1. αἱρετή ~ αἱρετῆς (fem.): chosen, selected
2. μέγιστον ~ μεγίστου (neut.): biggest, greatest
3. κενός ~ κενοῦ (masc.): empty, ineffectual
Here are the proverbs and sayings:
Plus some commentary:
Σιγή ποτ' ἐστὶν αἱρετωτέρα λόγου.
Ἀγαθὸν μέγιστον ἡ φρόνησίς ἐστ' ἀεί.
Τῶν γὰρ πενήτων εἰσὶν οἱ λόγοι κενοί.
Δὶς πρὸς τὸν αυτὸν αἰσχρὸν προσκρούειν λίθον.
Ὁ κύων ὁ ζῶν αὐτὸς ἀγαθὸς ὑπὲρ τὸν λέοντα τὸν νεκρόν.
Plus some commentary:
Σιγή ποτ' ἐστὶν αἱρετωτέρα λόγου.
Sometimes silence is preferable to speech.
The word ποτε loses its epsilon before the following vowel: ποτ' ἐστὶν. The adjective αἱρετωτέρα is a comparative — "more to-be-chosen," i.e. preferable — and so it takes a genitive complement: λόγου, "than speech." Note the rough breathing for αἱρετωτέρα; the adjective comes from the verb αἱρέω, "grasp" or "choose" (in the middle voice).
Ἀγαθὸν μέγιστον ἡ φρόνησίς ἐστ' ἀεί.
Discernment is always the greatest good.
The verb ἐστι loses its final iota before the following vowel. The word φρόνησις comes from φρήν, which is the physical seat of human emotions and also thought, located in the chest, something like both "heart" and "brain" in English. I have translated it as "discernment," but this is one of those Greek words that is impossible to render simply in English. For more about Greek φρήν, see this remarkable book by R. B. Onians: The Origins of European Thought about the Body, the Mind, the Soul, the World, Time and Fate; available to borrow at the Internet Archive. (I cannot say enough good things about this big book!)
Τῶν γὰρ πενήτων εἰσὶν οἱ λόγοι κενοί.
The words of poor people are disregarded.
Literally, the words are "empty," i.e. empty of weight, empty of importance. Compare the English saying, "Money talks," i.e. the words of rich people have weight, unlike the words of poor people. From Greek κενός we get the word kenosis, an important word in Christian theology; see Wikipedia: Kenosis.
Δὶς πρὸς τὸν αυτὸν αἰσχρὸν προσκρούειν λίθον.
It is a shameful thing to stumble twice against the same stone.
Notice how the words of the proverb are all interwoven in a way that is impossible in English; literally in English it would be: "twice against the same — shameful (it is) to stumble — stone."
Ὁ κύων ὁ ζῶν αὐτὸς ἀγαθὸς ὑπὲρ τὸν λέοντα τὸν νεκρόν.
The living dog is better than the dead lion.
This is from the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Septuagint Bible; you can read more about this Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible at Wikipedia: Septuagint. Note the unusual way of expressing the comparison: instead of saying "better than," it says "is good over," ἀγαθὸς ὑπὲρ. For those of you who know Latin, the Vulgate translator uses a comparative adjective: melior est canis vivus leone mortuo.
Here is one of the most famous dead lions of the ancient world: the lion of Nemea, who was brought down by Heracles. (Photo of Greek vase painting by Egisto Sani at Flickr.)
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