First, a paraphrase of what I understood:
“If someone asked us, would we be able to say what the main purpose of a steward is like we can for a doctor, carpenter, or smith?
Kritoboulos: “At the very least, it seems that the major goal of a steward is to manage the household under his charge well.”
No, I read it as “or.” I was trying to avoid “or” at the beginning of the sentence and bring out the question. Yeah, sweet failure.Stephen Hughes wrote: ἦ - Are you somehow taking ἦ as subjunctive? The accent is the spiritus asper, not a lenis.
I feel comfortable about this, even though it wasn’t initially reflected in my previous effort. Am I on the right track?Stephen Hughes wrote: ** ἔργον LSJ IV.1.a Perhaps you could go beyond a one word equivalence here.
*** τούτων τῶν τεχνῶν ... ἑκάστης - each of those (three) trades in turn - referring to those in the previous section
I felt that the emphasis was on summarizing the major responsibility of each of the professions rather than on the workers themselves, so I translated it the way I did.Stephen Hughes wrote: *^ οἰκονόμου ἀγαθοῦ (ἔργον) - "good stewardship", are you understanding and paraphrasing this or guessing?
I am going to review this. I still don’t have a good handle on the differences between the optative and the subjunctive moods.Stephen Hughes wrote: I personally feel that the "help" that you are thanking me for is too simplistic to be of much use. I am an (grammatical) experientialist more than a theorist, so the general plan is to see the optative in practice, then later to test your own experience / explain in theoretical terms what you are already familiar with from reading. If you prefer a different learning path, then perhaps you would like to read Smyth on the optative with ἄν, remembering that this use here is within the context of a question.
Stephen Hughes wrote: I assume you are, but let me ask anyway... Are you aware that there are two words written τις rather than one?...t is not so clear that you are taking this as a question here.
Heh heh. My statement was hyperbolic. I believe that I do understand this section. It’s just that this particular word frequently causes me to pause in my readings.
Stephen Hughes wrote: (Is the computer plugged into the wall?)
I think I am offended.