Laudator Temporis Acti

Donald Kagan (1932-2021), The Fall of the Athenian Empire (1987; rpt. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991), p. 107:

Theognis divided mankind into two distinct types: the good and noble and the bad and base. The distinction is based on birth and establishes a clear and firm tie between social status and virtue. The noble alone possesses judgment (gnome) and reverence (aidos); therefore, the noble alone is capable of moderation, restraint, and justice. These are qualities enjoyed by few, and the many who are without them, who lack judgment and reverence, are necessarily shameless and arrogant. The good qualities, moreover, are acquired only by birth; they cannot be taught: "It is easier to beget and rear a man than to put good sense into him. No one has ever discovered a way to make a fool wise or a bad man good .... If thought could be made and put into a man, the son of a good man would never become bad since he would obey good counsel. But you will never make the bad man good by teaching."<sup>3

3</sup> Theognis 429-438.

Theognis 429-438 (tr. Douglas E. Gerber):

It is easier to beget and rear a man than to put good sense in him. No one has yet devised a means whereby one has made the fool wise and a noble man out of one who is base. If the god had granted this power to the Asclepiads, to cure men’s baseness and muddled wits, they would be earning many a handsome fee. And if good sense could be made and placed in a man, there would never be a base son of a noble father, since he would heed words of wisdom. But you will never make the base man noble through teaching.

φῦσαι καὶ θρέψαι ῥᾷον βροτὸν ἢ φρένας ἐσθλάς
    ἐνθέμεν· οὐδείς πω τοῦτό γ' ἐπεφράσατο,        430
ᾧ τις σώφρον' ἔθηκε τὸν ἄφρονα κἀκ κακοῦ ἐσθλόν.
    εἰ δ' Ἀσκληπιάδαις τοῦτό γ' ἔδωκε θεός,
ἰᾶσθαι κακότητα καὶ ἀτηρὰς φρένας ἀνδρῶν,
    πολλοὺς ἂν μισθοὺς καὶ μεγάλους ἔφερον.
εἰ δ' ἦν ποιητόν τε καὶ ἔνθετον ἀνδρὶ νόημα,        435
    οὔποτ' ἂν ἐξ ἀγαθοῦ πατρὸς ἔγεντο κακός,
πειθόμενος μύθοισι σαόφροσιν· ἀλλὰ διδάσκων
    οὔποτε ποιήσει τὸν κακὸν ἄνδρ' ἀγαθόν.