Antique Greek Epigrams

ἐπίγραμμα

• An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. Derived from the Greek: ἐπίγραμμα epigramma "inscription" from ἐπιγράφειν epigraphein "to write on, to inscribe

γνῶθι σεαυτόν

Gnôthi seautón: "Know thyself"

Epigram inscribed over the entrance to the temple of Apollo at Delphi.

Socrates

ἓν οἶδα ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα Hèn oîda hóti oudèn oîda

"I know one thing, that I know nothing"

Socrates, paraphrased from Plato's Apology

χαλεπὰ τὰ καλά

Khalepà tà kalá

"The good/beautiful things are difficult to attain." "Naught without labor."

Plato, Republic

σὺν Ἀθηνᾷ καὶ χεῖρα κίνει

Sỳn Athēnâi kaì kheîra kinei.

"Along with Athena, move also your hand"

Like the English "God helps those who help themselves."

ζῷον πολιτικόν

Zôion politikòn

"Man is by nature a political animal", i.e. animal of the polis or social being

Aristotle, Politics

School of Athens

Aristotle

Γόρδιος δεσμός

Górdios desmós "Gordian Knot" The Gordian Knot is a legend associated with Alexander the Great. It is often used as a metaphor for an intractable problem, solved by a bold stroke

Archimedes

δῶς μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω Dôs moi pâ stô, kaì tàn gân kīn sō.ā� "Give me somewhere to stand, and I will move the earth".

εὕρηκα!Heúrēka! "I have found it!" While Archimedes was taking a bath, he noticed that the level of the water rose as he got in, and he realized that the volume of water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body he had submerged. This meant that the volume of irregular objects could be calculated with precision, a previously intractable problem. He was so excited that he ran through the streets naked and still wet from his bath, crying "I have found it!".

μὴ μοῦ τοὺς κύκλους τάραττεMē moû toùs kúklous táratte. "Do not disturb my circles."

The last words attributed to Archimedes. During the raid of Syracuse by the Romans, Archimedes was busy drawing circles. He was eventually attacked and killed by a Roman soldier.

λάθε βιώσαςLáthe biōsas "Live hidden"

An Epicurean phrase, because of his belief that fame troubles men and doesn't allow them to reach inner peace. So Epicurus suggested that everybody should live "Hidden". The sentiment is echoed by Ovid's statement bene qui latuit bene vixit ("he has lived well who has stayed well hidden", Tristia 3.4.25). Plutarch elaborated in his essay Is the Saying "Live in Obscurity" Right? (Εἰ καλῶς εἴρηται τὸ λάθε βιώσας)

μέτρον ἄριστονMétron áriston "Moderation is best" On occasions where neither too much nor too little is a good choice, as when eating or celebrating.

Diogenes Laertius

μηδὲν ἄγανMēdèn ágan

"Nothing in excess"

Inscription from the temple of Apollo at Delphi

τὸ γὰρ ἡδύ, ἐὰν πολύ, οὐ τί γε ἡδύ

Tò gàr hēdý, eàn polý, ou tí ge hēdý.

"A sweet thing tasted too often is no longer sweet."

οὐ φροντὶς Ἱπποκλείδῃ

Ou phrontìs Hippokleídēi. "Hippocleides doesn't care." From a story in Herodotus , in which Hippocleides loses the chance to marry Cleisthenes' daughter after getting drunk and dancing on his head. Herodotus says the phrase was a common expression in his own day.

μὴ χεῖρον βέλτιστονMē kheíron béltiston.

"The least bad choice is the best."

When there is no good option, one should pick the one that does the least harm.

ξένος ὢν ἀκολούθει τοῖς ἐπιχωρίοις νόμοις

Xénos ōn akoloúthei toîs epikhōríois nómois. "As a foreigner, follow the laws of that country." Loosely, "Do in Rome as Rome does." Quotation from the works of Menander.

ὅπερ ἔδει δεῖξαι

(ΟΕΔ) Hóper édei deîxai. (abbreviated as OED) "Quod erat demonstrandum" "what was required to be proved" Used by early mathematicians including Euclid, Aristotle, and Archimedes, written at the end of a mathematical proof or philosophical argument, to signify the proof as complete. Later it was latinized as "QED"

Οὖτις ἐμοί γ' ὄνομα

Oûtis emoí g' ónoma.

"My name is Nobody" Odysseus to Polyphemus, the Cyclops, when asked what his name was.

Homer, Odyssey

Πάντα ῥεῖ

• Panta rhei • "All is flux; everything

flows" • This famous aphorism

used to characterize Heraclitus' thought comes from Plato

σπεῦδε βραδέως

• Speûde bradéōs. • "Hasten slowly" (cf. Latin

festina lente), "less haste, more speed".

• According to Suetonius the phrase "σπεῦδε βραδέως, ἀσφαλὴς γάρ ἐστ᾽ ἀμείνων ἢ θρασὺς στρατηλάτης" was a favorite of Augustus as he often quoted it.

φρονεῖν γὰρ οἱ ταχεῖς οὐκ ἀσφαλεῖς

Phroneîn gàr hoi takheîs ouk asphaleîs

"Those who make quick decisions are not also safe."

Τί δύσκολον; Τὸ ἑαυτὸν γνῶναι

Tí dýskolon? Tò heautòn gnônai.

"What is hard? To know thyself." — attributed (among other sages) to Thales, according to Pausanias

τί εὔκολον; Τὸ ἄλλῳ ὑποτίθεσθαι

• . Tí eúkolon? Tò állōi hypotíthesthai.

• "What is easy? To advise another." — Thales

τί τάχιστον; Νοῦς. Διὰ παντὸς γὰρ τρέχει

Tí tákhiston? Noûs. Dià pantòs gàr trékhei.

"What is the fastest? The mind. It travels through everything." — Thales

τί πρότερον γεγόνοι, νὺξ ἢ ἡμέρα; "νύξ, μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ πρότερον

Tí próteron gegónoi, nỳx ē hēméra? núx, miâi hēméraa próteron.

"Which is older, day or night? "Night is the older, by one day." — Thales

• τί ἐστιν ὃ μίαν ἔχον φωνὴν τετράπουν καὶ δίπουν καὶ τρίπουν γίνεται; Ti estin ho mian ekhon phōnēn tetrapoun kai dipoun kai tripoun ginetai? "What is that which has one voice and yet becomes four-footed and two-footed and three-footed?." — The famous riddle of the Sphinx. Oedipus solved the riddle correctly by answering: “Man: as an infant, he crawls on fours; as an adult, he walks on two legs and; in old age, he uses a walking stick”.[28] In allegorical terms it also describes the development of humans: from a primitive state (four-footed animal), to self-sustained (two-footed) and finally to stable and mature

ψυχῆς ἰατρεῖον• Psykhês iatreîon. • "Hospital of the soul" The Library of

Alexandria, Egypt, was once the largest library in the world.

• A story concerns how its collection grew so large: by decree of Ptolemy III of Egypt, all visitors to the city were required to surrender any form of written documents in any language in their possession, which were listed under the heading "books of the ships". These writings were then swiftly copied by official scribes.. This process also helped to create a reservoir of books in the relatively new city.

• The phrase is echoed in the motto of the American Philological Association, "ψυχῆς ἰατρὸς τὰ γράμματα" ("literature is the soul's physician").

Wisdom

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