Living
Maxims of Theognis: Spurn the empty-spirited rabble, strike
Translated by Rev. J. Banks (Bohn, 1856) · From Hesiod, Callimachus and Theognis (Bohn, 1856)
Spurn the empty-spirited rabble, strike them with sharp goad, and place around them a galling yoke. For no more will you find a populace so fond of despots, among all men, as many as the sun looks down upon.
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: Spurn the empty-spirited rabble, strike.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/278/.
Chicago
Megara, Theognis of. “Maxims of Theognis: Spurn the empty-spirited rabble, strike.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/278/.
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