Ὕδραν τέμνεις
you are cutting off a hydra
Translated by David Whitehead8 Dec 2002Vetting: high5 revisions
Translation
[sc. A proverbial phrase] in reference to things that are hopeless; because in cutting off a hydra Herakles failed to master it, with more heads sprouting up again.
Greek original · Adler’s text
Ὕδραν τέμνεις· ἐπὶ τῶν ἀμηχάνων εἴρηται· παρ' ὅσον Ἡρακλῆς ὕδραν τέμνων οὐδὲν μᾶλλον ἐκράτει, ἀναδιδομένων αὖθις πλειόνων κεφαλῶν.
Betacode
*(/udran te/mneis: e)pi\ tw=n a)mhxa/nwn ei)/rhtai: par' o(/son *(hraklh=s u(/dran te/mnwn ou)de\n ma=llon e)kra/tei, a)nadidome/nwn au)=qis pleio/nwn kefalw=n.
Notes
- See under upsilon 57. Besides the scholia to the Plato passage cited there, see also the paroemiographers, e.g. Zenobius 6.26, Gregorius 3.92.
Linked from3 entries
- π3084Ποικιλώτερος ὕδραςmore versatile than a hydra[sc. A proverbial phrase] in reference to those who are deceitfully [sic] or marveled at.
- υ56Ὕδραhydra[A] nine-headed snake.
- υ57Ὕδραν τέμνεινyou are cutting off a hydra[sc. A proverbial phrase] in reference to things that are hopeless; for the story goes that when Herakles was fighting a hydra in Lerna which had a hundred heads, and as the heads were cut off more grew, he ordered…
Neighbouring entries
Revision history5 revisions · last 29 May 2016
- Revised — David Whitehead
- Revised — David Whitehead
- Revised — David Whitehead
- augmented note and keywords — David Whitehead
- Revised — Catharine Roth
- Translated — David Whitehead