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Thucydides [writes]: "and to buy the ground-up corn they wanted for a lot of money".[1]
Also [sc. the phrase] a)lhlesme/non bi/on ["a ground-up life"] some applied to those used to living on acorns, but others to those living easily; [ground-up] suggesting worked on, ready to eat.
Also [sc. attested is the proverbial phrase] a)lhlesme/nos bi/os, in reference to those with an ample supply of what they need. But another proverb says: "for [there are] no thorns".[2] It appears to recollect the change of life, previously wild and thorny, before tending the earth and seeds came about. Hence from this care came the saying a)lhlesme/non bi/on.[3]

*)alhlesme/non: *qoukudi/dhs: si=to/n te a)lhlesme/non to\n boulo/menon a)rguri/ou pollou= w)nh/sasqai. kai\ *)alhlesme/non bi/on oi( me\n e)pi\ tw=n balani/th| bi/w| xrwme/nwn e)de/canto, oi( de\ e)pi\ tw=n a)talaipw/rws biou/ntwn, oi(=on kateirgasme/non, pro\s trofh\n e(/toimon. kai\ *)alhlesme/nos bi/os, e)pi\ tw=n e)n a)fqoni/a| tw=n e)pithdei/wn o)/ntwn. a)/llh de\ paroimi/a fhsi/n: ou) ga\r a)/kanqai. e)/oike de\ u(pomimnh/skein th\n tou= bi/ou metabolh/n, a)gri/ou kai\ a)kanqw/dous pro/teron o)/ntos, pri\n e)pime/leian th=s gh=s kai\ tw=n sperma/twn gene/sqai. o(/qen a)po\ th=s u(/steron e)pimelei/as r(hqh=nai to\ a)lhlesme/non bi/on.

The headword participle, perfect middle/passive, is presumably extracted from the first quotation given (but is in fact a)lhleme/non there).
[1] A loose approximation of Thucydides 4.26.5.
[2] cf. omicron 769 and the references there.
[3] cf. beta 295.

David Whitehead (modified headword and translation; added notes and keywords; cosmetics) on 17 January 2001@04:08:30.
David Whitehead (added keywords; restorative cosmetics) on 13 June 2002@04:13:02.
David Whitehead (augmented notes and keywords; betacode and other cosmetics) on 5 February 2012@08:37:37.
David Whitehead on 31 July 2013@03:26:54.

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