Hello,
I’ve been teaching myself Greek for just four months and am enjoying it immensely. One of the textbooks I’m using has extracts from Menander’s _Single Verse Quotations; most of which I can translate but there are a few which I’ve failed so far to “unlock”. If anyone could offer advice, I’d be most grateful. Here they are, hope the font works OK (sorry, I’m not adept at typing accents yet):
\
ειθ’ ησθα σωφρων εργα τοις λογοις ισα
μη σπευδ’ α μη δει, μηδ α δει σπευδειν μενε
η μη ποιει το κρυπτον, η μονος ποιει
ουδεισ ο νοεις μεν οιδεν, ο δε ποιεις βλεπει
το μη γαρ ειναι κρειττον η το ζην κακως
βλετιον εστι σωμα γ’ η ψυχην νοσειν
δυναται το πλουτειν και φιλανθρωπους ποιειν
καλως πενεσθαι μαλλον η πλουτειν κακως
And these are my tentative translations:
\
Would that you were wise in your deeds, equal to your words
Do not rush those things which are not essential; there is nothing which needs to be rushed/hurried
Either he does something which is not hidden or he does/acts alone
Nobody knows what you are thinking, but they can see/look at what you do
Not to be great(er) is to live badly
The body is better than an afflicted/diseased soul
The powerful people are wealthy and make ??? benevolent
It is better to be poor virtuously than to be vilely rich (attempt at assonance here!)
The only English translation of the Monostichoi I am aware of is J. M. Edmonds, The Fragments of Attic Comedy, vol. IIIb (Leiden 1961). There are, however, German (by Jaekel), Italian (by Pompella), Latin (Lukian / Hemsterhusius 1708) and Spanish (by Romero / Sanchez-Elvira) translations available. The Spanish version, by F. Garcia Romero and M. Sanchez Elvira, is highly recommended by Liapis.
Menander’s Monostichoi can be found at http://www.letsreadgreek.com/menander/ along with some other links and useful information. If you don’t have access to the book, I may be able to get you the ‘official’ translations of Edmonds, although he tends to be poetic. If you can read German, there are some translations online.
1: May you be as wise in acts as (you are) in words
2. Don’t rush what shouldn’t be rushed nor postpone what should be rushed
3 Either don’t do what should be hidden or do it by yourself (alone)
4. None knows what you know but everyone sees what you do
5 It’s better to not be (not being is better) than living badly
6. not sure at all. Maybe (and it’s more tentative than the others) A body is better than an ailing/sick soul.
7. Being rich may even make (people) charitable.
8. It’s better to be poor and decent than rich and bad (rather free translation)
