Living
Maxims of Theognis: Thus it behoves the well-born
Translated by Rev. J. Banks (Bohn, 1856) · From Hesiod, Callimachus and Theognis (Bohn, 1856)
Thus it behoves the well-born man, I wot, directing his thoughts to it, to keep them ever stedfast until the end to a friend. You needs must bear worthily many unpleasant things, since you know not how to do that which is not pleasant to yourself. Castor and Pollux, ye who dwell in divine Lacedæmon on the Eurotas, beautifully-flowing stream, if ever I should devise evil for a friend, may I myself find it: but should he devise aught against me, may he find twice as much.
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: Thus it behoves the well-born.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/327/.
Chicago
Megara, Theognis of. “Maxims of Theognis: Thus it behoves the well-born.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/327/.
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