Φέρτρῳ
on a stretcher
Translated by Ronald Allen27 Jul 2011Vetting: high6 revisions
Translation
[Meaning] on the litter of [= for] the dead.1
Fertron ["stretcher"] also [sc. means] a bier.2
Polybius [writes]: "at that time too [sc. Hannibal had sent off] Philemenus to arrive bearing the boar on a litter and about a thousand Libyans [...]. As he approached the wall, he requested [sc. the watchman] to open up quickly, since they were being weighed down by carrying a wild boar. The guard opens up, amazed at the bounty."3
But others say that [sc. the spelling] ferethron is used.4
Fertron ["stretcher"] also [sc. means] a bier.2
Polybius [writes]: "at that time too [sc. Hannibal had sent off] Philemenus to arrive bearing the boar on a litter and about a thousand Libyans [...]. As he approached the wall, he requested [sc. the watchman] to open up quickly, since they were being weighed down by carrying a wild boar. The guard opens up, amazed at the bounty."3
But others say that [sc. the spelling] ferethron is used.4
Greek original · Adler’s text
Φέρτρῳ· τῇ τῶν νεκρῶν κλίνῃ. Φέρτρον καὶ τὸ φορεῖον. Πολύβιος· τότε καὶ τὸν Φιλήμενον ἥκειν ἔχοντα τὸν ὗν ἐν φέρτρῳ καὶ Λίβυας ὡσεὶ χιλίους. ὡς δὲ ἤγγισε τῷ τείχει, ἔλεγεν ἀνοίγειν ταχέως, ὅτι βαρύνονται, φέρουσι γὰρ ὗν ἄγριον. ὁ δὲ φύλαξ ἀνοίγει, θαυμάσας τὴν εὐαγρίαν. οἱ δὲ φέρεθρον λέγεσθαί φασι.
Betacode
*fe/rtrw|: th=| tw=n nekrw=n kli/nh|. *fe/rtron kai\ to\ forei=on. *polu/bios: to/te kai\ to\n *filh/menon h(/kein e)/xonta to\n u(=n e)n fe/rtrw| kai\ *li/buas w(sei\ xili/ous. w(s de\ h)/ggise tw=| tei/xei, e)/legen a)noi/gein taxe/ws, o(/ti baru/nontai, fe/rousi ga\r u(=n a)/grion. o( de\ fu/lac a)noi/gei, qauma/sas th\n eu)agri/an. oi( de\ fe/reqron le/gesqai/ fasi.
Notes (4)
- The headword -- probably quoted from Homer, Iliad 18.236 (web address 1), where Achilles first catches sight of the dead Patroclus -- is a neuter noun in the dative singular. See generally LSJ s.v.
fe/retron =fe/rtron , and further below. - 1The alternative spelling of the headword,
fe/retron , is identically glossed in the Synagoge; cf. Hesychius s.v.e)m fere/trw| , Photius Lexicon s.v.*fere/trwi , Etymologicum Magnum 790.55 (Kallierges) s.v.fere/trw| , ps.-Zonaras s.v.*)en fere/trw| , and Lexica Segueriana 404.27. Adler also cites the Etymologicum Genuinum. [In her critical apparatus Adler reports that ms G transmitsnekroforw=n : for the burying of the dead.] ↩ - 2From the scholia to Homer, Iliad 18.236 (see above). One sense of the second substantive here is a gurney -- thus the same as the headword -- but in addition it can mean sedan-chair and has yet another alternative spelling,
fo/rion ; see LSJ s.v.forei=on . [Here mss GM, Adler reports, omit the conjunctionkai\ : the foreion is a fertron.] ↩ - 3An approximation and abridgement of Polybius 8.29.4-6 (where in fact the alternative spelling
fere/trw| is transmitted: web address 2). It recounts the ruse by which Philemenus betrayed Tarentum (*ta/ras ; present-day Taranto in Puglia, S Italy; Barrington Atlas, map 45 grid F4; OCD(4) s.v., tau 112, tau 113) to Hannibal (OCD(4) s.v. and alpha 2452). The young hunter, a Tarentine native, brought a killed wild boar to the city gates at night (cf. alpha 3976 for a related passage) and fooled the guard into opening the gates to him and his fellows (cf. mu 632, again) during the Second Punic War (218-201 BCE) in 213-12; Walbank pp. 100-6. [Adler reports that mss AF transmitui(o\n : his son, not the boar, and that ms G triesnu=n , now.] ↩ - 4Prior to the Suda, in fact,
fe/reqron is not attested. For a later instance of this form see Eustathius, Commentary on Homer's Odyssey 1.155.11 (C12 CE). See also phi 210. ↩
References
F.W. Walbank, A Historical Commentary on Polybius, vol. II, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 2 perseus.tufts.edu
Linked from1 entry
Neighbouring entries
Revision history6 revisions · last 31 May 2016
- coding — David Whitehead
- Revised — David Whitehead
- tweaking — David Whitehead
- Revised — David Whitehead
- tweaks, upgraded links — Catharine Roth
- tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Ronald Allen