachomai with a passive sense) by (lit. among - en) many [men].

Thus: “And immediately the water became contaminated, but it was drunk nonetheless together with mud, even though it was bloodied, and it was even fought over by many”.

Hope this helps,

~dave

3

Thank You Very Much Dave :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

Are you at Cambridge University by the way?

4

yes,

~dave