Living
Maxims of Theognis: No one, look you, is
Translated by Rev. J. Banks (Bohn, 1856) · From Hesiod, Callimachus and Theognis (Bohn, 1856)
No one, look you, is in all things blest, but the nobler man has the heart to endure what is evil, and still is not known-to-all. But the baser man neither in woe nor weal knows how to remain in possession of spirit: the gifts of the gods come variously to mortals; yet it is right to have the courage to hold the gifts of the immortals, such as they give.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Codex Note
Literal prose translation by the Rev. J. Banks (Bohn, 1856), printed as prose: the plain-sense companion to Frere’s verse version. Banks’s hyphenated compounds are his own.
Cite this poem
MLA
Megara, Theognis of. “Maxims of Theognis: No one, look you, is.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/187/.
Chicago
Megara, Theognis of. “Maxims of Theognis: No one, look you, is.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/187/.
Read this poem with the Codex →