Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. W. H. S. Jones, ed. H. A. Ormerod, ed. Gregory Nagy, 3.3.6

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[6] When Lichas arrived the Spartans were seeking the bones of Orestes in accordance with an oracle. Now Lichas inferred that they were buried in a smithy, the reason for this inference being this. Everything that he saw in the smithy he compared with the oracle from Delphi, likening to the winds the bellows, for that they too sent forth a violent blast, the hammer to the “stroke,” the anvil to the “counterstroke” to it, while the iron is naturally a “woe to man,” because already men were using iron in warfare. In the time of those called heroes the god would have called bronze a woe to man.

Description of Greece. Pausanias. ed. W. H. S. Jones, ed. H. A. Ormerod, ed. Gregory Nagy. . .

Current edition Experimental

English (Jones and Ormerod; retranslated Gregory Nagy, CHS, 2018) (OCR draft) (English) (CHS Pausanias Reader retranslation by Gregory Nagy, based on Jones and Ormerod, with marked Greek terms, notes, quotations, and bibliographic attributions preserved.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)

Ἑλλάδος Περιηγήσεως Perseus (Pausanias. Pausaniae Graeciae descriptio, Volumes 1-3. Spiro, Friedrich, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1903.) — 3.3.6 focus

[6] τηνικαῦτα δὲ αἱ πόλεις ἄγουσαι σπονδὰς ἔτυχον. ἀφικομένου δὲ τοῦ Λίχα Ὀρέστου τὰ ὀστᾶ ἀνεζήτουν· ἀνεζήτουν δὲ αὐτὰ ἐκ θεοπροπίου Σπαρτιᾶται. συνῆκεν οὖν ὁ Λίχας ὡς ἔστι κατακείμενα ἐν οἰκίᾳ χαλκέως, συνῆκε δὲ οὕτως· ὁπόσα ἐν τῇ τοῦ χαλκέως ἑώρα, παρέβαλεν αὐτὰ πρὸς τὸ ἐκ Δελφῶν μάντευμα, ἀνέμοις μὲν τοῦ χαλκέως εἰκάζων τὰς φύσας, ὅτι καὶ αὐταὶ βίαιον πνεῦμα ἠφίεσαν, τύπον δὲ τὴν σφῦραν καὶ τὸν ἄκμονα ἀντίτυπον ταύτῃ, πῆμα δὲ εἰκότως ἀνθρώπῳ τὸν σίδηρον, ὅτι ἐχρῶντο ἐς τὰς μάχας ἤδη τῷ σιδήρῳ· τὰ δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν ἡρώων καλουμένων ἂν εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς ἀνθρώπῳ πῆμα εἶναι τὸν χαλκόν.

Translations (1)

Description of Greece Perseus (Pausanias. Pausanias Description of Greece, Volumes 1-4. Jones, W.H.S. (William Henry Samuel), translator; Ormerod, Henry Arderne, translator. London, New York: W. Heinemann, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1918-1935.) — 3.3.6 focus

[6] When Lichas arrived the Spartans were seeking the bones of Orestes in accordance with an oracle. Now Lichas inferred that they were buried in a smithy, the reason for this inference being this. Everything that he saw in the smithy he compared with the oracle from Delphi , likening to the winds the bellows, for that they too sent forth a violent blast, the hammer to the “stroke,” the anvil to the “counterstroke” to it, while the iron is naturally a “woe to man,” because already men were using iron in warfare. In the time of those called heroes the god would have called bronze a woe to man.

New Alexandria Commentaries

Gregory Nagy, Editors: Angelia Hanhardt and Keith DeStone, Web producer: Noel Spencer, Consultant for images: Jill Curry Robbins, \[\[Noel gives this a separate URN\]\]

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Pausanias Description of Greece 3.3.6

ed. W. H. S. Jones, ed. H. A. Ormerod, ed. Gregory Nagy

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