Gegraptai

Three words: What the [insert your favorite expletive here]?

My housemates and I went to the midnight release last night because we’ve been waiting like kids at Christmas since we heard about it. We were disappointed—and from the jeers and boos that echoed as soon as the credits began rolling, I’d say everyone else in the theater was too.

Too bad. I love the Indiana Jones trilogy. And as far as I’m concerned, it’s still a trilogy.

My good friend Jack has seen the light and switched to WordPress. Now, read his blog if you don’t already.

It’s from Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War 1.2.2:

τῆς γὰρ ἐμπορίας οὐκ οὔσης, οὐδ᾽ ἐπιμειγνύντες ἀδεῶς ἀλλήλοις οὔτε κατὰ γῆν οὔτε διὰ θαλάσσης, νεμόμενοί τε τὰ αὑτῶν ἕκαστοι ὅσον ἀποζῆν καὶ περιουσίαν χρημάτων οὐκ ἔχοντες οὐδὲ γῆν φυτεύοντες, ἄδηλον ὂν ὁπότε τις ἐπελθὼν καὶ ἀτειχίστων ἅμα ὄντων ἄλλος ἀφαιρήσεται, τῆς τε καθ᾽ ἡμέραν ἀναγκαίου τροφῆς πανταχοῦ ἂν ἡγούμενοι ἐπικρατεῖν, οὐ χαλεπῶς ἀπανίσταντο, καὶ δι᾽ αὐτὸ οὔτε μεγέθει πόλεων ἴσχυον οὔτε τῇ ἄλλῃ παρασκευῇ.

Here’s my rough-draft translation. I put the main verb, which finally appears near the end, in bold:

For because there was no commerce nor fearless mingling with one another neither by land nor through the sea; and because they were distributing among themselves their own things, each enough to live off; and because they had no abundance of property nor planted the ground, since they were unsure when some other, approaching, (and being at the same time unfortified) might take from them; and because they believed themselves to be in possession of their daily necessary nourishment wherever, they were not departing with difficulty; and because of this they were neither strong with respect to greatness of cities nor in another means.