Laudator Temporis Acti

Archilochus, fragment 23 West, lines 14-16 (tr. Laura Swift):

Indeed, I know how to love my friend
and hate and attack my enemy,
like an ant. There is truth, then, in my words.

ἐπ]ίσταμαί τοι τὸν φιλ[έο]ν[τα] μὲν φ[ι]λεῖν[,
τὸ]ν δ' ἐχθρὸν ἐχθαίρειν τε [κα]ὶ κακο[στομέειν
μύ]ρμηξ. λόγῳ νυν τ[ῷδ' ἀλη]θείη πάρ[α.

Cf. Archilochus, fragment 126 West:

                                 But one big thing I know;
to repay him who harms me with terrible harm.

                                                          ἓν δ' ἐπίσταμαι μέγα,
τὸν κακῶς <μ'> ἔρδοντα δεινοῖς ἀνταμείβεσθαι κακοῖς.

Pindar, Pythian Odes 2.83-85 (tr. Anthony Verity):

                                      Let me be a friend to my friend,
but my enemy—since I am his enemy—I shall hunt down
like a wolf, tracking him here and there on zigzag paths.

                                                          φίλον εἴη φιλεῖν·
ποτὶ δ᾿ ἐχθρὸν ἅτ᾿ ἐχθρὸς ἐὼν λύκοιο δίκαν ὑποθεύσομαι,
ἄλλ᾿ ἄλλοτε πατέων ὁδοῖς σκολιαῖς.

Matthew 5:44 ("Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you") is one of the hard sayings in F.F. Bruce, Hard Sayings of Jesus (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1983). Too hard for me.

Related posts:

• Loving or Hating Enemies
• Friends and Enemies