Living
Maxims of Theognis: Senseless and fools are the
Translated by Rev. J. Banks (Bohn, 1856) · From Hesiod, Callimachus and Theognis (Bohn, 1856)
Senseless and fools are the men who drink not wine when the dog-star rises. Come hither, with the aid of the piper let us laugh and drink beside one that weeps, whilst we delight in his griefs. Let us sleep: and the watching over the city shall be the warder’s care, the watch over our lovely rockless fatherland. Yes, by Jove, if any of these sleeps even wrapped-up, he will listen to our revelling eagerly. Now let us drink and enjoy ourselves, speaking fairly: and what shall be hereafter, that is the gods’ concern.
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: Senseless and fools are the.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/318/.
Chicago
Megara, Theognis of. “Maxims of Theognis: Senseless and fools are the.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/318/.
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