The Comparative Degree

I've been reading Collected Works of Erasmus, Vol. 34: Adages II vii 1 to III iii 100, translated and annotated by R.A.B. Mynors (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992), and I noticed that Mynors always (or almost always) translates the comparative degree of Latin adjectives "as ... as" instead of "more than," e.g. ii vii 10 (p. 7): Phoenice rarior As rare as the Phoenix and II x 28 (p. 138): Magis impius Hippomene As impious as Hippomenes To my perhaps over-literal understanding, there is a real difference between "as rich as Croesus" and "richer than Croesus," the same as the difference between = and >. On the other hand, Mynors' command of Latin far surpasses my own feeble grasp, so I must be missing something.

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