Senigallia Epicurean Festival Coming Up July 21-23

  • Cassius June 26, 2022 at 9:25 AM

    Changed the title of the thread from “Senagal Epicurean Festival Coming Up July 23-25” to “Senigallia Epicurean Festival Coming Up July 23-25”.

  • Cassius June 27, 2022 at 6:19 PM

    Changed the title of the thread from “Senigallia Epicurean Festival Coming Up July 23-25” to “Senigallia Epicurean Festival Coming Up July 21-23”.

    I note the reference to VS48 which Bailry translates as VS48. We must try to make the end of the journey better than the beginning, as long as we are journeying; but when we come to the end, we must be happy and content.

    I've always considered that more targeted at "end of life" considerations rather than just "make tomorrow better than today" but surely that is implied as well, as you suggest, and your might even be the major focus.

    I don't think there are as many alternate translations to choose from as with the PDs but hopefully one day we will have a supplement to Nates PD compilations and/or maybe Don will try his hand at his own translation.

    VS48 Saint-Andre: While you are on the road, try to make the later part better than the earlier part; and be equally happy when you reach the end.

    VS48 Epicurus Wiki: (We should) try [to make] the later (stretch) [better] than the earlier (one) while [we are] on (the) road (and) when [we come] to (the) end (we should) enjoy [smooth] (contentment) http://wiki.epicurism.info/Vatican_Saying_48/

    πειρᾶσθαι τὴν ὑστέραν τῆς προτέρας κρείττω ποιείν, ἕως ἂν ἐν ὁδῷ ὦμεν· ἐπειδὰν δʼ ἐπὶ πέρας ἔλθωμεν, ὁμαλῶς εὐφραίνεσθαι.

    My attempt at a literal translation:

    Attempt to make that which comes afterwards better than that which came earlier while we are on the journey; for whenever we should come to the end, we should be equally making merry.

    I like that Epicurus uses the first person plural in the verbs: We. He's including himself in the exhortation to "make each step of the journey better than the one that came before."

    Key words from Greek:

    - τὴν ὑστέραν - that which comes later or afterwards

    - τῆς προτέρας - that which comes earlier or before

    - κρείττω - Attic form of κρείσσων (showing Epicurus’s Attic upbringing)

    This word has two meanings:

    comparative degree of κρατύς (kratús): more powerful

    comparative degree of ᾰ̓γᾰθός (agathós): better

    Ᾰ̓γᾰθός throughout Epicurus’s writings, in my opinion, can in many instances be equated with “the good” which is pleasure. So, in one sense, κρείττω ποιείν could be translated as “to make better” but also, in Epicurean senses, “to make more pleasurable.”

    - ἐν ὁδῷ “on α road” the last word here is ὁδός (hodos) which is literally “road” so literally “ἐν ὁδῷ = on a road” but metaphorically it can mean on a journey or even with the dative ὁδῷ more like “in a journey”. You’re not just “on” a road, you’re “within” the journey (of life).

    Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, ὁδός

    - πέρας - a word used several times by Epicurus, including in PD10 for the “limits of desires” τε τὸ πέρας τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν ; PD20 τὰ πέρατα τῆς ἡδονῆς “the limits of pleasures” ; Letter to Menoikeus 133 τῶν ἀγαθῶν πέρας "the limits/boundaries of good things (i.e., pleasure)"

    - εὐφραίνεσθαι (euphrainesthai) “rejoice, be in one's element, be pleased with, delight in, enjoy oneself, exult in, joy in, take pleasure in; make merry, enjoy oneself” I believe this word has to also be connected with euphrosyne (one of the “kinetic pleasures”)

    Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, ε , εὐφημ-ητικός , εὐφραίνω

    Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, ε , εὐφημ-ητικός , εὐφροσύνη