Suda On Line
Search
|
Search results for epsilon,3154 in Adler number:
Headword:
*)es
ko/rakas
Adler number: epsilon,3154
Translated headword: to the crows
Vetting Status: high
Translation: To the Boiotians who once dwelled in
Arne it was prophesied by the god that they would be driven from their land when white crows appeared. One time some young men got drunk, captured some crows and dusted them with chalk as a joke, then let them fly free. When they saw them the Boiotians were frantic, since it seemed that the prophecy had been fulfilled. Fearing the backlash the youths fled and settled in a place which they called "Crows". Afterwards, the inhabitants of Boiotia started sending their criminals to this place.[1] Some, however, [attribute the saying] to the notion that the creature is shameless and ill-omened for mankind.[2] But
Aristotle says that when a plague struck and crows gathered in abundance, people would catch them and purify them and them let them go free, telling the plague "begone to the crows!"[3] Aesop, though, tells a story about a big jackdaw who thought that he was the equal of the crows and went to see them. After taking a thrashing he crept back to the jackdaws, but they got angry at him and beat him, saying "begone to the crows!" Aristeides, however, proposes that it is because the birds make their nests in rough and rugged places that we say "begone to the crows!"
So, "to the crows" means "to darkness," "to destruction."[4]
*)es ko/rakas: *boiwtoi=s *)/arnhn pote\ oi)kou=sin e)rrh/qh u(po\ tou= qeou= e)kpesei=sqai th=s xw/ras leukw=n kora/kwn fane/ntwn. ne/oi de\ mequsqe/ntes pote/, sullabo/menoi ko/rakas e)gu/ywsan kata\ pai/gnion kai\ a)pe/steilan pwta=sqai. i)do/ntes de\ oi( *boiwtoi\ e)tara/xqhsan, w(s th=s mantei/as labou/shs te/los. kai\ fobhqe/ntes oi( neani/skoi to\n qo/rubon e)/fugon kai\ w)/|khsa/n tina to/pon, o(\n e)ka/lesan *ko/rakas: ei)s o(\n meta\ tau=ta oi( th\n *boiwti/an oi)kou=ntes tou\s a(marta/nontas e)/pempon. oi( de\ w(s tou= zw/|ou a)naidou=s kai\ dusoiwnistikou= tw=n a)nqrw/pwn o)/ntos. *)aristote/lhs de/ fhsin, loimou= katasxo/ntos kai\ kora/kwn pollw=n genome/nwn, tou\s a)nqrw/pous qhreu/ontas au)tou\s kai\ perikaqai/rontas e)a=n zw=ntas kai\ e)pile/gein tw=| loimw=|, feu=g' e)s ko/rakas. o( de\ *ai)/swpos muqikw=s koloio\n me/gan, nomi/santa toi=s ko/racin i)/son ei)=nai, pro\s au)tou\s poreuqh=nai: h(tthqe/nta de\ pa/lin ei)s tou\s koloiou\s u(postre/yai: tou\s de\ a)ganakth/santas pai/ein au)to\n le/gontas, feu=g' e)s ko/rakas. *)aristei/dhs de\ a)podi/dwsi, dia\ to\ e)n traxe/si to/pois kai\ krhmnw/desi neossopoiei=sqai, le/gein h(ma=s, feu=g' e)s ko/rakas. *)es ko/rakas ou)=n ei)s to\ sko/tos, ei)s o)/leqron.
Notes:
See also
epsilon 3155, and generally Tosi (cited under
alpha 378) no.771.
[1]
Eustathius, in his commentary to
Homer,
Odyssey 13.408, attributes to a
Pausanias (not the topographer but the Attic lexicographer: his fr.183 Schwabe) a somewhat different version of the same story. In that version the Boeotians, driven out of their homes in post-heroic times by Thracians are told by an oracle to settle where they see white crows. The part about the young men chalking up some birds and letting them loose occurs in Eusthathius' version also. The same version is found in the
Lexicon of
Photius, s.v.
e)s ko/rakas). See generally J. Fontenrose,
The Delphic Oracle (Berkeley & Los Angeles 1978) 383, L75 (= Parke/Wormell 309).
[2] The word translated here as "ill-omened" is literally "bad-bird-like" (
dusoiwnistikou=), referring to the use of birds for omens. Hence the connection with crows.
[3]
Aristotle fr. 496 Rose, from the
Constitution of the Thessalians. (The "fragment" consists of attributions of this material to
Aristotle by
Eustathius and
Photius: see note 1 above.)
[4] Compare
beta 71 and
epsiloniota 285.
Translated by: William Hutton on 4 April 1999@18:27:00.
Vetted by:
No. of records found: 1
Page 1
End of search