Living
Maxims of Theognis: Harming by baneful deeds neither
Translated by Rev. J. Banks (Bohn, 1856) · From Hesiod, Callimachus and Theognis (Bohn, 1856)
Harming by baneful deeds neither any stranger nor any of your townsmen, but, being just, delight your own mind: and of the unfeeling citizens some will speak ill of you, others better. The noble one man blames much: another praises: but of the mean there is no record: but of men unblamed is none upon the earth; and ’tis best for him, of whom there is no care to the greater number.
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: Harming by baneful deeds neither.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/267/.
Chicago
Megara, Theognis of. “Maxims of Theognis: Harming by baneful deeds neither.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/267/.
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