Epi xurou: epi kindunou, en autêi têi tou pragmatos epitasei. ho de perialgôn epi têi prorrêsei ên dêlos, epi xurou te akmês, to legomenon, ho toutou kindunos ôn, hoi te nautai kai hosoi perineoi ouk anexomenoi tês toutou mellêseôs dêloi êsan. kai authis: kai autou to kratos epi xurou akmês ên.
The illustrative quotations provided in this entry actually illustrate a slightly different figure of speech:
e)pi\ curou= a)kmh=s ('on a razor's edge'), which was made popular by its appearance in
Homer,
Iliad 10.173 (web address 1), a passage cited by the
Etymologicum Magnum in its entry on
e)pi\ curou= (see n. 2 below). See also
xi 162.
[1] This gloss is shared by
Hesychius epsilon5023, which diverges from the current entry in other respects.
[2] Up to this point the entry =
Synagoge epsilon711 (
Lexica Segueriana 231.5), and the beginning of the entry at
Etymologicum Magnum 362.24-25 (cf.
Etymologicum Genuinum alpha337 and
Etym.Magn. 49.14-5).
[3]
Aelian fr.84 Hercher, 87b Domingo-Forasté. Both editors collate this passage with other quotations from the Suda referring to trouble at sea:
epsilon 1720,
sigma 637,
epsilon 3230,
pi 1204,
epsilon 3230.
[4]
Aelian fr.129 Hercher, 132 Domingo-Forasté. Both editors follow a variant reading in this quotation:
au)to/ for
au)tou=, yielding the sense "the power [or government] itself was on a razor's edge." Adler does not report this variant in her apparatus.
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