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Monthly Archives: March 2006
Grammatical Humor
Palladas once more (A.P. 9.489): Γραμματικοῦ θυγάτηρ ἔτεκεν φιλότητι μιγεῖσα παιδίον ἀρσενικόν, θηλυκόν, οὐδέτερον. A grammarian’s daughter, having known a man, gave birth to a child which was masculine, feminine, and neuter. (translated by W. R. Paton)
Posted in - Epigrams, Ancient Jokes, Ephemerides
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By Request
Since Laudator Temporis Acti asks for more, here’s another epigram of Palladas. I teach high school, and my students occasionally read this weblog, so I won’t be able to print the one to which he alludes in his last line … Continue reading
Posted in - Epigrams, Ephemerides
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Aphorism of the Day
El órgano del placer es la inteligencia. The organ of pleasure is the intellect. (Nicolás Gómez Dávila, Escolios a un Texto Implícito, 2.84)
Posted in - Aphorisms, Ephemerides
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Late Antique Snobbery
Another epigram of Palladas (A.P. 10.98): Πᾶς τις ἀπαίδευτος φρονιμώτατός ἐστι σιωπῶν, τὸν λόγον ἐγκρύπτων ὡς πάθος αἰσχρότατον. Every uneducated man is wisest if he remains silent, hiding his speech like a disgraceful disease. (translated by W. R. Paton)
Posted in - Epigrams, Ephemerides
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Testing a New Format
I’ve been mulling over the problem of displaying texts with facing translations on the web. It is not as easy as it should be to make it work with various combinations of browser, screen size, and font size. For my … Continue reading
Half-Empty or Half-Full? Take Your Pick.
Those who found the last epigram a bit morbid may wish to skip the first of this matched pair: “Posidippus, or Plato the Comic Poet” (A.P. 9.359): Ποίην τις βιότοιο τάμῃ τρίβον; εἰν ἀγορῇ μὲν νείκεα καὶ χαλεπαὶ πρήξιες· ἐν … Continue reading
Posted in - Epigrams, Ephemerides
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More Cheery Greek
Another epigram of Palladas (A.P. 10.85): Πάντες τῷ θανάτῳ τηρούμεθα καὶ τρεφόμεσθα, ὡς ἀγέλη χοίρων σφαζομένων ἀλόγως. We all are tended and fed for death, like a herd of pigs slaughtered at random.
Posted in - Epigrams, Ephemerides
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Cheerful Thoughts from a Very Late Greek
An epigram of Palladas (A.P. 15.20): Σιγῶν παρέρχου τὸν ταλαίπωρον βίον, αὐτὸν σιωπῇ τὸν χρόνον μιμούμενος· λαθὼν δὲ καὶ βίωσον, εἰ δὲ μή, θανών. Pass by this miserable life in silence, imitating by your silence Time himself. Live likewise unnoticed; … Continue reading
Posted in - Epigrams, Ephemerides
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Amusing Comment in AP Vergil
In the funeral games in Aeneid V, which we read in English — none of it is in the AP selections — all five of the participants in the foot-race are given prizes (340-61). Vergilians will recall that Euryalus, Helymus, … Continue reading
Callimachus on Heraclitus
Callimachus XXXIV G-P (A.P. 7.80): Εἰπέ τις, Ἡράκλειτε, τεὸν μόρον ἐς δέ με δάκρυ ἤγαγεν ἐμνήσθην δ᾿ ὁσσάκις ἀμφότεροι ἠέλιον λέσχῃ κατεδύσαμεν. ἀλλὰ σὺ μέν που, ξεῖν᾿ Ἁλικαρνησεῦ, τετράπαλαι σποδιή, αἱ δὲ τεαὶ ζώουσιν ἀηδόνες, ᾗσιν ὁ πάντων ἁρπακτὴς Ἀίδης … Continue reading
Posted in - Epigrams, Ephemerides
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The Other Heraclitus
Heraclitus of Halicarnassus I G-P: Ἁ κόνις ἀρτίσκαπτος, ἐπὶ στάλας δὲ μετώπων σείονται φύλλων ἡμιθαλεῖς στέφανοι. γράμμα διακρίναντες, ὁδοιπόρε, πέτρον ἴδωμεν, λευρὰ περιστέλλειν ὀστέα φατὶ τίνος. ῾ξεῖν᾿, Ἀρετημιάς εἰμι· πάτρα Κνίδος· Εὔφρονος ἦλθον εἰς λέχος· ὠδίνων οὐκ ἄμορος γενόμαν, δισσὰ … Continue reading
Posted in - Epigrams, Ephemerides
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Paeonian Oxen
Laudator Temporis Acti posts a tidbit from Rabelais about the disgusting habits of the Bonasos, or Paeonian ox, with an ancient parallel from the Elder Pliny. Here is what Pseudo-Aristotle has to say on the subject in chapter 1 of … Continue reading
Posted in Nachleben, Philosophy
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Supreme Erudition
Terry Teachout quotes some words of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., on his 90th birthday: And so I end with a line from a Latin poet who uttered the message more than fifteen hundred years ago: “Death plucks my ear and … Continue reading