English translation of Corpus Hippiatricorum Graecorum

Question

I'm trying to find a translation of HIPPIATRICA, Hippiatrica Berolinensia, preferably an interlinear Greek/English version. I'm especially interested in chapter 20 and references to the Greek word "θλῖψεως" usually translated as "affliction," "pressure," or "oppression."

Answer 1

This is the sentence that you are asking about:

Ἐπινενότηται δὲ παρὰ Σαρμάταις, ἔτι νεογνῶν ὄντων θλίβειν καὶ οὕτως εὐνουχίζειν, ἵνα μὴ τοῦτο συμβῇ.

The Sarmatians are not [ἐπινενότηται], for they press newborn animals and so castrate them, so that this does not happen.

_{Hippiatrica Berolensia XX.5. In Eugen Oder & Karl Hoppe, eds. (1924). Corpus Hippiatricorum Graecorum. Stuttgart: B. G. Teubner (1971).}

A footnote gives the alternative reading περὶ θλίψεως πώλων νεογνῶν (for they press newborn foals) in manuscript g. The words θλίβειν and θλίψεως both mean “press, oppress, crush”, in context presumably referring to the crushing of the blood vessels and spermatic cord attached to the colt’s testes, a technique still used today.

I was unable to translate ἐπινενότηται, but in context it needs to be something bad that could happen if the horses were not gelded, for example “thrown” or “trampled”. There is a similar passage in Strabo which explains that the Sarmatians gelded their horses to make them more manageable:

ἴδιον δὲ τοῦ Σκυθικοῦ καὶ τοῦ Σαρματικοῦ παντὸς ἔθνους τὸ τοὺς ἵππους ἐκτέμνειν εὐπειθείας χάριν: μικροὶ μὲν γάρ εἰσιν, ὀξεῖς δὲ σφόδρα καὶ δυσπειθεῖς.

It is a custom peculiar to all the Scythian and Sarmatian tribes, to castrate their horses, in order to make them more tractable, for although they are small, yet they are spirited, and difficult to manage.

_{Strabo (c. 24). Geography 7.4.8. Translated by W. Falconer (1903). The Geography of Strabo. London: George Bell & Sons.}