Two Proverbs from Michael Apostolos
7.53
“One should flee, not seek a trial.” Alkibiades, when he was called into judgment by the Athenians from Sicily, hid himself after saying this. When someone else was saying “You will not trust your country about your trial?” he Said “Not even my mother, since she wouldn’t ignorantly throw the black stone instead of the white one.”
᾿Εξὸν φυγεῖν μὴ ζήτει δίκην: ᾿Αλκιβιάδης καλούμενος ἐπὶ κρίσιν ὑπὸ ᾿Αθηναίων ἀπὸ Σικελίας, ἔκρυψεν ἑαυτὸν, εἰπὼν τοῦτο. εἰπόντος δέ τινος, οὐ πιστεύεις τῇ πατρίδι τὴν περὶ σεαυτοῦ κρίσιν; ᾿Εγὼ μὲν, ἔφη, οὐδὲ τῇ μητρί, μή πως ἀγνοήσασα τὴν μέλαιναν βάλῃ ψῆφον ἀντὶ τῆς λευκῆς.
13.3
“The turn of an ostracon. [this proverb is applied] to those who rush to flight easily. Also, Plato has “when the shell falls upside down, he changes and rushes to flight” (Phaedrus 241b). But others claim that he proverb is applied to those who fall from strong positions to the opposite. It is a metaphor from dicing. For the ancients once used shells to throw, and often they lost or won based on their fall.”
᾿Οστράκου μεταστροφή: ἐπὶ τῶν ῥᾳδίως εἰς φυγὴν ὡρμημένων· καὶ Πλάτων· ᾿Οστράκου μεταπεσόντος ἴεται φυγῇ μεταβαλών. ῎Αλλοι δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐκ κρειττόνων εἰς τουναντίον μεταπεσόντων· ἐκ μεταφορᾶς τῶν κυβευόντων· ὀστρακίνοις γὰρ τὸ πάλαι χρώμενοι βώλοις, τῇ μεταβολῇ τούτων πολλάκις ἡττῶντο ἢ ἐνίκων.
