Friday, August 15, 2014

 

Foolish

Euripides, fragment 903 (tr. Christopher Collard and Martin Cropp):
I would be foolish if I took care of my neighbours' business.

ἄφρων ἂν εἴην εἰ τρέφοιν τὰ τῶν πέλας.
In Greek, a busybody could be described as πολυπράγμων. A nation, as well as an individual, can be πολυπράγμων. Cf. ἀλλοτριοπράγμων and also ἀλλοτριοεπίσκοπος, which the Bible bids us not to be (1 Peter 4:15). See Jeannine K. Brown, "Just a Busybody? A Look at the Greco-Roman Topos of Meddling for Defining ἀλλοτριοεπίσκοπος in 1 Peter 4:15," Journal of Biblical Literature 125 (2006) 549-568.



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