δίς (adverb): twice
ἀεί (adverb): always
ἀντί (prep.+gen.): instead of
αὖθις (adverb): again, in the future
εὖ (adverb): well
Here are the proverbs and sayings:
Δὶς καὶ τρὶς τὸ καλόν.
Ἀεὶ ὁ θεὸς γεωμετρεῖ.
Μὴ λόγους ἀντ᾽ ἀλφίτων.
Οὐκ αὖθις ἀλώπηξ πάγαις.
Plus some commentary:
Δὶς καὶ τρὶς τὸ καλόν.
Two times and three times (repeat what is) good.
The idea is that if something is good, once is not enough: repeat it again, and then again — two times and three. You can find this proverbial saying in Plato. Here's a rhyming version in English: That which seemeth well, 'tis well twice and also thrice to tell. The saying is often applied to things that are well said, but I like to think of having second and third helpings of food that is good to eat!
Ἀεὶ ὁ θεὸς γεωμετρεῖ.
God is always doing geometry.
Plutarch attributes the words to Plato, who was a great believer in geometry, as you can learn at Wikipedia: Plato - The Forms. Even more fascinating is the fact that the words have been elaborated into an expanded statement, Ἀεὶ ὁ θεὸς ὁ μέγας γεωμετρεῖ τὸ σύμπαν, "Always the great god is doing geometry on the universe," which is an encoding of the digits of pi, based on the number of letters in each word: 3.1415926. (I found this nifty mnemonic widely shared online but without attribution; if anyone knows more about its source, let me know!) And, of course, we get English geometry from Greek γεωμετρία, literally "earth-measuring."
Μὴ λόγους ἀντ᾽ ἀλφίτων.
Don't (offer) words in place of barley.
The idea is that when someone is hungry, words will not satisfy that hunger; instead of offering kind words and generous promises, you need to provide actual help by providing actual food. The negative μή manages to convey the force of a negative imperative, even though the saying does have an explicit verb.
Οὐκ αὖθις ἀλώπηξ πάγαις.
The fox (is not caught) again by the snare.
The key to this proverb is αὖθις, which means "again." The fox might get stuck in a trap once, but if she manages to get away, she is not going to make that mistake a second time; the smart fox learns from her mistakes. In this version of the saying, the verb is implied but not stated, although you can also find the saying with a verb included: οὐκ αὖθις ἀλώπηξ πάγαις ἁλώσεται, "The fox is not caught again by the snare." In addition, you can find an even shorter version of the saying: Οὐκ αὖθις ἀλώπηξ.
Μὴ κίνει κακὸν εὖ κείμενον.
Do not disturb an evil thing that is well situated.
Compare the more vivid English saying: "Let sleeping dogs lie." The Greek saying relies for its power on the kappa sound-play: κίνει ... κακὸν ... κείμενον. For another saying about things-in-motion, see this earlier post: Δός μοι ποῦ στῶ, καὶ κινῶ τὴν γῆν. You can find the Greek εὖ in many English words derived from Greek: euphemism, euphoria, etc. etc.
The saying about geometry shows up on T-shirts, combined with the Masonic symbol of the square and compasses plus the all-seeing eye:
No comments:
Post a Comment