Ēinitteto

Ἦν δὲ καὶ ἄλλο εἶδος τῶν συμβόλων τοιοῦτον· “ζυγὸν μὴ ὑπερβαίνειν”, τουτέστι μὴ πλεονεκτεῖν. “μὴ τὸ πῦρ τῇ μαχαίρᾳ σκαλεύειν”, ὅπερ ἦν μὴ τὸν ἀνοιδοῦντα καὶ ὀργιζόμενον κινεῖν λόγοις παρατεθηγμένοις. “στέφανόν τε μὴ τίλλειν”, τουτέστι τοὺς νόμους μὴ λυμαίνεσθαι· στέφανοι γὰρ πόλεων οὗτοι. πάλιν δʼ οὖ ἕτερα τοιαῦτα· “μὴ καρδίαν ἐσθίειν”, οἷον μὴ λυπεῖν ἑαυτὸν ἀνίαις. “μηδʼ ἐπὶ χοίνικος καθέζεσθαι”, οἷον μὴ ἀργὸν ζῆν. “μηδʼ ἀποδημοῦντα ἐπιστρέφεσθαι”, τουτέστι μὴ ἔχεσθαι τοῦ βίου τούτου ἀποθνήσκοντα. “τάς τε λεωφόρους μὴ βαδίζειν, διʼ οὗ ταῖς τῶν πολλῶν ἕπεσθαι γνώμαις ἐκώλυεν, τὰς δὲ τῶν ὀλίγων καὶ πεπαιδευμένων μεταθεῖν. “μηδὲ χελιδόνας ἐν οἰκίᾳ δέχεσθαι”, τουτέστι λάλους ἀνθρώπους καὶ περὶ γλῶτταν ἀκρατεῖς ὁμωροφίους μὴ ποιεῖσθαι. “φορτίον δὲ συνανατιθέναι μὲν τοῖς βαστάζουσι, συγκαθαιρεῖν δὲ μή”, διʼ οὗ παρῄνει μηδενὶ πρὸς ῥᾳστώνην, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἀρετὴν συμπράττειν. “θεῶν τʼ εἰκόνας ἐν δακτυλίοις μὴ φορεῖν”, τουτέστι τὴν περὶ θεῶν δόξαν καὶ λόγον πρόχειρον μηδὲ φανερὸν ἔχειν μηδὲ εἰς πολλοὺς φέρειν. “σπονδάς τε ποιεῖσθαι τοῖς θεοῖς κατὰ τὸ οὖς τῶν ἐκπωμάτων”· ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ ᾐνίττετο τιμᾶν τοὺς θεοὺς καὶ ὑμνεῖν τῆ μουσικῇ· αὕτη γὰρ διὰ ὤτων χωρεῖ. μὴ ἐσθίειν ὅσα μὴ θέμις, γένεσιν, αὔξησιν, ἀρχήν, τελευτήν, μηδʼ ἐξ ὧν ἡ πρώτη τῶν πάντων ὑπόθεσίς γίνεται.
(Porphyrius, Vita Pythagorae 42)

He had also another kind of symbol, such as, pass not over a balance; that is, Shun avarice. Poke not the fire with a sword, that is, we ought not to excite a man full of fire and anger with sharp language. Pluck not a crown, meant not to violate the laws, which are the crowns of cities. Eat not the heart, signified not to afflict ourselves with sorrows. Do not sit upon a [pack]-measure, meant, do not live ignobly. On starting a journey, do not turn back, meant, that this life should not be regretted, when near the bourne of death. Do not walk in the public way, meant, to avoid the opinions of the multitude, adopting those of the learned and the few. Receive not swallows into your house, meant, not to admit under the same roof garrulous and intemperate men. Help a man to take up a burden, but not to lay it down, meant, to encourage no one to be indolent, but to apply oneself to labor and virtue. Do not carry the images of the Gods in rings, signified that one should not at once to the vulgar reveal one’s opinions about the Gods, or discourse about them. Offer libations to the Gods, just to the ears of the cup, meant, that we ought to worship and celebrate the Gods with music, for that penetrates through the ears. Do not eat those things that are unlawful, sexual or increase, beginning nor end, nor the first basis of all things.
(tr. Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie)

Rarescunt

Iam terras volucremque polum fuga veris aquosi
lassat et Icariis caelum latratibus urit;
ardua iam densae rarescunt moenia Romae.
hos Praeneste sacrum, nemus hos glaciale Dianae
Algidus aut horrens aut Tuscula protegit umbra,
Tiburis hi lucos Anienaque frigora captant.
te quoque clamosae quae iam plaga mitior Urbi
subtrahit? aestivos quo decipis aëre soles?
quid tuus ante omnes, tua cura potissima, Gallus,
nec non noster amor, dubium morumne probandus
ingeniine bonis? Latiis aestivat in oris,
anne metalliferae repetit iam moenia Lunae
Tyrrhenasque domos? quod si tibi proximus haeret,
non ego nunc vestro procul a sermone recedo.
certum est: inde sonus geminas mihi circumit aures.
(Statius, Silvae 4.4.12-26)

Already the flight of watery spring wearies earth and whirling sky and burns heaven with Icarian barking. Already the lofty buildings of crowded Rome are less populous. Some sacred Praeneste shelters, some Diana’s chilly wood, or shivering Algidus, or Tusculum’s shade, yet others make for the groves of Tibur and Anio’s cool. You too, what gentler clime now draws you from the clamorous city? With what air do you trick the suns of summer? What of your chief care, your favorite, Gallus, whom I too love (to be praised for gifts of character or mind, who shall say?)? Does he spend the season on Latium’s coast or does he revisit the walls of quarried Luna and his Tyrrhene home? But if he stays close to you, I do not now go far from your talk, that’s certain, and that’s why both my ears are buzzing.
(tr. David Roy Shackleton Bailey)

Lingua

Cum modicum membrum sit lingua, est maximus ignis;
non tot per gladium quot periere per hanc.
praevalet in lingua qui non est fortis in armis;
nullus in hac pugna plus meretrice valet.
ex hoc praecipue distant ignavus et audax,
quod factis iste praevalet, ille minis.
si linguae bellum quam armorum fortius esset,
Thersites Troiae maior Achille foret.
(Peter Abelard, Monita ad Astralabium 237-244)

Although the tongue may be the smallest member, it is the most incendiary,
nor have as many perished by the sword as by this.
He prevails in tongue who is not strong in arms;
no-one prevails more in this type of battle than a prostitute.
By this especially are the coward and the bold man differentiated:
this one is strong in deeds, that one in threats.
If the warfare of words were more effective than the warfare of arms
Thersites would have been greater at Troy than Achilles.
(tr. Juanita Feros Ruys)

Katastrepsousa

Γλῶσσα, ποῖ πορεύῃ; πόλιν ἀνορθώσουσα καὶ πόλιν καταστρέψουσα· ἐπὶ τῶν διὰ λόγων ἢ ὠφελούντων ἢ βλαπτόντων.
(Zenobius, Vulgata 2.99 = Diogenianus, Paroemiae 4.9)

O tongue where are you going? Answer: to rebuild a city and to tear down a city; in reference to those who are either helping or harming through their words. (tr. Jennifer Benedict)

Γλῶσσα, ποῖ πορεύῃ; πόλιν ἀνορθώσουσα καὶ πάλιν ἀναστρέψουσα, id est ‘Lingua, quo vadis? Erectum civitatem, eandem denuo subversura’. Refertur a Suida, Zenodoto, Diogeniano. Docet linguam plurimum utilitatis adferre mortalibus, et eandem rursum plurimam adferre perniciem, tametsi membrum corporis sit perquam exiguum. Proinde divus Iacobus apostolus eam clavo navis adsimilem facit, quae, cum pars sit minima, tamen totam navem aut servat, aut evertit. Bias, referente Plutarcho in libello ‘De audiendo’, rursum in alio ‘De loquacitate’, Amasidi Aegyptiorum tyranno iubenti, ut sibi, quod esset in victimae, quam illum miserat, carnibus et optimum et pessimum mitteret, linguam resectam misit, innuens huius usum esse praecipuum, sive prodesse cupias, sive nocere. Nec inscite dictum est a Solomone capite decimo octavo: ‘Mors et vita in manibus linguae’ [Proverbia 18:21].
(Erasmus, Adagia 2.2.39 (= 1139))

Γλῶσσα, ποῖ πορεύῃ; πόλιν ἀνορθώσουσα καὶ πάλιν ἀναστρέψουσα, Tongue, whither wouldst thou? To build a city, and then again to overthrow it. Recorded by Suidas, Zenodotus and Diogenianus. Its message is that the tongue can be the greatest benefit to mortals and again can bring on them the greatest disasters, although as a member of the body it is very small indeed. Hence the apostle St James compares it to a nail in a ship’s timbers, which is a very small part of the whole and yet either keeps the ship safe and sound or destroys it. Plutarch in his essay ‘On How to Study’ tells a story of Bias, which recurs in his ‘On Garrulity;’ when Amasis, tyrant of Egypt, told Bias to bring him the best and worst pieces of meat in the victim which he sent him, Bias cut out the tongue and sent that, indicating that it was the outstanding instrument, whether you wish to do good or harm. There is much point in Solomon’s remark in chapter 18, that ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue.’ (tr. Roger A.B. Mynors)

Mentitur

‘Unde ergo,’ inquitis, ‘tantum de vobis Famae licuit, cuius testimonium suffecerit forsitan conditoribus legum?’ quis, oro, sponsor aut illis tunc aut exinde vobis de fide Famae? nonne haec est ‘Fama malum, quo non aliud velocius ullum’ [cf. Vergil, Aen. 4.174] ? cur malum, si vera semper sit? non mendacio plurimum? quae ne tum quidem, cum vera defert, a libidine mendacii cessat, ut non falsa veris intexat adiciens, detrahens, varietate confundens. quid, quod ea condicio illi, ut nonnisi quod mentitur perseveret? tamdiu enim vivit quamdiu non probat quicquam, siquidem approbata cadit et quasi officio nuntiandi functa decedit; exinde res tenetur, res nominatur, nec quisquam dicit verbi gratia: ‘hoc Romae aiunt factum,’ aut ‘fama est illum provinciam sortitum,’ sed: ‘ille provinciam sortitus est,’ et ‘hoc factum est Romae.’
(Tertullian, Ad Nationes 1.7)

You will say, how is it possible that such a hideous reputation has grown up around you Christians as to convince our lawmakers of its testimony? And I shall ask who was the advocate for your lawmakers in their own time and for you in the present time to vouch for this reputation? Could it perhaps have been: ‘Rumor, an evil of matchless speed’? But why evil, if it is always true? Is it in fact not largely false? Even when it reports the truth, it does not set aside its lust for lying. Rumor weaves falsehood in with the truth by a process of addition, subtraction and scrambling. She can maintain her existence only by lying. She lives on only as long as she fails to prove anything. As soon as a rumor is proven to be true, it expires. Having conveyed its message, it departs. When the report is real and is declared a fact no one will say, ‘They say that this happened in Rome.’ Or, ‘Rumor has it that he has been assigned a province.’ Rather, it will be said, ‘This happened in Rome.’ Or ‘He has been assigned a province.’ (tr. Quincy Howe)

Haeret

Non parva igitur est prudentiae praerogativa, si quis arte quadam, et decore, specimen sui apud alios exhibere possit: virtutes suas, merita, atque fortunam etiam (quod sine arrogantia aut fastidio fieri possit) commode ostentando; contra, vitia, defectus, infortunia et dedecora, artificiose occultando: illis immorans, easque veluti ad lumen obvertens; his subterfugia quaerens, aut apte ea interpretando eluens; et similia. itaque, de Mutiano, viro sui temporis prudentissimo, et ad res gerendas impigerrimo, Tacitus; ‘omnium quae dixerat feceratque arte quadam ostentator’ [cf. Tacitus, Hist. 2.80]. indiget certe res haec arte nonnulla, ne taedium et contemptum pariat: ita tamen, ut ostentatio quaepiam, licet usque ad vanitatis primum gradum, vitium sit potius in ethicis, quam in politicis. sicut enim dici solet de calumnia ‘audacter calumniare; semper aliquid haeret’, sic dici possit de iactantia, etsi plane deformis fuerit et ridicula: ‘audacter te vendita; semper aliquid haeret.’ Haerebit certe apud populum, licet prudentiores subrideant. Itaque existimatio parta apud plurimos paucorum fastidium abunde compensabit.
(Francis Bacon, De Dignitate et Augmentis Scientiarum 8.2)

It is therefore no unimportant attribute of prudence in a man to be able to set forth to advantage before others, with grace and skill, his virtues, fortunes, and merits (which may be done without arrogance or breeding disgust); and again, to cover artificially his weaknesses, defects, misfortunes, and disgraces; dwelling upon the former and turning them to the light, sliding from the latter or explaining them away by apt interpretations and the like. Tacitus says of Mucianus, the wisest and most active politician of his time, ‘That he had a certain art of setting forth to advantage everything he said or did.’ And it requires indeed some art, lest it become wearisome and contemptible; but yet it is true that ostentation, though carried to the first degree of vanity, is rather a vice in morals than in policy. For as it is said of calumny, ‘Calumniate boldly, for some of it will stick,’ so it may be said of ostentation (except it be in a ridiculous degree of deformity), ‘Boldly sound your own praises, and some of them will stick.’ It will stick with the more ignorant and the populace, though men of wisdom may smile at it; and the reputation won with many will amply countervail the disdain of a few. (tr. Francis Bacon)

Tumultuositas

Populus iuxta sanctiones divinas ducendus est, non sequendus; et ad testimonium personae magis eliguntur honestae. nec audiendi qui solent dicere: vox populi, vox Dei; cum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit.
(Alcuin, Capitulare Admonitionis ad Carolum = Ep. 166.9)

The people must be led according to divine laws, not followed, and by the examples provided by more respectable people. Those who say “the voice of the people is the voice of God” should not be heeded, for the hubbub of the crowd is always rather close to madness. (tr. Jeff Sypeck)

Olbos

Τοῖσι λάμπει μὲν μένος ἀελίου
τὰν ἐνθάδε νύκτα κάτω,
φοινικορόδοις ‹δ’› ἐνὶ λειμώνεσσι προάστιον αὐτῶν
καὶ λιβάνων σκιαρᾶν ‹             ›
   καὶ χρυσοκάρποισιν βέβριθε ‹δενδρέοις›
καὶ τοὶ μὲν ἵπποις γυμνασίοισι ‹τεˉˉ›
   τοὶ δὲ πεσσοῖς
τοὶ δὲ φορμίγγεσσι τέρπονται, παρὰ δέ σφισιν
   εὐανθὴς ἅπας τέθαλεν ὄλβος·
  ὀδμὰ δ’ ἐρατὸν κατὰ χῶρον κίδναται
†αἰεὶ . . θύματα μειγνύντων πυρὶ τηλεφανεῖ
‹παντοῖα θεῶν ἐπὶ βωμοῖς›
[           ]ε̣οι μοῖρ’ ἔνθα . [
[           ]δώροις βουθυ[
  [           ]φ̣αν ἄλοχόν [
[            ]αν·
[            ]π̣ρ̣ὸς [Ὄ]λυμπον [

(Pindar, fr. 129)

For them shines the might of the sun
below during nighttime up here,
and in meadows of red roses their country abode
is laden with . . . shady frankincense trees
and trees with golden fruit,
and some take delight in horses and exercises,
others in draughts,
and others in lyres; and among them
complete happiness blooms and flourishes.
A fragrance spreads throughout the lovely land,
as they continually mingle offerings of all kinds
(with far-shining fire on the gods’ altars)*.
portion from there
gifts, oxen-sacrifice(s)
wife
. . . . . .
to Olympus

* The papyrus omits v. 10 in the passage from Plutarch.

(tr. William H. Race, with his note)