“Empathy is denied by ignorance but granted to the wise.”
ἔνεστι δ᾽ οἶκτος ἀμαθίᾳ μὲν οὐδαμοῦ / σοφοῖσι δ᾽ ἀνδρῶν
Ok, ok. οἶκτος…ἀνδρῶν isn’t literally “empathy”: but it seems to fit the passage better.
Month: November 2012
Roman Epitaphs, B 808
“[Hey,] you who are reading this epitaph, remember that you too will be dead.”
Qui legis hunc titulum, mortalem te esse memento.
The deceased’s fitting reminder to the curious, perhaps smug, onlooker. One could find epitaphs scattered around Rome and its environs.
Theognis, 520-21
If someone asks how my life goes, answer ‘rough according to good standards, but well according to tough ones’.
ἢν δέ τίς εἰρωτᾶι τὸν ἐμὸν βίον, ὧδέ οἱ εἰπεῖν·
‘ὡς εὖ μὲν χαλεπῶς, ὡς χαλεπῶς δὲ μάλ’ εὖ
Theognis, perhaps more movement than man. But with a word for nearly every occasion.
Plutarch, Perikles 1.4 5-6
Parmenides, fr. 1 51-53
“It is right that you learn all things: both the steadfast heart of well-polished truth and the opinions of men…”
χρεὼ δέ σε πάντα πυθέσθαι
ἠμὲν ᾿Αληθείης εὐκυκλέος ἀτρεμὲς ἦτορ
ἠδὲ βροτῶν δόξας….
Yes, it seems that opinion (ἠδὲ) and truth (ἠμὲν) are in opposition…but it doesn’t always have to be that way, right?
Seneca, Proverbia Senecae 132
“He who does not know how to be silent also does not know how to speak”
Qui nescit tacere, nescit et loqui.
Herodotus, 1.11.18-19
“But when he saw that the only choice was to kill his master or be killed by others, he chose to survive.”
ἀλλ’ ὥρα ἀναγκαίην ἀληθέως προκειμένην ἢ τὸν δεσπότην ἀπολλύναι ἢ αὐτὸν ὑπ’ ἄλλων ἀπόλλυσθαι· αἱρέεται αὐτὸς περιεῖναι.
So, Gyges becomes king by acting ‘noble’?
Vergil, Eclogues 4.18-20
“And for you, little boy, the uncultivated earth will scatter its first small gifts, wandering ivy and cyclamens everywhere, beans mixed with laughing acanthus”
at tibi prima puer nullo munuscula cultu / errantis hederas passim cum baccare tellus / mixtaque ridenti colocasia fundet acantho.
Publius Vergilius Maro
Alcaeus, fragment 335
Terence, Eunuchus 40-1
“After all, there is nothing said today that has not been said before.”
denique nullumst iam dictum quod non dictum sit prius.
(Next time anyone claims plagiarism, offer him/her this wise rejoinder. You are sure to get off scot-free.)