Lesson 6: Reading

I did this during my down-time at work, ten minutes at a time. There are probably mistakes. One thing I can't get straight yet is that the "Y" on my keyboard is a "u" and the "U" is a "th."

1. ἡ σοφροσύνη κόσμος ἐστι γέροθσι καὶ νεανίαις.

ἡ σοφροσύνη the self-control
κόσμος order, ornament, world
ἐστι is
γέρουσι to old men
καὶ and
νεανίαις to young men

Self-control is an ornament for old and young men.

2. τὸν οὐρανὸν οἱ τοιηταὶ αἰθέρα ὀνομάζουσιν.

τὸν οὐρανὸν the heaven
οἱ τοιηταὶ the poets
αἰθέρα sky
ὀνομάζουσιν they call

The poets call heaven the sky.

3. τὸν ἥλιον λέγουσιν ὀφθαλμὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.

τὸν ἥλιον the sun
λέγουσιν they call
ὀφθαλμὸν eye
τοῦ οὐρανοῦ of the heaven

The sun they call the eye of heaven.
They call the sun the eye of heaven.

4. ἔχω πλοῦτον ὥστε ἀγοράζειν τὰ δῶρα.

ἔχω I have, hold
πλοῦτον wealth
ὥστε so that
ἀγοράζειν to buy; cf. agora, market
τὰ δῶρα the gifts

I have wealth so that I may buy gifts.
I have wealth in order to buy gifts.

A note on ὥστε:

"Result is expressed in Greek in two ways:

(a) Actual result is expressed by ὥστε plus the indicative. The negative is οὐ. He did not come, so that the Greeks were worried. οὐχ ἧκεν⋅ ὥσθ᾽ οἱ Ἕλληνες ἐφρόντιζον.

(b) Natural result, which often denotes intention [in my copy of C&P, intention is crossed out and necessary, unavoidable consequence is scribbled in; my prof evidently had a problem with it . . . although ], tendency, or capacity, is expressed by ὥστε and the infinitive. The negative is μή. He was so brave as not to flee. οὕτως ἀγαθὸς ἦν ὥστε μὴ φεύγειν.

5. καλὸν καὶ γέρουσι μανθάνειν σοφά.

καλὸν beautiful thing
καὶ and, merely, also
γέρουσι to/for old men
μανθάνειν to learn
σοφά wise things, wisdom

To learn wise things is also a beautiful thing for old men.

6. ὁ γέρων τοῖς νεανίαις ἔφη τὴν σωφροσύνην εἶναι κόσμον.

ὁ γέρων the old man
τοῖς νεανίαις to the young men
ἔφη said
τὴν σωφροσύνην the self-control
εἶναι to be
κόσμον an ornament

The old men said to the young men that self-control is an ornament.

7. ὁ πολίτης τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις πιστεύει οἵ φίλιοί εἰσιν.

ὁ πολίτης the citizen
τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις to the Athenians
πιστεύει he/she/it trusts
οἵ who
φίλιοί friends
εἰσιν are

The citizen trusts the Athenians who are friends.

8. τοὺς στρατιώτας ἄχει εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν ἐν ᾗ ἐστιν ὁ πλοῦτος.

τοὺς στρατιώτας the soldiers (acc.)
ἄχει he, she, it leads
εἰς into
τὴν σκηνὴν the stage, stage building, tent
ἐν ᾗ in which
ἐστιν is
ὁ πλοῦτος wealth.

He leads the soldiers into the tent in which the wealth is.

9. ὥστε οὐ νομίζουσι τὸν θάνατον καὶ ὕπνον εἶναι.

ὥστε and so, so that
οὐ νομίζουσι they do not think
τὸν θάνατον the death
καὶ and, also, merely
ὕπνον sleep
εἶναι to be

And so they did not think death to be merely sleep.

10. ὁ σοφὸς ἡσθχίαν ἄγει ἐν ταῖς συμφοραῖς.

ὁ σοφὸς the wise man
ἡσυχίαν calmness
ἄγει holds, has
ἐν ταῖς συμφοραῖς in the misfortunes

The wise man holds (to) calmness in misfortunes.
The wise man is calm in misfortunes.

11. οὐκ ἔφη εἶναι ποιητής, ἀλλὰ κριτὴς τῶν ποιητῶν.

οὐκ not
ἔφη he said
εἶναι to be
ποιητής a poet
ἀλλὰ but
κριτὴς a judge
τῶν ποιητῶν of the poets

He did not say he was a poet, but a judge of poets.