§1ποίαν σε φῶμεν γαῖαν ἐκλελοιπότα
πόλει ξενοῦσθαι τῇδε;
From what land shall we say you have come\nto live as a stranger in this city?
τίς πάτρας ὅρος; τίς ἔσθ’ ὁ φύσας;
What is the boundary of your fatherland?\nWho is your father?
τοῦ κεκήρυξαι πατρός; §2τί σε μάτηρ ἐν δεκάτᾳ τόκου ὠνόμαζεν; §3δειλῶν γυναῖκες δεσποτῶν θρασύστομοι. §4πέφυκε γάρ πως παισὶ πολέμιον γυνὴ
τοῖς πρόσθεν ἡ ζυγεῖσα δευτέρῳ πατρί. §5εἰ μὴ καθέξεις γλῶσσαν, ἔσται σοι κακά. §6τί γὰρ πατρῴας ἀνδρὶ φίλτερον χθονός; §7κρεῖσσον δὲ πλούτου καὶ βαθυσπόρου χθονὸς
ἀνδρῶν δικαίων κἀγαθῶν ὁμιλίαι. §8ἀνδρὸς ὑπ’ ἐσθλοῦ καὶ τυραννεῖσθαι καλόν. §9ἦ που κρεῖσσον τῆς εὐγενίας
τὸ καλῶς πράσσειν. §10κατθανεῖν δ’ ὀφείλεται
καὶ τῷ κατ’ οἴκους ἐκτὸς ἡμένῳ πόνων. §11ἔστι καὶ πταίσαντ’ ἀρετὰν
ἀποδείξασθαι θανάτῳ. §12Πάνακτος §13ἀντραῖος §14Ἕλλην γάρ, ὡς λέγουσι, γίγνεται Διός,
τοῦ δ’ Αἴολος παῖς, Αἰόλου δὲ Σίσυφος
Ἀθάμας τε Κρηθεύς θ’ ὅς τ’ ἐπ’ Ἀλφειοῦ ῥοαῖς
θεοῦ μανεὶς ἔρριψε Σαλμωνεὺς φλόγα. §15ἴδοιμι δ’ αὐτῶν ἔκγον’ ἄρσεν’ ἀρσένων· πρῶτον μὲν εἶδος ἄξιον τυραννίδος· πλείστη γὰρ ἀρετὴ τοῦθ’ ὑπάρχον ἐν βίῳ,
τὴν ἀξίωσιν τῶν καλῶν τὸ σῶμ’ ἔχειν. §16λαμπροὶ δ’ ἐν αἰχμαῖς Ἄρεος ἔν τε συλλόγοις,
μή μοι τὰ κομψὰ ποικίλοι γενοίατο,
ἀλλ’ ὧν πόλει δεῖ μεγάλα βουλεύοντες εὖ. §17ἆρ’ ἔτυμον φάτιν ἔγνων,
Αἴολε, σ’ εὐνάζειν τέκνα φίλτατα; §18δοξάσαι ἔστι, κόραι· τὸ δ’ ἐτήτυμον οὐκ ἔχω εἰπεῖν. §19τί δ’ αἰσχρὸν ἢν μὴ τοῖσι χρωμένοις δοκῇ; §20μὴ πλοῦτον εἴπῃς· οὐχὶ θαυμάζω θεόν,
ὃν χὡ κάκιστος ῥᾳδίως ἐκτήσατο. §21δοκεῖτ’ ἂν οἰκεῖν γαῖαν, εἰ πένης ἅπας
λαὸς πολιτεύοιτο πλουσίων ἄτερ; οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο χωρὶς ἐσθλὰ καὶ κακά,
ἀλλ’ ἔστι τις σύγκρασις, ὥστ’ ἔχειν καλῶς. ἃ μὴ γὰρ ἔστι τῷ πένητι πλούσιος
δίδωσ’· ἃ δ’ οἱ πλουτοῦντες οὐ κεκτήμεθα,
τοῖσιν πένησι χρώμενοι τιμώμεθα. §22τὴν δ’ εὐγένειαν πρὸς θεῶν μή μοι λέγε,
ἐν χρήμασιν τόδ’ ἐστί, μὴ γαυροῦ, πάτερ· κύκλῳ γὰρ ἕρπει· τῷ μὲν ἔσθ’, ὃ δ’ οὐκ ἔχει· κοινοῖσι δ’ αὐτοῖς χρώμεθ’· ᾧ δ’ ἂν ἐν δόμοις
χρόνον συνοικῇ πλεῖστον, οὗτος εὐγενής. §23ἀλλ’ ἢ τὸ γῆρας τὴν Κύπριν χαίρειν ἐᾷ,
ἥ τ’ Ἀφροδίτη τοῖς γέρουσιν ἄχθεται. §24κακὸν γυναῖκα πρὸς νέαν ζεῦξαι νέον· μακρὰ γὰρ ἰσχὺς μᾶλλον ἀρσένων μένει,
θήλεια δ’ ἥβη θᾶσσον ἐκλείπει δέμας. §25φεῦ φεῦ, παλαιὸς αἶνος ὡς καλῶς ἔχει· γέροντες οὐδέν ἐσμεν ἄλλο πλὴν ψόφος
καὶ σχῆμ’, ὀνείρων δ’ ἕρπομεν μιμήματα· νοῦς δ’ οὐκ ἔνεστιν, οἰόμεσθα δ’ εὖ φρονεῖν. §26τῇ δ’ Ἀφροδίτῃ πόλλ’ ἔνεστι ποικίλα· τέρπει τε γὰρ μάλιστα καὶ λυπεῖ βροτούς. τύχοιμι δ’ αὐτῆς ἡνίκ’ ἐστὶν εὐμενής. §27ἡ βραχύ τοι σθένος ἀνέρος· ἀλλὰ
ποικιλίᾳ πραπίδων
δεινὰ μὲν φῦλα πόντου
χθονίων τ’ ἀερίων τε
δάμναται παιδεύματα. §28παῖδες, σοφοῦ πρὸς ἀνδρὸς ὅστις ἐν βραχεῖ
πολλοὺς καλῶς οἷός τε συντέμνειν λόγους. §29σιγᾶν φρονοῦντα κρείσσον’ εἰς ὁμιλίαν
πεσόντα· τούτῳ δ’ ἀνδρὶ μήτ’ εἴην φίλος
μήτε ξυνείην, ὅστις αὐτάρκη φρονεῖν
πέποιθε δούλους τοὺς φίλους ἡγούμενος. §30ἀλλ ὅμως
οἰκτρός τις αἰὼν πατρίδος ἐκλιπεῖν ὅρους. §31ὀργῇ γὰρ ὅστις εὐθέως χαρίζεται,
κακῶς τελευτᾷ· πλεῖστα γὰρ σφάλλει βροτούς. §32κακῆς 〈ἀπ’〉 ἀρχῆς γίγνεται τέλος κακόν. §33οἴμοι, τίς ἀλγεῖν οὐκ ἐπίσταται κακοῖς; τίς ἂν κλύων τῶνδ’ οὐκ ἂν ἐκβάλοι δάκρυ; §34γλυκεῖα γάρ μοι φροντὶς οὐδαμῇ βίου. §35αἰεὶ τὸ μὲν ζῇ, τὸ δὲ μεθίσταται κακόν,
τὸ δ’ αὖ πέφηνεν αὖθις ἐξ ἀρχῆς νέον. §36γυναῖκα δ’ ὅστις παύσεται λέγων κακῶς,
δύστηνος ἆρα κοὐ σοφὸς κεκλήσεται. §37μοχθεῖν ἀνάγκη· τὰς δὲ δαιμόνων τύχας
ὅστις φέρει κάλλιστ’ ἀνὴρ οὗτος σοφός. §38τὰ πόλλ’ ἀνάγκη διαφέρει τολμήματα. §40ἀκρατές §41κατηρτυκέναι §42καὶ χρόνου προύβαινε πούς
Of what father have you been proclaimed?\n What did your mother name you on the tenth day after your birth?\n Women speak insolently against cowardly masters.\n For a woman who is joined to a second husband\nsomehow becomes hostile to the children of the first.\n If you do not hold your tongue, trouble will come to you.\n For what is dearer to a man than his fatherland?\n Better than wealth and deeply-sown land\nis the company of just and good men.\n It is beautiful even to be ruled by a noble man.\n Surely to fare well is better than\nnoble birth.\n And to die is owed\neven by the one who sits at home outside of troubles.\n It is possible even for one who has stumbled\nto display virtue in death.\n of Panactus\n cave-dwelling\n For Hellen, as they say, was born of Zeus,\nand of him Aeolus was the son, and of Aeolus, Sisyphus,\nAthamas, and Cretheus, and Salmoneus who on Alpheus' streams\nmaddened by a god cast sparks of fire.\n And I would fain see their male offspring from males;\nfirst, a form worthy of sovereignty;\nfor this is the greatest excellence existing in life,\nthat the body possesses the worthiness of beautiful things.\n Illustrious in the spears of Ares and in assemblies,\nmay they not become subtle or devious to me,\nbut planning well the great things which the city needs.\n Did I learn a true report, Aeolus, that you\nput your dearest children to sleep together?\n One can only guess, daughters; but I cannot tell the truth.\n What is shameful, if it does not seem so to those who do it?\n Do not speak of wealth; I do not admire a god\nwhom even the worst man easily acquires.\n Do you think you could inhabit the land, if all the poor\npeople governed without the rich?\nGood and bad things could not exist apart,\nbut there is a certain mixture, so as to be well.\nFor what the poor man does not have, the rich man\ngives; and what we who are rich do not possess,\nwe obtain by employing the poor.\n And by the gods, do not speak of noble birth to me;\nthis lies in wealth; do not boast, father.\nFor it moves in a circle: one has it, another does not.\nWe use these things in common; and in whosoever's house\nit dwells for the longest time, he is the noble one.\n But old age bids farewell to Cypris,\nand Aphrodite is displeased with old men.\n It is bad to join a young woman to a young man;\nfor the strength of males remains longer,\nbut female youth leaves the body more quickly.\n Alas, how well the ancient saying holds:\nwe old men are nothing but a noise\nand a shape, and we walk as imitations of dreams;\nthere is no mind in us, though we think we are wise.\n In Aphrodite there are many diverse things;\nfor she delights most and grieves mortals.\nMay I find her when she is favorable.\n Truly, short is the strength of man; but\nby the versatility of his mind,\nthe fearsome tribes of the sea,\nof the land, and of the air,\nare subdued.\n Children, it belongs to a wise man who in brief\nis able to cut short many fine arguments.\n It is better for a wise man to keep silent when he has fallen\ninto company; but with such a man may I neither be a friend\nor associate, who trusts in his own self-sufficient wisdom\nand regards his friends as slaves.\n But nevertheless,\nit is a pitiful life to leave the borders of one's fatherland.\n For whoever immediately indulges his anger\nends badly; for it trips up mortals the most.\n From a bad beginning comes a bad end.\n Alas, who does not know how to suffer in misfortunes?\nWho, hearing of these things, would not shed a tear?\n For I have no sweet care of life anywhere.\n Always one evil lives, and another departs,\nand yet another appears anew from the beginning.\n Whoever ceases from speaking ill of women\nshall indeed be called wretched and not wise.\n It is necessary to toil; and the fortunes of the gods,\nwhoever bears them best, this man is wise.\n By necessity, many bold deeds must be endured.\n incontinent\n to have prepared\n And the foot of time was moving forward.