Archilochus of Paros Quotes

Хтось із саійців щитом моїм нині хизується, певно:
Славний був щит, але ба, кинуть в кущі довелось
Душу зате я зберіг, ну а щит? Та що мені щит той?
Хай собі!.. Інший куплю — гіршим не буде, либонь.

The fox knows many tricks,
the hedgehog only one. A good one.

Well, what if some barbaric Thracian glories
in the perfect shield I left under a bush?
I was sorry to leave it — but I saved my skin.
Does it matter? O hell, I'll buy a better one.

"Old women should not seek to be perfumed" (Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, first ebook edition, 2014)

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.

I want to fight you
just as when I am thirsty I want to drink.

: Fragment 67, as translated by R. Lattimore

Горя ні плачучи не пригашу, ні його не зроблю я
Гіршим, коли святкувать і веселитись почну.

This wheatless island stands like a donkey's back.
It bristles with a tangle of wild woodland.
Oh,
there is no country so beautiful,
no sensual earth that keys my passion
as these plains around the river Siris.

The fox has many tricks, and the hedgehog only one, but that is the best of all

The gold booty of Gyges means nothing to me.
I don't envy that Lydian king, nor am I jealous
of what gods can do, nor of the tyrants' great
powers. All these are realms beyond my vision.

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?

Nothing can be surprising any more or impossible or miraculous, now that Zeus, father of the Olympians has made night out of noonday, hiding the bright sunlight, and . . . fear has come upon mankind. After this, men can believe anything, expect anything. Don't any of you be surprised in future if land beasts change places with dolphins and go to live in their salty pastures, and get to like the sounding waves of the sea more than the land, while the dolphins prefer the mountains.

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.

:translated by Guy Davenport, Carmina Archilochi: The Fragments of Archilochus (1964)