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Bashyboy Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Sentence From Homer's Iliad
Hello everyone,
I am reading Richmond Lattimore's version of Homer's Iliad. The sentence that I am currently dealing with comes the 9th book, and is around the 17th line. Here it is:
"Friends, who are leaders of the Argives and keep their counsel: Zeus son of Kronos has caught me badly in bitter futility."
What exactly does it mean to be caught in bitter futility? Does it mean something similar to being caught IN a net? If this is correct, then Zeus has used bitter futility to catch Agamemnon? Why would Zeus use bitter futility to catch Agamemnon?
By being caught in bitter futility, does he inherit this futility, which would make sense based off the context? If this is the correct interpretation, how can I justify it using the definitions of words and grammar?
I am reading Richmond Lattimore's version of Homer's Iliad. The sentence that I am currently dealing with comes the 9th book, and is around the 17th line. Here it is:
"Friends, who are leaders of the Argives and keep their counsel: Zeus son of Kronos has caught me badly in bitter futility."
What exactly does it mean to be caught in bitter futility? Does it mean something similar to being caught IN a net? If this is correct, then Zeus has used bitter futility to catch Agamemnon? Why would Zeus use bitter futility to catch Agamemnon?
By being caught in bitter futility, does he inherit this futility, which would make sense based off the context? If this is the correct interpretation, how can I justify it using the definitions of words and grammar?
Top answer
Fagle's 1990's translation of this reads: “Friends… lords of the Argives, all my captains! Cronus’ son has entangled me in madness, blinding ruin". I don't know if this is an accurate translation of the original Greek, but it makes more sense to me.
- Fagle's 1990's translation of this reads: “Friends… lords of the Argives, all my captains!
- Cronus’ son has entangled me in madness, blinding ruin".
- I don't know if this is an accurate translation of the original Greek, but it makes more sense to me.
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3 Answers
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Fagle's 1990's translation of this reads: “Friends… lords of the Argives, all my captains! Cronus’ son has entangled me in madness, blinding ruin".
I don't know if this is an accurate translation of the original Greek, but it makes more sense to me.
I don't know if this is an accurate translation of the original Greek, but it makes more sense to me.
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I would concur that that is comprehensible. However, I would still like to understand this sentence that comes from Lattimore's translation.
I am having difficulty with another sentence. I have been trying to understand it since I made my first post, which was over an hour ago. This is the sentence:
"So he spoke, and all of them stayed stricken to silence."
This comes f
I am having difficulty with another sentence. I have been trying to understand it since I made my first post, which was over an hour ago. This is the sentence:
"So he spoke, and all of them stayed stricken to silence."
This comes f
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I am sorry, everyone, for having spoken quite rashly and inappropriately. I have been quite frustrated these past few days.
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