κάλλος ~ κάλλους (noun n.): beauty
ὁρίζω ~ ὁριέω ~ ὥρισα (verb): define, divide
χείρ ~ χειρός (noun f.): hand
ἐργάζομαι ~ ἐργάσομαι ~ εἰργασάμην (verb): work at, make
ἰατρός ~ ἰατροῦ (noun m.): physician
These are the proverbs (and there are always more proverbs at the blog):
Κάλλος οἶκον οὐ τρέφει.
Λύκος γηράσας νόμους ὁρίζει.
Σὺν θεῷ καὶ τὰς χεῖρας κίνει.
Καλὸν ἀργεῖν ἢ κακῶς ἐργάζεσθαι.
Ἰατρῷ καὶ νομικῷ τὴν ἀλήθειαν λέγε.
And now, some commentary:
Κάλλος οἶκον οὐ τρέφει.
Beauty does not nourish the household.
The noun κάλλος, "beauty," stands here for the beautiful woman: a man might have married for beauty, but this proverb advocates for wives with skills needed to take care of the household.
Λύκος γηράσας νόμους ὁρίζει.
The wolf, when he grows old, lays down the lay.
In his youth, of course, the wolf was a lawbreaker, but in his old age, he hypocritically endorses laws that he himself never obeyed. Compare the medieval proverbs and sayings about the wolf who grows pious in his old age, even sometimes becoming a monk.
Σὺν θεῷ καὶ τὰς χεῖρας κίνει.
With god, move your hands too.
You've seen a different version of this saying that invokes Athena, alluding to the Aesop's fable about the drowning Athenian (details in the previous post): Σὺν Ἀθηνᾷ καὶ χεῖρας κίνει. Compare the English saying, "God helps them that help themselves."
Καλὸν ἀργεῖν ἢ κακῶς ἐργάζεσθαι.
Doing a good job of being lazy rather than doing a bad job of working.
This is a nice little paradoxical proverb, but it resembles the principle of "First, do no harm." Better to do nothing than to do something harmful. Although it's hard to see, the word ἀργεῖν has the ἐργ- root: ἀ-εργεῖν.
Ἰατρῷ καὶ νομικῷ τὴν ἀλήθειαν λέγε.
Tell the truth to your doctor and your lawyer.
The idea, of course, is that you can say whatever you want to everybody else! There are quite a few modern variations on this ancient saying; the most common seems to be: "You should never lie to three people: your doctor, your lawyer and your accountant." Of course, without the IRS back in the day, you didn't need an accountant as many people do today. You can find other variations as well, with "yourself," or "your mother," or "your therapist" in place of the accountant. :-)
And here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too:
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