Living
Maxims of Theognis: I hate a mean man
Translated by Rev. J. Banks (Bohn, 1856) · From Hesiod, Callimachus and Theognis (Bohn, 1856)
I hate a mean man: and I veil myself when I approach him, having the volatile spirit of a little bird. I hate also a roaming woman, and a wanton man, who desires to plough the furrow of another. But the things which have gone by, it is impossible should become undone: the future, however, be that a care to our caution.
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: I hate a mean man.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/219/.
Chicago
Megara, Theognis of. “Maxims of Theognis: I hate a mean man.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/219/.
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