[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

argument.over.difficulty

the fact that 2 or more highly eminent classicists disagree on the meaning of a
passage does not necessarily demonstrate any insuperable difficulty in said
passage.

if just one of the antagonists has the necessary repertoire for it to seem
simple, easy and clear and has an understanding that conforms to the intent of
the author, then the locus citatus will not have seemed difficult at all to the
one who thus understood it.

of course, it's also possible that some problematic loci have never yet been
understood by anyone in modern times.

i don't know of anything in thucydides that has given any more trouble than the
famous ka0apcic = catharsis locus in aristotle's poetics (and yet, all in all,
a very high percentage of the material in the aristotelian corpus will have
been crystal clear). the 'understanding' of (probably 90% plus of drama
students) seems very likely in error and the evidence offered by mr. else seems
very likely cogent. all this to say that inconcinnity, brachylogy and
vocabulary issues would never never lead me to name thucydides as the least bit
obscure. comparatively speaking, i think he's one of the standard authors who
expresses himself most clearly.

to the 2nd paragraph above add the following sentence: the fact that it gives
all other eminent scholars in the world fits would not detract from the
intrinsic simplicity of the locus.

shalom,
bearded bill of asheville <bthurman@unca.edu>
unca not having approved either whom or thereof.
Follow-Ups: