Living
Maxims of Theognis: Take courage, mine heart, in
Translated by Rev. J. Banks (Bohn, 1856) · From Hesiod, Callimachus and Theognis (Bohn, 1856)
Take courage, mine heart, in troubles, e’en though you have suffered things unendurable: the heart of the baser sort, look you, is ever too hasty. Neither do you, at any rate, aggravating your chagrin at works that-have-been-unaccomplished, bear hate, nor be indignant: neither vex your friends. Nor delight your enemies: for the destined awards of the gods not easily could mortal man escape, either if he descended to the bottom of the dark lake, or when murky Tartarus holds him.
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: Take courage, mine heart, in.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/316/.
Chicago
Megara, Theognis of. “Maxims of Theognis: Take courage, mine heart, in.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/316/.
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