Truth

Babrius 126 (tr. Ben Edwin Perry):

A man journeying into the desert
found Truth in person standing all alone.
He said to her: "Why, venerable dame,
have you left the city and now are dwelling in the wilderness?"
To which she, deeply wise, replied forthwith:
"Among the men of old it was only with a few that falsehood found a place,
but now it has spread beyond to all mankind."
[If I may say so, and you care to hear it,
the life of men in the present age is wicked.]

Ὁδοιπορῶν ἄνθρωπος εἰς ἐρημαίην
ἑστῶσαν εὗρε τὴν Ἀληθίην μούνην,
καί φησιν αὐτῇ "διὰ τίν' αἰτίην, γραίη,
τὴν πόλιν ἀφεῖσα τὴν ἐρημίην ναίεις;"
ἡ δ' εὐθὺ πρὸς τάδ' εἶπεν ἡ βαθυγνώμων·        5
"ἐν τοῖς παλαιοῖς παρ' ὀλίγοισιν ἦν ψεῦδος,
νῦν δ' εἰς ἅπαντας ἐξελήλυθ' ἀνθρώπους."
[Εἰ δ' ἔστιν εἰπεῖν καὶ βεβούλησαι κλύειν,
ὁ νῦν βίος πονηρός ἐστιν ἀνθρώπων.]