History —
A while ago, I was blogging Xenophon’s Anabasis here, but stopped, and have been absolutely quiet about Greek. I’ve still been studying Greek, but found that the labor of translating into readable English and posting it to the blog demanded too much time. Also, I suspect that forcing myself (an intermediate Greek student, at most) […]
The Compact OED, which answers every question (related to English word usage over time) imaginable. For example, did people use straw (i.e. dried bits of grass) in the same way we use manufactured those little paper or plastic drinking tubes of the same name? Since paper straws were first manufactured in the 1880’s, […]
Here are a couple.
and this one:
Found in California glacier
The U.S. military has identified frozen remains found atop a California glacier as those of a World War II era airman who vanished more than half a century ago.
Peter Sketel and a friend found the remains of a World War II airman atop a glacier in California.
Ernest G. Munn had been missing […]
You have to give the Germans a lot of credit. One of the worst crimes of the Twentieth Century was committed with the compliance of their people. And now, they are determined to continue to remember what happened. Good for them.
Germany Confronts Holocaust Legacy Anew
Most countries celebrate the best in their pasts. Germany unrelentingly promotes […]
Bill Clinton Takes on the Polarizing Issue -
Of the attacks on his wife, he added: “She can’t help the fact that they beat up on her for 15 years, and when they didn’t have me to kick around anymore, they turned all their fire on her.”
History lesson — Nixon after losing California governor’s race […]
Hitch caught me up short with this point in his recent anti-Huckabee tirade:
1) The South Carolina flag is a perfectly nice flag, featuring the palmetto plant, about which no “outsider” has ever offered any free advice.
2) The Confederate battle flag, to which Gov. Huckabee was alluding, was first flown over the South Carolina state […]
Perhaps my post the other day, when I called Obama “a giant among the pygmies” of recent presidential candidates, was poorly stated. No need to add a fifth head to Mount Rushmore just yet.
But I will say, that among all nationally-recognized politicians of my era (including Reagan, the Bushes, the Clintons, etc.) Obama’s […]
FromXenophon, Anabasis
Cyrus, a Persian prince, in about 400 B.C, …
was merciless to the last degree in punishing criminals, and one might often see along the travelled roads people who had lost feet or hands or eyes; thus in Cyrus’ country it became possible for either Greek or barbarian, provided he were guilty of no […]
Each “Book” of the Anabasis includes a short introduction, as summary of the narrative so far. The division of the work in Books and the introductions as well are certainly the work of later editors, and not Xenophon. The introduction is presented here [in brackets].
[The foregoing narrative has described what happened on the […]
A strong U.S. president rejects torture
The cable reads:
THE PRESIDENT DESIRES TO KNOW IN THE FULLEST AND MOST CIRCUMSTANTIAL MANNER ALL THE FACTS . . . FOR THE VERY REASON THAT THE PRESIDENT INTENDS TO BACK UP THE ARMY IN THE HEARTIEST FASHION IN EVERY LAWFUL AND LEGITIMATE METHOD OF DOING ITS WORK. HE ALSO INTENDS […]
After breakfast, they crossed the Zapatas River, and were marching in a formation with the pack animals and camp-followers in the middle.1 They hadn’t proceeded very far when Mithradates showed up again, with 200 cavalry and 400 archers and slingers, all nimble and quick-moving forces. They approached the Greeks in a friendly fashion,2 and when […]
Here’s a snippet from Anabasis III.5.1:
ἔνθα δὴ οἱ μὲν βάρβαροι στραφέντες ἔφευγον ᾗ ἕκαστος ἐδύνατο …
which can be translated as “And then the barbarians turned back and fled, every man for himself (literally, “in whatever way each man was able”).”
Most of this sentence was easy to understand:
ἔνθα δὴ - And then
οἱ μὲν βάρβαροι - the […]
The next morning, they got up and burned their wagons, tents, and excess baggage. After breakfast, 1 Mithradates2 arrived with about thirty cavalrymen. Claiming to be a friend of the Greeks, and having come at great risk, he asked to know their plans, indicating that he would join them, along with all of his retainers.
After […]
Xenophon continues to harangue the Greeks, arguing that their difficulties are not so bad. Paraphrasing:
“Don’t worry about the rivers. If we can’t cross them here, we can always go upstream and cross them at the source, not even getting our knees wet. And if the barbarians thought to trap us on the wrong side of […]
