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διηνεκοῦς ἰατρείας δεῖται

Posted: September 6th, 2013, 8:35 am
by Andrew Chapman
Having found 12 ocurrences of κοινωνός βίου, plus two of κοινωνια βίου, in Chrysostom, I have found published translations of all except one, in his Fragments on Proverbs. Although it's clear that the expression again refers to the man's wife, which is what I really need, I would like if possible to have a decent translation of these lines:

Chrysostom, Fragments in Proverbs, Proverbs 12:4.

Γυνὴ ἀνδρεία, στέφανος τῷ ἀνδρὶ αὐτῆς, κ. τ. λ. [ξοδ. φ. 56 α.] [as LXX, which continues.. ὥσπερ δὲ ἐν ξύλῳ σκώληξ οὕτως ἄνδρα ἀπόλλυσιν γυνὴ κακοποιός]

Συνεχῶς λέγει καὶ τὰ καλὰ καὶ τὰ ἐναντία κεῖσθαι ἐν ταῖς γυναιξὶν, ἐπειδὴ
διηνεκοῦς ἰατρείας δεῖται. Μέλλων οὖν ἄγεσθαι γυναῖκα, μὴ βίου κοινωνὸν ζήτει
μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀρετῆς·

A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband; [but as a worm in wood, so a bad woman destroys her husband.]

My attempt at a rather literal translation:

He says unceasingly that both good things and contrary things lie in women, since there is need of continuous correcting. Therefore being about to take to oneself a wife, do not seek only a partner of life, but also a virtuous woman.

L & S give 'correcting' as a metaphorical meaning of ἰατρεία. δεῖται I think is third person impersonal - 'there is need of'. So could one translate as 'He says unceasingly that both good things and contrary things lie in women, since they are in need of constant correction', perhaps?

But then the 'since' is a bit strange, because it would make better sense to say it the other way around, that women are in need of constant correction, since they contain both good things and contrary things.

Andrew

Re: διηνεκοῦς ἰατρείας δεῖται

Posted: September 6th, 2013, 9:33 am
by Ken M. Penner
Andrew Chapman wrote:μὴ βίου κοινωνὸν ζήτει μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀρετῆς·
...
do not seek only a partner of life, but also a virtuous woman.
Note ἀρετῆς is genitive, like βίου.

Re: διηνεκοῦς ἰατρείας δεῖται

Posted: September 6th, 2013, 10:11 am
by Andrew Chapman
Thanks, Ken, I think I was imagining that there existed an adjective declining like ἀληθής (apart from the accent). So, a partnership not only of life, but of virtue. Thanks.