Living
Maxims of Theognis: I cannot sing tunefully with
Translated by Rev. J. Banks (Bohn, 1856) · From Hesiod, Callimachus and Theognis (Bohn, 1856)
I cannot sing tunefully with my voice, like a nightingale, for the last night I went to a revel. Nor do I set up the piper as an excuse; but a comrade, no wise lacking sense, fails me. Close to the piper will I sing, standing here on the right, and praying to the immortal gods.
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 cannot sing tunefully with.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/295/.
Chicago
Megara, Theognis of. “Maxims of Theognis: I cannot sing tunefully with.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/295/.
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