Oppian, Colluthus, Tryphiodorus, with an English translation by AW Mair

732 Pages·2008·21.65 MB·English

LIBRARY
THE LOEB CLASSICAL
EDITED HY
T E PAGE, iiTT.n.
W. H. D. ROUSE, oxr.n.
CAPPS, PH.o.,"xx.n.
OPPIAN
COLLUTHUS
TRVPHIODORUS

OPPIAN.
COLLUTHUS,
TRYPHIODORUS
WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY
A. W. MAIR, D.LiiT.
PROFESSOR OF GRF.EK, EDINBURGH UNIVEESITr
LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD
:
NEW YORK PUTNAM'S SONS
: G. P.
MCMXX\an
p«
A ^y-
i
PrintedinGreatBritain.
PREFACE
The present volume forms the third instakaent of
those translations from the Greek poets on which,
almostbyanaccident, I havespentnoinconsiderable
portion ofthe little leisure ofmj- life. Ifnow, con-
temiplating that work dispassionately, I am moved
Tby some misgi\"ing and am tempted to consider it as
being, however useful,
(nrovSijs ye [xkiroi rijs c/^i'^S ovk a^tov,
f)erhapsthe same soberreflection occurs tomostmen
n looking upon the finished labour of their hands
:
fecineoperaepretium ? Be that as it may,ifit should
occur to any, otherwise approving, to regret that I
have selected for my purpose a series of poets who,
lifterall,dwellratheronthelowerlevelsofParnassus,
I am not altogether without hope that I may here-
after find time to do similar homage to some choicer
spirits, to Aeschylus, for example, and to Pindar
:
for which last, indeed, what I have hitherto written
^•as in a sense and in the first instance merely pre-
paratory. But for the immediate future another
sort of work suggests itself which cannot wisely be
postponedandwhichonemight,whentoolate,regret
to have left unattempted. f'itae summa hrevis spem
OSvetatincohare longam. Even as I •«Tite, while the
September sea breaks at my feet on the grey stones
PREFACE
of Loch Ranza, not the least prominent thought in
my —mind is the moving memory of the vanished
eyes of Sir William Ridgeway, Sir John Sandys,
J. S.Reid,Arthur Piatt,J. S. Phillimore,ton—ame but
these, and of others nearer and unnamed which
would have looked upon these pages with a kindly
interest, and, I would fain think, not wholly without
approval
:
ecTTi Se Kai tl davovTetrcTLV //.epos
Kav vofiov epSofXiViov,
KaraK/JUTTTet 8 ov kovis
(Tvyyoviov KcSvav xdpiv.
Some little inconsistency in minor detail between
one part of the book and another will be explained
by the fact that Colluthus and Tryphiodorus—apart
from the Index—were in type so long ago as 1921,
while Oppian is only now completed.
Thislast,beinglargelypioneerwork,has occupied
more time and labour than one would have cared
deliberately to contemplate. The identification of
the animalsmentioned,andofthe fishesinparticular,
is a difficult and perilous task, and while I have don^
whatI couldbycollationofthe statementsin ancient
authors and by the use of such hints as could ht
derived from modern nomenclature or from the
apparent etymological significance ofthe old names,
I can hardly expect that my identifications, some of
them novel, will command complete approval. But
the statement offacts as here presented may Ughten
the labour ofany future editor.
It only remains to thank all who have in sundry
ways and at divers seasons helped me. Dr. Page,
whose interest has been a great encouragement, has
not only read my proofs with almost disconcerting