Saturday, January 15, 2005

Republic 329a4-8

and, in truth, whenever we come together, most of us lament, longing for and recalling to memory the pleasures of youth -- sexual pleasures, drink, feasting, and all that goes with things of this sort -- and are discontented as though having been robbed of something great, they were then living well but now they are not even living.

[Part of the meaning of this passage turns on Thorgerson's least favorite particle, hos. I've translated it as "as though": ". . . and are discontented as though having been robbed . . ." This implies that they haven't really been robbed of anything; it's only as if they had been robbed. The particle could also have a more direct, causal meaning, something like "since" or "that": ". . . and are discontented since having been robbed . . ." My Greek isn't good enough to know if there's a contextual hint about the meaning of hos. So I copied what most of the translations I have did.

Another point of ambiguity is the last phrase: "they were then living well but now they are not even living." In the Greek, it's only "then (on the one hand) living well, now (on the other hand) not even living." One has to supply a verb, but in what person shall the verb be? First or third? C. is relating the views of "most" (pleistoi), and later he gives his own opinion; so I think one should put the verb in the third person even though the sentence begins with the first-person plural "us."

UPDATE: Thanks to Mike Gilleland for pointing out that I left out some words in this sentence. I've now included them.]

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