Δαιτρός
apportioner, carver, distributor
Translated by Oliver Phillips ✝15 Dec 2001Vetting: high8 revisions
Translation
[Meaning someone] distributing miniscule portions to those feasting. For thus they used to feast apportioning both the sheep and the drink. Hence [Homer] says: "of an equal banquet."1 [Meaning] of equally distributed food. Or 'apportioner', [meaning simply] the one dividing up and apportioning the meat.
Timaeus2 "says that poets and prose writers betray their own natures by their excessive repetitions. He says that by [depicting] carving so often in his poetry the poet [Homer] showed himself to be a glutton; and that Aristotle, by [depicting] seasoning, [revealed himself] to be an epicure and voracious;3 and that Dionysius the tyrant4 was an arranger of dining couches5 and was constantly busy with the eccentricities of fabrics and their varieties. Our opinion [of Timaeus] is bound to follow from this, and to be displeased [with him] on the basis of his own predilections."
Timaeus2 "says that poets and prose writers betray their own natures by their excessive repetitions. He says that by [depicting] carving so often in his poetry the poet [Homer] showed himself to be a glutton; and that Aristotle, by [depicting] seasoning, [revealed himself] to be an epicure and voracious;3 and that Dionysius the tyrant4 was an arranger of dining couches5 and was constantly busy with the eccentricities of fabrics and their varieties. Our opinion [of Timaeus] is bound to follow from this, and to be displeased [with him] on the basis of his own predilections."
Greek original · Adler’s text
Δαιτρός· προσδιαιρῶν ἐλάχιστα τοῖς ἑστιωμένοις. οὕτως γὰρ εἱστιῶντο μεριζόμενοι τά τε πρόβατα καὶ τὸν πότον. παρὸ καὶ λέγει· δαιτὸς ἐΐσης. ἰσομοίρου τροφῆς. ἢ Δαιτρός, ὁ διαιρῶν καὶ διανέμων τὰ κρέα. ὅτι Τίμαιός φησι, τοὺς ποιητὰς καὶ τοὺς συγγραφεῖς διὰ τῶν ὑπεράνω πλεονασμῶν ἐμφαίνειν τὰς ἑαυτῶν φύσεις, λέγων ἐκ τοῦ δαιτρεύειν τὸν ποιητὴν πολλαχοῦ τῆς ποιήσεως γαστρίμαργον παρεμφαίνειν, τὸν δὲ Ἀριστοτέλην ὀψαρτύοντα, ὀψοφάγον εἶναι καὶ λίχνον, τὸν δὲ Διονύσιον τὸν τύραννον κλινοκοσμοῦντα καὶ τὰς τῶν ὑφασμάτων ἰδιότητας καὶ ποικιλίας ἐξεργαζόμενον συνεχῶς. ἀνάγκη τὴν ἀκόλουθον ποιεῖσθαι διάληψιν, καὶ δυσαρεστεῖσθαι κατὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν.
Betacode
*daitro/s: prosdiairw=n e)la/xista toi=s e(stiwme/nois. ou(/tws ga\r ei(stiw=nto merizo/menoi ta/ te pro/bata kai\ to\n po/ton. paro\ kai\ le/gei: daito\s e)i/+shs. i)somoi/rou trofh=s. h)\ *daitro/s, o( diairw=n kai\ diane/mwn ta\ kre/a. o(/ti *ti/maio/s fhsi, tou\s poihta\s kai\ tou\s suggrafei=s dia\ tw=n u(pera/nw pleonasmw=n e)mfai/nein ta\s e(autw=n fu/seis, le/gwn e)k tou= daitreu/ein to\n poihth\n pollaxou= th=s poih/sews gastri/margon paremfai/nein, to\n de\ *)aristote/lhn o)yartu/onta, o)yofa/gon ei)=nai kai\ li/xnon, to\n de\ *dionu/sion to\n tu/rannon klinokosmou=nta kai\ ta\s tw=n u(fasma/twn i)dio/thtas kai\ poikili/as e)cergazo/menon sunexw=s. a)na/gkh th\n a)ko/louqon poiei=sqai dia/lhyin, kai\ dusarestei=sqai kata\ th\n proai/resin.
Notes (4)
- [1] Homer, Iliad 1.468 and 9.225, quoted in the Suda perhaps not directly but by way of scholia. See already delta 128.↩
- 2From here on, the entry quotes (perhaps, in Adler's view, via the Excerpta Constantini Porphyrogeniti) the Hellenistic historian Polybius' quotation of the harshly judgmental Sicilian historian Timaeus, and follows with Polybius' own harsh judgment of Timaeus (12.24.1-4). Timaeus' extensive writings survive only in quotations such as these. See generally tau 600, tau 602. For the relation between Polybius (200-120 BCE) and Timaeus (350-260 BCE) see OCD(4) 1481-2. ↩
- 3Timaeus perhaps had in mind Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1118a32 (the epicure who prayed for a longer throat). Compare in any event Athenaeus, Deipnosophists 8.342C (8.28 Kaibel). For another of Timaeus' harsh slams at Aristotle and for some bibliography, see alpha 3930. ↩
- 4Ruled Syracuse 405-367 BCE, keeping the Carthaginians at bay and becoming the stuff of story. See OCD(4) 459-60, and delta 1178. ↩
- 5cf. kappa 1810.
References
Polybius, The Histories, ed. and tr. W. R. Paton, 6. vols., London: Heinemann, 1922-27
Linked from4 entries
- δ128Δαιτὸς ἐΐσηςof an equal banquet[Meaning] from feasting divided equally. But Zenodotus says [it means] "of good [feasting]," since nourishment is good for mankind. Since the first human beings, who did not have bountiful nourishment, snatched it by…
- δ130Δαιτρεύεινto cut up and distribute[Meaning] to apportion.
- δ131Δαιτρόνcarver[Meaning an] apportioner, cook.
- δ137Δέδασταιhas been distributed, have been distributed[Meaning] has/have been apportioned. Also [sc. attested is] dedai/atai, [likewise meaning] has/have been apportioned.
Neighbouring entries
Revision history8 revisions · last 17 Jul 2023
- typo n.2 — Ronald Allen
- typo — Catharine Roth
- Revised — David Whitehead
- coding — Catharine Roth
- updated some refs — David Whitehead
- more x-refs; another keyword; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- another x-ref; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- modified and supplemented translation; augmented notes and keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Oliver Phillips ✝