Centuria 3
Entries 3.1-3.100
3.1
To transplant an old tree
of the impossible. It teaches that one should not push the old beyond their prime into the labours of those in their vigour.
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3.2
The knee is closer than the shin
of those who love themselves more than their comrades. They say that in the war at Chaeronea, when a man saw his cousin and his brother both being beaten down, he sheltered his...
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3.3
Fonder of children than Gello
of those who die untimely; or, of those who love their children but ruin them with indulgence. For Gello was a maiden, and since she died untimely, the Lesbians say her phantom...
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3.4
I grow old ever learning many things
of those who through age are more experienced. It is drawn from the elegies of Solon.
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3.5
Old wives' babble
of those who chatter to no purpose.
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3.6
An owl to Athens
of those bringing useless wares to market, since the bird is most plentiful among the Athenians.
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3.7
The works of Daedalus
some say the proverb is used of marvellous works, others of those finely wrought in their craft. For whereas the old craftsmen fashioned their statues blind, Daedalus opened up...
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3.8
A Diomedean compulsion
of those who do something under necessity. Aristophanes mentions it in the Frogs. For when Diomedes and Odysseus, having taken the Palladium, were carrying it to the ships, Odys...
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3.9
Nothing is stronger than dread necessity
for necessity compels even the gods. And Plato says, "Not even God is able to compel necessity."
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3.10
A Daktylos day
of the prosperous. For Daktylos was a certain Athenian who attained the greatest honours.
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3.11
A Datus of good things
Datus is the name of a city which the Thasians colonised; concerning it the proverb "A Datus of good things" was used, since it was very fair: it has gold mines, and is prosperous.
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3.12
I carry a staff of laurel
those plotted against by certain persons used to say this, inasmuch as laurel wards off poison.
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3.13
To run through the spear-point
of those running grave risks. They call the spear oxeia ("the sharp"). [Pun: oxeia "sharp" / "spear-point" / "rapidly."]
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3.14
A Daulian crow
for "nightingale." Called Daulian because the matter of Tereus took place at Daulis in Phocis; or, some say, because the women about Procne were caught near Daulia and there cha...
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3.15
Better at the second
proverb of those who sacrifice a second time, when their first sacrifices fail to burn and they turn to a second.
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3.16
More just than a stachánē
of those who love what is just. For the Dorians call the balance-beam stachánē, perhaps from stásis ("standing").
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3.17
You hunt the wind with a net
of those who do anything in vain and senselessly.
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3.18
You ought to be drawn through a finger-ring
of those grown thin and wasted from sickness or grief.
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3.19
He must hurl himself through swords and fire
of those who dare and act recklessly.
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3.20
He'll stand trial even if an ass bites a dog
of those falsely charged on trifles.
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3.21
A Zeus's Corinth
proverb of those who say and do the same thing over again.
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3.22
Aletes accepts even a clod
of those who take everything for the better. For they say Aletes, an exile wishing to return to Corinth, met a herdsman of whom he asked food; the man saying he had none, picked...
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3.23
Double men
disyllabic names of men. Whence the epigram: "I hate the man whose nature is double, fair in his words but hostile in his ways."
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3.24
An octopus pounded with twice seven blows
of those who deserve chastisement; inasmuch as the octopus, when caught, is beaten many times to make it tender.
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3.25
Two-spleened opinions
meaning, oddly disposed in two ways, by metonymy. For cholos means anger, and anger is a "manner." Bacchylides: "A myriad tempers of men are distinguishable."
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3.26
Spear and herald's wand
a proverb which some call "persuasive force." It is said of those who at once exhort and threaten, from holding a spear and a herald's wand together.
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3.27
The hailstone drachma
under Diophantus the theatre-allowance was a drachma; and since hail fell from the sky at that time, they jokingly called it the "hailstone drachma."
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3.28
Suit begot suit, and damage damage
of the litigious, who string lawsuit upon lawsuit.
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3.29
Shameful to stub yourself twice on the same stone
of those who twice fall foul of the same things.
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3.30
You teach a dolphin to swim
of those who try to drill someone in the very things at which he is practised.
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3.31
To bad men too is given a catch
of those who, undeservedly, fare well.
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3.32
You are more cowardly than the man who peeped out
of those exceedingly cowardly. For there was a certain man so cowardly that, for fear of Heracles, he hid himself in a cave, and out of cowardice died there. Peeping out from th...
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3.33
Twice and thrice the noble thing
that one ought to speak often of noble things.
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3.34
A diolygian evil
of those undergoing some great and terrible thing. For diolygion means "great and far-extending." So Plato: "What long and diolygian nonsense!"
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3.35
Wealth is a coward
inasmuch as the rich fortify their houses, keep dogs, and surround themselves with many guards.
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3.36
Right foot for the shoe, left for the foot-basin
of those who use things fittingly to their purpose.
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3.37
Egyptians are clever at weaving wiles
of the most utterly malicious; such are the Egyptians.
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3.38
You tie a dolphin by the tail
of the impossible, because the creature is so quick. Against those who cannot guard or hold what is given to them.
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3.39
More enslaved than Messene
since the Lacedaemonians, when the Messenians repeatedly revolted, enslaved them, and treated them more harshly than other slaves.
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3.40
The pestle grows
Chrysippus says it is used of those who do not grow but remain small. The proverb is also said of [those who remain] small. For the pestle is small and round.
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3.41
The brain of Zeus
the proverb is set down for those living in indulgence. Clearchus, in the fifth book of his On Lives, says that among the Persians the most expensive dishes are called "the brai...
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3.42
Whatever gift one gives, praise it
this is a fragment of an oracle given to Myscellus of Rhypes, at the time when he wished to settle not Croton but Sybaris, as Hippys says in his On Times. The oracle ran thus: "...
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3.43
You and I draw the same yoke
of those who suffer like and similar things.
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3.44
Mandron too came to a fig-wood ship
of those who, beyond hope and undeservedly, prosper, then plume themselves on their good fortune. For Mandron was elected admiral over the Hellespontine forces, although unworth...
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3.45
To fight dogs in a well
of those wretchedly grappling with someone and unable to escape.
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3.46
You shoot at heaven
of those who labour for nothing.
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3.47
He hangs by a hair
of those in extreme peril.
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3.48
Out of the wolf's mouth
of those who against hope receive something.
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3.49
It came to the ears of the gods
of those whose deeds do not escape notice.
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3.50
Back to the old stalls
of those who, having lost some indulgence, then return to their former mode of life.
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3.51
One man, no man
inasmuch as nothing is brought to pass by one alone.
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3.52
The wolf into the snares
equivalent to "The goat onto the whetted knives." Of those who go to manifest danger.
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3.53
You revelled into a hive of bees
proverb of those unexpectedly and overwhelmingly mistreated.
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3.54
If you can't drive an ox, drive an ass
of those instructing one to do what lies within his power.
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3.55
To sow into water
of those toiling in vain.
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3.56
I came sick to the sick
of those suffering like and similar things.
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3.57
May mine be the lands between Corinth and Sicyon
of those wishing themselves the fairest and most profitable things. For the lands between these two cities are most fertile.
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3.58
I shall play bath-attendant for myself
proverb meaning, as it were, "I shall serve myself." It is said when the bath-attendant is slack and one takes the dipper for himself and serves himself; or from those who burie...
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3.59
The risk on a Carian
of those making trial on cheap men. The Carians were the first to serve as mercenaries. Others set the proverb against the easily-despised: for they say the Carians were the fir...
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3.60
You're being carried in a basket
a kind of children's game; for he who carried someone "in a basket" used to put his hands behind him, while the one carried set his knees in them, and so was lifted.
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3.61
He has consulted the oracle of Trophonius
of the unsmiling and gloomy of brow. For they say those who descend into the cave of Trophonius lose their laughter.
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3.62
You have your feet outside the mire
of those set beyond danger; like the saying, "Out of bow-shot."
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3.63
You shall sleep in a mortar
some say Holmus was a seer; others, that those who slept in a mortar (holmos) became prophetic, whence the proverb. And Aristophanes the grammarian says that those who slept in...
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3.64
It lies on the knees of the five judges
proverbial, equivalent to "they are in others' power." The proverb is said because five judges judged the comic plays, as Epicharmus says. It is composed in imitation of the Hom...
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3.65
I learn pottery on the great jar
proverb of those who skip the first lessons and immediately tackle the greater. As if one, learning to make pots, before learning to fashion plates or other small things, should...
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3.66
A deer-hearted man
of the coward, from the metaphor of the animal; for the deer is timid.
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3.67
An elephant catches no mouse
of those who scorn small and trifling things.
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3.68
To make an elephant out of a fly
of those who magnify by speech the smallest things and blow them up. Lucian, in his Encomium of the Fly: "Lest I seem, as the proverb has it, to make an elephant out of a fly."
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3.69
Goats free from the plough
of those released from some burden or trouble.
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3.70
Even an ant has its bile
it counsels not to despise even the small.
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3.71
To dance in the dark
of those who labour without witnesses, whose work is unseen.
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3.72
You are wearing out your cloak in summer
of those using necessities out of season.
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3.73
In cowards' hearts dwell unmanly words
that, as he says, words are shaped and stamped to fit the souls.
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3.74
You hide on the threshing-floor
meaning, "You take cover in the threshing-floor." Of those unable to escape notice, since the threshing-floor is open on all sides.
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3.75
He's putting on the lion's hide before me
of those undertaking great matters; from the metaphor of Heracles.
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3.76
The sleep of Endymion
of those who sleep much. For Selene fell in love with Endymion, who excelled in beauty, and Zeus, at her request, gave him to choose what he would. He chose to sleep on for ever...
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3.77
In faction even Androcles plays general
of cheap men deemed worthy of honour through some turn of fortune. Such too is the saying: "In want of resource, even Carcinus had a share of honour"; and "In faction, even the...
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3.78
I'm at the crossroads
of unclear matters; since one at the crossroads does not know which road he will take.
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3.79
Within the seventh
at Athens it was forbidden to lead an army out before the seventh of the month.
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3.80
An imported oath
not native, but brought from abroad; or one which another imposes, not freely chosen.
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3.81
More cowardly than Epeius
so was Cratinus the comic poet called; perhaps because he was company-commander in the Oeneid tribe and showed himself rather cowardly; for Epeius too was a coward.
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3.82
On the affairs of Mandrabolus
set down against those who keep going from worse to worse. For this Mandrabolus, having once found a treasure on Samos, [first] dedicated a golden ram to Hera; in the second yea...
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3.83
A chickpea Dionysus
proverb of the worthless.
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3.84
A default judgement
when the defendant fails to appear at the trial and is condemned.
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3.85
A Hermonian grace
certain Pelasgians who dwelt in Lemnos came in ships to Brauron in Attica and carried off the women from there. Falling sick of a plague, they were ordered to make atonement to...
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3.86
To the Isles of the Blest
Hesiod says that the Isles of the Blest lie about the Ocean, and there the blessed ones dwell, ruled by Cronus. Whence the proverb is said of the blessed.
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3.87
To the crows
there is in Thessaly a place called "Crows" (Korakes), where they used to hurl evildoers; whence the proverb. Menander mentions it constantly. They say that to the Boeotians, wh...
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3.88
A one-sided suit
one to which the parties did not both come.
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3.89
To sit out of bow-shot
proverb counselling one to keep himself far from the missiles of his foes.
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3.90
Through Syloson, a wide land
Syloson the Samian was a friend of Darius king of the Persians, and through him received the lordship of Samos after Polycrates' death. But since he ruled bitterly and harshly,...
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3.91
For the necessary
Pericles, they say, gave money to Pleistoanax, king of the Lacedaemonians, and thus persuaded him to withdraw from Attica when he was advancing in war. Afterwards, rendering acc...
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3.92
At Aphannae
the Sybarites were asking the god for victory over the Crotoniates, those Crotoniates being present. One of the Crotoniates mockingly said that they would obtain it "at Aphannae...
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3.93
More changeable than a buskin
the buskin is a kind of shoe that fits both right and left foot; whence the Athenians called Theramenes, of the Thirty Tyrants, "Buskin." The proverb is said of those who are co...
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3.94
The well-meaning slayer
this proverb was brought forth from Orestes, as Homer too showed: for having killed his mother, he held a funeral feast. Likewise from Antigonus the king, who, having murdered S...
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3.95
Quit of harm I see another holding my own evil
exantēs means "the healthy" and "the one outside atē (mischief)," as Plato says.
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3.96
Blessed is Corinth, but I would be of Tenea
Tenea is a leafy village near Corinth. As if the villagers, while admitting that Corinth is prosperous, yet choose to keep their lesser village — so the saying.
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3.97
Counsel comes by night
the proverb is so used because night brings quiet and gives, in leisure, sound reasoning to those deliberating about pressing matters.
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3.98
I have fled the bad and found the better
set down for those who augur within themselves a change for the better. For at Athens at weddings it was the custom for a child whose parents both lived to be crowned with thorn...
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3.99
The Muse is cut out
they say that, whereas the ancients used learned discussion at their banquets, those who came after brought in singing-girls and harpists and dancing-girls.
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3.100
You may say your three at the aulē
to those being led off to death they used to grant this freedom, that, having been filled with food and wine, they might say three things they wished; after which they were gagg...
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