Archilochus of Paros Quotes

Be bold! That's one way
Of getting through life.
So I turn upon her
And point out that,
Faced with the wickedness
Of things, she does not shiver. I know how to love those
Who love me, how to hate. You whom the soldiers beat,
You who are all but dead,
How the gods love you
And I, alone in the dark,
I was promised the light.

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.

These golden matters
Of Gyges and his treasuries
Are no concern of mine.
Jealousy has no power over me,
Nor do I envy a god his work,
And I do not burn to rule.
Such things have no
Fascination for my eyes.

I have saved myself - what care I for that shield? Away with it! I'll get another one no worse.

Let who will boast their courage in the field,
I find but little safety from my shield.
Nature's, not honour's, law we must obey:
This made me cast my useless shield away,
And by a prudent flight and cunning save
A life, which valour could not, from the grave.
A better buckler I can soon regain;
But who can get another life again?

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)

A Saian boasts about the shield which beside a bush though good armour I unwillingly left behind. I saved myself, so what do I care about the shield? To hell with it! I'll get one soon just as good.

As the figtree on its rock feeds many crows,
so this simple girl sleeps with strangers.

Let the stone of Tantalos
no longer overhang this island.

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

Lady, you are much too old
to rub yourself with perfume.

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!

I pray for one gift: that I might merely touch
Neoboule's hand.

No man, Aisimides, who bows to the mud-slinging
mob has ever been capable of profound pleasures.

A life of doing nothing is good for old men,
especially if they are simple in their ways,
or stupid, or inane in their endless blabber
as old men tend to be.