Living
Maxims of Theognis: I have experienced a thing
Translated by Rev. J. Banks (Bohn, 1856) · From Hesiod, Callimachus and Theognis (Bohn, 1856)
I have experienced a thing nowise inferior to an unseemly death, but of all other things most vexatious, Cyrnus. My friends have cast me off: so I, having drawn near to mine enemies, am about to see also what mind they have.
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 have experienced a thing.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/270/.
Chicago
Megara, Theognis of. “Maxims of Theognis: I have experienced a thing.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/270/.
Read this poem with the Codex →