Living
Maxims of Theognis: Yet still one ought to
Translated by Rev. J. Banks (Bohn, 1856) · From Hesiod, Callimachus and Theognis (Bohn, 1856)
Yet still one ought to do somewhat: both good hath arisen from ill, and ill from good; ay, and the poor man very quickly becomes rich, while he who has possessed very much on a sudden is wont to lose everything, in fact, in a single night. And sensible man errs, and glory oft attends a senseless man: honour too even a mean man is wont to obtain.
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: Yet still one ought to.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/249/.
Chicago
Megara, Theognis of. “Maxims of Theognis: Yet still one ought to.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/249/.
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