Théognis de Mégare, en grec ancien Θέογνις, est un poète gnomique élégiaque grec du VIe siècle av. J.-C., actif vers 540 av. J.-C., longtemps considéré à tort comme un moraliste. Plus de la moitié des poèmes élégiaques conservés avant la période hellénistique sont contenus dans les 1400 vers attribués à Théognis. Les principales informations que nous avons sur lui proviennent de la Souda. Ses poèmes sont écrits en distiques élégiaques. Wikipedia
“Adopt the character of the twisting octopus, which takes on the appearance of the nearby rock.”
Source: Elegies, Line 215.
Contexte: Adopt the character of the twisting octopus, which takes on the appearance of the nearby rock. Now follow in this direction, now turn a different hue.
“Ploutos, no wonder mortals worship you:
You are so tolerant of their sins!”
Source: Elegies, Lines 523-524, as translated by Dorothea Wender.
Source: Elegies, Lines 303-305, as translated by Dorothea Wender.
“Unless the gods deceive my mind,
That man is forging fetters for himself.”
Source: Elegies, Lines 539-540, as translated by Dorothea Wender.
“Wine is wont to show the mind of man.”
Source: Elegies, Line 500.
Source: Elegies, Lines 421-423, as translated by Dorothea Wender.
“Bright youth passes swiftly as a thought.”
Source: Elegies, Line 985.
“No man takes with him to Hades all his exceeding wealth.”
Source: Elegies, Line 725, comparable to: "For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away, his glory shall not descend after him", Psalm xlix, 17.
“The lucky man is honored …
But earnest striving wins no praise at all.”
Source: Elegies, Lines 169-170, as translated by Dorothea Wender.
Source: Elegies, Lines 137-139, as translated by J. Banks, The Works of Hesiod, Callimachus, and Theognis (1856), p. 464 http://books.google.com/books?id=QqFaP-4DExEC&pg=PA464
πολλοί τοι πλουτοῦσι κακοί, ἀγαθοὶ δὲ πένονται:
ἀλλ᾽ ἡμεῖς τούτοις οὐ διαμειψόμεθα
τῆς ἀρετῆς τὸν πλοῦτον, ἐπεὶ τὸ μὲν ἔμπεδον αἰεί,
χρήματα δ᾽ ἀνθρώπων ἄλλοτε ἄλλος ἔχει.
Source: Elegies, Lines 315-318, also attributed to Solon
