Saturday, December 05, 2015
Moral Greatness
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781), Laokoon, IV (tr. Robert Phillimore):
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Moral greatness consisted, in the opinion of the ancient Greeks, as much in an unchangeable love to friends as in an unalterable hatred to enemies.Theognis 869-872 (tr. Douglas E. Gerber):
Die moralische Grösse bestand bei den alten Griechen in einer ebenso unveränderlichen Liebe gegen seine Freunde, als unwandelbarem Hasse gegen seine Feinde.
May the great wide bronze sky fall upon me from above, the fear of earth-born men, if I do not aid those who are my friends and cause my enemies pain and great misery.
ἔν μοι ἔπειτα πέσοι μέγας οὐρανὸς εὐρὺς ὕπερθεν
χάλκεος, ἀνθρώπων δεῖμα χαμαιγενέων,
εἰ μὴ ἐγὼ τοῖσιν μὲν ἐπαρκέσω οἵ με φιλεῦσιν,
τοῖς δ᾿ ἐχθροῖς ἀνίη καὶ μέγα πῆμ᾿ ἔσομαι.
