Στρόβει
whirl, whirl about
Translated by Ronald Allen10 Jan 2013Vetting: high3 revisions
Translation
That is, interrogate, put to the test;1 turn around here and there, making something dense and intelligent, examining [something] sensible.2 Aristophanes in Clouds [writes]: "now meditate and examine closely and whirl yourself about in every way, concentrating."3 And elsewhere: "attack and whirl [him] about. For now you have [him] by the middle." The metaphor is from wrestlers seizing [sc. opponents] by the waist and from this becoming the stronger [sc. competitors].4
Greek original · Adler’s text
Στρόβει· τουτέστιν ἀνάκρινε, δοκίμαζε· περίφερε τῇδε κἀκεῖσε, πυκνόν τι καὶ συνετὸν ποιήσας, φρόνιμον σκεψάμενος. Ἀριστοφάνης Νεφέλαις· φρόντιζε δὴ καὶ διάθρει καὶ πάντα τρόπον σαυτὸν στρόβει πυκνώσας. καὶ αὖθις· ἀλλ' ἔπιθι καὶ στρόβει. νῦν γὰρ ἔχεται μέσος. ἡ μεταφορὰ ἀπὸ τῶν παλαιστῶν τῶν τὰ μέσα λαμβανόντων καὶ ἐκ τοῦ κρείττονος γενομένων.
Betacode
*stro/bei: toute/stin a)na/krine, doki/maze: peri/fere th=|de ka)kei=se, pukno/n ti kai\ suneto\n poih/sas, fro/nimon skeya/menos. *)aristofa/nhs *nefe/lais: fro/ntize dh\ kai\ dia/qrei kai\ pa/nta tro/pon sauto\n stro/bei puknw/sas. kai\ au)=qis: a)ll' e)/piqi kai\ stro/bei. nu=n ga\r e)/xetai me/sos. h( metafora\ a)po\ tw=n palaistw=n tw=n ta\ me/sa lambano/ntwn kai\ e)k tou= krei/ttonos genome/nwn.
Notes (4)
- The headword (extracted from the first of the quotations given but also illustrated by the second) is the present active imperative, second person singular, of the contract verb
strobe/w , I whirl, twirl about; cf. sigma 1205 and see generally LSJ s.v. - 1These initial glossing verbs are also second person singular imperatives, respectively from
a)nakri/nw (I examine closely, interrogate) anddokima/zw (I assay, test); see generally LSJ s.vv. ↩ - 2Following a scholion (= scholia vetera) to the Aristophanic passage about to be quoted: see next note. ↩
- 3Aristophanes, Clouds 700-702 (web address 1); Dover, pp. 186-8, esp 188. The chorus urges Strepsiades to think for himself (e.g. concentrate on his own problem), as he twists and turns (and perhaps curls or concentrates himself into a ball) while the bedbugs are biting at him. [In her critical apparatus Adler reports that mss GM omit
dh\ (emphatic now); also that ms G lackssauto\n (yourself).] ↩ - 4Aristophanes, Knights 387-388 (web address 2), with scholion to 388. The chorus cheer on the sausage-seller, who is locked in a demagogic debate with Paphlagon (= Kleon: kappa 1731, and Develin no. 1659, p. 476). ↩
References
K.J. Dover, Aristophanes: Clouds, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968
R. Develin, Athenian Officials 684-321 BC, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989
R. Develin, Athenian Officials 684-321 BC, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
- Web address 2 perseus.tufts.edu
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Revision history3 revisions · last 1 Jan 2014
- Revised — David Whitehead
- coding, upgraded links — Catharine Roth
- modifications to tr; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Ronald Allen