ΕΥΔΟΞΑ ΑΓΝΩΣΤΑ ΚΑΤΑΓΕΛΑΣΤΑ
If someone chances to hit first, he gets a trophy;
but for a man is a good and dutiful citizen,
even if he conquers everyone in honesty,
there is no trophy
κἄν τις τύχῃ πρῶτος, εἴληφε χειρόνιπτρον,
ἀνὴρ δ᾿ ὅταν τις ἀγαθὸς ᾖ καὶ χρήσιμος πολίτης,
νικᾷ τε πάντας χρηστὸς ὤν, οὔκ ἔστι
χειρόνιπτρον
I cheated a bit on χειρόνιπτρον, but I thought that “trophy” would make more sense in English…
“The gods are always screwing us.”
ἀεί ποθ᾿ ἡμῖν ἐγκιλικίζουσ᾿ οἱ θεοί
The verb ἐγκιλικίζουσ᾿ means “to be mean or treacherous like the Cilicians”. Obviously, the reference is lost on a modern audience. I went colloquial. I thought that “the gods are always messing with us” might be less abrasive, but “screwing” has a nice sense of “meanness” and the double entendre… Any other suggestions?
Who’s Pherecrates? A Comic poet, An old one. And Photius? Not as old or sexy.
“Do you see how small things bring down once far-reaching tyrants and a single day lays some things low and raises up others?”
ὁρᾷς τυράννους διὰ μακρῶν ηὐξημένους
ὡς σμικρὰ τὰ σφάλλοντα, καὶ μί ᾿ ἡμέρα
τὰ μὲν καθεῖλεν ὑψόθεν, τὰ δ ᾿ ἦρ᾿ ἄνω;
I know, I cheated a little bit here: ηὐξημένους doesn’t mean “far-reaching” (it means “increasing”). I just liked that more. And I put the sense of the aorist into the temporal “once”. Lazy summer days.
“For the sick it is sweet to know clearly what pain remains”
τοῖς νοσοῦσί τοι γλυκὺ
τὸ λοιπὸν ἄλγος προυξεπίστασθαι τορῶς.
Sweet for the sick alone?
So says Prometheus, a titan who knows things beforehand…
