Λευκὴ στάθμη
white measuring-line
Translated by David Whitehead9 Apr 2008Vetting: high5 revisions
Translation
[sc. A proverbial phrase] in reference to those marking obscurities with obscurities; or in reference to those who understand nothing. Sophocles in Kidalion [writes]: "I do not judge by these words of yours, no more than a white measuring-line [does] on white stone."1
For on white a white measuring-line is not able to show anything. A measuring-line is a builder's cord.2
For on white a white measuring-line is not able to show anything. A measuring-line is a builder's cord.2
Greek original · Adler’s text
Λευκὴ στάθμη· ἐπὶ τῶν ἄδηλα ἀδήλοις σημειουμένων· ἢ ἐπὶ τῶν μηδὲν συνιέντων. Σοφοκλῆς Κιδαλίωνι· τοῖς μὲν λόγοις τοῖς σοῖσιν οὐ τεκμαίρομαι, οὐ μᾶλλον ἢ λευκῷ λίθῳ λευκὴ στάθμη. ἐν λευκῷ γὰρ λευκὴ στάθμη οὐδὲν δύναται δεικνύναι. στάθμη δέ ἐστι σπάρτος τεκτονική.
Betacode
*leukh\ sta/qmh: e)pi\ tw=n a)/dhla a)dh/lois shmeioume/nwn: h)\ e)pi\ tw=n mhde\n sunie/ntwn. *sofoklh=s *kidali/wni: toi=s me\n lo/gois toi=s soi=sin ou) tekmai/romai, ou) ma=llon h)\ leukw=| li/qw| leukh\ sta/qmh. e)n leukw=| ga\r leukh\ sta/qmh ou)de\n du/natai deiknu/nai. sta/qmh de/ e)sti spa/rtos tektonikh/.
Notes (2)
- = Pausanias the Atticist lambda14; cf. Timaeus, Platonic Lexicon 994a17; a scholion to Plato, Charmides 154B [see below]; Aelius Dionysius lambda8, Hesychius lambda789, Photius lambda220 Theodoridis, Zenobius 4.89, [Diogenianus] 6.8, Gregorius 2.67 Apostolius 10.64.
The locus classicus for the phrase, apart from the Sophocles passage quoted below, is Plato, Charmides 154B (web address 1).
While one might suppose that the phrase refers to a line dusted with white chalk, and hence potentially good for making a mark on surfaces that are not white, most commentators take it as referring to a bare line, untreated with the customary red or black powder (cf. Moeris 202.24; scholion to Homer, Iliad 15.10; scholion to Plato loc.cit.). Perhaps most of the commentary is generated by changing fashions in line-chalking that rendered Plato's phrase ambiguous to the incautious reader (this seems to have led Maximus of Tyre, for one, astray (18.4)); accordingly a passage is dredged up from one of Sophocles' obscurer plays employing the phrase in a context where a white line, chalked or unchalked, would be useless against a white background. For other applications of the phrase see Libanius, Epistles 481.2; Simplicius, Commentary on Aristotle's De caelo 7.404. - 1Sophocles fr. 330 Radt. Up to this point the entry = Photius. ↩
- 2cf. sigma 988; Synagoge and Photius s.v.
sta/qmh ; Hesychius sigma1422, sigma1599. ↩
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
Neighbouring entries
Revision history5 revisions · last 22 Dec 2014
- coding — Catharine Roth
- Revised — David Whitehead
- another keyword; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- tweaked tr., augmented notes, added link and keyword, raised status — William Hutton
- cosmeticule, status — Catharine Roth
- Translated — David Whitehead