§822γυνὴ γὰρ ἐν κακοῖσι καὶ νόσοις πόσει
ἥδιστόν ἐστι, δώματ’ ἢν οἰκῇ καλῶς,
ὀργήν τε πραΰνουσα καὶ δυσθυμίας
ψυχὴν μεθιστᾶσ’·
For a wife in times of trouble and sickness is the sweetest thing to her husband, if she manages the house well, soothing his anger and diverting his soul from despondency; sweet too are the deceptions of friends.
ἡδὺ κἀπάται φίλων. §823δίκαι’ ἔλεξε· χρὴ γὰρ εὐναίῳ πόσει
γυναῖκα κοινῇ τὰς τύχας φέρειν ἀεί.
She spoke justly; for a wife must always bear fortunes in common with her wedded husband.
§824ὡς οὐδὲν ὑγιὲς φασὶ μητρυιὰς φρονεῖν
νόθοισι παισίν, ὧν φυλάξομαι ψόγον.
As they say that stepmothers harbor nothing wholesome toward illegitimate children, whose blame I shall guard against.
§825κρείσσων δὲ βαιὸς ὄλβος ἀβλαβὴς βροτοῖς
ἢ δῶμα πλούτῳ δυσσεβῶς ὠγκωμένον.
Better for mortals is a small, harmless prosperity than a house insolently swollen with impious wealth.
§826δι’ ἐλπίδος ζῆ καὶ δι’ ἐλπίδος τρέφου.
Live by hope, and nurture yourself by hope.
§827καὶ μὴν ἀνοῖξαι μὲν σιροὺς οὐκ ἠξίου
And indeed he did not deign even to open the grain-pits.
§828αἱ γὰρ πόλεις εἴσ’ ἄνδρες, οὐκ ἐρημία.
For cities are men, not an empty waste.
§829ἀνὴρ δ’ ὃς εἶναι φής, ἀνδρὸς οὐκ ἄξιον
δειλὸν κεκλῆσθαι καὶ νοσεῖν αἰσχρὰν νόσον.
But for a man, which you claim to be, it is unworthy of a man to be called a coward and to suffer from a shameful disease.
§830λάτρις πενέστης ἁμὸς ἀρχαίων δόμων
A poor serf-servant of our ancient house.
§831πολλοῖσι δούλοις τοὔνομ’ αἰσχρόν, ἡ δὲ φρὴν
τῶν οὐχὶ δούλων ἐστ’ ἐλευθερωτέρα.
To many slaves the name is shameful, but their mind is more free than that of those who are not slaves.
§832εἰ δ’ εὐσεβὴς ὢν τοῖσι δυσσεβεστάτοις
εἰς ταὔτ’ ἔπρασσον, πῶς τάδ’ ἂν καλῶς ἔχοι;
But if I, being pious, fared the same as the most impious, how could this be well?
ἢ Ζεὺς ὁ λῷστος μηδὲν ἔνδικον φρονεῖ;
Or does Zeus the best mind nothing that is just?
§833τίς δ’ οἶδεν εἰ ζῆν τοῦθ’ ὃ κέκληται θανεῖν,
τὸ ζῆν δὲ θνήσκειν ἐστί;
Who knows if that which is called dying is living, and living is dying?
πλὴν ὅμως βροτῶν
νοσοῦσιν οἱ βλέποντες, οἱ δ’ ὀλωλότες
οὐδὲν νοσοῦσιν οὐδὲ κέκτηνται κακά.
Except that nevertheless, among mortals, those who see suffer, while those who have perished suffer nothing, nor do they possess evils.
§834καὶ γὰρ πέφυκε τοῦτ’ ἐν ἀνθρώπου φύσει· ἢν καὶ δίκῃ θνῄσκῃ τις, οὐχ ἧσσον ποθεῖ
πᾶς τις δακρύειν τοὺς προσήκοντας φίλους.
For this is natural in the nature of man: even if someone dies justly, everyone nonetheless desires that his near kin weep for him.
§835ὅστις δὲ θνητῶν οἴεται τοὐφ’ ἡμέραν
κακόν τι πράσσων τοὺς θεοὺς λεληθέναι,
δοκεῖ πονηρὰ καὶ δοκῶν ἁλίσκεται,
ὅταν σχολὴν ἄγουσα τυγχάνῃ Δίκη.
Whichever of mortals, doing some evil day by day, thinks he has escaped the notice of the gods, thinks wickedly, and thinking so is caught, whenever Justice happens to have leisure.
§836πώγωνα πυρός §837ἰλλάδας §839Γαῖα μεγίστη καὶ Διὸς Αἰθήρ,
ὃ μὲν ἀνθρώπων καὶ θεῶν γενέτωρ,
ἢ δ’ ὑγροβόλους σταγόνας νοτίας
παραδεξαμένη τίκτει θνητούς,
τίκτει βοτάνην φῦλά τε θηρῶν·
beard of fire ropes Greatest Earth and Zeus’s Ether: the one is the father of men and gods, and the other, receiving the moisture-casting wet drops, gives birth to mortals, gives birth to vegetation and the tribes of wild beasts; whence not unjustly is she considered mother of all.
ὅθεν οὐκ ἀδίκως
μήτηρ πάντων νενόμισται. χωρεῖ δ’ ὀπίσω
τὰ μὲν ἐκ γαίας φύντ’ εἰς γαῖαν,
τὰ δ’ ἀπ’ αἰθερίου βλαστόντα γονῆς
εἰς οὐράνιον πάλιν ἦλθε πόλον· θνήσκει δ’ οὐδὲν τῶν γιγνομένων,
διακρινόμενον δ’ ἄλλο πρὸς ἄλλου
μορφὴν ἑτέραν ἀπέδειξεν.
And there return backward, the things sprung from earth into the earth, and those that shot up from ethereal seed go back again to the celestial pole; and nothing of the things that come to be dies, but, being dissolved one from another, they display a different form.
§840λέληθεν οὐδὲν τῶνδέ μ’ ὧν σὺ νουθετεῖς,
γνώμην δ’ ἔχοντά μ’ ἡ φύσις βιάζεται.
Nothing of these things you advise escapes my notice, but though I have understanding, my nature forces me.
§841αἰαῖ, τόδ’ ἥδη θεῖον ἀνθρώποις κακόν,
ὅταν τις εἰδῇ τἀγαθόν, χρῆται δὲ μή.
Alas, this is indeed already a god-sent evil for men, when one knows the good but does not practice it.
§842γνώμης σόφισμα καὶ χέρ’ ἀνδρείαν ἔχων
δύσμορφος εἴην μᾶλλον ἢ καλὸς κακός.
Possessing a device of intellect and a courageous hand, I would rather be ill-favored than handsome and wicked.
§843ὦ δέσποτ’, οὐδεὶς οἶδεν ἄνθρωπος γεγὼς
οὔτ’ εὐτυχοῦς ἀριθμὸν οὔτε δυστυχοῦς.
O master, no one, being born a human, knows the measure of either a fortunate or an unfortunate man.
§844εἰάζων §845ἀπρόσειλος §846Αἴγυπτος, ὡς ὁ πλεῖστος ἔσπαρται λόγος,
ξὺν παισὶ πεντήκοντα ναυτίλῳ πλάτῃ
Ἄργος κατασχών
shouting "eia" unapproached Aegyptus, as the most widespread story is sown, having occupied Argos with his fifty sons by seafaring oar...
§847εἰ μὴ γὰρ ἴδιον ἔλαβον εἰς χεῖρας μύσος
For if I had not taken a pollution of my own into my hands...
§848γαυριᾶν §849ἀκανθώδη ῥάχιν §850ἡ γὰρ τυραννὶς πάντοθεν τοξεύεται
δεινοῖς ἔρωσιν, ἧς φυλακτέον πέρι.
to exult thorny spine For tyranny is shot at from all sides by terrible desires, against which one must guard.
§852ὅστις δὲ τοὺς τεκόντας ἐν βίῳ σέβει,
ὅδ’ ἐστὶ καὶ ζῶν καὶ θανὼν θεοῖς φίλος· ὅστις δὲ τοὺς φύσαντας μὴ τιμᾶν θέλῃ,
μή μοι γένοιτο μήτε συνθύτης τοῖς θεοῖς
μήτ’ ἐν θαλάσσῃ κοινόπλουν στέλλοι σκάφος.
Whoever reveres his parents in life, this man is dear to the gods both living and dead; but whoever wishes not to honor his parents, may he neither be a fellow-sacrificer to the gods with me, nor pilot a ship on a common voyage at sea.
§853τρεῖς εἰσὶν ἀρεταὶ τὰς χρεών σ’ ἀσκεῖν, τέκνον,
θεούς τε τιμᾶν τούς τε φύσαντας γονῆς
νόμους τε κοινοὺς Ἑλλάδος· καὶ ταῦτα δρῶν
κάλλιστον ἕξεις στέφανον εὐκλείας ἀεί.
There are three virtues which you must practice, my child: to honor the gods, your parents who begot you, and the common laws of Greece; and by doing these things, you will always have the fairest crown of good repute.
§854τὸ μὲν σφαγῆναι δεινόν, εὔκλειαν δ’ ἔχει· τὸ μὴ θανεῖν δὲ δειλόν, ἡδονὴ δ’ ἔνι.
To be slaughtered is terrible, yet it has good repute; but not to die is cowardly, yet pleasure is in it.
§855ἀναδρομαί §856ἀλκυόνες, αἳ παρ’ ἀενάοις θαλάσσας
κύμασιν στωμύλλετε,
τέγγουσαι νοτίοις πτερῶν
ῥανίσι χρόα διανιζόμεναι
shootings up Halcyons, who by the ever-flowing waves of the sea chatter, wetting your skin with the damp drops of your wings as you wash yourselves clean...
§857ἔλαφον δ’ Ἀχαιῶν χερσὶν ἐνθήσω φίλαις
κεροῦσσαν, ἣν σφάζοντες αὐχήσουσι σὴν
σφάζειν θυγατέρα
And I will place in the dear hands of the Achaeans a horned hind, which they, while slaughtering it, will boast that they are slaughtering your daughter.
§858ὦ θερμόβουλον σπλάγχνον §859διαβάλλω §861δείξας γὰρ ἄστρων τὴν ἐναντίαν ὁδὸν
δήμους τ’ ἔσῳσα καὶ τύραννος ἱζόμην.
O hot-planning heart I slander For by showing the contrary path of the stars, I both saved the peoples and sat as ruler.
§862ὁθούνεκα
ἐν 〈αὐτὸς〉 αὑτῷ πάντα συλλαβὼν ἔχει
Because he himself possesses everything combined within himself.
§863ἥκει δ’ ἐπ’ ὤμοις ἢ συὸς φέρων βάρος
ἢ τὴν ἄμορφον λύγκα, δύστοκον δάκος.
And he comes bearing on his shoulders either the weight of a boar or the shapeless lynx, a hard-to-bear beast.