κατ' ἰδίας δὲ φιλοτιμίας → but with regard to private ambition

[spiros]

κατ' ἰδίας → private matters, personal matters?

generally, having relation to public life, political, public, opp. κατ' ἰδίας
πολιτικός https://lsj.gr/wiki/%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%B9%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C%CF%82

[billberg23]

On πολιτικός, LSJ's "generally, having relation to public life, political, public, opp. κατʼ ἰδίας, Th. 8.89" is extremely misleading and may stem from a misunderstanding of Thucydides' text at 8.89.3.  He says not κατʼ ἰδίας, but κατ᾽ ἰδίας δὲ φιλοτιμίας, "but with regard to private ambition," where the adjective ἴδιος has its usual meaning, "private."  The idiom for "privately" is κατ' ἰδίαν, not κατʼ ἰδίας.

[spiros]

Thanks, did not make any sense to me either.

[spiros]

Some modern works appear to fix this:

πολιτικός: pubblico THUC. 8.89.3 (opp. a ἴδιος) XEN. Mem. 2.6.24 DEMOSTH. 18.311 ecc.  di donna meretrice PGRENF. 2.73 (IIIp)  fig. usuale, solito, ordinario XEN. Ag. 8.7 (carretto) ISOCR. 9.10 (parole) GAL. 2.299 (usi) ecc.; sost. ὁ πολιτικός l'uomo ordinario (opp. a ὁ ποιητής) PHRYN. 45  metr. corrente, un tipo di esametro SCH. HEPH. 294.1, al.
— Franco Montanari, GI - Vocabolario della lingua greca

[billberg23]

ὁ πολιτικός, "the man in the street," reminds me of the little short guy with a mustache who appeared for generations in newspaper "editorial" cartoons.  He always carried the label "John Q. Public."  Probably you have, or had, the same sort of figure in Greek media?

[spiros]

Not sure, but it sounds familiar.
Do you have The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek? I guess it is a massive improvement upon LSJ.

[billberg23]

I wish.  Very spendy!  Have to hobble along on my own, I guess ...

[spiros]

Only online access at Brill is extortionate, via Logos software it is 125 USD and the print volume is 115 USD.

[billberg23]

Hey, if you think that's cheap, you must own your own copy!  (-:

[spiros]

Compared to the Brill subscription, it is :)