πλοῦτος ~ πλούτου (noun m.): wealth, riches
τάλαντον ~ ταλάντου (noun n.): scales, balance
τιμωρία ~ τιμωρίας (noun f.): retribution, punishment
χάρις ~ χάριτος (noun f.): favor, goodwill
σφαγή ~ σφαγῆς (noun f.): slaughter, butchery
Πλούτῳ ἀπίστει.
Ὡς πρόβατον ἐπὶ σφαγὴν.
Τὰ Ταντάλου τάλαντα.
Ταντάλειοι τιμωρίαι.
Αἰέτιον χάριν ἐκτίνειν.
And now, some commentary:
Πλούτῳ ἀπίστει.
Put no faith in wealth.
This is one of the so-called Delphic maxims recorded by Stobaeus. The verb ἀπίστει is an alpha-privative: ἀ-πίστει. The noun πλοῦτος is also the name of the god of wealth; find out more at Wikipedia: Plutus.
Τὰ Ταντάλου τάλαντα.
The talents of Tantalus.
Speaking of wealth, this saying is about the fabulously wealthy King Tantalus, and the τάλαντα here, or "talents" in English, referred originally to weighing scales, and then came to mean the money that was weighed in the scales. You can find out more about King Tantalus at Wikipedia. In addition to the proverbial talents of Tantalus, there are the famous τάλαντα of the Gospels: Parable of the Talents. This parable is what gave rise to the modern meaning of "talent" in English; you can find out more at the wiktionary: talent. Despite his proverbial wealth, things did not turn out well for Tantalus; see the next saying.
Ταντάλειοι τιμωρίαι.
Tantalean punishments.
This proverbial phrase refers to the punishments that Tantalus suffered for the various crimes he committed against the gods, including an attempt to feed them the flesh of his son, Pelops. You can find out more at Wikipedia: Tantalus' Savage Banquet. Tantalus was then punished in the underworld by seeing fruit that he could never eat and water that he could never drink, which is the origin of the English word "tantalize."
Αἰέτιον χάριν ἐκτίνειν.
To repay a favor like the eagle (did).
This proverbial phrase invokes the fable of a man who rescued an eagle from a snake and who was in turn rescued by that eagle from drinking water that had been poisoned by the snake (Perry #395 for those of you interested in Aesopic fables). The adjective αἰέτιον is from ἀετός, "eagle," and like many derived adjectives, it does not have a distinct feminine form: αἰέτιος (also spelled ἀέτειος) is both masculine and feminine.
Ὡς πρόβατον ἐπὶ σφαγὴν.
Like a sheep to the slaughter.
The words come from the Biblical Book of Acts, quoting the Book of Isaiah. Here is the passage: ὡς πρόβατον ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἤχθη, καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς ἐναντίον τοῦ κείραντος αὐτὸν ἄφωνος, οὕτως οὐκ ἀνοίγει τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ, and the King James version: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth." For the controversial history of this Biblical phrase in reference to the Holocaust, see Wikipedia: Like sheep to the slaughter.
And here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too :
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