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; or if not, you will be so in death.
(translated by W. R. Paton, with archaic forms updated)
Leonidas too was full of good humor:
A.P. vii472 (Leonidas of Tarentum)
Measureless, O Man, was the time before
You came into the light, and measureless
Will be the remainder of time in Hades.
What scrap of life is left for you? Perhaps
A needle’s prick? Maybe something more humble?
A meager portion of days encapsulates
You here, and what little that’s left is bitter
And more to be despised than despised death.
Crafted, O Men, from such a frame of bones,
Do you reach the peaks, the air, the clouds?
Mankind, behold your foolishness: a maggot,
Perched at the end of fate’s unravelling cloth,
Rots it to tatters, like a dry, stripped leaf,
More loathesome than the parched ruin of a cobweb.
Consider, then, each day, O Man, and seek
Out what strength may be yours. Content yourself
With a simple life: be mindful always,
So long as you walk among the living,
From what stubble your flesh is pieced together.
General pessimism I can understand, but the specific pessimistic claim in the second part of this seems to require some argument. It’s parallel to a bit that Shakespeare puts in Marc Anthony’s eulogy of Caesar: "The evil that men do lives after them, / The good is oft interred with their bones," (from Suetonius?). Were, are, great villains better remembered than great, well– is that why we don’t have a good antonym of villain?