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Nicolaus of Damascus FGrH 90 F131

Posted: May 8th, 2012, 4:38 pm
by Luke Neubert
Hi,

Does anyone have an idea about the following text:

τελευτων τε τον βιον ουκ εστιν ο τι ουκ επεσκηψε Νικολαωι τωι υιει η τωι Διι θυματηριον κατασκευσαι...

I translate As he was dying, he commissioned his son Nicolaus to offer (the) censer to Zeus...

Perhaps ουκ εστιν ο τι = ουδεν

or non est qui??

Havent found a good solution

LUKE

Re: Nicolaus of Damascus FGrH 90 F131

Posted: May 8th, 2012, 8:46 pm
by Scott Lawson
Luke Neubert wrote:τελευτων τε τον βιον ουκ εστιν ο τι ουκ επεσκηψε Νικολαωι τωι υιει η τωι Διι θυματηριον κατασκευσαι...
Perhaps something more like:

And is this not the end of his life? Because did he not give his dying wish to his son Nikolaus (that) he should prepare a censer to Zeus...

And this is not the end of his life because he did not give his dying wish to his son Nikolaus or to prepare a censer to Zeus...

Re: Nicolaus of Damascus FGrH 90 F131

Posted: May 8th, 2012, 9:23 pm
by Scott Lawson
Scott Lawson wrote:And is this not the end of his life? Because did he not give his dying wish to his son Nikolaus (that) he should prepare a censer to Zeus...
Although, for this one I would expect to see something other than the indicative εστιν and επεσκηψε. Matt. 12:23 has μὴτι with εστιν for - is this not perhaps.

Re: Nicolaus of Damascus FGrH 90 F131

Posted: May 8th, 2012, 11:47 pm
by Louis L Sorenson
It's really hard to work from out of context. Here is the paragraph:

<Ἀντίπατρος,> Νικολάου τοῦ Δαμασκηνοῦ πατὴρ τοῦ ἱστορικοῦ, ὃς ἔσχε Στρατονίκην γυναῖκα, τὴν μητέρα Νικολάου, οἳ διαφανεῖς ἦσαν ἐν Δαμασκῷ κατά τε σωφροσύνην καὶ ἄλλην λαμπρότητα. πλούτῳ τε γὰρ πολλῷ διαφέροντες ἥκιστα ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἐμεγαλύνοντο, εὐδοξίας τε οὐ τὰ δεύτερα φερόμενοι βραχὺ τοῦτο ἐλογίζοντο. ὁ δὲ δὴ Ἀντίπατρος καὶ λόγου δεινότητι προὔχων ἔβλαψε μὲν οὐδ' ὁντινοῦν, ὤνησε δὲ μυρία τούτῳ οὐ τῶν κοινῶν μόνων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἀστῶν συχνούς. δικαιοσύνην γὰρ ἀσκῶν, εἴπερ τις ἕτερος, πλεῖστα μὲν διῄτησε νείκη τοῖς πολίταις πρὸς ἀλλήλους, πλεῖστα δὲ τῇ πατρίδι πρὸς τοὺς ἐν κύκλῳ δυνάστας· καὶ ἐτιμᾶτο ὑπὸ πάντων διὰ τοῦτο. πλείστας δὲ ἐπιστεύθη πρεσβείας καὶ ἐπιτροπὰς ἀρχάς τε πάσας διεξῆλθε τὰς ἐγ χωρίους· τελευτῶν τε τὸν βίον οὐκ ἔστιν ὅ τι οὐκ ἐπέσκηψε Νικολάῳ τῷ υἱεῖ καὶ Πτολεμαίῳ τῷ τούτου ἀδελφῷ, ἢ τῷ Διῒ θυμιατήριον, ὅπερ ἔφθη αὐτὸς προϋπεσχημένος τῷ θεῷ, κατασκευάσαι, ἐπειδὰν τελευτήσῃ· δηλῶν οἶμαι ὅτι τὸ πρὸς θεοὺς ὅσιον δεῖ καὶ τελευτῶντας φυλάττειν καὶ μηδὲν ἔτι ἀπολαύσεσθαι τοῦ βίου μέλλοντας.

<Ἀντίπαις:> ὁ ἐγγὺς ὢν τοῦ ἴουλος γενέσθαι, ὁ τὸν πώγωνα ἐκφύων. ὁ δὲ Ἀριστοφάνης ὁ πρόσηβος καὶ ἀνδρόπαις εἶπεν.

<Ἀντιπελαργεῖν:> παροιμία ἐπὶ τῶν τὰς χάριτας ἀντιδιδόντων.

καὶ <Ἀντιπελάργωσις.> φησὶν Ἀριστοτέλης ἀληθῆ εἶναι τὸν περὶ τῶν πελαργῶν λόγον· ὁμοίως δὲ αὐτοῖς ποιεῖν φησι καὶ τοὺς ἀερόποδας. διὸ ἐν τοῖς σκήπτροις ἀνωτέρω μὲν πελαργὸν τυποῦσι, κατωτέρω δὲ ποτάμιον ἵππον δηλοῦντες, ὡς ὑποτέτακται ἡ βία τῇ δικαιοπραγίᾳ. οἱ γὰρ πελαργοὶ δικαιοπραγεῖς ὄντες ἐπὶ τῶν πτερύγων βαστάζουσι τοὺς γεγηρακότας· οἱ δὲ ἱπποπόταμοι ζῷον ἀδικώτατον.

I would look at the phrase οὐκ ἔστιν ὅ τι οὐκ ἐπέσκηψε as the place of difficulty. Notice ἢ is "or." Note οὐκ ἔστιν ὅ τι οὐκ only occurs in 4 places in my TLG. But the phrase οὐκ ἔστιν ὅ τι occurs 49x. I take it as "there is nothing that." Note the TLG version reads a little differently than the Greek you posted:
ἐπέσκηψε Νικολάῳ τῷ υἱεῖ καὶ Πτολεμαίῳ τῷ τούτου ἀδελφῷ, ἢ τῷ Διῒ θυμιατήριον, ὅπερ ἔφθη αὐτὸς προϋπεσχημένος τῷ θεῷ, κατασκευάσαι, ἐπειδὰν τελευτήσῃ·[