Humanitext Reader

Theophrastus · Fragments §117.1

Laws Regulating the Consumption of Wine

Passage 122 of 196 · Greek

Summary

The passage describes Zaleucus' law among the Locrians prescribing death for drinking unmixed wine without medical cause, alongside laws of Massalia and Miletus requiring women to drink only water.

§117.1Fr. 117 Παρὰ Λοκροῖς τοῖς Ἐπιζεφυρίοις εἴ τις ἄκρατον ἔπιε μὴ προστάξαντος ἰατροῦ θεραπείας ἕνεκα θάναετος ἦν ἡ ζημία Ζαλεύκου τὸν νόμον θέντος.
Fr. 117 Among the Epizephyrian Locrians, if anyone drank unmixed wine without a physician having prescribed it for the sake of medical treatment, the penalty was death, Zaleucus having established this law.
Παρὰ δὲ Μασσαλιώταις ἄλλος νόμος τὰς γυναῖκας ὑδροποτεῖν· ἐν δὲ Μιλήτῳ ἔτι καὶ νῦν φησὶ Θ. τοῦτʼ εἶναι τὸ νόμιμον.
Among the Massaliots, there is another law that women should drink water; and in Miletus, Theophrastus says that even now this is the custom.

Notes

  1. 117.1μὴ προστάξαντος ἰατροῦ — A genitive absolute construction expressing a hypothetical condition ('if a physician has not prescribed'). The use of the negative particle μή rather than οὐ reflects the conditional framework of the clause introduced by εἴ.
  2. 117.1Ζαλεύκου τὸν νόμον θέντος — A genitive absolute construction functioning causally or as historical background ('since Zaleucus had established the law') for the main clause.
  3. 117.1τὰς γυναῖκας ὑδροποτεῖν — An accusative with infinitive construction, functioning appositionally to define the content of the preceding noun ἄλλος νόμος ('another law').

Cite this passage

Theophrastus, Fragments §117.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0093.tlg010x09.humanitext-grc1:117.1

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