Thursday, January 30, 2014

 

Roughing It

Xenophon, Cyropaedia 5.2.15 (Cyrus and Gobryas speaking; tr. Walter Miller):
And as he reclined upon a mat of straw he asked this question: "Tell me, Gobryas, do you think you have more coverlets than each one of us?" "I am perfectly sure, by Zeus," the other answered, "that you have more coverlets and more couches, and that your dwelling is much larger than mine; for you take heaven and earth for your dwelling, and you have as many couches as you can find resting-places on the ground, while you regard as your proper coverlets not wool that sheep produce, but whatever the mountains and plains bring forth."

ἐπὶ στιβάδος δὲ κατακλινεὶς ἤρετο αὐτὸν ὧδε· εἰπέ μοι, ἔφη, ὦ Γωβρύα, πότερον οἴει σοὶ εἶναι πλείω ἢ ἑκάστῳ ἡμῶν στρώματα; καὶ ὃς εἶπεν· ὑμῖν νὴ Δί’ εὖ οἶδ’ ὅτι, ἔφη, καὶ στρώματα πλείω ἐστὶ καὶ κλῖναι, καὶ οἰκία γε πολὺ μείζων ἡ ὑμετέρα τῆς ἐμῆς, οἵ γε οἰκίᾳ μὲν χρῆσθε γῇ τε καὶ οὐρανῷ, κλῖναι δ’ ὑμῖν εἰσιν ὁπόσαι εὐναὶ γένοιντ’ ἂν ἐπὶ γῆς· στρώματα δὲ νομίζετε οὐχ ὅσα πρόβατα φύει [ἔρια], ἀλλ’ ὅσα ὄρη τε καὶ πεδία ἀνίησι.



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