Greek Proverbs: Dec. 11

Here are today's Greek proverbs; it's Group 214. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

γέλως ~ γέλωτος (noun m.): laughter 

δεύτερον ~ δευτέρου (adj. neut.): second, next 

ἅμα (adverb): at the same time as 

Ἑρμῆς ~ Ἑρμοῦ (noun m.): Hermes 

χρῆμα ~ χρήματος (noun n.): property, money 

These are the proverbs (and there are always more proverbs at the blog):

Γέλως Ἰωνικός.

Δευτέρων ἀμεινόνων.

Ἄμα πρόσσω καὶ οπίσσω λεύσσει.

Ἐκ παντὸς ξύλου Ἑρμῆς οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο.

Χρήματ’ ἔχων οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται εἰς ᾿Αίδεω.

And now, some commentary:

Γέλως Ἰωνικός.

Ionic laughter.

The Ionians were known for pleasure-loving luxury, so Ionian laughter was a kind of exquisite, indulgent laughter. The phrase was made famous in English poetry by Oscar Wilde in his "Burden of Itys," contrasting Ionian laughter with a cheerless England — No soft Ionian laughter moves the air, / The Thames creeps on in sluggish leadenness.

Δευτέρων ἀμεινόνων.

Seconds being better.

The idea is that your second ideas or impulses are better, based as they are on what you've learned from experience. Compare the English saying "second thoughts" when you change your mind about something, based on your improved understanding of something.

Ἄμα πρόσσω καὶ οπίσσω λεύσσει.

He looks at once forwards and backwards.

You can find these words in Homer's Iliad. This is a wise thing to do, looking both backwards and forwards. In the context of the scene in the Iliad, this is something that old men do, like King Priam, unlike reckless, impulsive young people. 

Ἐκ παντὸς ξύλου Ἑρμῆς οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο.

A Hermes cannot be made from every sort of wood.

The Roman author Apuleius in his Apology attributes the saying to Pythagoras. You can read about the statues of Hermes called herms at Wikipedia. 

Χρήματ’ ἔχων οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται εἰς ᾿Αίδεω.

No one goes to Hades having his money with him.

The words come from the Greek poet Theognis. Compare the English saying, "You can't take it with you."

The Waters of Lethe in Hades

And here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too:

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Greek Proverbs: Dec. 9

Here are today's Greek proverbs; it's Group 213. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

ἄρχω ~ ἄρξω ~ ἦρξα (verb): begin; rule 

νεκρός ~ νεκροῦ (noun m.): corpse, dead man 

οὖς ~ ὠτός (noun n.): ear 

ζήω ~ ζήσω ~ ἔζησα (verb): be alive, live 

ἀδύνατος ~ ἀδυνάτου (adj. masc.): unable, impossible 

These are the proverbs (and there are always more proverbs at the blog):

Δαπανῶν ἄρχου.

Νεκρὸν μαστίζεις.

Κηρὸν τοῖς ὠσὶν ἐπαλειφεις.

Τὸ ζῆν ἀλύπως ἀνδρός ἐστιν εὐτυχοῦς.

Οὐ λέγειν δεινός, ἀλλὰ σιγᾶν ἀδύνατος.

And now, some commentary:

Δαπανῶν ἄρχου.

Keep control of your expenditures.

Note the middle imperative, ἄρχου, and the verb takes a genitive complement: δαπανῶν. This is another one of the so-called Delphic maxims recorded by Stobaeus.

Νεκρὸν μαστίζεις.

You're flogging a dead man.

This is one of the "adynata" attributed to Plutarch. You're not going to accomplish anything by flogging someone who's dead or, metaphorically, you are arguing with someone who is never going to change their mind. Compare the English saying, "beating a dead horse."

Κηρὸν τοῖς ὠσὶν ἐπαλειφεις.

You're smearing wax into your ears. 

The idea is that you are preparing yourself not to listen to something that might be dangerous for you to hear. The allusion is to the hero Odysseus and how he had his men put wax in their ears in order not to be lured by the song of the Sirens.

Τὸ ζῆν ἀλύπως ἀνδρός ἐστιν εὐτυχοῦς.

It's a lucky man who lives without sorrow.

Literally in the Greek: it is of a lucky man to live without sorrow. It's a pessimistic sort of saying: you might not be happy exactly, but you're lucky if you can manage to live without sorrow. This is another of the "one-liners" (monostichs) of Menander, so it is in iambic meter:

Τὸ ζῆν | ἀλύ||πως ἀν|δρός ἐσ||τιν εὐ|τυχοῦς.

Οὐ λέγειν δεινός, ἀλλὰ σιγᾶν ἀδύνατος.

Not terrific at speaking, but not able to keep quiet.

The phrase is a rebuke to someone who is a poor speaker but who nevertheless keeps on talking. The saying is quoted in Aulus Gellius' Attic Nights, which is a useful source for Greek proverbs, as you might have guessed from the title.

Odysseus and the Sirens

And here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too:

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Greek Proverbs: December 4

Here are today's Greek proverbs; it's Group 212. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

ὁμιλέω ~ ὁμιλήσω ~ ὡμίλησα (verb): associate with, speak to 

ἀπέχω ~ ἀφέξω ~ ἀπέσχον (verb): keep off; keep away 

πόλεμος ~ πολέμου (noun m.): war, battle 

σωφρονέω ~ σωφρονήσω ~ εσωφρόνησα (verb): be wise, learn moderation 

σύν (prep.+dat): with, together with 

These are the proverbs (and there are always more proverbs at the blog):

Κωφῷ ὁμιλεῖς.

Ἀλλοτρίων ἀπέχου.

Τὸν πόλεμον ἐξωρχήσαντο.

Ξυμφέρει σωφρονεῖν ὑπὸ στένει.

Πόλλ' ἐφέλκεται φυγὴ κακὰ ξὺν αὐτῇ.

And now, some commentary:

Κωφῷ ὁμιλεῖς.

You're speaking to the deaf.

This is another one of the "adynata" of Plutarch: you can shout as loud as you want, but your message is not going to get through. It's an impossibility, adynaton.

Ἀλλοτρίων ἀπέχου.

Keep away from other people's things.

Note the middle imperative: "keep (yourself) away." This is another of the so-called Delphic maxims recorded by Stobaeus; find out more here at Wikipedia.

Τὸν πόλεμον ἐξωρχήσαντο.

They danced away the war.

This saying is the punchline to a Sybaritic story recorded in Aelian's Natural History: the decadent people of Sybaris in Italy had taught their horses to dance so that they could provide entertainment at their banquets. So when the people of Croton went to war with Sybaris, they swapped out their trumpeters for pipes; when the horses heard the dance music, they threw off their riders and "danced away the war," and so the Sybarite army was routed.

Ξυμφέρει σωφρονεῖν ὑπὸ στένει.

It's useful to become wise in dire straits.

This is advice from the Chorus in Aeschylus's Eumenides.

Just like in English, Greek στεῖνος (Attic στενός) is a "narrow place," but it means any difficult place or circumstance, so I used the English phrase "dire straits" here. This root also gives us English "stenography."

Πόλλ' ἐφέλκεται φυγὴ κακὰ ξὺν αὐτῇ.

Exile drags many evils along with it.

These words come from Euripides' Medea. Jason is sending Medea into exile, although he says he wants to make sure she and their sons do not suffer in exile; Πόλλ' ἐφέλκεται φυγὴ κακὰ ξὺν αὐτῇ. Medea, however, is not placated by his promises, and the results are κακὰ indeed.

Jason (Pompeii fresco)

And here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too:

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Greek Proverbs: December 2

Here are today's Greek proverbs; it's Group 211. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

γάμος ~ γάμου (noun m.): wedding, marriage 

λυπέω ~ λυπήσω ~ ἐλύπησα (verb): grieve; feel grief 

ἄμεινον ~ ἀμείνονος (adj. neut.): better, braver 

δεινόν ~ δεινοῦ (adj. neut.): fearful, terrible 

πλοῦς ~ πλόου (noun m.): voyage 

These are the proverbs (and there are always more proverbs at the blog):

Αἰγύπτου γάμος

Μὴ ἐπὶ παντὶ λυποῦ.

Ἔφυγον κακὸν, εὗρον ἄμεινον.

Ὑπόνοια δεινόν ἐστιν ἀνθρώποις κακόν.

Οὐ παντὸς ἀνδρὸς ἐς Κόρινθον ἐσθ' ὁ πλοῦς.

And now, some commentary:

Αἰγύπτου γάμος.

Aegyptus's wedding.

This is an ominous mythological allusion to the marriage of the fifty sons of Aegyptus to the fifty daughters of Danaus, the Danaides, all of whom — except for one — murdered their husbands on their wedding night. You can find out more at Wikipedia: Danaus. The Danais were famously punished in the underworld by drawing water with leaky pots.

Μὴ ἐπὶ παντὶ λυποῦ.

Don't grieve at all.

You could also translate this as "Don't grieve over everything" or "over everyone" — but the idea is really not to grieve, and translating it as "Don't grieve at all" saves the trouble of specifying everything (neuter) or everyone (masculine) for Greek παντὶ. Note also the middle imperative: λυποῦ. We have something like that middle sense in English when we say "don't grieve yourself, don't trouble yourself." This is one of the so-called Delphic maxims recorded by Stobaeus.

Ἔφυγον κακὸν, εὗρον ἄμεινον.

I fled the bad, I found the better.

This is an unusually optimistic saying! Often the result of fleeing from something bad means that you end up with something as bad or even worse (for example, the Greek saying Τέφραν φεύγων, εἰς ἀνθρακιὰν ἔπεσεν, or English "Out of the frying pan, into the fire"), but this goes from bad to better, κακὸν to ἄμεινον. Even if it is just the better or lesser of two evils, that is still an improvement.

Ὑπόνοια δεινόν ἐστιν ἀνθρώποις κακόν.

Suspicion is a dire evil among mankind.

The word ὑπόνοια is "under-mind" or "under-thought," which can mean a guess or conjecture in Greek, but it can also have the sense of suspicion, unspoken thoughts which tend in a negative direction; that seems to be the best sense here. This saying is another one of the monostichs of Menander, which means it is in iambic verse:

Ὑπόνοι|α δει||νόν ἐσ|τιν ἀν||θρώποις | κακόν.

Οὐ παντὸς ἀνδρὸς ἐς Κόρινθον ἐσθ' ὁ πλοῦς.

A voyage to Corinth is not for every man.

Corinth was a great tourist destination, especially famed for its high-priced courtesans, like the famous Lais of Corinth, so getting to go to Corinth was something like taking a luxury vacation... not something every man would be lucky enough to do in his lifetime. Horace uses the Latin equivalent in one of his Epistles: Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum.

Holbein's portrait of Lais of Corinth

And here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too:

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