Humanitext Reader

Theophrastus · Fragments §73.1

The Unpredictable Nature of Fortune Overturning Prosperity

Passage 75 of 196 · Greek

Summary

Theophrastus describes the unpredictable nature of Fortune, which deprives humans of past labors and overturns apparent prosperity without any fixed timing.

§73.1Fr. 73 Ἄσκοπος ἡ τύχη, φησὶν ὁ Θ., καὶ δεινὴ παρελέοσθαι τὰ προπεπονημένα καὶ μεταρρίψαι τὴν δοκοῦσαν εὐημερίαν, οὐθένα καιρὸν ἔχουσα τακτόν.
Fr. 73 "Fortune is unpredictable," says Theophrastus, "and terrible at snatching away past labors and overturning apparent prosperity, having no appointed time."

Notes

  1. §73.1δεινὴ — The adjective δεινός governs the infinitives (παρελέοσθαι and μεταρρίψαι) to mean "clever at," "terrible at," or "having a fearsome power to."
  2. §73.1παρελέοσθαι — A variant spelling of παρελέσθαι, the aorist middle infinitive of παραιρέομαι ("to take away", "deprive", "ruin").
  3. §73.1τὰ προπεπονημένα — The perfect middle/passive participle (neuter plural accusative) of προπονέω ("to labor beforehand"), meaning "things previously labored for" or "the fruits of past labors."
  4. §73.1οὐθένα — The accusative masculine singular of the negative adjective οὐδείς ("no," "not any"), which is a later Hellenistic variant spelling of οὐδένα.

Cite this passage

Theophrastus, Fragments §73.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0093.tlg010x09.humanitext-grc1:73.1

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