(1) ἡ Μήδεια φασὶ <μὲ>ν ὡς ἀφέψουσα τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους νέους ἐποίει, οὐδένα δὲ δείκνυται νέον ποιήσασα· ὃν δὲ ἥψησε πάντως ἀπέκτεινεν. (2) ἐγένετο δέ τι τοιοῦτον. (3) Μήδεια πρώτη ἐφεῦρεν ἄνθος τὸ πυρρὸν καὶ τὸ μέλαν. (4) τοὺς οὖν γέροντας ἐκ πολιῶν μέλανας <καὶ πυρροὺς> ἐποίει φαίνεσθαι· βάπτουσα γὰρ αὐτοὺς τὰς λευκὰς τρίχας εἰς μελαίνας καὶ πυρρὰς μετέβαλεν. (5) *** πυρίαν πρώτη Μήδεια ἐφεῦρεν ἀνθρώποις ὄφελος. (6) ἐπυρία οὖν τοὺς βουλομένους, οὐκ ἐν τῷ προφανεῖ, ἵνα μή τις μάθῃ τῶν ἰατρῶν, πυριῶσα δὲ ὥρκου μηδενὶ μηνύειν. (7) ὄνομα δὲ ἦν τῷ πυριάματι παρέψησις. (8) ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ κουφότεροι καὶ ὑγιεινότεροι ἐγίνοντο οἱ ἄνθρωποι πυριώμενοι. (9) ἐκ δὴ τούτου, ὁρῶντες παρ’ αὐτῇ λέβητας καὶ πῦρ, ἐπείσθησαν ὡς ἕψει τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. (10) ὁ δὲ Πελίας, ἄνθρωπος γέρων καὶ ἀσθενής, πυριώμενος ἀπέθανεν. (11) ἐντεῦθεν ὁ μῦθος.
notes
According to Greek myth, Medea was a princess and sorceress from the kingdom of Colchis, on the eastern shores of the Black Sea. When Jason and the Argonauts arrived in Colchis to retrieve the golden fleece from her father, King Aeetes (see Ch. 30, Phrixus and Helle), Medea helped Jason obtain the fleece and escaped with him back to Greece. Upon arriving in Greece, Jason learned that King Pelias had murdered his family members, and he enlisted Medea’s help to punish the aging king. Medea devised a plan whereby she convinced Pelias’s daughters that she could magically restore youthful energy to anyone by cutting them into pieces and boiling them in a pot. After Medea successfully demonstrated this method on an elderly ram, Pelias’ daughters attempted it on their father, which promptly killed him.
For a fuller version of the story that Palaephatus is responding to, see Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.9.27; Diodorus Siculus 4.50.1–4.52.3; Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.297–349; Hyginus, Fabulae 24. A similar rationalization is attributed to Diogenes the Cynic at Stobaeus 3.29.92 (fr. 340 (Giannantoni).
1
ἡ Μήδεια φασὶ <μὲ>ν ὡς: one way of establishing the topic of a stretch of discourse is to name, at the leftmost part of a sentence, the topic in the nominative or in a prepositional phrase (περί + gen.), “As for Medea, they say that she.”
ἀφέψουσα τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους νέους ἐποίει: take the first accusative (τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους) with the participle and the second accusative (νέους) with the conjugated verb, “(by) boiling old men she made them young.”
οὐδένα δὲ δείκνυται νέον ποιήσασα: “she is shown to have made no one young.”
ὃν δὲ ἥψησε πάντως ἀπέκτεινεν: “and anyone she boiled, she certainly killed.” Here the relative clause with an indicative past tense verb is used to convey a conditional sense (S. 2562).
3
ἄνθος: here means not a “flower,” but the colored dye extracted from a plant (LSJ ἄνθος III). The phrase ἄνθος τὸ πυρρόν is a less common form of the attributive position used when the noun’s sense would be unclear without its modifier, as it is here.
4
τοὺς οὖν γέροντας … ἐποίει φαίνεσθαι: “Then she made the old men appear.”
6
τοὺς βουλομένους: “those who wished.”
ἐν τῷ προφανεῖ: “in the open,” “publicly.”
ὥρκου: 3rd sing. impf. indic. act. > ὁρκόω, “she made them swear.”
μηδενὶ μηνύειν: infinitives after verbs of swearing or commanding take μή as the negative.
8
ὥσπερ οὖν: “as in fact.” (LSJ οὖν I.1).
9
αὐτῇ: refers to Medea.
11
ἐντεῦθεν ὁ μῦθος: supply ἐγένετο.
vocabulary
1
Μήδεια –ας, ἡ Medea (female name)
ἀφέψω, ἀφεψήσω, ἀφήψησα, —, ἀφήψημαι, ἀφηψήθην to boil
ἕψω, ἑψήσω, ἥψησα, ἥψηκα, —, ἡψήθην to boil
3
ἐφευρίσκω, ἐφευρήσω, ἐφεῦρον, ἐφηύρηκα, ἐφηύρημαι, ἐφηυρέθην to discover
ἄνθος –ους, τό dye, pigment
πυρρός –ά –όν red, yellowish-red, tawny
μέλας, μέλαινα, μέλαν black
4
γέρων –οντος, ὁ old man
πολιός –ά –όν gray-haired
βάπτω, βάψω, ἔβαψα, —, βέβαμμαι, ἐβάφην to dye
λευκός –ή –όν white
θρίξ, τριχός, ἡ hair
μεταβάλλω, μεταβαλῶ, μετέβαλον, μεταβέβληκα, μεταβέβλημαι, μετεβλήθην to transform
5
πυρία –ας, ἡ steam bath
ὄφελος [indecl.], τό benefit, help
6
πυριάω, πυριάσω, ἐπυρίασα, —, —, ἐπυριά(σ)θην to give someone a steam bath
προφανής –ές open, clear
ἰατρός –οῦ, ὁ doctor
ὁρκόω, contr. to make someone (acc.) swear an oath
μηνύω, μηνύσω, ἐμήνυσα, μεμήνυκα, μεμήνυμαι, ἐμηνύθην to disclose, reveal
7
πυρίαμα –ατος, τό steam bath
παρέψησις –εως, ἡ boiling
8
κοῦφος –η –ον light, relaxed
ὑγιεινός –η –ον healthy
9
λέβης –ητος, ὁ cauldron
10
Πελίας –ου, ὁ Pelias, a mythical king of Iolcus
ἀσθενής –ές weak
11
ἐντεῦθεν, adv. from this, from here
μῦθος –ου, ὁ tale