Ἀρίσταρχος

Aristarkhos, Aristarchos, Aristarchus

Translated by Jennifer Benedict21 Nov 2001Vetting: high5 revisions

2 notes · 177 words

Of Tegea,¹ a composer of tragedies, who was sick with some disease; then Asclepius cured him and required him to give a thanksgiving dedication for his health. The poet allotted him the drama that bears his name. But gods of health would never request payment nor accept it. How could that be? - when with a good, philanthropic spirit they offer us the greatest things free of charge: to see the sun and to share in the all-sufficing beam of such a great god for free, and the use of water and the myriad advantages of the similar art of fire, and various and cooperative aids, and to breathe the air and from that to have breath, the sustenance of life. In these small things they want us to be neither ungrateful nor unmindful, and in such things they prove us better men.
This Aristarchus was a contemporary of Euripides; he was the first to establish the length of play which is still current.² And he produced 70 dramas, won with 2, and lived over 100 years.

Greek original · Adler’s text

Ἀρίσταρχος, Τεγεάτης, ὁ τῶν τραγῳδιῶν ποιητὴς, νοσεῖ τινα νόσον· εἶτα αὐτὸν ἰᾶται ὁ Ἀσκληπιὸς καὶ προστάσσει χαριστήρια τῆς ὑγείας. ὁ δὲ ποιητὴς τὸ δρᾶμα τὸ ὁμώνυμόν οἱ νέμει. θεοὶ δὲ ὑγείας μὲν οὐκ ἄν ποτε μισθὸν αἰτήσαιεν οὐδ' ἂν λάβοιεν. ἢ πῶς ἄν; εἴ γε τὰ μέγιστα ἡμῖν φρενὶ φιλανθρώπῳ καὶ ἀγαθῇ παρέχουσι προῖκα, ἥλιόν τε ὁρᾶν καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ τοσούτου τῆς παναρκοῦς ἀμισθὶ μεταλαμβάνειν ἀκτῖνος, καὶ χρῆσιν ὕδατος καὶ πυρὸς συντέχνου μυρίας ἐπιγονὰς, καὶ ποικίλας ἅμα καὶ συνεργοὺς ἐπικουρίας, καὶ ἀέρος σπᾶν καὶ ἔχειν τροφὴν ζωῆς τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ πνεῦμα. ἐθέλουσι δὲ ἄρα ἐν τοῖσδε τοῖς μικροῖς μήτε ἀχαρίστους εἶναι μήτε ἀμνήμονας ἡμᾶς, καὶ ἐν τούτοις ἀμείνονας ἀποφαίνοντες. οὗτος δὲ ὁ Ἀρίσταρχος σύγχρονος ἦν Εὐριπίδῃ· ὃς πρῶτος εἰς τὸ νῦν αὐτῶν μῆκος τὰ δράματα κατέστησε. καὶ ἐδίδαξε μὲν τραγῳδίας οʹ, ἐνίκησε δὲ βʹ, βιοὺς ὑπὲρ ἔτη ρʹ.

Betacode

*)ari/starxos, *tegea/ths, o( tw=n tragw|diw=n poihth\s, nosei= tina no/son: ei)=ta au)to\n i)a=tai o( *)asklhpio\s kai\ prosta/ssei xaristh/ria th=s u(gei/as. o( de\ poihth\s to\ dra=ma to\ o(mw/numo/n oi( ne/mei. qeoi\ de\ u(gei/as me\n ou)k a)/n pote misqo\n ai)th/saien ou)d' a)\n la/boien. h)\ pw=s a)/n; ei)/ ge ta\ me/gista h(mi=n freni\ filanqrw/pw| kai\ a)gaqh=| pare/xousi proi=ka, h(/lio/n te o(ra=n kai\ tou= qeou= tou= tosou/tou th=s panarkou=s a)misqi\ metalamba/nein a)kti=nos, kai\ xrh=sin u(/datos kai\ puro\s sunte/xnou muri/as e)pigona\s, kai\ poiki/las a(/ma kai\ sunergou\s e)pikouri/as, kai\ a)e/ros spa=n kai\ e)/xein trofh\n zwh=s to\ e)c au)tou= pneu=ma. e)qe/lousi de\ a)/ra e)n toi=sde toi=s mikroi=s mh/te a)xari/stous ei)=nai mh/te a)mnh/monas h(ma=s, kai\ e)n tou/tois a)mei/nonas a)pofai/nontes. ou(=tos de\ o( *)ari/starxos su/gxronos h)=n *eu)ripi/dh|: o(\s prw=tos ei)s to\ nu=n au)tw=n mh=kos ta\ dra/mata kate/sthse. kai\ e)di/dace me\n tragw|di/as o#, e)ni/khse de\ b#, biou\s u(pe\r e)/th r#.

Notes (2)

C5 BCE; see generally OCD(4) p.154, under 'Aristarchus(3)'. The principal paragraph of the present entry derives from Aelian (fr. 104 Domingo-Forasté).
1In Arkadia (central Peloponnese). ↩
2A.L. Brown in OCD s.v. notes that "no precise meaning can be attached" to this assertion. ↩

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α3891Ἄρισταbest α3892ἈρίσταρχοςAristarchus, Aristarchos, Aristarkhos α3893ἈρίσταρχοςAristarkhos, Aristarchos, Aristarchus α3894ἈρίσταρχοςAristarchos, Aristarchus α3895ἈρίσταχμοςAristachmos

Revision history5 revisions · last 27 Dec 2018

27 Dec 2018another keyword — Catharine Roth
31 Jul 2014updated a ref — David Whitehead
4 Jul 2014updated reference — Catharine Roth
12 Apr 2012more keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
21 Nov 2001modified translation; added notes and keyword; cosmetics — David Whitehead
21 Nov 2001Translated — Jennifer Benedict

Translation

Greek original · Adler’s text

Notes (2)

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