X. An. 1.8.13 -- typo in Loeb version?

Greek Learning Greek
1

ὁρῶν δὲ ὁ Κλέαρχος τὸ μέσον στῖφος καὶ ἀκούων Κύρου ἔξω ὄντα τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ εὐωνύμου βασιλέα (τοσοῦτον γὰρ πλήθει περιῆν βασιλεὺς ὥστε μέσον τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἔχων τοῦ Κύρου εὐωνύμου ἔξω ἦν) ἀλλʼ ὅμως ὁ Κλέαρχος οὐκ ἤθελεν ἀποσπάσαι ἀπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὸ δεξιὸν κέρας, φοβούμενος μὴ κυκλωθείη ἑκατέρωθεν, τῷ δὲ Κύρῳ ἀπεκρίνατο ὅτι αὐτῷ μέλει ὅπως καλῶς ἔχοι.

My Loeb edition has μέλοι here instead of the μέλει found in Perseus online (which I think is based on the OCT edition). Is this a typo? Because there’s no footnote in Loeb concerning this.

And yet it seems to read easily to me e.g. “He replied to Cyrus that he would take care for him that all would go well” or something like that.

But then there’s also the ἔχοι in the ὅπως clause. If this a purpose clause, shouldn’t ἔχοι be ἔχω i.e. subjunctive instead of optative?

Thanks in advance :slight_smile:

2

Could be either one (μέλοι/μέλει), since we’re in past sequence. Similarly with ἔχοι/ἔχει. Neither one is purpose.

3

Ah thanks Michael, I failed to notice the change from primary sequence in §12 where Cyrus talks to historic sequence in §13 where the narrator relates how Clearchus responds. So is ἔχοι oblique optative here?

[later edit]

And I just found a note in section 41.4 of CGCG which says that in addition to ὅτι and ὡς some other possible subordinators that can introduce indirect statements include ὅπως, διότι, οὕνεκα and ὁθούνεκα. Which is interesting, but I guess it doesn’t apply here because the indirect statement here is ὅτι αὐτῷ μέλει ὅπως καλῶς ἔχοι and not ὅπως καλῶς ἔχοι. Unless one could translate this as “He replied to Cyrus that he would take care for him, [saying] that “I got it. It’s all good.” or something like that :wink:

But if that’s not the case then I’m still stuck as to what ὅπως is supposed to mean here. My instinct is that it functions like ὥστε (“so that”) in a result clause i.e. “He replied to Cyrus that he would take care for him that all would be well” but I can’t find anything in CGCG about using ὅπως to indicate result.

Any thoughts?

4

ἀπεκρίνατο ὅτι αὐτῷ μέλει ὅπως καλῶς ἔχοι.
μέλει is impersonal, doesn’t have a grammatical subject: “he replied it was a care for him how it should be well” i.e. he’d see to it that it was AOK. ὅπως indirect question.

5

Ah, thanks! Here “how” does make sense, and CGL has ὅπως for indir. ques. in sec. 7 of that entry :smiley:

6

…and which supposidly explains why Loeb used μέλοι instead of the v.l. μέλει in OCT since μέλοι matches ἔχοι in both being optative mood.

Anyways, enough of that :slight_smile:

7

Not a typo, but variants: both are in Marchant‘s critical edition ( Xenophontis Opera omnia; : Xenophon : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive ).

8

Addition:

Attention: Marchant’s Apparatus counts the lines of the page, not the paragraphs of the capita.

9

Thanks Jean, that’s very helpful. Fascinating textual differences.

10

Speaking of typos: “Attacking with his six hundred, he mastered the line of troops in front of the king.” (1.8.24, Dakyns’ translation). Typo, or OCR error?

11

Sorry not sure what you’re referring to here. My translation for καὶ ἐμβαλὼν σὺν τοῖς ἑξακοσίοις νικᾷ τοὺς πρὸ βασιλέως τεταγμένους in X. An. 1.8.24 would be “charging with his six hundred calvary, he defeated the troops stationed in front of the king” or something like that. Which is basically what Dakyns is saying, isn’t it?