05-28-2009, 01:50 PM
Quote:Xenophônta de ho hupaspistês echôn tên aspida apelipenThis is simply a "chicken and egg" translation problem. The word used is 'hyp-aspist'=shield -bearer, not the generic word for 'servant'...there are over 40 words in the ancient Greek lexicon for, or that relate, to 'servant', e.g. 'therapon' = generic servant, waiting-man or slave ( Herdt; Thucyd) but "hyp-aspist" is not one of them ! The translator in this case simply did not want to sound clumsy by the more literal; " Xenophon found himself deserted by the shield-bearer who was carrying his shield". Being even more pedantic, the correct word for shield-bearer in Attic dialect is 'hyperetes'... = military/Hoplite's baggage carrier/shield carrier)- who might also carry the Hoplite's shield among other things!
Xenophon found himself deserted by the servant who was carrying his shield
You may well need to rethink that dogmatic stance unless this was a stray Macedonian "aspis bearer" ahead of his time.
'Hypaspist' means specifically shield-bearer, sometimes in the sense of 'squire', not generic 'servant'.....
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff