“We don’t realize how many things are silly unless they start to seem lacking. We have been using them because we possessed them, not because we needed them. How much do we possess just because others have them, or because most people do! The fact that we live by precedents and don’t figure out our lives by reason and are strung along by habits is the cause of many of our problems.
Some things that we’d refuse to copy if only a few people did them, we do once many pick them up, as if something is more honorable because it is more frequent. And worse: mistakes take the place of right action in our eyes once they become common.”
Multa quam supervacua essent, non intelleximus, nisi deesse coeperunt; utebamur enim illis, non quia debebamus, sed quia habebamus. Quam multa autem paramus, quia alii paraverunt, quia apud plerosque sunt! Inter causas malorum nostrorum est, quod vivimus ad exempla, nec ratione conponimur sed consuetudine abducimur.
Quod, si pauci facerent, nollemus imitari, cum plures facere coeperunt, quasi honestius sit, quia frequentius, sequimur. Et recti apud nos locum tenet error, ubi publicus factus est.
“JFC, I don’t have the time to listen to you.
I have the fish I was thinking about and now
My main concern is that they don’t go bad.
That would be as big a crime on our part, Demea,
As ignoring everything you were just talking about.
As far as I can, I give my fellow enslaved friends this advice
“Too much salt or overcooked or undercleaned, ooh that’s perfect–
Remember what you did next time!
I am serious about giving them as much wisdom as I can.
Finally, I say “gaze into the saucepan as if into a mirror!”
And I tell them what they should do as practice.
I know that all these things we do are foolish—
But what would you do? You need to take each person as they are.
What else do you want?”
… non hercle otiumst
nunc mi auscultandi. piscis ex sententia
nactus sum. hi mihi ne corrumpantur cautiost.
nam id nobis tam flagitiumst quam illa, Demea,
non facere vobis quae modo dixti. et quod queo
conservis ad eundem istunc praecipio modum.
“hoc salsumst, hoc adustumst, hoc lautumst parum.
illud recte, iterum sic memento.” sedulo
moneo quae possum pro mea sapientia.
postremo tamquam in speculum in patinas, Demea,
inspicere iubeo et moneo quid facto usu’ sit.
inepta haec esse nos quae facimus sentio.
verum quid facias? ut homost, ita morem geras.
numquid vis?
“The day has already felt shortening. It has lost a good deal but there may still be enough space left if one gets up, as they say, with the day itself. Anyone who anticipates the day and precedes the dawn itself is more effective and better. But someone who is still dozing when the sun is high or who begins their day at noon is gross. And, yet, to many of these, noon seems like it is before the dawn.
There are those who have exchanged the duties of night and day–they don’t open eyes damp with yesterday’s hangover until night begins to take the sky. This is like the condition of those people whom nature, as Vergil claims, has set opposite to us: “When Dawn turns his gasping horses towards us / then red Evening kindles her late burning fires for them”
It’s not so much the region of these men as their life that’s opposed to ours. There are those “antipodean” folks in this city who, as Marcus Cato used to say, never see the run rising or setting. Can you believe that these people who don’t know when to live can know how they must live? Do you think these people who have covered themselves while still alive fear death?
They are as odd as nocturnal birds. While they spend their life in shadows amid wine and perfume and all their perverse hours at banquets cooked in countless courses, they don’t dine as much as they attend their own funeral feasts! At least the dead are celebrated in the daytime.
By god, the day is not long for anyone who stays active! Let us extend our life–the duty and test of living is in what we do. Let’s draw a line around the night and move some of it to day.”
Detrimentum iam dies sensit. Resiluit aliquantum, ita tamen ut liberale adhuc spatium sit, si quis cum ipso, ut ita dicam, die surgat. Officiosior meliorque, si quis illum exspectat et lucem primam excipit; turpis, qui alto sole semisomnus iacet, cuius vigilia medio die incipit; et adhuc multis hoc antelucanum est. Sunt qui officia lucis noctisque perverterint nec ante diducant oculos hesterna graves crapula quam adpetere nox coepit. Qualis illorum condicio dicitur, quos natura, ut ait Vergilius, sedibus nostris subditos e contrario posuit,
Nosque ubi primus equis Oriens adflavit anhelis,
Illis sera rubens accendit lumina Vesper
talis horum contraria omnibus non regio, sed vita est. Sunt quidam in eadem urbe antipodes, qui, ut M. Cato ait, nec orientem umquam solem viderunt nec occidentem. Hos tu existimas scire quemadmodum vivendum sit, qui nesciunt quando? Et hi mortem timent, in quam se vivi condiderunt? Tam infausti quam nocturnae aves sunt. Licet in vino unguentoque tenebras suas exigant, licet epulis et quidem in multa fericula discoctis totum perversae vigiliae tempus educant, non convivantur, sed iusta sibi faciunt. Mortuis certe interdiu parentatur.
At mehercules nullus agenti dies longus est. Extendamus vitam; huius et officium et argumentum actus est. Circumscribatur nox, et aliquid ex illa in diem transferatur.
Seneca never got to listen to Morphine “Early to bed and early to rise / Makes a man or woman miss out on the night life”
“I think you’re going to sue me when I share today’s little question with you, one we’ve been clinging to for long enough. You will cry out again, “what’s this got to do with character traits?” Shout all you want, but let me set you against others you can sue too like Posidonius and Archidemus–those guys will take a trial.
But then I will tell you that whatever pertains to character does not actually make characters good. People need one thing for nourishment, one thing for exercising, another for dressing, another for learning, and another for pleasure. Everything matters to people, but everything doesn’t make us better. Different things change your character in different ways. Some things correct us and straighten us out; others examine their nature and origin.
When I search for why nature created humans and put us above the other animals, do you imagine that I have left the question of character behind? That’s wrong. How would you truly know how we should act if you don’t know what’s best for humans, if you don’t examine our nature?”
Litigabis, ego video, cum tibi hodiernam quaestiunculam, in qua satis diu haesimus, exposuero. Iterum enim exclamabis: “hoc quid ad mores?” Sed exclama, dum tibi primum alios opponam, cum quibus litiges, Posidonium et Archidemum; hi iudicium accipient. Deinde dicam: non quicquid morale est, mores bonos facit. Aliud ad hominem alendum pertinet, aliud ad exercendum, aliud ad vestiendum, aliud ad docendum, aliud ad delectandum. Omnia tamen ad hominem pertinent, etiam si non omnia meliorem eum faciunt. Mores alia aliter attingunt: quaedam illos corrigunt et ordinant, quaedam naturam eorum et originem scrutantur. Cum quaero, quare hominem natura produxerit, quare praetulerit animalibus ceteris, longe me iudicas mores reliquisse? Falsum est. Quomodo enim scies, qui habendi sint, nisi quid homini sit optimum, inveneris, nisi naturam eius inspexeris?
“Faith in his sense of principle provided was the foundation of his great good will and fame. For Pompey the Great was not expected—should he overcome Caesar—to put down his power in deference to the laws, but people thought he would keep his political control, smooth-talking the people with the name of consulship or dictator or some other more palatable office.
Now it was imagined that Cassius, an eager and emotional man often distracted from justice by profit, was pursuing war and adventure to create some dynasty for himself rather than freedom for his fellow citizens. For in an earlier time than that, people like Cinna, Marius, and Carbo, even though they made their own country their victory prize and source for spoils, they warred by their own confession for tyranny alone.”
“Observation seems to us imply information, along with a comparison of things that happen often. So, our discipline judges what is good and honorable by analogy. Now, Latin grammarians have granted citizenship to this word “analogy, so I don’t think it should be condemned, while I do believe that it should be properly framed in its own state of origin. So, I will use this word not as it has been adapted, but as it was customarily applied.
Let me explain what this analogy is. We have comprehended a the health of a body and from this have imagined that there is also health of mind. Just as we recognized physical strength, so too did we suggest mental vigor. Acts of kindness, humane deeds, feats of bravery, all these have dumfounded us. So we began to wonder at them as if they are perfect.
They all have many faults under the surface, but the appearance of a certain kind of glorious deed and the shine distract us. We pretend we don’t see these things. Nature commands us to amplify acts that we should praise; and everyone takes their glory beyond the truth. So, from these kinds of acts, we have crafted some appearance of the great good.”
Nobis videtur observatio collegisse et rerum saepe factarum inter se conlatio, per analogian nostri intellectum et honestum et bonum iudicant. Hoc verbum cum Latini grammatici civitate donaverint, ego damnandum non puto, puto in civitatem suam redigendum. Utar ergo illo non tantum tamquam recepto, sed tamquam usitato.
Quae sit haec analogia, dicam. Noveramus corporis sanitatem; ex hac cogitavimus esse aliquam et animi. Noveramus vires corporis; ex his collegimus esse et animi robur. Aliqua benigna facta, aliqua humana, aliqua fortia nos obstupefecerant; haec coepimus tamquam perfecta mirari. Suberant illis multa vitia, quae species conspicui alicuius facti fulgorque celabat; haec dissimulavimus. Natura iubet augere laudanda, nemo non gloriam ultra verum tulit; ex his ergo speciem ingentis boni traximus.
Epictetus, Discourses According to Arrian 1.11: On Family Affection
“When someone came to him, asking him about some other matters, Epictetus asked if had had children and a spouse. When he learned from him that he did, Epictetus asked, “How is marriage going for you?” the man answered, “Terribly.” And Epictetus replied, “In what way? For people don’t marry and have children to be miserable, but to be happy instead!”
Crono e Rea assistita da Iride, affresco, quarto stile, c. 65 d. C., da modello di età classica. Da Pompei, Casa del Poeta tragico. Napoli, Museo Archeologico Nazionale (Luciano Pedicini, Napoli)
“Whenever I find something, I don’t wait until you say, “What’s yours is mine!” No. I say it myself. You want to know what I found? Open your pocket, the profit is clear. I am going to show you how you can become rich as fast as possible.
Oh, you’re just burning up to hear it! And you’re not wrong–I’ll will show you the shortcut to the greatest riches. Still, you will need to get a loan. You need to take out debt to make money, but I don’t want you to use a broker. I will show you a lender ready and waiting, that famous one of Cato’s, who says “Take out a mortgage with yourself!” However little you get, it will be enough, if we can make up what’s missing from our own savings.
My Lucilius, it makes no difference whether you desire nothing or you have it. The biggest deal in either situation is the same: you shouldn’t be tortured by it.”
Quotiens aliquid inveni, non expecto, donec dicas “in commune.” Ipse mihi dico. Quid sit, quod invenerim quaeris; sinum laxa, merum lucrum est. Docebo, quomodo fieri dives celerrime possis. Quam valde cupis audire! nec inmerito; ad maximas te divitias conpendiaria ducam. Opus erit tamen tibi creditore; ut negotiari possis, aes alienum facias oportet, sed nolo per intercessorem mutueris, nolo proxenetae nomen tuum iactent. Paratum tibi creditorem dabo Catonianum illum, a te mutuum sumes. Quantulumcumque est, satis erit, si, quidquid deerit, id a nobis petierimus. Nihil enim, mi Lucili, interest, utrum non desideres an habeas. Summa rei in utroque eadem est: non torqueberis.
Today, at 3 PM EDT, Reading Greek Tragedy Online brings you the first ever Live Streaming performance of the Homeric Batrakhomuomakhia (“The Battle of the Frogs and Mice”). Murder, Mice, Mayhem, and More!
We will be using A. E. Stallings’ translation and hosting the poet as guest, expert, and witness to the parodic slaughter!
Director
Hannah Barrie
Translator
A. E. Stalling
Participants
Aysil Aksehirli
Hannah Barrie
Eoin Lunch
Natasha Magigi
Rene Thornton Jr.
Sarah Finigan
Production Crew
Artistic Director: Paul O’Mahony (Out of Chaos Theatre) Host and Faculty Consultant: Joel Christensen (Brandeis University) Producers: Keith DeStone (Center for Hellenic Studies), Hélène Emeriaud, Janet Ozsolak, and Sarah Scott (Kosmos Society) Director of Outreach: Amy Pistone (Gonzaga University) Poster Illustration Artist: John Koelle
About the Battle of the Frogs and Mice (from Corinne Pache, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Homer)
The Batrakhomuomakhia (“The Battle of Frogs and Mice”, also Batrakhomakhia) is an example of epic parody (cf. Margites) and animal epics dated to the 6th through 4th centuries BCE or later (Suda lists “Battle of the Cranes”, Geranomakhia; and “Battle of the Spiders”, Arakhnomakhia; fragments remain of a “Weasel and Mouse War”). The poem’s contents (archaic diction and meter combined with elements from Attic Tragedy and Hellenistic authors) indicates later composition or editing. Ancient authors confirm this range of time: Plutarch (Agesilaus 15.4) has Alexander the Great referring to a Batrakhomakhia; the parody’s language echoes Anacreon (line 78 = fr. 460 PMG; see Bliquez 1977, 12).
The poem’s authorship is uncertain: Hellenistic sources attribute it to Homer; later sources credit Pigres of Halicarnassus (Plutarch, De Heroditi Malignitate 873). References to Athena, possible allusions to her rituals, and suggestive toponyms have suggested Athenian origins. Ancient testimonies report competitions for parody in the Greater Panathenaea during the 4th century BCE, but Aristotle places the parodic work of the Margites and Hipponax in the previous century (Poetics 1448b38-9a2). Although there is insufficient evidence to place the Batrakhomuomachia in this performance context, as a later composition it probably drew on oral performances and textual editions for influence. Indeed, its opening conceit echoes both the language of performance and literary composition (mention of Heliconian chorus, χορὸν ἐξ ῾Ελικῶνος, and “song”, εἵνεκ’ ἀοιδῆς, next to writing tablets: ἣν νέον ἐν δέλτοισιν ἐμοῖς ἐπὶ γούνασι θῆκα; 1-3). Whether or not there was an oral tradition of epic parody separate from or prior to the Athenian context, it seems likely that there were regular conventions shaping the practice and performance of parody. Hellenistic and later authors attest to a longstanding tradition from Classical Greece into the Roman Imperial period of written parodies in mixed meter as well as in dactylic hexameter.
Aesop, Fabula 302
“There was a time when all the animals spoke the same language. A mouse who was on friendly terms with a frog, invited him to dinner and led him into a storehouse of his wealth where he kept his bread, cheese, honey, dried figs and all of his precious things. And he said “Eat whatever you wish, Frog.”
Then the Frog responded: “When you come visit me, you too will have your fill of fine things. But I don’t want you to be nervous, so I will fasten your foot to my foot.” After the Frog bound his foot to the mouse’s and dragging him in this way, he pulled the tied-up mouse into the pond. While he drowned, he said “I am being corpsified by you, but I will be avenged by someone still alive!” A bird who saw the mouse afloat flew down and seized him. The Frog went aloft with him too and thus, the bird slaughtered them both.
A wicked plot between friends is thus a danger to them both”
Note 1: ὁμόφωνα τὰ ζῷα, “common animal language”: It is unclear whether, in these halcyon days before the fall from linguistic harmony, a Frog would squeak or a Mouse would croak when in the other’s company.
Note 2: ἐμπλήσθητι τῶν ἀγαθῶν :”you will have your fill of good things”. If the Mouse knew his Pindar (῎Αριστον μὲν ὕδωρ, 1.1), he would suspect that the Frog will do what in fact does, which is to fill his lungs with water. This illustrates that good things are in fact relative. A Mouse and Frog will hold different things dear.
“You’re pressing me for more frequent letters. Let’s compare the count: You will end up owing! Surely, there was an agreement that yours came first,–you would write and I would respond. But I won’t be difficult; I know well you can be trusted. I will give you an advance and not do what Cicero, that very refined man, ordered Atticus to do: “If he has no business to report, to write whatever comes to his lips!”
It is impossible for me not to have something to write, enough so that I can skip all the kinds of things filling up Cicero’s letters: which candidate is having trouble; who is fighting on his own dime and who’s relying on other’s; who stands for the consulship with Caesar’s support, who with Pompey; and who uses his own cash; how harsh a lender Caecilius is, a man from whom even his friends can’t budge a cent at less than 1 percent interest.
It is better to manage your own problems rather than someone else’s, to examine yourself and see how many mistakes you’re a candidate for and not to be voting for them. My Lucilius,, this is an outstanding thing, this is safety and freedom: to seek nothing and to walk right past luck’s elections.”
Exigis a me frequentiores epistulas. Rationes conferamus; solvendo non eris. Convenerat quidem, ut tua priora essent, tu scriberes, ego rescriberem. Sed non ero difficilis; bene credi tibi scio. Itaque in anticessum dabo nec faciam, quod Cicero, vir disertissimus, facere Atticum iubet, ut etiam “si rem nullam habebit, quod in buccam venerit scribat.”
Numquam potest deesse, quod scribam, ut omnia illa, quae Ciceronis implent epistulas, transeam: quis candidatus laboret; quis alienis, quis suis viribus pugnet; quis consulatum fiducia Caesaris, quis Pompei, quis arcae petat; quam durus sit faenerator Caecilius, a quo minoris centesimis propinqui nummum movere non possint.
Sua satius est mala quam aliena tractare, se excutere et videre, quam multarum rerum candidatus 3sit, et non suffragari. Hoc est, mi Lucili, egregium, hoc securum ac liberum, nihil petere et tota fortunae comitia transire.
scouring for the truth of the votes inside our minds
