# τά ἄλλα ἐτίμησε



## soplamocos

Hello all.

I find *τά ἄλλα ἐτίμησε* hard to translate.
This is the context:

ἄνδρες στρατιῶται, μὴ θαυμάζετε ὅτι χαλεπῶς φέρω τοῖς παροῦσι πράγμασιν.
ἐμοὶ γὰρ ξένος Κῦρος ἐγένετο καί με φεύγοντα ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος *τά *τε *ἄλλα ἐτίμησε* καὶ μυρίους ἔδωκε δαρεικούς:
οὓς ἐγὼ λαβὼν οὐκ εἰς τὸ ἴδιον κατεθέμην ἐμοὶ οὐδὲ καθηδυπάθησα, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς ὑμᾶς ἐδαπάνων.
(Xenophon, Anabasis, 1.3.3)

I have check several translations, and almost all translate it as "He gave several honors".

For example at Perseus I found: (Carleton L. Brownson, 1922)
_Fellow-soldiers, do not wonder that I am distressed at the present situation. For Cyrus became my friend and not only *honoured* me, an exile from my fatherland, *in various ways*, but gave me ten thousand darics. And I, receiving this money, did not lay it up for my own personal use or squander it in pleasure, but I proceeded to expend it on you.
_
But I understad that for that translation *τά ἄλλα* should be in dative, which is not. I think it could be in acusative (or even nominative. Plural neuter may concord with a singular verb).
So, I think that it could be translated with 'assess, evaluate': _He assess the other things, He assess all the rest, The other things he honoured, The other things were worthy._

Now, another problem. This '_other things_': could be implied in ξένος? I mean, in Antiquity, for been ξένος two persons had to exchange gifts (One give a gift to another and became allys-friend-guest-bonded).
Am I completly wrong? I think that Cyrus gave him the darics honouring the pact.


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## sotos

"in various ways" sounds OK to me. It is a somehow idiomatic expression. I find a similarity with τα μάλα (very much).

Yes, being ξενος (guest) meaned that you had to offer and receive gift.


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## soplamocos

Hi Sotos. Could τά ἄλλα be the gifts that Cyrus received before, and honouring that gifts is that he gave the money?


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## sotos

the excange of gifts is certainly part of the honours. But it sounds like it has broader sense here. Offering friendship and hospitality is also a way to honour someone.


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## dmtrs

*τά ἄλλα *is an "accusative of reference" (αιτιατική της αναφοράς) and means "ως προς τα άλλα" ("as far as other things/ways appropriate" I would translate it).
My own translation (when I teach this text) would translate to English something like:
For Cyrus offered me hospitality* and, when I was exiled from my country, honoured me as far as other things/ways appropriate and _gave me ten thousand darics on top of that.


*this refers, I believe, to everything that 'ξένος' implies_


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## soplamocos

Thank you dmtrs! That was very useful.

I'm translating the sentence to Spanish. I don't think that the spanish word "huésped" (guest) were good here, so i'm using a periphrasis and saying something like:

γὰρ Κῦρος ἐγένετο ξένος ἐμοὶ
because Cyrus become united by hospitality bonds with me
pues Ciro llegó a estar unido por lazos de hospitalidad conmigo

But even in that way I don't think that the meaning of _ξένος _were fairly translated. The alliance that it implies is not present in the spanish "huésped" (nor english "guest").


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## Helleno File

I had no idea that ξένος meant "guest" in ancient Greek.  That would explain why ξενοδοχείο does not mean, as I thought, "a container for foreigners".


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## Perseas

Helleno File said:


> I had no idea that ξένος meant "guest" in ancient Greek.  That would explain why ξενοδοχείο does not mean, as I thought, "a container for foreigners".


_ξένος _means in ancient Greek:_
guest-friend, applied to persons and states bound by a treaty or tie of hospitality
stranger, esp. wanderer, refugee
 foreigner._
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott,  A Greek-English Lexicon, Ξ ξ, , ξενο-κλείδειον , ξένος
_δοχείο_ from _δέχομαι: to accept._


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## dmtrs

Helleno File said:


> I had no idea that ξένος meant "guest" in ancient Greek. That would explain why ξενοδοχείο does not mean, as I thought, "a container for foreigners".



Apart from the usual 'stranger/foreigner' meaning, *ξένος *also relates to *host*; consider:
*ξεν*ίζω* (ancient Greek) / φιλο*ξεν*ώ = to host
*ξεν*ιστής = host (noun) [usually for parasites etc.]
φιλό*ξεν*ος = hospitable
*ξεν*οδοχείο = hotel (consider also: *host*el)


*in modern Greek though it usually means 'to seem strange (to someone)'


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## soplamocos

I found a small Goodwin's note about the accusative of this phrase. 

He says: *"*τά τε... καὶ both honored me in other ways (acc. of specification), and in particular, etc"

Althought I'm not too familiarized with this kind of accusative. I will keep checking notes of differents editions of the book, to see if I find something else.


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