Λυγκέως ὀξυωπέστερον βλέπειν
to see more sharp-sightedly than Lynkeus
Translated by Andrew Morrison13 Dec 2002Vetting: high6 revisions
Translation
This man was a brother of Idas;1 but Aristophanes in Danaids [makes him] a son of Aigyptos.2 He was the sharpest-eyed by such a long way3 that he was able to see, through a fir, Kastor treacherously murder his brother, as Pindar says.4 And Apollonius in Argonautica [writes]: "if the story is indeed true, that that man could easily see even below the earth".5
Greek original · Adler’s text
Λυγκέως ὀξυωπέστερον βλέπειν· οὗτος ἐγένετο ἀδελφὸς Ἴδα· ὁ δὲ Ἀριστοφάνης ἐν Δαναΐσιν υἱὸς Αἰγύπτου. τοσοῦτον δὲ ὀξυωπέστατος ἦν, ὡς δι' ἐλάτης ἰδεῖν Κάστορα δολοφονήσαντα τὸν ἀδελφόν, ὥς φησι Πίνδαρος. καὶ Ἀπολλώνιος ἐν Ἀργοναύταις· εἰ ἐτεόν γε πέλει κλέος, ἀνέρα κεῖνον ῥηϊδίως καὶ ἔνερθεν ὑπὸ χθονὸς αὐγάζεσθαι.
Betacode
*lugke/ws o)cuwpe/steron ble/pein: ou(=tos e)ge/neto a)delfo\s *)/ida: o( de\ *)aristofa/nhs e)n *danai/+sin ui(o\s *ai)gu/ptou. tosou=ton de\ o)cuwpe/statos h)=n, w(s di' e)la/ths i)dei=n *ka/stora dolofonh/santa to\n a)delfo/n, w(/s fhsi *pi/ndaros. kai\ *)apollw/nios e)n *)argonau/tais: ei) e)teo/n ge pe/lei kle/os, a)ne/ra kei=non r(hi+di/ws kai\ e)/nerqen u(po\ xqono\s au)ga/zesqai.
Notes (5)
- The proverbial phrase which provides the present headword is employed in Aristophanes, Plutus [Wealth] 210, the scholia to which are drawn upon here; cf. also Aristophanes fr.260.
- 1The sons of Aphareus (cousins of Kastor and Polydeukes, the Dioskouroi). ↩
- 2This is a different Lynkeus, king of Argos [Myth, Place] (Pindar, Nemean 10.12: web address 1) and husband of Hypermnestra, who spares him when she and her sister Danaids (daughters of Danaos) are instructed to kill their husbands (all sons of Aigyptos) by their father. Cf. ps.-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2.1.5 (web address 2). ↩
- 3His sharp sight becomes proverbial, as in the headword phrase. Cf. Appendix Proverbiorum 3.71.2
*Lugke/ws o)cu/teron ble/pei ["he sees more acutely than Lynkeus"]. ↩ - 4This is odd. Pindar in Nemean 10.60ff. (web address 1) tells of Idas killing Kastor after Lynkeus has seen Kastor (and possibly Polydeukes: text and interpretation uncertain, cf. the scholia to Pindar, Nemean 10.114a) hiding in an oak. Kypria F15 Bernabé has Lynkeus see both Kastor and Polydeukes hiding in an oak, while the summary of the Kypria in Proclus, Chrestomathy 108ff. also has Idas kill Kastor. Although Kastor kills Lynkeus in Theocritus, Idylls 22.193ff., there is no mention of Lynkeus seeing through a tree. Should the aorist participle
dolofonh/santa be emended to the futuredolofonh/sonta ["intending/about to murder treacherously"]? This would tally with the version in the scholia to Pindar, Nemean 10.114b -- where Lynkeus sees Kastor waiting in ambush for Idas, and tells Idas, who wounds Kastor with a spear -- and ps.-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.11.2 (web address 3) where Lynkeus sees Kastor and Polydeukes waiting in ambush, and tells Idas, who kills Kastor. ↩ - 5Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.154-5. ↩
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 2 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 3 perseus.tufts.edu
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Revision history6 revisions · last 17 May 2016
- coding — David Whitehead
- coding, typo — Catharine Roth
- upgraded links — Catharine Roth
- tweaking; raised status — David Whitehead
- more keywords; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- added note and keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Andrew Morrison