Self-Interest

Terence, Andria 425-427 (tr. John Barsby):

You can't trust anyone in anything!
It's quite true what they say:
every man looks to his own interest rather than his neighbour's.

nullane in re esse quoiquam homini fidem!
verum illud verbumst, volgo quod dici solet,
omnis sibi malle melius esse quam alteri.

Euripides, Medea 86 (tr. David Kovacs):

Each man loves himself more than his neighbor.

πᾶς τις αὑτὸν τοῦ πέλας μᾶλλον φιλεῖ.

Menandri Sententiae 814, p. 80 Jaekel (my translation):

No one loves another more than himself.

φιλεῖ δ ̓ ἑαυτοῦ πλεῖον οὐδεὶς οὐδένα.

See W.A. Heidel, "Charity That Begins at Home," American Journal of Philology 30.2 (1909) 196-198, to which I owe the Greek parallels. See also P.R. Coleman-Norton, "Philosophical Aspects of Early Roman Drama," Classical Philology 31.4 (October, 1936) 320-337 (self-interest on p. 333).

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• Self-Love
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