Tuesday, October 05, 2021
Diphilus, Fragment 4
Diphilus, fragment 4 (from his comedy The Brothers; my translation):
Another translation (better than mine), from Joel Eidsath:
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My dear sir, being mortal understand how to fail,J.M. Edmonds' unhelpful version:
so that you may only be unfortunate to the extent necessary,
and not receive more in addition through ignorance.
ὦ μακάρι', ἀτυχεῖν θνητὸς ὢν ἐπίστασο
ἵν' ἀυτὰ τἀναγκαῖα δυστυχῇς μόνον,
πλείω δὲ διὰ τὴν ἀμαθίαν μὴ προσλάβῃς.
Being human, learn to suffer, or you'll addAlan Sommerstein on Menander, Samia 111:
What might be better to what must be bad.
ἀυτὰ τἀναγκαῖ' 'just to the extent that was unavoidable', i.e. 'as little as possible'; cf. Diphilus fr. 4.
Another translation (better than mine), from Joel Eidsath:
Good sir, know how to take your lumps like a man, so that you'll just suffer the unavoidable, and not get more for being stupid.
