Humanitext Reader

Theophrastus · Fragments §79.1

Parrhasios' Ease and Singing while Painting

Passage 81 of 196 · Greek

Summary

Based on Theophrastus' work On Happiness, this section describes how the painter Parrhasios did not find his artistic work painful but performed it with such ease that he would sing while painting.

§79.1Fr. 79 Ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τὰ κατὰ τέχνην ἀηδῶς ἐποιεῖτο ὁ Παρράσιος ἀλλὰ ῥᾳδίως ὡς καὶ ᾄδειν γράφοντα, ὡς ἱστορεῖ Θ. ἐν τῷ περὶ Εὐδαιμονίας.
Fr. 79 But neither did Parrhasios perform his artistic work with displeasure, but rather with ease, so that he even sang while painting, as Theophrastus records in his work On Happiness.

Notes

  1. §79.1ὡς καὶ ᾄδειν γράφοντα — The present participle γράφοντα (while painting) is in the accusative case as the subject of the infinitive ᾄδειν (to sing), which is introduced by ὡς expressing result. Although it refers back to the subject of the main clause, Parrhasios (ὁ Παρράσιος), it takes the accusative due to the infinitive construction. The participle functions temporally or circumstantially.

Cite this passage

Theophrastus, Fragments §79.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0093.tlg010x09.humanitext-grc1:79.1

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