Orphica (Argonautica, Hymni, Lithica)

X

...avoiding the inconveniences of ambiguity, as in Iliad 23.663:

"but he who is defeated shall carry away a double-handled cup."
original Greek: αὐτὰρ ὁ νικηθεὶς δέπας οἴσεται ἀμφικύπελλον

This phrasing belongs to the Attic dialect The dialect of Greek spoken in ancient Athens, which became the standard for prose; Hermann is contrasting it with the older epic dialect of Homer., whereas the Homeric form would be autar ho nikētheis Hermann is arguing that in Homer, the word "ho" acts as a demonstrative pronoun ("but that one, having been defeated") rather than a simple definite article ("but the defeated one"), and punctuation or spelling should reflect this..

The case of punctuation is quite the opposite. In this matter, I wish I had complied more with the ancients; how much this matters was recently taught by a supreme critic in the preface to the newest edition of Homer, who, as is his habit, expressed much in few words. He likely refers to the scholar Friedrich August Wolf. Richard Porson 1759–1808, a famous English classical scholar known for his precise work on Greek texts., from whom the ancient rules on this matter were not hidden, would have shed much light on an otherwise inextricable subject if he had turned his attention to it in those things he discussed regarding the fifth foot of the tragic trimeter A line of verse consisting of three measures, the standard meter for dialogue in Greek drama. in the preface to the second edition of Hecuba.

Furthermore, anyone dealing with the Orphica could not bypass that dispute regarding the age of these poems, especially since this controversy has been debated with the greatest intensity by learned men. The "Orphic" poems were traditionally attributed to the mythical Orpheus, but by Hermann's time, scholars were debating whether they were truly ancient or later "pious frauds" from the early Christian era. Indeed, I had decided to discuss this matter more fully in this very preface to the edition of the Orphica; for this reason, once or twice (for example, at line 594 of the Lithica) I referred readers to the preface.

But with the text already printed, when I realized that the first volume would grow to an excessive size if a preface of such length were added, I changed my plan and moved this entire discussion to the second volume. Therefore, I wished for readers to be informed of this fact.