Xenophon Chapter 3 Section 4 wrote:τί οὖν, ἄν σοι, ἔφη, καὶ οἰκέτας αὖ ἐπιδεικνύω ἔνθα μὲν πάντας ὡς εἰπεῖν δεδεμένους, καὶ τούτους θαμινὰ ἀποδιδράσκοντας, ἔνθα δὲ λελυμένους καὶ ἐθέλοντάς τε ἐργάζεσθαι καὶ παραμένειν, οὐ καὶ τοῦτό σοι δόξω ἀξιοθέατον τῆς οἰκονομίας ἔργον ἐπιδεικνύναι; ναὶ μὰ Δί᾽, ἔφη ὁ Κριτόβουλος, καὶ σφόδρα γε.
He continued, “then what if in addition [to these things] I also show you household slaves both in places where all of the slaves (more or less) are kept in chains and escape even though they are closely guarded, and also in places where they are free from chains and are willing to work [for] and to remain [with] [their master]? If I show you this also, I will seem to be showing you a task of stewardship that is well worth seeing, won’t I?"
“Yes, absolutely,” said Kritoboulus. “[You] most certainly [will be] indeed.
Original HInts:
http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/forum/vie ... 896#p18608
Grammatical Hints:
ἔνθα μὲν... ἔνθα δὲ: I made a typo on my earlier hint; I meant to type “where” instead of “there”. Additionally, I had to really fight myself to not translate “οἰκέτας” as households. Instead, in my translation I expanded a bit on “ἔνθα” as “in the places where”. The focus in each of the ἔνθα phrases is on the different conditions in which the slaves are kept. The implication is that different households treat their slaves differently-some keep them under lock and key and some give them more freedom.
ὡς εἰπεῖν: I took this as a parenthetical expression used to “soften” or “weaken” an absolute. Which word do you think it affects?
θαμινὰ: I am not confident that I have gotten either this hint or the previous one right. I am understanding it as roughly equivalent to the word “close” in the phrase “keeping a close eye on them”. I expect that I will be corrected on this point.
ἐθέλοντάς τε ἐργάζεσθαι καὶ παραμένειν: This phrase refers to the slaves who have been given greater freedoms, but I am unsure whether it refers to working inside the home and remaining there, if it refers to working outside of the home and returning there (and thereby remain at home), or if it perhaps encompasses all of these ideas. I have translated this phrase to bring out what I believe is the major idea: the slaves who are given greater freedom still do their master’s bidding.
οὐ καὶ τοῦτό σοι δόξω ἀξιοθέατον τῆς οἰκονομίας ἔργον ἐπιδεικνύναι;: What answer was the speaker of this question expecting?
καὶ τοῦτό: The previous information was deemed to be an acceptable demonstration of his claim. The question in the sentence above is whether or not the new information being put forward will be acceptable as well.
ναὶ μὰ Δί᾽: A strong affirmative. In archaic English: “Yes, by Jove.” (This makes me think of The Once and Future King.)