Greek Stories and Proverbs: 21: death, bosom, doctor, hero, circle

Here are today's vocabulary words; they are masculine nouns with the nominative and genitive, along with a brief definition. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion, and there's also a study tips post.

1. θάνατος ~ θανάτου (m.): death
2. κόλπος ~ κόλπου (m.): bosom, lap
3. ἰατρός ~ ἰατροῦ (m.): doctor, healer
4. ἥρως ~ ἥρωος (m.): hero, epic warrior
5. κύκλος ~ κύκλου (m.): circle, ring

Here are the proverbs and sayings:

Δὶς κράμβη θάνατος.

Ὄφιν ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ τρέφεις.

Ἰατρὲ, θεράπευσον σεαυτόν.

Ἀνδρῶν ἡρώων τέκνα πήματα.

Μὴ μοῦ τοὺς κύκλους τάραττε.

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Laura Gibbs · Greek Proverbs: 021

Plus some commentary:

Δὶς κράμβη θάνατος.

Cabbage two days in a row (is) death.

Cabbage was proverbially the food of poor people, and having to eat cabbage day after day is proverbial hyperbole for desperate poverty. The saying appears in the letters of Basil of Caesarea. You can find out about the Greek personification of death at Wikipedia: Thanatos.

Ὄφιν ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ τρέφεις.

You're nursing a snake in your bosom.

This saying appears in Erasmus's Adagia. Compare the Aesop's fable about the man who found a frozen snake in the snow and warmed it, only to be bitten by the snake when it thawed: The Man and the Snake. You can see a more poetic restatement of this proverb, emphasizing that the snake is cold, in this post: Ψυχρὸν ἐν κόλπῳ ποικίλον εἶχες ὄφιν.

Ἰατρὲ, θεράπευσον σεαυτόν.

Physician, heal yourself.

This famous saying has an article of its own at Wikipedia: Physician, heal thyself. It comes from the Gospel of Luke. There is also an Aesop's fable with a similar moral: The Frog Physician. The form θεράπευσον is an aorist imperative.

Ἄνδρῶν ἡρώων τέκνα πήματα.

The children of heroes (are) a calamity.

In other words, you cannot predict the quality of a person based on who their fathers are; heroes' children do not always turn out to be heroes — sometimes just the opposite. Erasmus includes this saying in his Adagia.

Μὴ μοῦ τοὺς κύκλους τάραττε.

Don't disturb my circles.

These were supposedly the last words of Archimedes. The Romans had conquered the city of Syracuse, and when a Roman soldier entered Archimedes' house, Archimedes, who was working on a geometry problem, supposedly shouted these words at him; you can read more at Wikipedia: Noli turbare circulos meos. Archimedes and the Siege of Syracuse made their way into the latest Indiana Jones movie!

Here is a mosaic showing Archimedes and the soldier: