Living
Maxims of Theognis: An ox, stamping on my
Translated by Rev. J. Banks (Bohn, 1856) · From Hesiod, Callimachus and Theognis (Bohn, 1856)
An ox, stamping on my tongue with sturdy foot, restrains me from chattering, though I am versed in it, Cyrnus. But still it is impossible to escape from what is fated to suffer; and what I am fated to suffer I nowise fear to endure. Into a vast unspeakable evil are we come, wherein above all, O Cyrnus, the fate of death may seize us both together.
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: An ox, stamping on my.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/271/.
Chicago
Megara, Theognis of. “Maxims of Theognis: An ox, stamping on my.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/271/.
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