Month: March 2014

Sappho, fr. 50

~ sententiaeantiquae ~ Leave a comment

 

 

“The man who is pretty is so only as far as he looks; the man who is good is already beautiful”

 

ὀ μὲν γὰρ κάλος ὄσσον ἴδην πέλεται <κάλος>,

ὀ δὲ κἄγαθος αὔτικα καὶ κάλος ἔσσεται.

 

Sappho is from the island of Lesbos, whence the English word Lesbian. In the ancient world, women from Lesbos were known as some of the most beautiful women in the world.

Isocrates, Letter to Demonicus 18.4-5

~ sententiaeantiquae ~ Leave a comment

 

“It is as shameful not to learn when you hear something useful as it is not to accept something good offered by loved ones.”

 

ὁμοίως γὰρ αἰσχρὸν ἀκούσαντα χρήσιμον λόγον μὴ μαθεῖν καὶ διδόμενόν

τι ἀγαθὸν παρὰ τῶν φίλων μὴ λαβεῖν.

Xenophanes, Fragment 2. 16-19

~ sententiaeantiquae ~ 5 Comments

 

“Swiftness of feet—the thing honored most in all of man’s acts of strength in the contest—could never make a city governed well.”

οὐδὲ μὲν εἰ ταχυτῆτι ποδῶν, τόπερ ἐστὶ πρότιμον,

ῥώμης ὅσσ’ ἀνδρῶν ἔργ’ ἐν ἀγῶνι πέλει,

τούνεκεν ἂν δὴ μᾶλλον ἐν εὐνομίηι πόλις εἴη·

 

Anti-Achilles or anti-Aristocrat and athletic contests? Or everything? Or Nothing? Oh, Xenophanes, you’re so crazy.