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ἀκρατέα δὲ καὶ ἐδωδῆς, καὶ ποικίλων
ἐπιθυμία, καὶ ψυχροποσίη · καὶ βοῆσαι μέγα καὶ ἐν ὀργῇ καὶ
ἐν παιδιῇ. καὶ κούρῃσι δὲ μέχρι καθάρσιος ἐπιμηνίων τάδε
ξυνήθεα. χώρη δὲ τίκτει Αἴγυπτος μάλιστα,
καὶ γὰρ ἐς ἀναπνοὴν ἀὴρ ξηρὴ καὶ ἡ ἐδωδὴ ποικίλη. |
The common reading is ἔῃ instead of
ἀὴρ; ἐς instead of
ἡ; and ἐδωδὴν instead of
ἐδωδή. Ermerins merely changes the
ἔῃ into ἥδε. I trust every candid
and learned reader will admit, that I have greatly improved the meaning by the slight
changes which I have ventured to make. From the translation of Crassus, it may be inferred
that he had read ἀὴρ, or at least had seen the necessity of
introducing it into the text: "Aer enim spirando siccus adducitur." I need scarcely add, that
in the old Ionic, which our author affects, ἀὴρ is often put
in the feminine gender. This was also the case in old Latin. See A. Gellius, xiii. 19.
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ῥίΖαι γὰρ καὶ βοτάναι καὶ λάχανα πολλὰ καὶ σπέρματα δριμέα,
καὶ ποτὸν παχὺ, ὕδωρ μὲν ὁ
Νεῖλος, δριμὺ δὲ τὸ ἀπὸ τῶν κριθέων τὸ τῶν βρυτέων
πόμα.|
Ermerins suppresses the words ἀπὸ
τῶν κριθέων; but this seems an unwarrantable liberty. By a small alteration I
have made, the text becomes sufficiently amended. On the ancient Zythi, see Appendix to the Edinburgh Greek Lexicon.
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τίκτει δὲ καὶ ἡ Συρίη, μάλιστα κοίλη· ὅθεν
Αἰγύπτια καὶ Συριακὰ ἕλκεα τάδε κικλήσκουσι.
Τρόπος δὲ θανάτου οἴκτιστος· πόνος μὲν δριμὺς καὶ θερμὸς,
ὡς ἐπ' ἄνθρακος, ἀναπνοὴ κακή.
ἀναπνέουσι γὰρ ὀδωδὸς σηπεδόνα καρτερήν· τὸ αὐτὸ δὲ πάλιν συντόνως
ἐς τὸν θώρηκα ἐμπνέουσι· ἀσηροὶ, ὡς μηδὲ ἑωυτέων τὴν ὀδμὴν
ἀνέχεσθαι· ὠχροὶ ἢ πελιδνοὶ τὰ πρόσωπα, πυρετοὶ
ὀξέες, δίψος, ὡς ἐκ
πυρός, τὸ δὲ ποτὸν οὐ προσίενται,
δέεϊ τῶν ἔνθεν πόνων. | Ermerins has ingeniously
substituted the last two words for E)MPO/NWN , a vocable of
doubtful meaning. |
ἄσσονται γὰρ,
ἢν τοῖσι παρισθμίοισι ἐνθλίβωσι, ἢ ἐς τὰς
ῥῖΝας ἀνατρέχῃ. καὶ ἢν μὲν κατακέωνται,
ἀνακαθίζουσι, ἀνακεκλίσθαι οὐκ
ἀνεχόμενοι · ἢν δὲ ἀνακαθίσωσι, ὑπὸ ἀπορίης αὖθις ἀνακλίνονται
. τά πολλὰ δὲ ὀρθοστάδην περιί̈ασι · ἀκρασίῃ γὰρ
ἡσυχίης τὴν ἠρεμίην φεύγουσι, πόνῳ πόνον λῦσαι θέλοντες.
ἀναπνοὴ εἴσω μεγάλη· ψυχρὸν γὰρ ἠέρα ποθέουσι ἐς ἔμψυξιν
· ἔξω δὲ σμικρή.
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