A Puzzling Saying: Aeschylus, Suppliants 760-1

“There is an old saying that wolves are stronger than dogs, but the harvest of papyrus prevails not over corn.”
ἀλλ᾽ ἔστι φήμη τοὺς λύκους κρείσσους κυνῶν
εἶναι: βύβλου δὲ καρπὸς οὐ κρατεῖ στάχυν.

One thought on “A Puzzling Saying: Aeschylus, Suppliants 760-1

  1. Was papyrus not domesticated (i.e., was it just gathered in the wild)? If so, I would propose that the contrast is between domesticated things (dogs, grain) and wild (wolves, papyrus). The punchline, if there is one, is lame: grain is much more important than papyrus.

    But I may be completely f-ed on this one

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