VIII. 1. 20.
ἐδάφους. I have avoided the rather harsh confusion of metaphor which
this word involves, taken in connection with πηγαί.
IX. 2. 13.
ἀπήχημα, properly an “echo,” a metaphor rather Greek than English.
X. 2. 13.
χλωροτέρα δὲ ποίας, lit. “more wan than grass”--of the sickly yellow hue
which would appear on a dark Southern face under the influence of
violent emotion.[2]
[Footnote 2: The notion of _yellowness_, as associated with grass,
is made intelligible by a passage in Longus, i. 17. 19. χλωρότερον
τὸ πρόσωπον ἦν πόας _θερινῆς_]
3. 6.
The words ἢ γάρ ... τέθνηκεν are omitted in the translation, being
corrupt, and giving no satisfactory sense. Ruhnken corrects, ἀλογιστεῖ,
φρονεῖ, προεῖται, ἢ π. ὀ. τ.
18.
σπλάγχνοισι κακῶς ἀναβαλλομένοισι Probably of sea-sickness; and so I
find Ruhnken took it, quoting Plutarch, _T._ ii. 831: ἐμοῦντος τοῦ
ἑτέρου, καὶ λέγοντος τὰ σπλάγχνα ἐκβάλλειν. An objection on the score of
_taste_ would be out of place in criticising the laureate of the
Arimaspi.
X. 7. 2.
τὰς ἐξοχὰς ἀριστίνδην ἐκκαθήραντες ἀριστίνδην ἐκκαθήραντες appears to be
a condensed phrase for ἀριστίνδην ἐκλέξαντες και ἐκκαθήραντες. “Having
chosen the most striking circumstances _par excellence_, and having
relieved them of all superfluity,” would perhaps give the literal
meaning. Longinus seems conscious of some strangeness in his language,
making a quasi-apology in ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις.
3.
Partly with the help of Toup, we may emend this corrupt passage as
follows: λυμαίνεται γὰρ ταῦτα τὸ ὅλον, ὡσανεὶ ψήγματα ἢ ἀραιώματα, τὰ
ἐμποιοῦντα μέγεθος τῇ πρὸς ἄλληλα σχέσει συντετειχισμένα. τὸ ὅλον here =
“omnino.” To explain the process of corruption, τα would easily drop out
after the final -τα in ἀραιώματα; συνοικονομούμενα is simply a
corruption of συνοικοδομούμενα, which is itself a gloss on
συντετειχισμένα, having afterwards crept into the text; μέγεθος became
corrupted into μεγέθη through the error of some copyist, who wished to
make it agree with ἐμποιοῦντα. The whole maybe translated: “Such
[interpolations], like so many patches or rents, mar altogether the
effect of those details which, by being built up in an uninterrupted
series [τῇ πρὸς ἄλληλα σχ. συντετ.], produce sublimity in a work.”
XII. 4. 2.
αὐτῷ; the sense seems clearly to require ἐν αὑτῷ.
XIV. 3. 16.
μὴ ... ὑπερήμερον Most of the editors insert οὐ before φθέγξαιτο, thus
ruining the sense of this fine passage. Longinus has just said that a
writer should always work with an eye to posterity. If (he adds) he
thinks of nothing but the taste and judgment of his contemporaries, he
will have no chance of “leaving something so written that the world will
not willingly let it die.” A book, then, which is τοῦ ἰδίου βίου καὶ
χρόνου ὑπερήμερος, is a book which is in advance of its own times. Such
were the poems of Lucretius, of Milton, of Wordsworth.[3]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account