Unit 24, Part III, Exercise 6

Greek Learning Greek
1

Χαίρετε!

In Dr. Matronarde’s Introduction to Attic Greek, I was trying to translate a passage and have a question about the translation and a question about the citation.

The passage reads, "οὔτ’ αὐτοὶ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι ἡσυχίαν εἶχον οὔτε διὰ τούτους τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησιν ἐξῆν.

My translation was kind of rough, while the answer book was wordier, plus I think mine had a slightly different meaning.

My translation, “Neither these Athenians were having quiet nor was there because of them to these other Greeks.”

The answer book: “Neither did the Athenians themselves have or enjoy quiet or calm, nor because of them was it possible for the other Greeks to do so.”

Who was the τούτους (them)? Some people besides the Athenians? The Athenians?

The answer book also states, “(Cf. Thucydides 1.71.9” I think the citation means Book 1 Chapter 71 Section 9. When I tried to Google it, I was taken to the History of the Peloponnesian War. The problem is that Book 1, Chapter 71, only went to section 7.

Am I looking in the wrong place?

2

τούτους refers to the Athenians.

Thuc. 1.70.9 is what you are looking for:

ὥστε εἴ τις αὐτοὺς ξυνελὼν φαίη πεφυκέναι ἐπὶ τῷ μήτε αὐτοὺς ἔχειν ἡσυχίαν μήτε τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους ἐᾶν, ὀρθῶς ἂν εἴποι.

Beside the problem with ἔξεστι, It seems that you are rather unsure about the meaning of αὐτός and οὗτος

  1. You translated αὐτοὶ with “these” instead of “themselves”
  2. You wrote “these other Greeks”, although there is no τούτοις in the text.

I would have translated διὰ τούτους as because of these, but I see that the key preferred because of them. I guess it sounds better in English.