κοινόν ~ κοινοῦ (adj. neut.): common, shared
κακόν ~ κακοῦ (adj. neut.): bad, evil (thing)
ὀλίγον ~ ὀλίγου (adj. neut.): little; few
οἰκεῖον ~ οἰκείου (adj. neut.): household, family, one's ow
δεινόν ~ δεινοῦ (adj. neut.): fearful, terrible
These are the proverbs (and there are always more proverbs at the blog):
Ἕρμαιον κοινόν.
Κακὸν ἄγγος οὐ κλᾶται.
Ὀλίγον τὸ χρηστόν ἐστιν.
Πᾶς γὰρ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἔργον ἀγαπᾷ.
Δεινότερον οὐδὲν ἄλλο μητρυιᾶς κακόν.
And now, some commentary:
Ἕρμαιον κοινόν.
A "gift of Hermes" is public property.
This "gift of Hermes" is what we call in English a "godsend" or "windfall," and the idea is that a godsend or windfall belongs to anyone at all: it is common property. You can also find the phrase invoking the name of the god himself: Ἑρμῆς κοινός, which you saw in an earlier post.
Κακὸν ἄγγος οὐ κλᾶται.
A bad pitcher doesn't break.
The idea is that goodness is fragile, while something bad might turn out to be more durable: it is the bad pitcher that doesn't break, while the good one shatters. It's a very pessimistic proverb! Compare the English saying "Ill weeds grow apace."
Ὀλίγον τὸ χρηστόν ἐστιν.
That which is worthy is in limited supply.
The phrase is used in Aristophanes's Frogs, and the whole line is: ὀλίγον τὸ χρηστόν ἐστιν ὥσπερ ἐνθάδε, "that which is worthy is in limited supply, just like here," a meta-theatrical moment where the speaker, the janitor of Hades, compares his fictional Hades with the actual Greek theater.
Πᾶς γὰρ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἔργον ἀγαπᾷ.
Each person loves the work of their own workshop.
The saying is used by Aristotle to refer specifically to artisans and the way they prefer their own works to the work of other artists, but the idea then came to refer more generally to the way people prefer what is theirs to what is foreign or strange or different.
Δεινότερον οὐδὲν ἄλλο μητρυιᾶς κακόν.
There is no other evil more terrible than a stepmother.
The wicked stepmother has a bad reputation in a lot of cultures, including ancient Greece and Rome. There's even a book all about them: Ancient Stepmothers : Myth, Misogyny, and Reality by Patricia Watson. This is one of those monostichs (one-liners) of Menander; here is the meter marked:
Δεινότε|ρον οὐ||δὲν ἄλ|λο μη||τρυιᾶς | κακόν.
As for mythological stepmothers, here's one of the most notorious, Phaedra, stepmother to Hippolytus:
And here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too:
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