“The man who does evil against another harms himself.”
οἷ αὐτῷ κακὰ τεύχει ἀνὴρ ἄλλῳ κακὰ τεύχων,
Perhaps (Plato’s) Socrates was thinking of this when he said “doing wrong is worse than suffering it“.
Month: August 2012
Horace, Satires 2.3.220-221
“The worst insanity is found in conjunction with wicked folly”.
ubi prava stultitia, hic summa est insania.
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 2.6.1106b28
“Men are good singularly but they are bad in many ways. ”
ἐσθλοἰ μὲν γὰρ ἁπλῶς, παντοδαπῶς δὲ κακοί
Perhaps that Plato guy might be able to figure this one out
Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 1.17
“By Hercules, I prefer to be wrong with Plato . . . than to be right with those idiots”.
errare mehercule malo cum Platone . . . quam cum istis vera sentire
Pindar Olympian 2.2
“What god, what hero and what man will we celebrate?”
τίνα θεόν, τίν’ ἥρωα, τίνα δ’ ἄνδρα κελαδήσομεν;
Pindar eventually comes up with an answer…
Vergil, Georgics 1.505-7
“Right and wrong are turned upside down: so many wars throughout the world, so many faces of wickedness, the plow is given no proper respect”
fas versum atque nefas: tot bella per orbem,
tam multae scelerum facies, non ullus aratro
dignus honos
Theognis, 831-832
“I lost my money by trusting, but I saved it through deceit
Both lessons are hard.”
Πίστει χρήματ’ ὄλεσσα, ἀπιστίηι δ’ ἐσάωσα·
γνώμη δ’ ἀργαλέη γίνεται ἀμφοτέρων.
Theognis, the one from Megara
Sophocles Electra 621
Horace, Odes 3.29.11-12
“Don’t admire the smoke and riches and din of blessed Rome”.
omitte mirari beatae fumum et opes strepitumque Romae
Alcaeus, fragment 341
“If you say what you want you may hear what you don’t.”
αἴ κ’ εἴπηις τὰ θέληις <καί κεν> ἀκούσαις τά κεν οὐ θέλοις
From Alcaeus, the one from Mytilene.