σοφός ~ σοφοῦ adj. masc.): wise, skilled
ὅμοιον ~ ὁμοίου adj. neut.): the same, like
μικρός ~ μικροῦ adj. neut.): small, little
γέρων ~ γέροντος adj. fem.): old, elderly
ἕκαστος ~ ἑκάστου adj. masc.): each, all
These are the proverbs (and there are always more proverbs at the blog):
Σοφοῖς χρῶ.
Ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ φίλον.
Μικρὸς ἡλίκος Μόλων.
Γέρων ἀλώπηξ οὐχ ἁλίσχεται.
Ὁ νοῦς γὰρ ἡμῶν ἐστιν ἐν ἑκάστῳ θεός.
And now, some commentary:
Σοφοῖς χρῶ.
Make use of those who are wise.
The form χρῶ is the second-person imperative of χράομαι (those middle imperatives can look sneaky, especially for contract verbs). The adjective σοφός is being used substantively as a noun: (a) wise (man). This is one of the maxims that Stobaeus attributes to the Seven Sages of Greece. From the Greek root σοφ- we get all the soph- words in English philosopher and sophistication.
Ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ φίλον.
Like likes like.
In Greek, it is literally "a (similar) thing is friendly to a similar thing." The saying appears in Plato's Lysis (τὸ ὅμοιον τῷ ὁμοίῳ φίλον εἶναι) in a debate about whether friendship is more likely among people who are similar or whether people who are similar are prone to envy and resentment, with friendship more naturally occurring between people who are dissimilar. From the Greek root ὁμο- we get the homo- words in English like homogeneous and homonym.
Μικρὸς ἡλίκος Μόλων.
As small as Molon.
Here μικρός means small in stature, i.e. short. The words come from Aristophanes' Frogs. According to the ancient commentators, the words are ironic; Molon was actually a very tall actor, so the speaker — Dionysus — is joking when he invokes Molon in this way: παίζει· ἔστι γὰρ μεγαλόσωμος ὁ Μόλων, "he's joking, for Molon is a big man." However, the commentaries also note that there was a notorious thief named Molon who was, in fact, very short. So, we would need to talk to Aristophanes himself to be sure just how this one works!
Γέρων ἀλώπηξ οὐχ ἁλίσχεται.
An old fox can't be trapped.
Of course, foxes are sly and hard to catch at any age; the force of this proverb is that a fox who has lived to enjoy her old age has no doubt escaped many a trap and is not likely to fall into a trap now. Compare a similar saying about the old mouse: Γέρων δὲ καὶ μῦς οὐχ ἁλισκεται πάγῃ. From the root in Greek γέρων we get English gerontology.
Ὁ νοῦς γὰρ ἡμῶν ἐστιν ἐν ἑκάστῳ θεός.
The mind (is) a god in each of us.
This is a fragment from a lost play by Euripides, and the idea is invoked by the Emperor Julian in his essay addressed To the Uneducated Cynics, who refers both to the mind and to λόγος as a god in each of us, something that links us to the divine. This Julian is known both as Julian the Apostate (as he renounced Christianity and was the last pagan emperor), but also as Julian the Philosopher. He was a prolific author, and you can see a list of his works at Wikipedia: Julian.
Here is Julian on a coin:
And here's a random proverb too:
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