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[Meaning] a compass/rule,[1] by means of which wheels are made round; for one does not need fire-tongs to make a wagon. They are also a help in [making] the guiding line, since just as one uses fire-tongs on iron-wheeled wagons, so [one uses] calipers on wooden-wheeled ones.[2] The theologian Gregory said to the assembly: "for if I [existed] for God's glory, and this [sc. the Trinity] because of me, [as] the calipers do because of the wagon or the saw because of the door, I prevail in causality."[3]

*peri/gra: o( diabh/ths, di' h(=s oi( troxoi\ periferei=s a)potelou=ntai: pura/gras ga\r ou)demi/a pro\s a(ma/chs kataskeuh\n xrei/a. e)/sti de\ bohqh=sai kai\ th=| kratou/sh| grafh=|, e)pei\ kai\ pura/grais e)pi\ tai=s sidhrotro/xois a(ma/cais xrw=ntai, peri/grais de\ e)pi\ tai=s culi/nais. o( *qeolo/gos *grhgo/rio/s fhsin ei)s to\n suntakth/rion: ei) ga\r e)gw\ me\n ei)s do/can qeou=, tou=to de\ di' e)me/, h( pura/gra dia\ th\n a(/macan h)\ o( pri/wn dia\ th\n qu/ran: nikw= th=| ai)ti/a|.

A marginal addition (to pi 1101), Adler reports, in ms V.
For the LSJ entry (via the Perseus Project), see web address 1 below; for pura/gra, see web address 2.
[1] Same glossing in some other lexica.
[2] (From the scholia to Gregory of Nazianzus: see next note.) There seems to have been some ambiguity over the difference between the peri/gra (the present headword) and the pura/gra, such that it was necessary to provide a specific contrast between the functions of the two tools. The strong relationship between these two is emphasized when one notes that the Suda's main entry for pura/gra (pi 3184, cf. pi 3185) cross-references the present entry.
[3] Gregory of Nazianzus, Orations 42.17 (PG 36, 477d).

David Whitehead (modifications to tr; augmented notes and keywords; tweaks and cosmetics) on 3 February 2011@03:29:09.
David Whitehead on 24 September 2013@07:25:50.
David Whitehead (coding) on 22 May 2016@09:40:40.
Catharine Roth (another link) on 27 December 2021@01:07:45.

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