Table of Texts With Translation or Corruption Difficulties

SUNDAY WEEKLY ZOOM - 12:30 PM EDT - Ancient Text Study: De Rerum Natura by Lucretius -- Read the post for our December 7, 2025 meeting -- or find out how to attend.

 

    Passage and Problem Alternatives and Suggested Translation Discussion Link
    VS 35: Bailey translates 35 this way: "We should not spoil what we have by desiring what we do not have, but remember that what we have too was the gift of fortune." Norman DeWitt (EAHP page __ ) "We must not spoil the enjoyment of the blessings we have by pining for those we have not but rather reflect tht these too are among the things desirable."

    Peter St Andre: "Don't ruin the things you have by wanting what you don't have, but realize that they too are things you once did wish for." Peter adds the note "[35] The word translated here as "ruin" (λυμαίνομαι) means, at root, to mistreat. The implication is that not honoring the good things you have achieved is a sign of disrespect and shows a lack of appreciation. See also Vatican Sayings #69 and #75.    		 Discussion here.
    VS 66: Bailey: Let us show our feeling for our lost friends not by lamentation but by meditation. DeWitt p 327: "Let us show our sympathy with our friends, not by wailing, but by taking thought."
    Epicurus.net: "We show our feeling for our friends' suffering, not with laments, but with thoughtful concern."    		 Discussion here
    DL "Wise Man" Saying As to Rejoicing at Misfortune of Another (near line 120) Bailey: "He will rejoice at another’s misfortunes, but only for his correction." Perseus: ""He will be grateful to anyone when he is corrected." Yonge: "he will propitiate an absolute ruler when occasion requires, and will humor him for the sake of correcting his habits;" Discussion Here
    DL "Wise Man" Saying as to Whether to Marry CD Yonge’s 1853: “Marriage, they say, is never any good to a man, and we must be quite content if it does no harm; and the wise man will never marry or beget children, as Epicurus himself lays down in his Doubts and in his treatises on Nature. Still, under certain circumstances in his life he will forsake these rules and marry.” Loeb Classical Library version of the R.D. Hicks translation, which dates from 1931, concurs: “Nor, again, will the wise man marry and rear a family: so Epicurus says in the Problems and in the De Natura. Occasionally he may marry due to special circumstances in his life.” But Cyril Bailey in his 1926 translation says: “Moreover, the wise man will marry and have children, as Epicurus says in the Problems and in the work On Nature. But he will marry according to the circumstances of his life.” Epicurus Reader (Inwood and Gerson) “And indeed the wise man will marry and father children….” George Strodach (1963): “In addition, the wise man will marry and beget children…. but he will marry according to his station in life, whatever it may be.” Discussion Here

  • Cassius June 29, 2021 at 4:14 PM

    Changed the title of the thread from “Table of Problem Translations” to “Table of Texts With Translation or Corruption Difficulties”.

  • Cassius December 12, 2022 at 8:16 PM

    Closed the thread.

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