Monday, December 26, 2016
Dinner with the Family over the Holidays
Menander, fragment 186 (tr. S. Douglas Olson):
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It's hard work to be thrown into a family dinner party.
The father picks up the cup and makes the first speech,
and after giving some advice, has a drink; the mother's second;
then an aunt rambles on, followed by a deep-voiced old man,
who's the aunt's father; then comes an old woman who calls him "dearest."
And he nods his head, agreeing with them all.
¯˘ ἔργον εἰς τρίκλινον συγγενείας εἰσπεσεῖν.
οὗ λαβὼν τὴν κύλικα πρῶτος ἄρχεται λόγου πατὴρ
καὶ παραινέσας πέπωκεν, εἶτα μήτηρ δευτέρα,
εἶτα τηθὶς παραλαλεῖ τις, εἶτα βαρύφωνος γέρων,
τηθίδος πατήρ, ἔπειτα γραῦς καλοῦσα φίλτατον. 5
ὁ δ᾿ ἐπινεύει πᾶσι τούτοις.
1 <δεινὸν> Schweighäuser, <οἷον> Kassel
