Laudator Temporis Acti

Sophocles, Antigone 1023-1028 (Teiresias to Creon; tr. H.D.F. Kitto):

Be warned, my son. No man alive is free
From error, but the wise and prudent man
When he has fallen into evil courses
Does not persist, but tries to find amendment.
It is the stubborn man who is the fool.

ταῦτ᾽ οὖν, τέκνον, φρόνησον. ἀνθρώποισι γὰρ
τοῖς πᾶσι κοινόν ἐστι τοὐξαμαρτάνειν·
ἐπεὶ δ᾽ ἁμάρτῃ, κεῖνος οὐκέτ᾽ ἔστ᾽ ἀνὴρ        1025
ἄβουλος οὐδ᾽ ἄνολβος, ὅστις ἐς κακὸν
πεσὼν ἀκῆται μηδ᾽ ἀκίνητος πέλῃ.
αὐθαδία τοι σκαιότητ᾽ ὀφλισκάνει.

R.C. Jebb ad loc.:

1025 f. ἐπεί, instead of ἐπάν, with subjunct.: O.C. 1225. The subject to ἁμάρτῃ (ἀνήρ, or τις) is quickly supplied by the next clause.—ἄνολβος, of folly, as Ai. 1156: so δύσποτμος, O.T. 888.

1027 ἀκεῖται. Il. 13.115 ἀλλ᾽ ἀκεώμεθα θᾶσσον· ἀκεσταί τοι φρένες ἐσθλῶν.— ἀκίνητος: cp. O.T. 336 ἄτεγκτος. Plat. Tim. 51 E τὸ μὲν ἀεὶ μετὰ ἀληθοῦς λόγου, τὸ δὲ ἄλογον· καὶ τὸ μὲν ἀκίνητον πειθοῖ, τὸ δὲ μεταπειστόν. Il. 15.203 ἤ τι μεταστρέψεις; στρεπταὶ μέν τε φρένες ἐσθλῶν.

1028 αὐθαδία (poet. for αὐθάδεια), self-will, incurs the reproach of σκαιότης (for ὀφλισκάνει cp. 470). As δεξιός is a quick-witted man, of flexible and receptive mind, so σκαιός is one whose mental clumsiness makes him unapt to learn. σκαιότης, ‘ineptitude,’ is often associated with ignorance and with inaccessibility to new ideas. Cp. Plat. Rep. 411 E; one who omits to cultivate his mind acts βίᾳ...καὶ ἀγριότητι, ὥσπερ θηρίον..., καὶ ἐν ἀμαθίᾳ καὶ σκαιότητι μετὰ ἀρρυθμίας τε καὶ ἀχαριστίας ζῇ. Lys. or. 10 § 15 ἡγοῦμαι...τοῦτον...οὕτω σκαιὸν εἷναι ὥστε οὐ δύνασθαι μαθεῖν τὰ λεγόμενα. Aristoph. Vesp. 1183 ὦ σκαιὲ κἀπαίδευτε. So here σκαιότης expresses a stupidity that is deaf to remonstrance.