ἀκούω ~ ἀκούσομαι ~ ἤκουσα: listen, hear
νοέω ~ νοήσω ~ νόησα: perceive, comprehend
μάχομαι ~ μαχοῦμαι ~ ἐμαχεσάμην: fight, struggle
διδάσκω ~ διδάξω ~ ἐδίδαξα: teach, instruct
βουλεύω ~ βουλεύσω ~ ἐβούλευσα: deliberate, plan
Ἄκουε πάντα.
Ἀκούσας νόει.
Ἐν φρέατι κυσὶ μάχεσθαι.
Ἀετὸν ἵπτασθαι διδάσκεις.
Οὐδεὶς μετ' ὀργῆς ἀσφαλῶς βουλεύεται.
And now, some commentary:
Ἄκουε πάντα.
Listen to everything.
This is one of the Delphic maxims recorded by Stobaeus. Notice the accusative object, πάντα. That means ἄκουε has the sense of "listen to," as in listening to things, to sounds heard. When ἀκούω takes the genitive, it has the sense of "hearing" a person, and even "hear and obey."
Ἀκούσας νόει.
After having listened, think.
This is another one of those maxims from Stobaeus, and it makes a good pair with the preceding saying: Ἄκουε πάντα, and then: Ἀκούσας νόει. Note that it is the accent which tells you this is the imperative of a contract verb, νοέω: νόει. The 3rd-person indicate is νοεῖ. The verb in turn is from the noun νοῦς, "mind." You can see this root in English "noetic."
Ἐν φρέατι κυσὶ μάχεσθαι.
To fight with dogs in a well.
This is used to refer to a quarrel or disagreement (μάχεσθαι) with disreputable, quarrelsome people (κυσὶ) in a situation from which you cannot extricate yourself (ἐν φρέατι). There a variation using a less well-known verb: Ἐν φρέατι κυνομαχεῖν: κυνο-μαχέω, "fight with dogs."
Ἀετὸν ἵπτασθαι διδάσκεις.
You're teaching an eagle to fly.
This is one of those proverbial fool's errands. Not only does an eagle not need you to teach it to fly, the eagle can fly far higher and faster than you can. Compare the saying that you saw in an earlier post: Ἰχθὺν νήχεσθαι διδάσκεις, "You're teaching a fish to swim."
Οὐδεὶς μετ' ὀργῆς ἀσφαλῶς βουλεύεται.
Nobody can safely make plans in anger.
This is another one of those "one-liners" of Menander; here is the iambic meter marked:
Οὐδεὶς | μετ' ὀρ|γῆς ἀσ|φαλῶς | βουλεύ|εται.
And here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too :
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