This is the vulgate text of the DNa inscription (by Emperor Darius the First at Naqsh-e-Rostam, circa 490 BCE). I will attempt a rendering of this Old Persian (OPr) into Sanskrit [Skt]. Then we shall translate it into English. A thing to note is that I no knowledge of the OPr language. However, the striking intelligbility of the text caught me by surprise and motivated me to write this post. This post might serve to illustrate how much OPr someone who knows fluent Sanskrit (and some Indo-Iranian linguistics) can understand. I will attempt to place a cognate at every position rather than just translate meaning.
English: Great is the god Ahura Mazda, who gave [created] this earth, who gave that sky, who created mankind, who gave happiness to mankind, who made Darius [lit. bearing good] the king, one king of many, one overlord of many. I am Darius: great king, king of kings, king of the lands of all men, king on this great earth, far and wide, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenid, a Persian, son of a Persian, an Aryan of Aryan descent.
Notes: A few things to note in the translation. I tried my best to literally reconstruct and reverse engineer each word back to its cognate root or noun. If none existed, I made my own nouns [like kṣetṛ from √kṣi “to rule”]. This caused some awkwardness, such as the word dasyu [enemy/slave in Skt] being used to denote “land” [cognate with dāhyu [land] in OPr]. I rendered the name “Darius” into Skt by calquing it. I did the same for Achaemenid. Darius in OPr is dārayavahu [lit. bearer of good]. This was easy to render into Skt as dhāravasu [m]. Achaemenid in OPr is haxamanishya [lit. companionship minded person] which I rendered as sakhamanaya in Skt. I also calqued ahurāmāzda [lit. god of wisdom] into asuramedha. I shifted the gender of medhā > medha using a bahuvrihi.
Coming to the ease or quirks of the reading. I understood maybe 50% on my first read and a lot more everytime I read a line closely trying to mentally reverse engineer words into Skt. The relative pronoun hya gave me trouble but I figured “great god ahura mazda, X gave this earth” was the perfect place for a relative clause which solved this mystery. The word šiyāti troubled me a lot though and I could not think of any cognate [either root or noun]. I don’t think any exists so I looked up the meaning in a dictionary and plugged in ānanda [bliss] for the Skt. Now, I wasn’t sure what role avam played. I went with a safe bet that it is related to asau/amu [that, yonder – Skt]. Asmāna of OPr did have a cognate which is aśman but this is used only for a stone in RV. A closer meaning is “cloud” but still not quite “sky” – But as it is a cognate, it will do in line with the scope of my translation being word-for-word. ariyaciça puzzled me for a while but the ingenuity struck me a lot once figured out! [āryacitra – in the image of an Aryan].
The functions of the past tense in the indicative mood of the verbal stems of the earliest layers of the vedic language is one of the most daunting tasks at hand. Right before I begin, I must admit that this post will be loaded with linguistic terminology and I will not try to spend too much time explaining it. I intend for this post to serve as a “primer” on vedic tense usage for those already familiar with Saṃskṛta.
There are three stems in saṃskṛta which are used in past-tense or related usages – present, aorist and perfect. The present stem forms the imperfect tense (लङ्)*, the aorist stem forms the aorist past (लुङ्) and the perfect stem forms the लिट् and the ‘pluperfect’ (लिट् + an augment “a”).
Note: the imperfect tense does not have the meaning of “continuous process” as used in latin/greek. the terminology is a mere calque by occidental grammarians using greek as an analogue.
What does “stem” mean?
Just to quickly elucidate, the stem is the prātipadika of pāṇini formed from the dhātu (verb root) by addition of some infix (suffix or affix).
As defined by pāṇini, 1.2.45 अर्थवदधातुरप्रत्ययः प्रातिपदिकम् “prātipadika (verb stem) is that which has meaning but is not a dhātu (verb root) or a pratyaya (infix)”
There are 4 stems – present, aorist, perfect and future. In our present post, we’re only concerned with the first two. Part-II will cover perfect (this is a huge topic, so another post for it).
Example – take the verb root (dhātu) पच्
1. The Present Stem – प॑च 2. The Aorist Stem – अपाक्ष् 3. The Perfect Stem – पपच् 4. The Future Stem – पक्ष्य
All four of these stems have a continuum of “tense-aspect” embedded in them.
These tenses in the earliest forms of the vedic language has multiple uses that derive from their “aspectual” function. An argument for them being polysemous can be made. Our task here is to list all their uses neatly without getting into debates about how/why these uses originated or make them fit in a reichenbach-ian framework of aspect. We are currently not concerned with that and simply want to see how these tenses work.
Let us begin with the easiest tense to understand:
The Imperfect (लङ्): This tense is formed from the present stem. It has one simple usage. It is a basic preterite used as a narrative tense in the samhita and brāhmaṇā-s. It is formed by an augment (a) + secondary endings. This tense has *no* relation to present time at all. This is important to note because the other two tenses often have a relation to the present time which complicates their functions. The imperfect picks out a specific, localized past time of the historical or remote past. It is a pure tense which locates an incident that happened before speech time.
Pāṇini defines it as अनद्यतने लङ् (3.2.111) which means “in reference to non-recent (remote) past time, we use the la~N” Another subtle distinction is this is usually technically witnessed historical past (defined so because the perfect (liT is parokṣe “unseen” remote past). Keep this in mind just, the imperfect is the standard tense of narration in vedic, it narrates stories and events that are following a common them without interruption.
“The great sage [RSi] born of gods, impelled by gods, having the sight of men–– stopped the flowing river. When Vishvāmitra carried Sudās [across the river], Indra made friends with the Kushikas”
All 3 verbs in this verse (astabhnāt,avahat,apriyāyata) are in लङ् and convey a narration that happened in the remote past. There is no reference to present time. The verb locates an incident that happened before speech time.
One other minor usage of the imperfect is a “plurperfect” usage (I had done, I had said, I had eaten.. etc) in a relative clause. This usage is shared with the aorist and mostly carried out by the aorist only.
Example –
न वै त्वं तद् अकरोर् यद् अहम् अब्रवम्
“No, certainly you did that which I had told you [to do]”
Here, we see the pluperfect proper usage “I had done XYZ” in the relative clause introduced by “yad/yat/etc” This is all for the imperfect.
The Aorist (लुङ्): Here starts the hard work. Brace in! Be sure to pay close attention to every different usage here. The Aorist and Perfect are very polysemous. The Aorist has simple aspect* and also expresses an action that occured in the past but with reference to the present. It does not describe duration or continuity, it simply states a fact [this use is prominent in non-indicative moods which we won’t cover here]. (here comes in the “simple aspect” function of the tense). What does this mean exactly?
*What does aspect meant? it gives information on how the verbal act is being done 1) I did – simple aspect (no information about duration of process of doing). 2) I am doing – continuous aspect (information about duration of process of doing is given). 3) I have/had done – completed aspect (the action is completed and flows into a state in present time with “have” but is not flowing in present time with “had”).
The aorist has 3) and 1) type uses of aspect but never 2). The 3) use, the so called “proper perfect use” arises because of the function of the aorist as described by Pāṇini. Let’s see this and then understand
Pāṇini officially defines it as भूते लुङ् (3.2.84 + 3.2.110), “lu~N in the past” . The lu~N is really the generic standard past of acts witnessed by the speaker in vedic (much like Ancient Greek) with a very specific role of representing recent immediate past. This is it’s primary usage and hence most often it is to be translated with a “has done, has eaten, has jumped, has risen etc” sense. In general, it indicates what has just taken place; and oftenest something which the speaker has experienced, commonly by the statement made as witness of an action.
It is due to this immediate past usage that the aorist takes on “completed aspect” because the action was completed recently, it has led to a state that flows into the present. This is what we meant by saying the aorist/perfect “refer to the present time” An example – “I have just eaten, let us discuss now” here the action of eating just recently got over and the state of having eaten is flowing into present speech time. “I had eaten [a while ago], lets discuss” here the action of eating was completed a long time ago and there is no flowing of the state into the present. (remember, this is one of the functions of the imperfect as we described above. now do you understand what reference to present speech time is?)
Let us see examples of this immediate past function in vedic texts.
वस॑न्नरण्या॒न्यां सा॒यमक्रु॑क्ष॒दिति॑ मन्यते vasan araṇyānyām sāyam akrukṣat iti manyate “In the forest at night, one imagines that someone has just screamed“
Someone has *just* screamed as shown by akrukṣat. Sayanacharya translates this as “koShati” meaning “cries” indicating the “flow” of the action of crying into the present state of speech time. Think of a forest, someone just shrieked and you are hearing the reverberations of the shriek in your head. This is the mental imagery that is trying to be conveyed.
चि॒त्रं दे॒वाना॒मुद॑गा॒दनी॑कं॒ चक्षु॑र्मि॒त्रस्य॒ वरु॑णस्या॒ग्नेः आप्रा॒ द्यावा॑पृथि॒वी अ॒न्तरि॑क्षं॒ citram devānām ut agāt anīkam cakṣuḥ mitrasya varuṇasya agneḥ ā aprāḥ dyāvāpr̥thivī iti antarikṣam “The brilliant face of the gods has risen.. the eye of mitra, varuṇa and agni. It has filled heaven and earth and the space between them”
प्रति॒ दि॒वो अ॑दर्शि दुहि॒ता “The daughter of heaven has appeared“
परी ’मे गाम् अनेषत पर्य् अग्निम् अहृषत, देवेष्व् अक्रत श्रवः “These here have led about a cow, they have carried around the fire, they have done honor to the gods “
These are sufficient examples for the main function of the aorist. There is one “subfunction” of t. It’s used in an occasion in which, 1) It expresses what results from a ritual act or is antecedent to it. पुत्रस्य नाम गृह्णाति, प्रजाम् एव अनु सम् अतनीत् “He gives his son a name, he has thus extended his race”
Now let us look at the second major function of the aorist. The aorist in relative clauses (who/whom/whose/when etc clause introduced by the yad/yatha/yadā type of words) marks “relative anteriority” of the 3) aspect. The proper pluperfect usage “had done, had eaten, had killed” If you remember, we have mentioned the imperfect also has this function, but this is mostly carried out by the aorist. In this usage, the event does not need to be “recent”
We begin with a main clause usually that has a narration in the imperfect tense, then the aorist comes in to switch the narrative to denote an act that had happened relatively before the verb of the main clause.
Example –
विश्वे॑ दे॒वासो॑ अमद॒न्ननु॑ त्वा शुष्णं॒ पिप्रुं॒ कुय॑वं वृ॒त्रमि॑न्द्र य॒दाव॑धी॒र्वि पुरः॒ शम्ब॑रस्य víśve devā́so amadann ánu tvā; śúṣṇam pípruṁ kúyavaṁ vr̥trám indra yadā́vadhīr ví púraḥ śámbarasya “All the gods cheered you, O Indra, when you had smashed śuṣna, pipru, kuyava, vṛtra and the forts of śambara”
Notice how the pluperfect “had done” usage is introduced by the relative clause adverb “yadā”, also note how the main verb is in imperfect (amadan) while the relative clause verb is in aorist (avadhīḥ). This pattern of verb switch + relative marker should indicate the pluperfect usage.
तदिद्ध्य॑स्य॒ सव॑नं वि॒वेर॒पो यथा॑ पु॒रा मन॑वे गा॒तुमश्रे॑त् tat it hi asya savanam viveḥ apaḥ yathā purā manave gātum aśret “The oblation indeed has fulfilled it’s purpose, just as it once had prepared the way for Manu”
उ॒ग्रम॑यात॒मव॑हो ह॒ कुत्सं॒ सं ह॒ यद्वा॑मु॒शनार॑न्त दे॒वाः “The two of you went to the terrible one. You took Kutsa, when the gods had united you with Uśanā”
With this, we finish the second main function and come to the last major function of the aorist in indicative tenses. The aorist functions as a statement of fact. The aorist who have this function typically occur amidst imperfects being used in a narrative dialogue, often at end of a narrative or to show a change in point of view. They can carry the story forward, comment upon it or summarize it. While the imperfect “reports narration”, the aorist carries it forward or summarizes it or changes the narrative in some manner.
Examples – न्या॑विध्यदिली॒बिश॑स्य दृ॒ळ्हा वि शृ॒ङ्गिण॑मभिन॒च्छुष्ण॒मिन्द्रः॑ याव॒त्तरो॑ मघव॒न्याव॒दोजो॒ वज्रे॑ण॒ शत्रु॑मवधीः पृत॒न्युम् “Indra struck down Ilībiśa’s forts and split apart the horned Shuṣna . . . with your thunderbolt you have slain the enemy (o Indra)
Notice how the imperfects are used for the entire narration of the indra story and then aorist comes in the fact to summarize the narration and comment upon it in a closer.
For this function, just remember the aorist comes inbetween or at end of a narration that uses the imperfect tense all along to close it or state a fact summarizing it. Imperfect is the standard “reportiong narration” tense.
With this we come to a close but make two final remarks. The aorist rarely has a “present” usage because the boundary between what has just been and what is is an evanescent one, and is sometimes overstepped, so that an aorist appears where a present might stand, or was even rather to be expected.
In non-indicative moods (optative, subjunctive etc), the aorist simply marks aspect telicity. [but don’t worry too much over this for now, its just a final note irrelevant to the above usages, which are in indicative mood]
Sometime in the next month or so, we shall try to list out all uses of the most complex tense the perfect (liT) in a “Part II” to summarize the theory of vedic tense.
This will be a regular series of posts, mostly translations of the Athenaze readings that I do often, for my own practice. A good archive to look back at and might help the odd person here and there. I find blogging a good way to stay committed to my goals with regards to language learning.
“Dikaiopolis is an an Athenian. and Diakiopolis dwells not in Athens but in the field. For [he] is a farmer. So he cultivates his farm and works in the field. and hard is his life. For, the farm is small but large the toil. So, always Diakaiopolis works and often groans and says ‘O Zeus, hard is the life. for endless is the work. and small the farm and not much grain it provides’ but strong is the man and energetic. so often he rejoices. for he is a free farmer. and he lives his home. for beautiful is his farm and provides grain not much but enough”
A few things to note, lot of postpositive adverbs/conjunctions (more than sanskrit but similar to vā & ca, the 2 common ones). Some adverbs like ου make the adjectives take the accusative endings. The locative case, missing in Greek is formed by the periphrastic formation of εν + dative case (notice; τοισι > τοις contraction). Simple paragraph, introduces nominative+accusative + the definite article (ὁ , ἡ , το). Note the definite article often takes a possessive sense here “his” . It’s in 3 genders just like Sanskrit and has similar usages, (often a weak demonstrative) – cf. Skt. saḥ / sā / tad
The copula εστιν has a “nu movable” in which ν can be added in front of vowels or at end of words/sentences. That’s my take on this passage and grammar gleamed from it.
Chapter 1 (b)
“Dikaiopolis works in the field. For the field he digs. Large is the work and difficult. For he carries the stones out of the field. He lifts the big stones and carries towards the stone heap. Strong is the man but works for a long time and he is very tired. For, the sun is blazing and wears him out. So sits under the tree and rests not for a long time. Soon he gets up and works. And finally the sun sets. Then, no longer works Dikaiopolis but walks towards the house.”
A few things I noticed, ablative constructions seem to be formed periphrastically with the preposition εκ + genitive (ek tou agrou). Necessary in Greek because it lacks the ablative unlike Skt. προς is cognate with Skt prati and has somewhat similar usage “towards” το ἑρμα seems to be accusative governing it. ὑπο has many meanings but ὑπο + dative = under, it seems. επ here is a conraction of ἐπῐ́ (cognate with Skt api) and here is used in a reflexive sense with ἑαυτῶν. Last line confirms that hupo was governed with the accusative! “pros ton oikon” . epi + genitive is “on” A few verbs introduced, straightforward. Not familiar with the pronoun eauton, though I know auton/autos/autē
Chapter 2 (A)
“Dikaiopolis steps comes out, out of the house and calls Xanthias. Xanthias is a slave. On one hand, [he is a] strong man but is lazy. For he does not work, if Dikaiopolis is not present. And now sleeps in the house. So, Dikaiopolis calls him and says ‘Come! here, O Xanthias. Why you sleep? So don’t be lazy but hurry! ‘ So Xanthias slowly comes out, out of the home and says ‘So why are you difficult, O Master; For I am not lazy but already I hurry’ and Dikaiopolis says ‘Come! Slave and help! For lift the plough and carry it towards the field. For I drive the oxen. but hurry! for on one hand the field is small, but on the other hand the work is large.”
men and de form connected clauses that link back to each other. nun seems to cognate with nunu of sanskrit. ισθε with अस्तु seems like another cognate. Interesting to note, a slave is called Xanthias, literally meaning “golden-haired” – A master is called δεσποτα literally the source for English “despot” and cognate with Sanskrit “dampati” -ous is the accusative plural for masculine nouns it looks like. Also here, the 3 person verb endings of the indicative active present are introduced (ω, εισ, ει). It is represented by αυτο, presumably the accusative neuter singular. συλλαμβανε “help” imperative has the prefix (συν) which is likely cognate with (sam) in sanskrit and with regressive assimilation becomes (συλ).
Chapter 2(B)
“On one hand, Dikaiopolis drives the oxen. and on the other hand Xanthias walks behind and carries the plough. and soon, Dikaiopolis takes in the oxen into the field and looks towards the slave. And Xanthias is not present. For he walks slowly. So Dikaiopolis calls him and says ‘Hurry, O Xanthia, and carry the plough to me’ and Xanthias says ‘But now I hurry, O Master. Thus why are you harsh?’ And slowly carries the plough towards him. So, Dikaiopolis leads the oxen under the yoke and attaches the plough. and thereafter looks towards the slave and Xanthias is not there. For he is sleeping under the tree. So, Dikaiopolis calls him and says ‘Come here, O you cursed creature, don’t sleep but help! For carry! the seed and walk behind’ On the one hand so the slave takes the seed and follows, but on the other hand the master calls Demeter and says ‘Gracious you be! O Demeter, and multiply the seed.’ Thereafter takes the goad and goads the oxen and says ‘Hurry you all, O Oxen. Drag the plough and plow the field!’
Few notes. Notice the dual usage of prepositions like (ὑπο), which I think is common in Greek, less so in Skt due to more inflectional structure. ὑπο + genitive = underneath (Static), ὑπο + accusative = movement under something. Also note, imperative plural is -τε and the word σπερμα is 3rd declension (not introduced yet).
Chapter 3(A)
“On one hand, Dikaiopolis drives the oxen, and on the other hand the oxen drag the plough and Xanthias sows the seed. but look, the oxen stay in one place and no longer drag the plough. So now, Dikaiopolis calls the oxen and says ‘Hurry you all, O Oxen’ and the oxen still stay in one place. So Dikaiopolis says ‘why you all waiting! O Oxen’ and sees towards the plough. and look! A stone is obstructing it. So Dikaiopolis takes the stone but does not lift it up. For it is large. So, he calls the slave and says ‘Come here! O Xanthia, and help! ‘ For large stone is obstructing the plough. And the oxen stay in one place.
So, Xanthia slowly approaches but not helps. For he sees towards the stone and says ‘The stone is large, O Despota. Look! Not possible is to lift it.’ and Dikaiopolis says ‘Do not be lazy you! but help!’ For possible is to lift the stone. So together, both master and slave lift the stone and carry it out of the field.
“and while carrying it, the slave stumbles and drops the stone. and the stone falls towards the foot of dikaiopolis. so dikaiopolis groans and says ‘O Zeus, Oh my poor foot. take the stone, O you fool, and lift it and thus do not be clumsy!’ and the slave says ‘why in this manner harsh you are, O Despota’ ‘For I am not responsible. For the stone is large and not possible is to carry it’ And Dikaiopolis says ‘Do not talk nonsense! O you rouge, but lift the stone and carry it out from the field’ and thereafter on one hand Dikaiopolis drives the oxen and on the other hand the oxen no longer stay in place but drive the plough”
First thing to note is the infinitive. “to do” and ending in -ειν. Then we see φεσι which is postpositive and cognate with भाष of Sanskrit. Greek usually devoices the aspirates. -πιπτω is cognate with √पत् for sure.
Chapter 3(B)
“Meanwhile, Phillipos approaches. Phillipos is the son of Dikaiopolis. Both a large and brave boy. and carries the dinner towards his father. and when he walks in into the field, he calls the father and says ‘Come here, O father. See! I carry the dinner. So no longer work but sit down and eat.’ So the father leaves the field and calls the slave. So they are sitting together and eating. and after the dinner Dikaiopolis says ‘Stay, O Boy and help!’ Carry the seed and sow! and you, O slave, dig the stones and carry them out from the field. For many are the stones and with difficulty is it possible to plow. and Xanthias ‘but it is not possible to carry out so many stones’ and Dikaiopolis ‘Do not talk nonsense! O Slave, but work!’ So work both the father and the child and the servant. and finally on one hand the sun sets, on the other hand the men no longer work but loosen the oxen and leave the plough in the field and slowly walk towards the house”
Chapter 4(A)
“and the next day when the first sun is rising, the wife calls the man and says ‘lift yourself! O Husband’ For the sun is rising and the slave already leads the oxen towards the field and both I and the daughter we intend to walk towards the spring. Life yourself! For time is to walk towards the field. and Dikaiopolis is very tired and not wants to lift himself. So he says ‘Do not be difficult! O Wife. For I am very tired and I want to sleep.’ And the wife says ‘But this is not possible. Why sleep? For time is to work. Lift yourself. O Lazy Man!’
So, on one hand Dikaiopolis reluctantly lifts himself and walks towards the field. and both the Myrrhine and the Melissa walk towards the spring (Melissa is the Daughter, very beautiful girl). So both the mother and the daughter slowly walk. For they are carrying water jars. And large are the water jars. So that not possible is to hurry.”
and when they approach the spring, look, other women are already there and filling the water jars. So, Myrrhine calls the women and says ‘Greetings, O Dears. Are you filling the water jars already? and they [the women] say ‘Greetings to you. Yes, already we fill the water jars. For early in the day we are present. but come here swiftly and listen! For messenger has come from the city. and he says that the athenians celebrate the festival of Dionysus. So we intend to walk towards the city. For we want to see the dances and the contests and the plays. and do you want to see the festival?”
few pronouns are introduced, μοι (to me), συ (you), ἡμεις (we). a new verb “to wish” is introduced, εθελω. εθελω + infinitive = i want to do ABC. So for the first declension, what happened was it seems the original endings were a/ā and in Attic Greek, most of the ā > ē (in the singular). But after e,i,r the original ā were retained. So in total, we get 4 kinds of feminine declensions.
Chapter 4(B)
“and Myrrhine, ‘Why do you talk! O Dears! Do we really celebrate the festival the Athenians? On one hand I very much want to see it. but on the other hand you, O Melissa, and do you want to celebrate? But not possible is. For difficult is the man. For always works and rarely wants to go to the city. and Melissa [says] ‘But not very difficult is father. For easy is to persuade him. and Myrrhine [says] ‘Thus not talk nonsense but the water jug quickly fill! For time is to return to home”
“So both the mother and the daughter quickly fill up the water jugs and walk homeward. and in the road stumbles Melissa and drops the water jug towards the earth and breaks it. So groans and says ‘alas! I am not faulty. For big is the water jug and not possible is to carry it’ And the mother ‘Why do you talk! O daughter! Not talk nonsense but hurry homeward and carry other water jug’
So on one hand Melissa hurries homeward and on the other hand Myrrhine slowly walks. For big is the water jug and Myrrhine not wants to stumble it.”
some adjectives who are 1st declension are masculine, follow the same pattern except taking -ou in the genitive singular. some feminine nouns are 2nd declension, like ho hodos ‘road, way’
just like nouns, adjectives with second last word being e,i,r also take -ā instead of ē in the 2nd declension. adverb forming = genitive plural ων > ως
humas = acc pl “you” and autous = them, autoi = themselves. me = me.
Chatper 5(A)
“While both Myrrhine and Melissa are away, The grandfather works in garden. Both the child and Argus, the dog walk towards the sheepfold. Argus is a dog both big and strong. and he guards the house and the sheep. While both the child and the dog walk up the path, Phillip sees a hare running in the field. So he loosens the dog and says ‘Go on. Lead, Chase” And so, the dog barks and chases the hare. but it (hare) flees up the hill. And so, we run quickly so that soon it is not possible to see neither the dog nor the hare.”
“So, Phillip hurries after them and shouts ‘Come here, O Agre! Come back! O cursed dog’ but the dog still chases. So Phillip climbs into the top of the hill but does not see the dog. So (he) loudly shouts and calls, but does not hear the dog. and finally, the child despairs walks down the hill.”
“And when he approaches the sheepfold, The grandfather sees him and says ‘what do you do. O child’ From where have you come and where is Argus?’ and Phillip says ‘from the hill i have come. O grandfather. and the dog is somewhere in the mountain. For he chases the hare.’ and the grandfather says ‘Go on, O child. Why not look for him?’ Thus not careless be. and Phillip says ‘I am not careless, O grandfather. and not even lazy I am. For I shout loud and call, but do not hear the dog.’ and the grandfather says ‘come here, O child.’ Thus he talks and takes his stick and hurries together with the child up the path.’
Chapter 5(B)
“And when approaches the sheepfold, Both Phillip and the Grandfather hear a lot of noise. For Argus is savagely barking and the sheep make much uproar. So they hurry. For they want to know what the sheep are experiencing. So present first, the child and look, While Argus stays in front of the road and barks fiercely, at that time a big wolf from the hill comes down towards the sheepfold. So, on one hand Phillip shouts loudly and takes stones and pelts the wolf. and on the other hand, Argus rushes upon it [wolf] and thus fiercely attacks in order to turn back the wolf and make it flee. So on one hand, he chases the wolf and on the other hand, Phillip hurries after him. And the grandfather already has come into the top of the hill and sees the wolf and shouts loudly ‘Come here, Phillip. Do not chase but here. and now Argos takes the wolf with his teeth and holds it fast, and Phillip himself is already present and takes his knife and strikes the wolf. and it struggles and falls down towards the earth. The grandfather lready approaches here and sees the wolf lying on the earth. So he is amazed and says ‘Well done, O Child, very brave you are. For the wolf is big and fierce. and you, O Argus, Good dog you are. For you guarded the sheep well. and now, O Phillip, hurry homeward. For mother I suppose wants to know where you are and what you experienced. And when they approach the home, they see the mother. So on one hand the grandfather hurries towards her and tells everything. and she says ‘the truth you tell’ ‘well done, O child. very brave you are. but look– Melissa approaches from the spring. Come here, O Melissa and see! For Phillip has killed the wolf. So while the grandfather tells everything again, and Melissa is very amazed and says that Argus and Phillip are very brave and strong. and thereafter, the mother says ‘and now come here, O dears’ and ‘sleep with us, under the tree. for you are very tired. and you, O Melissa and you sleep. So listen. For I am about to tell a nice story to you. So, on one hand the grandfather sleeps for he is very tired and the children sleep under the tree and listen. For they desire to listen to the story.”
Chapter 6(a)
“Minos lives in Crete. and He is the King of the island. and in it is the labyrinth of Minos. and there dwells the Minotaur. A certain terrible beast. Who is on one hand half man, and on the other hand, half taurus. And the Minotaur eats men. So, Minos compels the athenians to send both seven youths and seven maidens each year towards Crete and hands them over to the Minotaur to eat.”
and in Athens ruled Aigeus. and he has a child by the name of Thesius. and when he first grows up, He pities the comrades and wants to come to their rescue. So he approaches his father and says ‘O Father, Dear. I pity the comrades and want to save. So, send me! with the comrades towards Crete. ‘ And Aigeus is very afraid but nevertheless obeys him.
So Theseus embarks into the boat with the comrades and sails towards Crete. And when they arrive in the island, both the king himself and the queen and their daughter, called Ariadne receive them and lead [them] towards Knossos. (for in this manner, the city of Minos is called). and guard [them] in the prison.
and Ariadne, when she first sees Theseus, loves him and wants to save [him]. So when night comes, she hurries towards the prison and calls Theseus and says ‘be quiet!, O Theseus. I, Ariadne, am here. And I want to save you. Look, for I hold to you this sword and this thread. So don’t be afraid but bravely embark into the labyrinth and kill the Minotaur. and thereafter escape with the comrades and hurry to the boat. for i have in the night to stay in front of the boat. for i want to flee from crete and sail to athens with you. so, she says and quickly departs to the city. and theseus on the one hand is very amazed but on the other hand accepts the sword and waits the day.”
chapter 6(b)
and when day happens, minos goes to the prison and calls both thesea and his comrades and leads them to the labyrinth. and when they arrive, the slaves open the double gates and the athenians are driven into [the gates]. and thereafter, the double gates are shut and they depart. because they provide food to the minotaur for many days. so on one hand the comrades are very afraid and on the other hand theseus says ‘not be afraid, o dears’, ‘for i will save you all. follow me so bravely.’ thus he says and he leads the way for them in the labyrinth.
and theseus is not afraid, but very bravely fights. for on the left hand he takes hold of the head of the beast. and on the right hand strikes its breast. and the minotaur terribly screams and falls down to the earth. and the comrades, when they see the beast lying upon the earth, rejoice and say ο theseus, how brave you are. how we marvel at you and fight. but now indeed you save us from the labyrinth and lead us to the gates. for long is the journey and many the darkness. and the road we do not know. 4) and theseus not fears but takes the song for thus he knows the road. and leads the comrades to the double gates. and when arrives, they cut through the bolt and stay there. for still it is day. and when night comes, they go out from the labyrinth and hurry to the boat. and there the ariadne herself they see. for she stays in front of the boat. so quickly they walk into and sail away to athens. so thus theseus both the minotaur kills and the comrades brings safely into athens. so ends the myth of myrrhine, and melissa says ‘and the ariadne, rejoices, does love her theseus.?’ and myrrhine says ‘in no way’ ariadne does not rejoice, that theseus loves her. and melissa says why does theseus not love here. why it becomes? and the mother says ‘ that the myth not i want to tell you now indeed’
vR^itrahan 