Monday, March 1, 2010

Day 29: The Son of Atreus Threatens the Heroes

Lines 133-41
ἦ ἐθέλεις, ὄφρ' αὐτὸς ἔχῃς γέρας, αὐτὰρ ἔμ' αὔτως
ἧσθαι δευόμενον, κέλεαι δέ με τήνδ' ἀποδοῦναι;
ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν δώουσι γέρας μεγάθυμοι Ἀχαιοί,
ἄρσαντες κατὰ θυμόν, ὅπως ἀντάξιον ἔσται -
εἰ δέ κε μὴ δώωσιν, ἐγὼ δέ κεν αὐτὸς ἕλωμαι
ἢ τεὸν ἢ Αἴαντος ἰὼν γέρας, ἢ Ὀδυσῆος
ἄξω ἑλών· ὁ δέ κεν κεχολώσεται, ὅν κεν ἵκωμαι.
ἀλλ' ἦ τοι μὲν ταῦτα μεταφρασόμεθα καὶ αὖτις,
νῦν δ' ἄγε νῆα μέλαιναν ἐρύσομεν εἰς ἅλα δῖαν,

And you desire, in order that you yourself keep a prize,
And thus to let me sit there lacking. And now you command me
To give this up? But the great souled Achaeans a fitting prize
May give a fitting prize, this will suit me-
But if they do not, I myself will go and seize
Either yours, or the prize of Ajax, or Odysseus,
Leading off and depriving him; and he may be enraged,
Whom I go off from. But let us reflect on this later anew,
And come now let us launch a black ship into the blessed briny sea,

Had a bit of a problem with the translation here. I'm not sure that I got the meaning fully when Agamemnon is talking about who he is going to enrage. If there is anyone out there who can help me get a better sense of the particle "κεν" I would appreciate the assistance. If not, I'll trudge on and hope to come to some resolution.

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