ΕΥΔΟΞΑ ΑΓΝΩΣΤΑ ΚΑΤΑΓΕΛΑΣΤΑ
“Not even powerful Herakles escaped death
even though he was loved most by Kronos’ son, lord Zeus”
οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ βίη Ἡρακλῆος φύγε κῆρα,
ὅς περ φίλτατος ἔσκε Διὶ Κρονίωνι ἄνακτι:
So Achilles says to his mother after the death of Patroclus. Does this mean that Herakles wasn’t a god?
Or, perhaps, merely that he had to die to become one….
“It is not shameful to proclaim even a lie publicly to save a life.”
οὐ νέμεσις καὶ ψεῦδος ὑπὲρ ψυχῆς ἀγορεύειν.
Peisander, you ask? Not the Spartan general or the Severan era poet.
(An epic poet, perhaps?)
“To honor one’s parents is the greatest law of nature”.
diligere parentis prima naturae lex esset.
“What mortal home has ever prospered without a good woman…”
τίς δ’ οἶκος ἐν βροτοῖσιν ὠλβίσθη ποτὲ
γυναικὸς ἐσθλῆς χωρὶς…
Seems rather un-Greek, right? (At least in comparison to Semonides of Amorgos!)
…And yes, for brevity sake, I edited the fragment and left out ὀγκωθεὶς χλιδῇ–which may or may not undercut the positive sense I’d like for the fragment.
And, perhaps ‘good’ is too class-neutral and gender-positive for ἐσθλῆς…
“Call back your courage and send away woeful fear”
revocate animos maestumque timorem / mittite
[Zeno said that] “That which does not make something bigger or smaller when it is added or taken away is not real.”
ὃ γὰρ µήτε προστιθέµενον µήτε ἀφαιρούµενον ποιεῖ µεῖζον
µηδὲ ἔλαττον, οὔ φησιν εἶναι τοῦτο τῶν ὄντων
From Zeno of Elea, a student of Parmenides. Famous for paradoxes (he even appears as an interlocutor for Socrates in Plato’s Parmenides).
(Not the Zeno who founded Stoicism)
“A fool leaves the sons after killing the father.”
νήπιος, ὃς πατέρα κτείνας παῖδας καταλείπει.
The Kypria is full of strange things (in the Greek sense of deina!)