Ok, I really didn't have any more specific questions on these lines. To use golf terminology, I just wanted to make sure I was somewhere in the fairway. I will continue.cwconrad wrote:That's too broad a question, really. There's not one single right way to do this -- have you noticed how many English translations of the Iliad are on the market? I think that if you want suggestions from members of this forum, you'd do best to ask more pointed questions about particular items in the text.Jordan Day wrote:2) Does anyone see anything wrong with my translation and understanding of the text?
Iliad 6.12-19
12- Ἄξυλον δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἔπεφνε βοὴν ἀγαθὸς Διομήδης
13- Τευθρανίδην, ὃς ἔναιεν ἐϋκτιμένῃ ἐν Ἀρίσβῃ
14- ἀφνειὸς βιότοιο, φίλος δ᾽ ἦν ἀνθρώποισι.
15- πάντας γὰρ φιλέεσκεν ὁδῷ ἔπι οἰκία ναίων.
16- ἀλλά οἱ οὔ τις τῶν γε τότ᾽ ἤρκεσε λυγρὸν ὄλεθρον
17- πρόσθεν ὑπαντιάσας, ἀλλ᾽ ἄμφω θυμὸν ἀπηύρα
18- αὐτὸν καὶ θεράποντα Καλήσιον, ὅς ῥα τόθ᾽ ἵππων
19- ἔσκεν ὑφηνίοχος: τὼ δ᾽ ἄμφω γαῖαν ἐδύτην.
And Diomedes, who was good at battle shouting, slayed Axylus
son of Teuthras, who lived in the nicely constructed Arisbe,
[who] was rich in possessions, and a friend to mankind.
For while at home he showed kindness to all men [traveling] along the way.
But no one of these coming before him, meeting him [now], kept sad destruction away.
But took the soul of both.
Him and [his] assistant Kalesius, who at that time
was charioteer of the horses; but both went down to the ground.
1) Line 12: I never would have thought that βοὴν ἀγαθὸς Διομήδης would mean "Diomedes, good in the battle-cry", his note about an accusative of respect certainly helped here. Is there another possible interpretation where βοὴν is not an accusative of respect? He says the "acc. of respect is common after an adj., here ἀγαθός." It seems to me that it comes before, not after, the adjective in this case.
2) Line 13: ἐϋκτιμένῃ ἐν Ἀρίσβῃ, Am I going to be seeing this a lot in Homer? something that goes inside the prepositional phrase sitting outside?
3) Line 15: ὁδῷ ἔπι, anastrophe according to Steadman. Makes sense I guess, but just strange to a newbie At least one translation I looked at seemed to think that ὁδῷ stood by itself and the prep.phrase was ἔπι οἰκία. Which is more likely?
4) Line 19: τὼ δ᾽ ἄμφω γαῖαν ἐδύτην, some translations say "They both went down to the underworld". I didnt see anything is LSJ that would support that understanding of γαῖα, but could that understanding still be justified within the context?