Μεγαλοδωρία
munificence
Translated by Ronald Allen4 May 2009Vetting: high5 revisions
Translation
"He operated with so much munificence and sagacity that he was neither seen when being looked for, nor found when being sought, nor captured when defeated."1
"When someone had set about blowing [sc. the aulos] loudly, Zeno2 slapped him and said that the quality might not be credited to the loudness, but rather the loudness to the quality."3
"When someone had set about blowing [sc. the aulos] loudly, Zeno2 slapped him and said that the quality might not be credited to the loudness, but rather the loudness to the quality."3
Greek original · Adler’s text
Μεγαλοδωρία· τοσαύτῃ μεγαλοδωρίᾳ καὶ σοφίᾳ ἐχρήσατο· οὔτε γὰρ ἑωρᾶτο ὁρώμενος οὔτε εὑρίσκετο εὑρισκόμενος οὔτε κατελαμβάνετο ἁλισκόμενος. Ζήνων ἐπιβαλομένου τινὸς μέγα φυσᾶν, πατάξας εἶπεν, ὡς οὐκ ἐν τῷ μεγάλῳ τὸ εὖ κείμενον εἴη, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ εὖ τὸ μέγα.
Betacode
*megalodwri/a: tosau/th| megalodwri/a| kai\ sofi/a| e)xrh/sato: ou)/te ga\r e(wra=to o(rw/menos ou)/te eu(ri/sketo eu(risko/menos ou)/te katelamba/neto a(lisko/menos. *zh/nwn e)pibalome/nou tino\s me/ga fusa=n, pata/cas ei)=pen, w(s ou)k e)n tw=| mega/lw| to\ eu)= kei/menon ei)/h, a)ll' e)n tw=| eu)= to\ me/ga.
Notes (3)
- The unglossed headword, presumably generated by the first of the quotations given, where it appears in the dative singular, is a feminine noun in the nominative (and vocative) singular; see generally LSJ s.v.
- 1An approximation (and rearrangement) of Cassius Dio 76.10.2. It describes the successful strategy -- to the frustration of L. Septimius Severus (emperor 193-211; OCD(4) s.v. Septimius Severus) -- of the Italian bandit Felix Bulla in 206-7 (cf. lambda 474 (end) and Wiedemann, p. 223). ↩
- 2Zeno (335-263, founder of philosophical Stoicism; cf. zeta 79 and OCD(4) s.v. Zeno(2)) of Citium, on the island of Cyprus (Barrington Atlas map 72 mrid D3). ↩
- 3Inaccurately paraphrased or recalled from Diogenes Laertius 7.21; in fact, D.L. relates that Zeno used to quote the musician Kaphisias regarding the latter's reproach of his students' style of play. The anecdote also appears at Athenaeus, Deipnosophists 14.629A-B (14.26 Kaibel), where Kaphisias is identified as a master of the aulos (cf. alpha 4447 and West, pp. 81-109).
This quotation is not directly related to the headword. It was apparently included because the adjectiveme/gas (big, great, strong), from which the lemma derives, occurs here in the neuter (and masculine) dative singular; applied to sounds it means loud; see LSJ s.v. and mu 352. ↩
References
T.E.J. Wiedemann, Greek and Roman Slavery, London: Routledge, 1981
M.L. West, Ancient Greek Music, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992
M.L. West, Ancient Greek Music, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992
Neighbouring entries
Revision history5 revisions · last 24 Jul 2020
- cross-reference — Catharine Roth
- coding — Catharine Roth
- Revised — David Whitehead
- Revised — David Whitehead
- more keywords; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Ronald Allen