Social Commentaries

Fragment XLI: Learn, Kurnus, learn to bear an easy mind

by Theognis of Megara fl. 6th century BC

Translated by John Hookham Frere (1842; Bohn 1856) · From Fragments of Theognis (Frere, 1842)

Social Commentaries

Learn, Kurnus, learn to bear an easy mind ;
Accommodate your humour te mankind
And human nature ;—I take it as you find!
A mixture of ingredients, good or bad,
Such are we all, the best that can be had:
The best are found defective; and the rest,
For common use, are equal to the best.
Suppose it had been otherwise decreed—
How could the business of the world proceed
Fairly examin’d, truly understood,
No man is wholly bad nor wholly good,
Nor uniformly wise. In every case,
Habit and accident, and time and place,
Affect us. ’Tis the nature of the race.

MLA

Megara, Theognis of. “Fragment XLI: Learn, Kurnus, learn to bear an easy mind.” Translated by John Hookham Frere. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/41/.

Chicago

Megara, Theognis of. “Fragment XLI: Learn, Kurnus, learn to bear an easy mind.” Translated by John Hookham Frere. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/41/.

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