I wish I were clever enough to make your computer automatically redirect itself over to the new blog, but I am not that clever. You will have to click the link yourself.
I have moved all the posts from here over there, and I'll continue the Republic translation there.
Also, my friend, Thorgerson, will be joining me. Together we will fight the forces of evil or something.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
02:24 pm: Republic Translation
Apologies to those who check in here to follow the progress of my Republic translation. I'll resume translating in a few days.
1. Don't let the dishes pile up in the sink. 2. Complete reading for classes ahead of time. 3. Write first drafts of all my major papers and solicit criticism on them. 4. Study Greek one hour a day. 5. Study Latin one hour a day. 6. Stock music collection with classical music again. 7. Write a letter to Jaroslav Pelikan asking him for advice on how to succeed as a scholar. 8. Acquire good art for apartment walls. 9. Find new prime number. 10. Read Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities
To wit, I have completely succeeded in none of these. I have partially succeeded at numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. I have not done 7 or 8, but there is still time to do so before the year's end. Numbers 5, 9, and 10, however, show no signs of being completed by the year's end.
09:12 pm: Republic 328c7-d2
"For if I were still able to get myself easily to town, it wouldn't be necessary at all for you to come here; instead, we would come to you. But, as it is, you ought to come here more frequently."
[Note that the "you" in this sentence is singular (all three times); i.e., C. addresses himself to S. and not to S. and G.]
10:10 pm: Republic 328c5-7
As soon as he saw me, Cephalus greeted me warmly and said, "Socrates, you do not often come down to us in the Piraeus, but you certainly ought to."
09:51 pm: Republic 328c1-4
He was seated on a sort of cushioned stool, wearing a chaplet, for he happened to have just sacrificed in the courtyard. We sat down beside him, for some stools were arranged in a circle there.
[The grammar of etugchanen with the participle tethukos is a bit tricky. The use of etugchanen with the participle indicates that the main action is in the participle, and etugchanen simply adds something like "by chance" or "happened to."
The word I've translated "cushion" is proskephalaiou, which is literally "head cushion" or "pillow"; it includes the root keph-, which is in the name Cephalus.
When I think about it, this scene strikes me as strangely grotesque. People are sitting around in a circle, and the (literal) head of their group has just made a sacrifice in the courtyard, for which he has been crowned.]
05:23 pm: Michigan 45, Michigan State 37
Good triple-overtime win for the Wolverines, who look poised for a good bowl game, but the mathematicians tell me that if both they and Wisconsin go undefeated in the Big-10, the Badgers will head to Pasadena. Gutsy call to go for two points after the touchdown in the third overtime. That really seemed to put the pressure on the Spartans, and it's always good to beat them. Almost as good as beating Ohio State. If only there hadn't been that game at Notre Dame in week two.
Lloyd Carr will go down in history as one of the best UM coaches. Better than Bo? Hmmm. (By the way, I thought Bo's piece on W was spot-on. Some of the responses from OSU and MSU fans are priceless.)
09:51 pm: A Contest, Sort of
A big congratulations is ready for anyone who knows where the name "Bourgeois Burglar" comes from. When I started this Live Journal, I thought it was an original creation of mine, but later I realized I had read the phrase in a book -- a book about one of my favorite books -- a while back, and I guess it was lodged in my subconscious.
Alternatively, you could guess who the original Bourgeois Burglar is. Of course, if you know who coined the name "Bourgeois Burglar," then you know who the Bourgeois Burglar is.
Using Google to find the answer would work, but it wouldn't be much fun, now, would it?
If you don't want to use Google, but you want hints, let me know.
10:06 pm: Republic 328b9-c1
And he seemed to me to be very old, for it had been some time since I had seen him.
[It appears there's a Gr. idiom here, dia chronou, which I've translated "it had been some time." It may just be that P. is using dia with the genitive to indicate the means (see Smyth, 1679). That is, the means of explaining why C. seems old to S. is that it has been some time since S. has seen C.
I find this description by S. a bit strange, for S. himself is no spring chicken. I'll try to track down how old S. might be at this point in his life, since a little later S. will ask for advice from C. because C. is older.]
