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Theophrastus · Fragments §132.1

Aeschylus Quoting the Maxim of Bias as a Proverb

Passage 137 of 196 · Greek

Summary

The text explains that the line "upon a vain tongue, damage is inflicted" is from Aeschylus, but originally stems from a saying of Bias, used as a proverb, as testified by Theophrastus in "On Proverbs".

§132.1Fr. 132 Γλώσσῃ ματαίᾳ ζημία προστρίβεται· Αἰσχύλου· τὸ μὲν ἀπόφθεγμα Βίαντος, ὡς παροιμία δὲ λαμβάνεται ὡς μαρτυρεῖ Θ. ἐν τῷ περὶ παροιμιῶν.
Fr. 132 "Upon a vain tongue, damage is inflicted" is a line of Aeschylus; the saying is of Bias, but it is taken as a proverb, as Theophrastus testifies in "On Proverbs".

Notes

  1. §132.1Γλώσσῃ ματαίᾳ ζημία προστρίβεται — A quotation from Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, line 329. The dative phrase Γλώσσῃ ματαίᾳ ("to a vain tongue") functions as a dative of disadvantage (or indirect object) governed by the passive verb προστρίβεται ("is rubbed against/inflicted upon").
  2. §132.1Αἰσχύλου — A possessive genitive (or genitive of author), meaning "[the line is] of Aeschylus". The subsequent genitive Βίαντος ("of Bias") shares the same construction with a copula omitted.
  3. §132.1ὡς ... ὡς — The particle ὡς appears twice with different functions: the first (in ὡς παροιμία) is a prepositional particle meaning "as" (in the capacity of), whereas the second (in ὡς μαρτυρεῖ) is a subordinating conjunction meaning "as" or "just as".

Cite this passage

Theophrastus, Fragments §132.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0093.tlg010x09.humanitext-grc1:132.1

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