Humanitext Reader

Theophrastus · Fragments §151.1

Jewish Animal Sacrifice and Its Rejection

Passage 156 of 196 · Greek

Summary

The speaker prompts to read a passage by Theophrastus quoted in Porphyry, which mentions that the Jews among the Syrians still sacrifice living creatures, and states that they would refuse if ordered to sacrifice in the same manner.

§151.1Fr. 151 Καὶ δὴ λαβων ἀνάγνωθι τὰ Θεοφράστου ἐν τοῖς Πορφυρίῳ γραφεῖσι περὶ τῆς τῶν ἐμψύχων ἀποχῆς κείμενα τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον· καίτοι διότι Σύρων μὲν Ἰουδαῖοι διὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς θυσίαν ἔτι καὶ νῦν, φησὶν ὁ Θ., ζωοθυτοῦσιν, εἰ τὸν αὐτὸν ἡμᾶς τρόπον τις κελεύοι θύειν, ἀποσταίημεν ἂν τῆς πράξεως.
Fr. 151 Now then, take and read the words of Theophrastus that are situated in this manner in the writings of Porphyry *On Abstinence from Animal Food*: "And yet, because the Jews among the Syrians, on account of their sacrifice from the beginning, even now," says Theophrastus, "sacrifice living creatures, if anyone should order us to sacrifice in the same manner, we would shrink from the act."

Notes

  1. §151.1λαβων — Aorist active participle (with breathing and accent: λαβών). It expresses an action prior to the subsequent imperative ἀνάγνωθι, forming a hendiadys-like command: "take and read."
  2. §151.1Σύρων — Partitive genitive, modifying Ἰουδαῖοι, meaning "the Jews among the Syrians."
  3. §151.1διότι — Subordinating conjunction of cause. Meaning "because" or "since," it introduces the causal clause that modifies the main conditional sentence (εἰ ... ἀποσταίημεν ἄν).
  4. §151.1εἰ ... κελεύοι ... ἀποσταίημεν ἂν — A conditional construction using the optative mood, representing a hypothetical possibility in the present or future (potential optative: present optative κελεύοι in the protasis, and aorist optative ἀποσταίημεν with ἄν in the apodosis). It translates to "if anyone should order..., we would shrink..."

Cite this passage

Theophrastus, Fragments §151.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0093.tlg010x09.humanitext-grc1:151.1

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