118
the Hellenika of Xenophon.
39
Let us focus on a couple of passages where the cardinal terms are used relatively often, to help determine how they should best be
translated.
5.2.1 Polybios
Just over half of the 30 occasions on which the second-century bc historian Polybios
uses anatolē are directional; he is also fond of mesēmbria to denote ‘south’ (29
occurrences; there are none of notos in a directional sense); and he prefers dyseis
(plural; 22 uses) to other terms for ‘west’.
40
In two famous passages, he puts
speeches into the mouths of protagonists in the affairs of Greece, in which in the
word for a solar event is unmistakably used in a directional sense. In one, the speaker
warns the king of Macedonia, Philip V, to remember ‘the scale of the war that has
arisen towards the dyseis’, urging him ‘to look towards the dyseis … and pay attention to the wars that have arisen in Italia’, and to consider ‘the clouds appearing now
from the hespera’ (Polybios 5. 104. 2, 7, and 10).
41
A later speaker is made to reuse
the last metonymy, warning Philip’s enemies the Aitolians that ‘they have failed to
notice that they have drawn onto themselves such a great cloud from the hespera
that … shall subsequently be a cause of great evils for all Hellenes’ (7. 37. 10).
42
‘Settings’ and ‘evening’ would make no sense here; the terms in these passages can
only denote ‘the west’, the sphere of Roman power. In such contexts, which are
ubiquitous in Greek writings, we are justified in using simple cardinal names in
translation without elaborate explanation—though it would be prudent to tell the
reader, especially in a book on geography, which term is being translated on each
occasion (in the above examples dyseis or hespera would both be rendered as
‘west’).
of τὰ μεσημβρινά, ta mesēmbrina, ‘the midday places’ (2 of mesēmbria, temporal); (W) 2 of hespera or the adjective hesperios, ‘western’ (3 temporal).
39 Xenophon, Hellenika: no occurrences of arktos, boreas, anatolē, notos, dysis, zephyros, or cognate terms; (E) 3 of the adj. ἕῷος (heōos, ‘of the dawn’) for the ‘eastern’ wall of a place, 1 of ta
pros heō for ‘the eastward parts’ of a city; (W) 4 directional uses of hespera (10 temporal); 1
temporal of dysmē.
40 Polybios uses anatolai (plural) as a simple direction 16 times, anatolē once; qualifies the term
with ‘summer’ 5 times, with ‘winter’ and ‘equidiurnal’ once each, to refer to an ordinal direction;
refers 3 times to sunrise as an event, once to moonrise; twice uses the term for the source of a river.
(Data from Logeion and Perseus databases, 1 May 2020.) He uses ēōs in a directional sense 3
times; notos only of the wind; words related to hespera 11 times in directional sense (and twice
temporal).
41 (2) τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ πρὸς ταῖς δύσεσι πολέμου … (7) πρὸς τὰς δύσεις βλέπειν … καὶ τοῖς ἐν
᾿Ιταλίᾳ συνεστῶσι πολέμοις προσέχειν … (10) τὰ προφαίνομενα νῦν ἀπὸ τῆς ἑσπέρας νέφη.
42
λελήθασιν αὑτοῖς ἐπισπασάμενοι τηλικοῦτο νέφος ἀπὸ τῆς ἑσπέρας, ὃ κατὰ […] τὸ συνεχὲς
πᾶσιν ἔσται τοῖς ῞Ελλησι μεγάλων κακῶν αἴτιον.
D. G. J. Shipley
the Hellenika of Xenophon.
39
Let us focus on a couple of passages where the cardinal terms are used relatively often, to help determine how they should best be
translated.
5.2.1 Polybios
Just over half of the 30 occasions on which the second-century bc historian Polybios
uses anatolē are directional; he is also fond of mesēmbria to denote ‘south’ (29
occurrences; there are none of notos in a directional sense); and he prefers dyseis
(plural; 22 uses) to other terms for ‘west’.
40
In two famous passages, he puts
speeches into the mouths of protagonists in the affairs of Greece, in which in the
word for a solar event is unmistakably used in a directional sense. In one, the speaker
warns the king of Macedonia, Philip V, to remember ‘the scale of the war that has
arisen towards the dyseis’, urging him ‘to look towards the dyseis … and pay attention to the wars that have arisen in Italia’, and to consider ‘the clouds appearing now
from the hespera’ (Polybios 5. 104. 2, 7, and 10).
41
A later speaker is made to reuse
the last metonymy, warning Philip’s enemies the Aitolians that ‘they have failed to
notice that they have drawn onto themselves such a great cloud from the hespera
that … shall subsequently be a cause of great evils for all Hellenes’ (7. 37. 10).
42
‘Settings’ and ‘evening’ would make no sense here; the terms in these passages can
only denote ‘the west’, the sphere of Roman power. In such contexts, which are
ubiquitous in Greek writings, we are justified in using simple cardinal names in
translation without elaborate explanation—though it would be prudent to tell the
reader, especially in a book on geography, which term is being translated on each
occasion (in the above examples dyseis or hespera would both be rendered as
‘west’).
of τὰ μεσημβρινά, ta mesēmbrina, ‘the midday places’ (2 of mesēmbria, temporal); (W) 2 of hespera or the adjective hesperios, ‘western’ (3 temporal).
39 Xenophon, Hellenika: no occurrences of arktos, boreas, anatolē, notos, dysis, zephyros, or cognate terms; (E) 3 of the adj. ἕῷος (heōos, ‘of the dawn’) for the ‘eastern’ wall of a place, 1 of ta
pros heō for ‘the eastward parts’ of a city; (W) 4 directional uses of hespera (10 temporal); 1
temporal of dysmē.
40 Polybios uses anatolai (plural) as a simple direction 16 times, anatolē once; qualifies the term
with ‘summer’ 5 times, with ‘winter’ and ‘equidiurnal’ once each, to refer to an ordinal direction;
refers 3 times to sunrise as an event, once to moonrise; twice uses the term for the source of a river.
(Data from Logeion and Perseus databases, 1 May 2020.) He uses ēōs in a directional sense 3
times; notos only of the wind; words related to hespera 11 times in directional sense (and twice
temporal).
41 (2) τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ πρὸς ταῖς δύσεσι πολέμου … (7) πρὸς τὰς δύσεις βλέπειν … καὶ τοῖς ἐν
᾿Ιταλίᾳ συνεστῶσι πολέμοις προσέχειν … (10) τὰ προφαίνομενα νῦν ἀπὸ τῆς ἑσπέρας νέφη.
42
λελήθασιν αὑτοῖς ἐπισπασάμενοι τηλικοῦτο νέφος ἀπὸ τῆς ἑσπέρας, ὃ κατὰ […] τὸ συνεχὲς
πᾶσιν ἔσται τοῖς ῞Ελλησι μεγάλων κακῶν αἴτιον.
D. G. J. Shipley