Thursday, September 26, 2013

 

No Hands

Plutarch, Sayings of Spartan Women = Moralia 240 E (said by Gorgo, daughter of king Cleomenes, about Aristagoras of Miletus; tr. Frank Cole Babbitt):
When she had watched Aristagoras having his shoes put on and laced by one of the servants, she said, "Father, the foreigner hasn't any hands!"

τὸν δ᾽ Ἀρισταγόραν ὑπό τινος τῶν οἰκετῶν ὑποδούμενον θεασαμένη, 'πάτερ,' ἔφη, 'ὁ ξένος χεῖρας οὐκ ἔχει.'
Diogenes Laertius, 6.2.44 (said by Diogenes the Cynic; tr. R.D. Hicks):
Hence to a man whose shoes were being put on by his servant, he said, "You have not attained to full felicity, unless he wipes your nose as well; and that will come, when you have lost the use of your hands."

ὅθεν πρὸς τὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ οἰκέτου ὑποδούμενον, 'οὔπω,' εἶπε, 'μακάριος εἶ, ἂν μή σε καὶ ἀπομύξῃ· τοῦτο δ᾽ ἔσται πηρωθέντι σοι τὰς χεῖρας.'
Pliny the Elder, Natural History 29.8.19 (tr. W.H.S. Jones):
We walk with the feet of others, we recognise our acquaintances with the eyes of others, rely on others' memories to make our salutations, and put into the hands of others our very lives; the precious things of nature, which support life, we have quite lost. We have nothing else of our own save our luxuries.

alienis pedibus ambulamus, alienis oculis agnoscimus, aliena memoria salutamus, aliena et vivimus opera, perieruntque rerum naturae pretia et vitae argumenta. nihil aliud pro nostro habemus quam delicias.



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