Archilochus of Paros Quotes

I live here miserable and broken with desire,
pierced through to the bones by the bitterness
of this god-given painful love.

O comrade, this passion makes my limbs limp
and tramples over me.

O my soul, my soul — you are mutilated helplessly
by this blade of sorrow. Yet rise and bare your chest,
face those who would attack you, be strong, give no ground.
If you defeat them, do not brag like a loudmouth,
If they beat you, don't run home and lie down to cry.
Keep some measure in your joy — or in your sadness during
crisis — that you may understand man's up-and-down life.

My lord Apollo, single out the guilty ones,
and in your customary way, destroy them all.

Heart, my heart, so battered with misfortune far beyond your strength, up, and face the men who hate us. Bare your chest to the assault of the enemy, and fight them off. Stand fast among the beamlike spears. Give no ground; and if you beat them, do not brag in open show, nor, if they beat you, run home and lie down on your bed and cry. Keep some measure in the joy you take in luck, and the degree you give away to sorrow. All your life is up-and-down like this.

: Quotations for Martial Artists : Hundreds of Inspirational Quotes to Motivate and Enlighten the Modern Warrior (2003) edited by John D. Moore

Father Lykambes, what is this new silliness?
Are your natural brains wholly rotted?
The neighbors laugh openly at your absurd life
and you persist in chattering like a cricket.

Glaukos, soldier of fortune, will be your friend
until he begins to fight.

I don't give a damn if some Thracian ape strut
Proud of that first-rate shield the bushes got.
Leaving it was hell, but in a tricky spot
I kept my hide intact. Good shields can be bought. (as translated by Stuart Silverman)

Go take your cup and walk along the timber deck
Of our roaming ship; drain the hollow casks
Of all their red wine. How can we stay sober
on the watch when all the rest are drunk?

O father Zeus, you who control the cosmos,
and oversee the actions of man,
his criminal and lawful acts,
you also judge the arrogance and trial of wild beasts.

The affairs of gold-laden Gyges do not interest me zealousy of the gods has never seized me nor anger at their deeds. But I have no love for great tyranny for its deeds are very far from my eyes.

: "Archilochos: To His Soul" : A fragment, as translated from the Greek by Jon Corelis

Мужньо на ворога йди, що на рідне напав твоє місто,
Страху не май, не тремти — смерть же одна для усіх.
А з поля бою коли побіжиш — затремтять тоді й інші,
Бог і в погибельну мить успіх не раз подає!
Ну а коли ти — один, коли військо усе полягло вже,
Бій коли програний вже, і помогти анічим
Ти вже вітчизні не можеш, то що тоді щит для вітчизни?
Кинь його — воїна ти, сина для неї зберіг!..
Скаже негідник, що ти — боягуз? І нехай! А ти — знаєш,
Що за родимий свій край сміло життя покладеш!
Будеш боятись, що хтось там тебе назве боягузом — То небагато утіх матимеш, друже, в житті!

Let the stone of Tantalos
no longer overhang this island.

All, O all the calamities of all the Hellenes
are set loose on this battleground in Thasos.