Aristophanés: Man

“Demosthenes: A demagogue must be neither an educated nor an honest man; he has to be an ignoramus and a rogue.”

Aristophanés The Knights

tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Kn.+191
Knights, line 191-193
Knights (424 BC)

Education

“Epops: A man may learn wisdom even from a foe.”

Aristophanés The Birds

tr. in Goldstein-Jackson 1983, p. 163 http://books.google.com/books?q=isbn%3A9780389203933+%22A+man+may+learn+wisdom+even+from+a+foe%22+Aristophanes
Birds, line 375-382 (our emphasis on 375 and 378-379 and 382)
Compare the later: "We can learn even from our enemies", Ovid, Metamorphoses, IV, 428.
Birds (414 BC)

Wisdom , Learning

“Philokleon: Let each man exercise the art he knows.”

Aristophanés

tr. Rogers 1909, p. 110 http://books.google.com/books?id=vptfAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Let+each+man+exercise+the+art+he+knows%22
Anonymous ancient proverb, quoted by Aristophanes in Wasps, line 1431
Also later found in Plato (Republic 4.423d, 4.433a-d) and Cicero (Tusc. I.18.41)
Misattributed

Art , Exercises

“Just Discourse: Do not bandy words with your father, nor treat him as a dotard, nor reproach the old man, who has cherished you, with his age.”

Aristophanés The Clouds

tr. Athen. 1912, vol. 1, p. 359 http://books.google.com/books?id=9vpxAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Do+not+bandy+words+with+your+father%2C+nor+treat+him+as+a+dotard%2C+nor+reproach+the+old+man%2C+who+has+cherished+you%2C+with+his+age%22
Clouds, line 998-999
Clouds (423 BC)

Age

“Leader of the Chorus: An insult directed at the wicked is not to be censured; on the contrary, the honest man, if he has sense, can only applaud.”

Aristophanés The Knights

tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Kn.+1274
Knights, line 1274-1275
Knights (424 BC)

Sense

“Man is naturally deceitful ever, in every way! ”

Aristophanés The Birds

(tr. Hickie 1853, vol. 1, p. 326 http://books.google.com/books?id=Cm4NAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA326)
Birds (414 BC)
Variant: Man naturally is deceitful, ever indeed, and always, in every one thing.

Way , Nature

“Sosias: The love of wine is a good man's failing.”

Aristophanés The Wasps

tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Wasps+80
Wasps, line 80
Wasps (422 BC)

Love , Wine

“Chremylus: And what good thing can [Poverty] give us, unless it be burns in the bath, and swarms of brats and old women who cry with hunger, and clouds uncountable of lice, gnats and flies, which hover about the wretch's head, trouble him, awake him and say, “You will be hungry, but get up!” […]
Poverty: It's not my life that you describe; you are attacking the existence beggars lead. […] The beggar, whom you have depicted to us, never possesses anything. The poor man lives thriftily and attentive to his work; he has not got too much, but he does not lack what he really needs. […] But what you don't know is this, that men with me are worth more, both in mind and body, than with [Wealth]. With him they are gouty, big-bellied, heavy of limb and scandalously stout; with me they are thin, wasp-waisted, and terrible to the foe. […] As for behavior, I will prove to you that modesty dwells with me and insolence with [Wealth]. […] Look at the orators in our republics; as long as they are poor, both state and people can only praise their uprightness; but once they are fattened on the public funds, they conceive a hatred for justice, plan intrigues against the people and attack the democracy. […]
Chremylus: Then tell me this, why does all mankind flee from you?
Poverty: Because I make them better. Children do the very same; they flee from the wise counsels of their fathers. So difficult is it to see one's true interest.”

Aristophanés Plutus

tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Pl.+535
Plutus, line 535-539 & 548 & 552-554 & 558-561 & 563-564 & 567-570 & 575-578
Plutus (388 BC)

Life , Women , Men , Hunger

“Man is a truly cunning creature.”

Aristophanés The Birds

(abridged tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Birds+451)
Birds (414 BC)

“Blepsidemus: There is no honest man! not one, that can resist the attraction of gold!”

Aristophanés Plutus

tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Pl.+362
Plutus, line 362-363
Plutus (388 BC)

“Chorus [leader]: Ye Children of Man! whose life is a span, / Protracted with sorrow from day to day, / Naked and featherless, feeble and querulous, / Sickly, calamitous creatures of clay!”

Aristophanés The Birds

heavily rewritten tr. Frere 1839, p. 38 http://books.google.com/books?id=Bk8JAAAAQAAJ&q=%22Sickly%2C+calamitous+creatures+of+clay%22
Birds (414 BC)

Life , Children

“[Choir of] Women: It should not prejudice my voice that I'm not born a man, if I say something advantageous to the present situation. For I'm taxed too, and as a toll provide men for the nation.”

Aristophanés Lysistrata

tr. Lindsay 1925, Perseus http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Aristoph.+Lys.+649
Lysistrata, line 649-651
Lysistrata (411 BC)

Women , Men