Ἀμπλάκημα

failure

Translated by Marcelo Boeri21 Dec 2000Vetting: high9 revisions

6 notes · 183 words

[Meaning a sc. moral] mistake.¹
Also [sc. attested is the phrase] a)mplaki/ais ["with failures"], [meaning] with [sc. moral] mistakes.²
The Stoics believe³ that all [sc. moral] mistakes should be regarded as equal. For if [something which is] true is no more true [than another true thing] and [something which is] false is no more false [than another false thing] either, so too [one] deceit is no more a deceit [than another], or a [sc. moral] mistake [is no more] a [sc. moral] mistake [than another]. For he who is 100 stades away from Canopus⁴ and he who is one [stade away] are equally not in Canopus; so too a greater or a lesser [sc. moral] mistake is equally not in the domain of right action.⁵ But some people, among whom [is numbered] even Heraclides of Tarsus,⁶ maintain that [sc. moral] mistakes are unequal.
Also [sc. attested is] a)mplakw/n ["failing"], [meaning] having made a [sc. moral] mistake.
"But Ibycus' verse came against him: "not to receive honour among men in exchange for failing with the gods". This little Ibycean saying was sung against priesthood."⁷

Greek original · Adler’s text

Ἀμπλάκημα· ἁμάρτημα. καὶ Ἀμπλακίαις, ἁμαρτίαις. ὅτι ἀρέσκει τοῖς Στωϊκοῖς ἶσα ἡγεῖσθαι τὰ ἁμαρτήματα. εἰ γὰρ ἀληθὲς ἀληθοῦς μᾶλλον οὐκ ἔστιν, οὐδὲ ψευδὲς ψευδοῦς· οὕτως οὐδὲ ἀπάτη ἀπάτης, οὐδὲ ἁμάρτημα ἁμαρτήματος. καὶ γὰρ ὁ ρʹ σταδίους ἀπέχων Κανώβου καὶ ὁ ἕνα ἐπίσης οὐκ εἰσὶν ἐν Κανώβῳ· οὕτω καὶ πλέον καὶ ἔλαττον ἁμάρτημα ἐπίσης οὐκ εἰσὶν ἐν τῷ κατορθοῦν. οἱ δέ φασιν, ὧν καὶ Ἡρακλείδης ὁ Ταρσεύς, ἄνισα εἶναι τὰ ἁμαρτήματα. καὶ Ἀμπλακών, ἁμαρτήσας. ἀλλὰ τὸ Ἰβύκου ἔπος αὐτὸν ἐπῄει· μήτι παρὰ θεοῖς ἀμπλακὼν τιμὰν πρὸς ἀνθρώπων ἀμείψειν. ἔστι δὲ πρὸς ἱερωσύνην συνᾷδον τὸ Ἰβύκειον τουτὶ ῥησείδιον.

Betacode

*)ampla/khma: a(ma/rthma. kai\ *)amplaki/ais, a(marti/ais. o(/ti a)re/skei toi=s *stwi+koi=s i)=sa h(gei=sqai ta\ a(marth/mata. ei) ga\r a)lhqe\s a)lhqou=s ma=llon ou)k e)/stin, ou)de\ yeude\s yeudou=s: ou(/tws ou)de\ a)pa/th a)pa/ths, ou)de\ a(ma/rthma a(marth/matos. kai\ ga\r o( r# stadi/ous a)pe/xwn *kanw/bou kai\ o( e(/na e)pi/shs ou)k ei)si\n e)n *kanw/bw|: ou(/tw kai\ ple/on kai\ e)/latton a(ma/rthma e)pi/shs ou)k ei)si\n e)n tw=| katorqou=n. oi( de/ fasin, w(=n kai\ *(hraklei/dhs o( *tarseu/s, a)/nisa ei)=nai ta\ a(marth/mata. kai\ *)amplakw/n, a(marth/sas. a)lla\ to\ *)ibu/kou e)/pos au)to\n e)ph/|ei: mh/ti  para\ qeoi=s a)mplakw\n tima\n pro\s a)nqrw/pwn a)mei/yein. e)/sti de\ pro\s i(erwsu/nhn suna=|don to\ *)ibu/keion touti\ r(hsei/dion.

Notes (6)

[1] This neuter noun has the same or similar glossing in other lexica. Latte on Hesychius s.v. considers it quoted from Euripides, Phoenician Women 23; it is certainly tragedic vocabulary.

2Again, same equivalence in other lexica, including Photius. The noun in question has now become feminine a)mplaki/a and the glossing noun a(marti/a -- both indicating propensities rather than acts. This dative plural a)mplaki/ais is probably quoted from Euripides, Hippolytus 146. ↩

3This passage is taken (with minor changes) from Diogenes Laertius 7.120-1, where the Stoic thesis that all faults or moral mistakes are equal (cf. alpha 2479, end; kappa 320, end) is quoted and discussed. According to Diogenes' report, this is what Chrysippus said, in the fourth book of his treatise Ethical Investigations, as well as Perseus and Zeno himself, the founder of the school. ↩

4On the coast of Egypt, east of Alexandria. ↩

5The sense of the assertion (repeated in part at kappa 320) is explained, to some extent, in the Diogenes Laertius text and in a passage contained in Stobaeus (Eclogae, 2. 106, 21-107, 9, ed. Wachsmuth): he who makes a larger moral error and he who makes a smaller one are both acting incorrectly. All moral mistakes are equal (isa) but are not similar (homoia), i.e. they are not qualitatively similar. Just as there are no degrees of falsehood, so too there are no degrees of incorrect acts. For a detailed treatment of the issue see Rist (below) 81-96, and Annas (below) 407-411. ↩

6Disciple of the Stoic Antipater of Tarsus (second century BCE), successor to Diogenes of Babylon as head of the Stoic school. The thesis that not all the moral mistakes are equal was maintained both by Heraclides of Tarsus and Athenodorus (see Diogenes Laertius, 7.121). ↩

7Damascius, Life of Isidore fr.253 Zintzen (150 Asmus); cf. iota 78, mu 994. For Ibycus (lyric poet of the C6 BCE) see generally iota 80. This is an approximation of his fr.29 Page: "I fear that, failing with the gods, I will receive honour among men in exchange."

Ἀμπλάκημα

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Ἀμπλάκημα

Greek original · Adler’s text

Notes (6)

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Greek original · Adler’s text

Notes (6)

References

Linked from1 entry

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