Thursday, January 21, 2016
The Blame Game
Homer, Odyssey 1.32-34 (Zeus is speaking, tr. A.T. Murray and George E. Dimcock):
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It's astonishing how ready mortals are to blame the gods.Solon, fragment 11, lines 1-2 (tr. Douglas E. Gerber):
It is from us, they say, that evils come, but they even by themselves,
through their own blind folly, have sorrows beyond that which is ordained.
ὢ πόποι, οἷον δή νυ θεοὺς βροτοὶ αἰτιόωνται·
ἐξ ἡμέων γάρ φασι κάκ᾽ ἔμμεναι, οἱ δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ
σφῇσιν ἀτασθαλίῃσιν ὑπὲρ μόρον ἄλγε᾽ ἔχουσιν.
If you have suffered grief because of your wrong action,
do not lay the blame for this on the gods.
εἰ δὲ πεπόνθατε λυγρὰ δι᾿ ὑμετέρην κακότητα,
μὴ θεοῖσιν τούτων μοῖραν ἐπαμφέρετε.
