ΕΥΔΟΞΑ ΑΓΝΩΣΤΑ ΚΑΤΑΓΕΛΑΣΤΑ
“Everyday provide yourself some aid against poverty, against death and no less against other diseases; and when you have surveyed many things, choose one to reflect upon on that day”.
aliquid cotidie adversus paupertatem, aliquid adversus mortem auxili compara, nec minus adversus ceteras pestes; et cum multa percurreris, unum excerpe quod illo die concoquas.
Only the love of honor is ageless; being honored, not making a profit, brings joy to the uselessness of old age
τὸ γὰρ φιλότιμον ἀγήρων μόνον, καὶ οὐκ ἐν τῷ ἀχρείῳ τῆς ἡλικίας τὸ κερδαίνειν, ὥσπερ τινές φασι, μᾶλλον τέρπει, ἀλλὰ τὸ τιμᾶσθαι.
The full text.
“The eyes are blind when the mind works on other things”.
caeci sunt oculi, cum animus alias res agit.
A guardian should guard and a lover love.
τὸν φρουρὸν φρουεῖν χρή, τὸν ἐρῶντα δ᾿ ἐρᾶν.
Macarius, not always a household name.
“We lose what is certain while we seek after what is uncertain”.
It is right to believe in the gods no longer if injustice will surpass what is just
ἢ χρὴ μηκέθ᾽ ἡγεῖσθαι θεούς,
εἰ τἄδικ᾽ ἔσται τῆς δίκης ὑπέρτερα.
Electra, daughter of Agamemnon, certainly had reasons to be confused by justice
“In times of illness, not to have moved at all constitutes health”.
aegris nil movisse salus rebus
“I would rather serve as slave to another man
a man with no land and livelihood
than be a king over all the rotted corpses”
βουλοίμην κ’ ἐπάρουρος ἐὼν θητευέμεν ἄλλῳ,
ἀνδρὶ παρ’ ἀκλήρῳ, ᾧ μὴ βίοτος πολὺς εἴη,
ἢ πᾶσιν νεκύεσσι καταφθιμένοισιν ἀνάσσειν.
Achilles’ words to Odysseus (according, of course, to Odysseus)
“Let’s put aside these games and focus on serious things”.
amoto quaeramus seria ludo
“An unsteady mind is an unjust possession”
νοῦς δέ γ᾽ οὐ βέβαιος ἄδικον κτῆμα…
Although many minds might come undone at the thought of Iphigenia….