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Headword: *pa/nta kinh/sw pe/tron
Adler number: pi,222
Translated headword: I will move every rock
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
Similar to the [proverb] "move every stone". When Mardonius had been defeated at the battle of Plataea, a rumor took hold that he had buried a treasure in the circuit of his tent and abandoned it. So Polycrates of Athens bought the spot and searched for a long time. As he achieved nothing, he sent and enquired at Delphi, how he might find it. They say that Apollo replied, "Move every stone (li/qon)!" But the [phrase] "to shake every rope" [comes] from a metaphor of those who set in motion the fitments.[1]
Greek Original:
*pa/nta kinh/sw pe/tron: o(moi/a th=| pa/nta li/qon ki/nei: tou= *mardoni/ou h(tthqe/ntos e)n *plataiai=s, fh/mh katei=xen, w(s e)n tw=| peribo/lw| th=s skhnh=s qhsauro\n katoru/cas a)poleloi/pei. pria/menos ou)=n *polukra/ths o( *)aqhnai=os to\n to/pon polu\n xro/non e)zh/tei. w(s de\ ou)de\n e)pe/raine, pe/myas ei)s *delfou\s e)phrw/ta, pw=s a)\n eu(/roi. to\n de\ *)apo/llwna a)pokri/nasqai/ fasi, pa/nta li/qon ki/nei. to\ de/, pa/nta ka/lwn sei/ein, a)po\ metafora=s tw=n ta\ a)/rmena kinou/ntwn.
Notes:
This entry uses pe/tron for "stone" in the phrase of the headword rather than li/qon, used originally in the metaphor for moving the decisive playing-piece in the game of pessoi. See pi 223; cf. pi 1384, with notes on this game.
The source of this story of the search for Mardonius' treasure by one Polycrates (here an Athenian; in the shorter version in pi 223 a Theban) in 479 BC is unidentifiable.
[1] This final sentence has nothing to do with this headword. It is a compression of the two unrelated entries in Photius (Lexicon pi165 and pi166 Theodoridis) immediately preceding his entry "to move every stone". The first Photius entry runs, "To shake every rope: a proverb in reference to those who feel complete enthusiasm; it is derived from those loosening the fitments" (probably tied ropes on a ship, see note on pi 221, but cf. the metaphor from a horse's reins at Plato, Protagoras 338E). The Suda text here omits the definition of the proverb and has kinou/ntwn in the sense of setting in motion things that have been fixed or tied, where other entries have xalw/ntwn.
Reference:
J. Fontenrose, The Delphic Oracle: its responses and operations, with a catalogue of responses (Berkeley 1978) 86-87
Keywords: daily life; history; imagery; proverbs; religion; rhetoric
Translated by: Robert Dyer on 4 November 2001@17:57:50.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (added bibliography and keywords; cosmetics) on 12 September 2002@06:54:42.
Robert Dyer (assimilated entry to pi 221) on 18 January 2003@03:13:51.
Ross Scaife ✝ (put tags around betacode in translation field) on 18 January 2003@21:40:33.
David Whitehead (another keyword; cosmetics) on 18 October 2005@06:41:17.
David Whitehead (another keyword) on 28 November 2005@10:37:47.
David Whitehead (tweaks and cosmetics) on 13 August 2013@08:17:37.
David Whitehead (coding) on 21 May 2016@09:45:24.

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