Laudator Temporis Acti

Philemon, fragment 178, in R. Kassel and C. Austin, edd., Poetae Comici Graeci, Vol. VII: Menecrates - Xenophon (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1989), pp. 311-312 (click once or twice to enlarge): Transcription of the Greek (omitting lunate sigmas and including iota subscripts):

ὦ Κλέων, παῦσαι φλυαρῶν· ἂν ὀκνῇς τὸ μανθάνειν,
ἀνεπικούρητον σεαυτοῦ τὸν βίον λήσεις ποῶν.
οὔτε γὰρ ναυαγός, ἂν μὴ γῆς λάβηται φερόμενος,
οὔποτ ̓ ἂν σώσειεν αὑτόν, οὔτ ̓ ἀνὴρ πένης γεγώς
μὴ οὐ τέχνην μαθὼν δύναιτ' ἂν ἀσφαλῶς ζῆν τὸν βίον.        5
κἂν μὲν ὁρμισθῇ τις ἡμῶν εἰς λιμένα τὸν <τῆς> τέχνης,
ἐβάλετ ̓ ἄγκυραν καθάψας ἀσφαλείας εἵνεκα·
ἂν δ' ἀπαιδεύτου μετάσχῃ πνεύματος φορούμενος,
τῆς ἀπορίας εἰς τὸ γῆρας οὐκ ἔχει σωτηρίαν.
ἀλλὰ χρήματ ̓ ἔστιν ἡμῖν. ἅ γε τάχιστ ̓ ἀπόλλυται.        10
κτήματ', οἰκίαι. τύχης δὲ μεταβολὰς οὐκ ἀγνοεῖς,
ὅτι τὸν εὔπορον τίθησι πτωχὸν εἰς τὴν αὔριον·
ἀλλ' ἑταῖροι καὶ φίλοι σοι καὶ συνήθεις, νὴ Δία,
ἔρανον εἰσοίσουσιν. εὔχου μὴ λαβεῖν πεῖραν φίλων.
εἰ δὲ μή, γνώσῃ σεαυτὸν ἄλλο μηδὲν πλὴν σκιάν.        15

Kassel and Austin in their apparatus don't mention Friedrich Franz Rothe (1808-1888), Zur Methodik des griechischen Unterrichts (Eisleben: Heinr. Reichardt'schen Buchdruckerei, 1869), p. 39 (on line 15):

γνώσει σεαυτόν ἄ. μ. πλ. σκ. übersetzt Grotius: comperies umbras esse, sc. amicos. Er muss also für σεαυτὸν etwas anderes gelesen haben, etwa γ' εκείνους. Wenn σεαυτὸν richtig ist, dann ist der letzte Satz unvollständig überliefert und hat der folgende Vers mit einem Participium, wie etwa ἐκτεθηρευκότα begonnen. Denn aus λαβεῖν vielleicht λαβόντα zu σεαυτὸν extrahiren zu wollen dürfte kaum als zulässig erscheinen.

John Maxwell Edmonds, ed., The Fragments of Attic Comedy, Vol. III A (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1961), pp. 88-89: Transcription of Edmonds' translation (spoiled as usual by his insistence on rhyme):

OLD MAN Stop talking nonsense, Cleon; if you just won't try to learn,
You'll find your life's got no support to which a man can turn.
A poor man who's not learnt a trade can no more live secure
Than a sailorman can save his skin if he doesn't make the shore.
If one of us makes harbour in the trade he wants to ply,
He drops his anchor and ties up and lets the storms go by;
If one who's never learnt his job gets a bit tossed about,
He's in for trouble every time and won't see his way out.
CLEON Oh yes, we've got some money though—
                                               O.M. But that won't last you long.
C. And real property as well.
                                       O.M. But luck, you know, goes wrong,
And then your rich man of to-day's your poor man of to-morrow.
C. But all my kind acquaintances will join to let me borrow.
O.M. If you put friends to such a test you'll suffer for your faith;
You'll find as far as they're concerned you're nothing but a wraith.

Hugo Grotius' Latin translation in James Bailey, ed., Comicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, Pars Prior (Cambridge: Pitt Press, 1840), pp. 226-227:

O Cleon desine nugarum: nisi quid addiscas boni,
Non vides, ut omni auxilio vitam destituas tuam?
Namque ut naufragus natator terram nisi prehenderit
Non quit adipisci salutem: sic qui pauper factus est,
Artem nisi didicerit, vitam nequit in tuto ponere.        5
Sunt pecuniae mihi, inquis; nempe quae pereunt cito.
At domus sunt, sunt et agri: nescis fortunae vices,
Quæ perfacile divitem hodie cras mendicum fecerit?
Nostrum quisquam, si fortunae portum appulerit, anchoram
Dejicit, et sic extra pelagi se locat violentiam.        10
Hoc si eveniat imperito, raptus qua venti ferunt,
Nullum reperit, quod senecta pauper praesidium occupet.
Sed tribules et sodales et cognati conferent.
Imo opta illorum periclum ne sit faciendum tibi:
Sin eo venies, comperies umbras esse, aliud nihil.        15