<w lemma="%2A%28%2Foti">Ὅτι</w> <w lemma="th%3Ds">τῆς</w> <w lemma="i%28stori%2Fas">ἱστορίας</w> <w lemma="i%29di%2Fwma">ἰδίωμα</w> <w lemma="tou%3Dt%27">τοῦτ᾽</w> <w lemma="e%29sti%5C">ἐστὶ</w> <w lemma="to%5C">τὸ</w> <w lemma="prw%3Dton">πρῶτον</w> <w lemma="me%5Cn">μὲν</w> <w lemma="au%29tou%5Cs">αὐτοὺς</w> <w lemma="tou%5Cs">τοὺς</w> <w lemma="kat%27">κατ᾽</w> <w lemma="a%29lh%2Fqeian">ἀλήθειαν</w> <w lemma="ei%29rhme%2Fnous">εἰρημένους</w>, <w lemma="oi%28%3Doi%2F">οἷοί</w> <w lemma="pot%27">ποτ᾽</w> <w lemma="a%29%5Cn">ἂν</w> <w lemma="w%29%3Dsi">ὦσι</w>, <w lemma="gnw%3Dnai">γνῶναι</w> <w lemma="lo%2Fgous">λόγους</w>, <w lemma="deu%2Fteron">δεύτερον</w> <w lemma="th%5Cn">τὴν</w> <w lemma="ai%29ti%2Fan">αἰτίαν</w> <w lemma="punqa%2Fnesqai">πυνθάνεσθαι</w>, <w lemma="par%27">παρ᾽</w> <w lemma="h%28%5Cn">ἣν</w> <w lemma="h%29%5C">ἢ</w> <w lemma="die%2Fpesen">διέπεσεν</w> <w lemma="h%29%5C">ἢ</w> <w lemma="katwrqw%2Fqh">κατωρθώθη</w> <w lemma="to%5C">τὸ</w> <w lemma="praxqe%5Cn">πραχθὲν</w> <w lemma="h%29%5C">ἢ</w> <w lemma="r%28hqe%2Fn:">ῥηθέν·</w>
<w lemma="e%29pei%5C">ἐπεὶ</w> <w lemma="yilw%3Ds">ψιλῶς</w> <w lemma="lego%2Fmenon">λεγόμενον</w> <w lemma="au%29to%5C">αὐτὸ</w> <w lemma="to%5C">τὸ</w> <w lemma="gegono%5Cs">γεγονὸς</w> <w lemma="yuxagwgei%3D">ψυχαγωγεῖ</w> <w lemma="me%2Fn">μέν</w>, <w lemma="w%29felei%3D">ὠφελεῖ</w> <w lemma="d%27">δ᾽</w> <w lemma="ou%29de%2Fn:">οὐδέν·</w> <w lemma="prosteqei%2Fshs">προστεθείσης</w> <w lemma="de%5C">δὲ</w> <w lemma="th%3Ds">τῆς</w> <w lemma="ai%29ti%2Fas">αἰτίας</w> <w lemma="e%29%2Fgkarpos">ἔγκαρπος</w> <w lemma="h%28">ἡ</w> <w lemma="th%3Ds">τῆς</w> <w lemma="i%28stori%2Fas">ἱστορίας</w> <w lemma="gi%2Fnetai">γίνεται</w> <w lemma="xrh%3Dsis">χρῆσις</w>.
<w lemma="e%29k">ἐκ</w> <w lemma="ga%5Cr">γὰρ</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="o%28moi%2Fwn">ὁμοίων</w> <w lemma="e%29pi%5C">ἐπὶ</w> <w lemma="tou%5Cs">τοὺς</w> <w lemma="oi%29kei%2Fous">οἰκείους</w> <w lemma="metaferome%2Fnwn">μεταφερομένων</w> <w lemma="kairou%5Cs">καιροὺς</w> <w lemma="a%29formai%5C">ἀφορμαὶ</w> <w lemma="gi%2Fnontai">γίνονται</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="prolh%2Fyeis">προλήψεις</w> <w lemma="ei%29s">εἰς</w> <w lemma="to%5C">τὸ</w> <w lemma="proi+de%2Fsqai">προϊδέσθαι</w> <w lemma="to%5C">τὸ</w> <w lemma="me%2Fllon">μέλλον</w>, <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="pote%5C">ποτὲ</w> <w lemma="me%5Cn">μὲν</w> <w lemma="eu%29labhqh%3Dnai">εὐλαβηθῆναι</w>, <w lemma="pote%5C">ποτὲ</w> <w lemma="de%5C">δὲ</w> <w lemma="mimou%2Fmenon">μιμούμενον</w> <w lemma="ta%5C">τὰ</w> <w lemma="progegono%2Fta">προγεγονότα</w> <w lemma="qarralew%2Fteron">θαρραλεώτερον</w> <w lemma="e%29gxeirei%3Dn">ἐγχειρεῖν</w> <w lemma="toi%3Ds">τοῖς</w> <w lemma="e%29piferome%2Fnois:">ἐπιφερομένοις·</w>
<w lemma="o%28">ὁ</w> <w lemma="de%5C">δὲ</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="tou%5Cs">τοὺς</w> <w lemma="r%28hqe%2Fntas">ῥηθέντας</w> <w lemma="lo%2Fgous">λόγους</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="th%5Cn">τὴν</w> <w lemma="ai%29ti%2Fan">αἰτίαν</w> <w lemma="parasiwpw%3Dn">παρασιωπῶν</w>, <w lemma="yeudh%3D">ψευδῆ</w> <w lemma="d%27">δ᾽</w> <w lemma="a%29nti%5C">ἀντὶ</w> <w lemma="tou%2Ftwn">τούτων</w> <w lemma="e%29pixeirh%2Fmata">ἐπιχειρήματα</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="diecodikou%5Cs">διεξοδικοὺς</w> <w lemma="le%2Fgwn">λέγων</w> <w lemma="lo%2Fgous">λόγους</w>, <w lemma="a%29nairei%3D">ἀναιρεῖ</w> <w lemma="to%5C">τὸ</w> <w lemma="th%3Ds">τῆς</w> <w lemma="i%28stori%2Fas">ἱστορίας</w> <w lemma="i%29%2Fdion:">ἴδιον·</w> <w lemma="o%28%5C">ὃ</w> <w lemma="ma%2Flista">μάλιστα</w> <w lemma="poiei%3D">ποιεῖ</w> <w lemma="%2Ati%2Fmaios:">Τίμαιος·</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="dio%2Fti">διότι</w> <w lemma="tou%2Ftou">τούτου</w> <w lemma="tou%3D">τοῦ</w> <w lemma="ge%2Fnous">γένους</w> <w lemma="e%29sti%5C">ἐστὶ</w> <w lemma="plh%2Frh">πλήρη</w> <w lemma="ta%5C">τὰ</w> <w lemma="bubli%2Fa">βυβλία</w> <w lemma="par%27">παρ᾽</w> <w lemma="au%29tw%3D%7C">αὐτῷ</w>, <w lemma="pa%2Fntes">πάντες</w> <w lemma="ginw%2Fskomen">γινώσκομεν</w>.
|
<head>General Remarks on Timaeus as an Historian</head>The story of the brazen bull is this. It was made by<note anchored="yes" place="marg" id="note40">The brazen bull of phalaris.</note>Phalaris at Agrigentum; and he used to force men to get into it, and then by way of punishment light a fire underneath. The metal becoming thus red hot, the man inside was roasted and scorched to death; and when he screamed in his agony, the sound from the machine was very like the bellowing of a bull. When the Carthaginians conquered <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Sicily&groupId=973&placeId=1724">Sicily</a> this bull was removed from Agrigentum to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Carthage&groupId=441&placeId=820">Carthage</a>. The trap door between the shoulders, through which the victims used to be let down, still remains; and no other reason for the construction of such a bull in <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Carthage&groupId=441&placeId=820">Carthage</a> can be discovered at all: yet Timaeus has undertaken to upset the common story, and to refute the declarations of poets and historians, by alleging that the bull at <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Carthage&groupId=441&placeId=820">Carthage</a> did not come from Agrigentum, and that no such figure ever existed there; and he has composed a lengthy treatise to prove this. . . .What epithet ought one to apply to Timaeus, and what word will properly characterise him? A man of his kind appears to me to deserve the very bitterest of the terms which he has applied to others. It has already been sufficiently proved that he is a carping, false and impudent writer; and from what remains to be said he will be shown to be unphilosophical, and, in short, utterly uninstructed. For towards the end of his twenty-first book, in the course of his "harangue of Timoleon," he remarks that "the whole sublunary world being divided into three parts —Asia, <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Libya&groupId=686&placeId=427">Libya</a>, and Europe. . . ."<note anchored="yes" place="unspecified" id="note41">See<ref target="b3c37" targOrder="U">3, 37</ref>. The point seems to be that the remark was too commonplace to put into the mouth of a hero.</note>One could scarcely believe such a remark to have come, I don't say from Timaeus, but even from the proverbial Margites. . . .<pb n="102" />
|
|
Walbank Commentary