Νήπιος
fool, foolish
Translated by Tony Natoli30 Mar 2000Vetting: high3 revisions
Translation
[Meaning] witless, mindless.1
"Philip of Macedon deprived many of life and later included their sons as well, quoting this verse, 'He is a fool who when he has killed the father spares the sons'."2
"Fools! They do not know how much more the half is than the whole."3 For there are times when through desiring a greater share one loses even what he has.
"Philip of Macedon deprived many of life and later included their sons as well, quoting this verse, 'He is a fool who when he has killed the father spares the sons'."2
"Fools! They do not know how much more the half is than the whole."3 For there are times when through desiring a greater share one loses even what he has.
Greek original · Adler’s text
Νήπιος· ἄφρων, ἀνόητος. Φίλιππος ὁ Μακεδὼν πολλοὺς ἀνελὼν ὕστερον ἐφθέγξατο τοῦτον τὸν στίχον· νήπιος, ὃς πατέρα κτείνας υἱοὺς καταλείπει. Νήπιοι, οὐδ' ἴσασιν ὅσῳ πλέον ἥμισυ παντός. ἔσθ' ὅτε γὰρ πλειόνων ἐπιθυμῶν τις ἀποβάλλει καὶ ἃ ἔχει.
Betacode
*nh/pios: a)/frwn, a)no/htos. *fi/lippos o( *makedw\n pollou\s a)nelw\n u(/steron e)fqe/gcato tou=ton to\n sti/xon: nh/pios, o(\s pate/ra ktei/nas ui(ou\s katalei/pei. *nh/pioi, ou)d' i)/sasin o(/sw| ple/on h(/misu panto/s. e)/sq' o(/te ga\r pleio/nwn e)piqumw=n tis a)poba/llei kai\ a(\ e)/xei.
Notes (3)
- cf. generally nu 322, nu 324
- 1These are the glosses of the scholia on Homer, Iliad 2.38, where the headword adjective appears; likewise or similarly in other lexica. ↩
- 2Polybius 23.10.10 (23.10.15 in the Loeb edition), on Philip V of Macedon. See phi 355 and n.2 there. ↩
- 3This paradox (later taken up by some of the paroemiographers) is from Hesiod, Works and Days 40; cf. eta 350, omicron 704. ↩
Linked from5 entries
- η350Ἡμίσεια Ἥμισυ παντόςhalf*(/hmisu panto/s ["half than whole"]. Hesiod [writes]: "fools, they do not even know how much more half [is] than the whole." "It is like this: there were two brothers. As one of them died and left an orphan child, he…
- ν324Νηπιέηchildhood, childishness[Meaning] foolishness. This [word is] derived from nêpios.
- ν331ΝηρῇςNereis; a Nereid[The word is formed] by contraction out of the [name] *nhrhi+/s, just as [in the instance where] *xrushi+/s [becomes] *xrush=|s and *brishi+/s [becomes] *brish=|s.
- ο704Ὅσῳ πλέον ἥμισυ παντόςhow much more the half [is] than the wholeThat is, a little with justice has more profit than much with injustice. Hesiod says [this].
- φ355ΦίλιπποςPhilippos, Philippus, Philip[Philip] of Macedon deprived many of life and later included their sons as well, quoting this verse: "[he is] a fool, who having put the father to death spares the sons."
Neighbouring entries
Revision history3 revisions · last 9 Jun 2013
- augmented notes and keywords; tweaking — David Whitehead
- added x-refs and keyword; restorative cosmetics — David Whitehead
- modified headword; added note and keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Tony Natoli