§43παλαιὰ καινοῖς δακρύοις οὐ χρὴ στένειν.
One must not weep for old ills with new tears.
§44〈Α.〉 οἶδ’· ἀλλὰ κάμπτειν τῷ χρόνῳ λύπας χρεών. 〈Β.〉 χρῆν· τοῦτο δ’ εἰπεῖν ῥᾷον ἢ φέρειν κακά.
<A.> I know; but one must bend grief with time. <Ph.> One should; but to say this is easier than to bear evils.
§45ὥστ’ οὔτις ἀνδρῶν εἰς ἅπαντ’ εὐδαιμονεῖ.
Therefore, no man is happy in all things.
§46πάντων τὸ θανεῖν· τὸ δὲ κοινὸν ἄχος
μετρίως ἀλγεῖν σοφία μελετᾷ.
To die is the lot of all; wisdom practices grieving moderately for the common pain.
§47ὅθεν δὲ νικᾶν χρῆν σε, δυστυχεῖς, ἄναξ· ὅθεν δέ σ’ οὐ χρῆν, εὐτυχεῖς.
Where you ought to win, you are unfortunate, lord; and where you ought not, you are fortunate.
δούλοισι γὰρ
τοῖς σοῖσι νικᾷς, τοῖς δ’ ἐλευθέροισιν οὔ.
For you win by your slaves, but not by free men.
§48σοφὸς μὲν οὖν εἶ, Πρίαμ’, ὅμως δέ σοι λέγω· δούλου φρονοῦντος μᾶλλον ἢ φρονεῖν χρεὼν
οὐκ ἔστιν ἄχθος μεῖζον οὐδὲ δώμασιν
κτῆσις κακίων οὐδ’ ἀνωφελεστέρα.
You are wise indeed, Priam, yet I say to you: there is no greater burden, nor a worse or more useless possession for a household, than a slave who thinks more than he ought to think.
§49ἤλεγχον· οὕτω γὰρ κακὸν δούλων γένος· γαστὴρ ἅπαντα, τοὐπίσω δ’ οὐδὲν σκοπεῖ.
I tested them; for such is the bad race of slaves: they are all stomach, and they look to nothing ahead.
§50δούλων ὅσοι φιλοῦσι δεσποτῶν γένος,
πρὸς τῶν ὁμοίων πόλεμον αἴρονται μέγαν.
As many of the slaves as love the race of their masters raise a great war against their peers.
§51δούλους γὰρ οὐ
καλὸν πεπᾶσθαι κρείσσονας τῶν δεσποτῶν.
For it is not good to possess slaves who are better than their masters.
§52περισσόμυθος ὁ λόγος, εὐγένειαν εἰ
βρότειον εὐλογήσομεν.
The speech is superfluous if we are to praise human noble birth.
τὸ γὰρ πάλαι καὶ πρῶτον ὅτ’ ἐγενόμεθα,
διὰ δ’ ἔκρινεν ἁ τεκοῦσα γᾶ βροτούς,
ὁμοίαν χθὼν ἅπασιν ἐξεπαίδευσεν ὄψιν.
For long ago, when we first came into being, and the mother earth that bore us distinguished mortals, the earth brought up a similar appearance for all.
ἴδιον οὐδὲν ἔσχομεν· μία δὲ γονὰ
τό τ’ εὐγενὲς καὶ τὸ δυσγενές·
We possessed nothing of our own; and there is one birth both for the noble and the low-born.
νόμῳ δὲ γαῦρον αὐτὸ κραίνει χρόνος.
But time by custom makes it proud.
τὸ φρόνιμον εὐγένεια καὶ τὸ συνετὸν
ὁ θεὸς δίδωσιν, οὐχ ὁ πλοῦτος.
Wisdom and understanding are what God gives as noble birth, not wealth.
§53οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν κακοῖσιν εὐγένεια,
παρ’ ἀγαθοῖσι δ’ ἀνδρῶν.
There is no noble birth among the bad, but among the good of men.
§54κακόν τι παίδευμ’ ἦν ἄρ’ εἰς εὐανδρίαν
ὁ πλοῦτος ἀνθρώποισιν αἵ τ’ ἄγαν τρυφαί· πενία δὲ δύστηνον μέν, ἀλλ’ ὅμως τρέφει
μοχθεῖν τ’ ἀμείνω τέκνα καὶ δραστήρια.
Wealth and excessive luxury, then, were a bad education for men toward manliness; but poverty, though wretched, nevertheless rears children better to toil and active.
§55ἄδικον ὁ πλοῦτος, πολλὰ δ’ οὐκ ὀρθῶς ποεῖ.
Wealth is unjust, and does many things wrongly.
§56ἄναξ, διαβολαὶ δεινὸν ἀνθρώποις κακόν· ἀγλωσσίᾳ δὲ πολλάκις ληφθεὶς ἀνὴρ
δίκαια λέξας ἧσσον εὐγλώσσου φέρει.
Lord, slanders are a terrible evil to men; and often a man, caught by a lack of tongue, though speaking just things, carries off less than one who is eloquent.
§57ὦ παγκάκιστοι καὶ τὸ δοῦλον οὐ λόγῳ
ἔχοντες, ἀλλὰ τῇ τύχῃ κεκτημένοι §58οἴμοι, θανοῦμαι διὰ τὸ χρήσιμον φρενῶν,
ἥ τοῖσιν ἄλλοις γίγνεται σωτηρία.
O most wicked men, who hold your slavery not in word but possess it by fortune Alas, I shall die because of the usefulness of my mind, which becomes salvation for others.
§59ἐκ τῶν ὁμοίων οἱ κακοὶ γαμοῦσ’ ἀεί.
The bad always marry from their own kind.
§60χρόνος δὲ δείξει 〈σ’〉· ᾧ τεκμηρίῳ μαθὼν
ἢ χρηστὸν ὄντα γνώσομαί σ’ ἢ κακόν.
Time will show you; learning by which proof I shall know whether you are good or bad.
§61μισῶ σοφὸν ἐν λόγοισιν, ἐς δ’ ὄνησιν οὐ σοφόν.
I hate a man wise in words, but not wise for usefulness.
§62Ἑκάβη, τὸ θεῖον ὡς ἄελπτον ἔρχεται
θνητοῖσιν, ἕλκει δ’ οὔποτ’ ἐκ ταὐτοῦ τύχας.
Hecuba, how unexpectedly the divine comes to mortals, and never draws fortunes from the same source.
unspoken maiden and I have come directly from home Do you not even learn these things, maidens, which are in the city?
§67ὁ φόβος, ὅταν τις αἵματος μέλλῃ πέρι
λέγειν καταστὰς εἰς ἀγῶν’ ἐναντίον,
τό τε στόμ’ εἰς ἔκπληξιν ἀνθρώπων ἄγει
τὸν νοῦν τ’ ἀπείργει μὴ λέγειν ἃ βούλεται.
Fear, when one is about to speak concerning blood, having entered into an opposing contest, brings the mouth of men to astonishment and hinders the mind from saying what it wants.
τῷ μὲν γὰρ ἔνι κίνδυνος, ὃ δ’ ἀθῷος μένει.
For to the one there is danger, while the other remains unharmed.
ὅμως δ’ ἀγῶνα τόνδε δεῖ μ’ ὑπεκδραμεῖν· ψυχὴν γὰρ ἆθλα κειμένην ἐμὴν ὁρῶ.
But nevertheless I must run this contest; for I see my life lying as the prize.
§68〈Α.〉 μητέρα κατέκταν τὴν ἐμήν, βραχὺς λόγος. 〈Φ.〉 ἑκὼν ἑκοῦσαν ἢ 〈οὐ〉 θέλουσαν οὐχ ἑκών;
<A.> I killed my mother, to be brief. <Ph.> Willingly her willing, or unwillingly her unwilling?
§69μάλιστα μέν μ’ ἐπῆρ’ ἐπισκήψας πατήρ,
ὅθ’ ἅρματ’ εἰσέβαινεν εἰς Θήβας ἰών.
Most of all my father urged me, having commanded me when he was mounting his chariot to go to Thebes.
§70ὃς Οἰδίπουν ἀπώλεσ’, Οἰδίπους δ’ ἐμέ,
χρυσοῦν ἐνεγκὼν ὅρμον εἰς Ἄργους πόλιν.
...who destroyed Oedipus, and Oedipus destroyed me, bringing the golden necklace to the city of Argos.
§71αἷμα γὰρ σόν, μῆτερ, ἀπενίψατο
For he washed away your blood, mother.
§72χαῖρ’, ὦ γεραιέ· τήν τε παῖδ’ ἐκδοὺς ἐμοὶ
γαμβρὸς νομίζῃ καὶ πατὴρ σωτήρ τ’ ἐμός.
Farewell, old man; and having given your child to me, you shall be considered my father-in-law, and my father and savior.
to be white Dear friends, dear friends, step forward, let someone come here: from what country has this stranger come to the coastal Corinthians?
§75ὦ παῖ Κρέοντος, ὡς ἀληθὲς ἦν ἄρα,
ἐσθλῶν ἀπ’ ἀνδρῶν ἐσθλὰ γίγνεσθαι τέκνα,
κακῶν δ’ ὅμοια τῇ φύσει τῇ τοῦ πατρός.
O child of Creon, how true it was then, that good children are born from good men, and bad ones like the nature of their father.
§76ὁρᾶτε τὸν τύραννον ὡς ἄπαις γέρων
φεύγει· φρονεῖν δὲ θνητὸν ὄντ’ οὐ χρὴ μέγα.
See how the ruler flees, a childless old man; being mortal, one must not think proud thoughts.
un-paeaned, unfortunate I taught in my speech that a woman brings both the greatest benefit and the greatest disease to a man.
§79βροτοῖς τὰ μείζω τῶν μέσων τίκτει νόσους· θεῶν δὲ θνητοὺς κόσμον οὐ πρέπει φέρειν.
For mortals, things greater than the moderate produce diseases; and it is not fitting for mortals to wear the adornment of the gods.
§80φεῦ 〈φεῦ〉, τὰ μεγάλα μεγάλα καὶ πάσχει κακά.
Alas, alas, great things also suffer great evils.
§81ταπεινὰ γὰρ χρὴ τοὺς κακῶς πεπραγότας
λέγειν, ἐς ὄγκον δ’ οὐκ ἄνω βλέπειν τύχης.
For those who have fared badly must speak humbly, and not look up toward the pride of fortune.