Laudator Temporis Acti

Labels: asyndetic privative adjectives

For over thirty years two Greek books, the Odyssey of Homer and the Description of Greece by Pausanias, the one from the golden springtime, the other from the mellow autumn of that ancient world, have been my loved companions, at home and on my journeyings. To read and read again the Odyssey itself has ever to me seemed more profitable, as it is indubitably more entertaining, and never more so than now, to one that is ἐπὶ γήραος οὐδῷ, than to read books written about the Odyssey. And still at each reading once more is recaptured the fascination, the exhilarating sense of discovery and adventure with which, nearly half a century ago, as a self-imposed labour of love, I first spelt out the magic lines.

Doubtless, one's knowledge must have been enriched by countless rills from forgotten sources; but the main stream flows deep and strong and untroubled from a single spring, which is the poem itself.

If any one, retorting my own avowal, resolves to read the Odyssey itself rather than to spend time over what is here said about it, so much the better—provided only that the Odyssey be read. Should the reading of my book lead others to the divine poet—well, with that again I should be content, and more than content. For if my book does that, what other merit need it claim?

His name reflects his father's characteristic method of fighting; for Odysseus' skill at archery cf. viii 215 ff. (with Hainsworth's n.), xxi 393 ff., xxii 1 ff. The children of many Homeric heroes bear names which recall some aspect of their fathers' lives—Eurysaces (Ajax), Astyanax (Hector), Megapenthes (Menelaus), Iphianassa, Chrysothemis, and Laodice (Agamemnon), Pisistratus (Nestor)...

• Astyanax: city's king
• Chrysothemis: golden law
• Eurysaces: broad shield
• Iphianassa: strong queen
• Laodice: people's justice
• Megapenthes: great sorrow
• Pisistratus: persuader of the army
• Telemachus: fighting from afar

Really therefore a wild animal lies at the heart of every person, only waiting for the opportunity to rant and rave; it wants to hurt others and annihilate them if they should dare to block its path.

Wirklich also liegt im Herzen eines Jeden ein wildes Thier, das nur auf Gelegenheit wartet, um zu toben und zu rasen, indem es Andern wehe thun und, wenn sie gar ihm den Weg versperren, sie vernichten möchte.

Remember that this is the part of a good governor—to benefit his country as much as possible, or willingly at least to do it no harm.

τὸ καλῶς ἄρξαι τοῦτ ̓ εἶναι, ὃς ἂν τὴν πατρίδα ὠφελήσῃ ὡς πλεῖστα ἢ ἑκὼν εἶναι μηδὲν βλάψῃ.

I have floundered somewhat ineffectually through the slough of philology, but I look forward to the time when it will be possible for the lover of poetry to study poetry—even the poetry of recondite times and places—without burdening himself with the rags of morphology, epigraphy, privatleben and the kindred delights of the archaeological or "scholarly" mind.

There is no disgrace in being told of some blemish — indeed, if one takes criticism in good part, without being ruffled by it, it commonly leads one to a remedy.

οὐ γὰρ τό γε γνῶναί τι τῶν μὴ καλῶν ἄτιμον, ἀλλὰ ἴασιν ἐξ αὐτοῦ συμβαίνει γίγνεσθαι τῷ μὴ φθόνῳ τὰ λεγόμενα ἀλλ᾽ εὐνοίᾳ δεχομένῳ.

The human being is at bottom a wild, horrible animal. We know it merely in its bridled and tame state, which we call civilization, and this is why we are shocked by the occasional eruptions of its nature. But where and when the lock and chain of lawful order happen to fall away and anarchy breaks out, then it shows what it is.

Der Mensch ist im Grunde ein wildes entsetzliches Thier. Wir kennen es bloß im Zustande der Bändigung und Zähmung, welcher Civilisation heißt: daher erschrecken uns die gelegentlichen Ausbrüche seiner Natur. Aber wo und wann einmal Schloß und Kette der gesetzlichen Ordnung abfallen und Anarchie eintritt, da zeigt sich, was er ist.

When a man drinks it, it immediately makes him more cheerful than he was before; the more he takes, the more it fills him with boundless optimism: he thinks he can do anything. Finally, bursting with self-esteem and imposing no restraint on his speech and actions, the fellow loses all his inhibitions and becomes completely fearless: he'll say and do anything, without a qualm.

πιόντα τὸν ἄνθρωπον αὐτὸν αὑτοῦ ποιεῖ πρῶτον ἵλεων εὐθὺς μᾶλλον ἢ πρότερον, καὶ ὁπόσῳ ἂν πλέον αὐτοῦ γεύηται, τοσούτῳ πλειόνων ἐλπίδων ἀγαθῶν πληροῦσθαι καὶ δυνάμεως εἰς δόξαν; καὶ τελευτῶν δὴ πάσης ὁ τοιοῦτος παρρησίας ὡς σοφὸς ὢν μεστοῦται καὶ ἐλευθερίας, πάσης δὲ ἀφοβίας, ὥστε εἰπεῖν τε ἀόκνως ὁτιοῦν, ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ πρᾶξαι;

• Some Effects of Wine
• Praise of Dionysus
• Wine
• The Power of Wine
• Effects of Wine