Xenophon, The Education of Cyrus 8.8.14

Things aren’t what they used to be in Persia, according to Xenophon. To give one example – nowadays children are taught about poisons and medicines for nothing but nefarious reasons!

ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν φυομένων ἐκ τῆς γῆς τὰς δυνάμεις οἱ παῖδες πρόσθεν μὲν ἐμάνθανον, ὅπως τοῖς μὲν ὠφελίμοις χρῷντο, τῶν δὲ βλαβερῶν ἀπέχοιντο· νῦν δὲ ἐοίκασι ταῦτα διδασκόμενοι, ὅπως ὅτι πλεῖστα κακοποιῶσιν· οὐδαμοῦ γοῦν πλείους, ἢ ἐκεῖ, οὔτε ἀποθνήσκουσιν, οὐτε διαφθείρονται ὑπὸ φαρμάκων.

But in former times boys would also learn the properties of things grown from the earth, so that they could make use of the beneficial ones and keep away from the harmful ones. But now they seem to learn these things so they can do the most possible harm; at any rate, nowhere are more people killed or crippled by poisons than there.

Servius on Virgil, Aeneid 6.532

Servius, the 4th-century commentator on Virgil, is discussing the passage in the Underworld when the shade of Deiphobus asks Aeneas (6.531-4):

sed te qui vivum casus, age fare vicissim,
attulerint. pelagine venis erroribus actus
an monitu divum? an quae te fortuna fatigat,
ut tristis sine sole domos, loca turbida, adires?

But come, tell me in reply what misfortunes have brought you here alive? Do you come here driven by your wanderings on the sea, or at the gods’ bidding? Or else what fortune is wearying you, that you are entering these sad houses with no sunlight, these troubled places?

Servius’ comment quotes a few words from the work of his own approximate contemporary, the now rather obscure poet Tiberianus, which he has been reminded of by this passage of Virgil:

Tiberianus etiam inducit epistolam vento allatam ab antipodibus, quae habet ‘superi inferis salutem.’

Tiberianus too introduces a letter, brought [i.e. to the Underworld] by the wind from the Antipodes, which has these words: ‘Those above send greetings to those below.’

Septuagint, Genesis 37.31-35

Here for you to compare is the biblical version of the part of the Joseph story that leads up to the passage we read in Philo the other day – appearing in the Greek translation known as the Septuagint.

λαβόντες δὲ τὸν χιτῶνα τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ ἔσφαξαν ἔριφον αἰγῶν καὶ ἐμόλυναν τὸν χιτῶνα τῷ αἵματι. καὶ ἀπέστειλαν τὸν χιτῶνα τὸν ποικίλον καὶ εἰσήνεγκαν τῷ πατρὶ αὐτῶν καὶ εἶπαν, ‘τοῦτον εὕρομεν· ἐπίγνωθι εἰ χιτὼν τοῦ υἱοῦ σού ἐστιν ἢ οὔ.’ καὶ ἐπέγνω αὐτὸν καὶ εἶπεν, ‘χιτὼν τοῦ υἱοῦ μού ἐστιν· θηρίον πονηρὸν κατέφαγεν αὐτόν, θηρίον ἥρπασεν τὸν Ἰωσήφ.’ διέρρηξεν δὲ Ἰακὼβ τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπέθετο σάκκον ἐπὶ τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπένθει τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἡμέρας πολλάς. συνήχθησαν δὲ πάντες οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ αἱ θυγατέρες καὶ ἦλθον παρακαλέσαι αὐτόν, καὶ οὐκ ἤθελεν παρακαλεῖσθαι λέγων ὅτι ‘καταβήσομαι πρὸς τὸν υἱόν μου πενθῶν εἰς ᾍδου.’ καὶ ἔκλαυσεν αὐτὸν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ.

And after taking Joseph’s coat, they killed a kid of the goats and stained the coat with its blood. They sent off the multi-coloured coat, brought it to their father and said, ‘We found this; see whether it is your son’s or not.’ And he recognised it and said, ‘It is my son’s coat. A wretched wild beast has eaten him, a wild beat has snatched away Joseph. And Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned his son for many days. All his sons and daughters gathered together and came to console him, but he would not be consoled, saying, ‘I shall go down weeping to my son in Hades.’ And his father wept for him.

Horace, Satires 1.1.68-72

You might not realise it, but if you’re a miser you’re as wretched as Tantalus being punished in the afterlife with a permanent thirst!

Tantalus a labris sitiens fugientia captat
flumina – quid rides? mutato nomine de te
fabula narratur: congestis undique saccis
indormis inhians et tamquam parcere sacris
cogeris aut pictis tamquam gaudere tabellis.

Tantalus thirstily snatches at the streams which run away from his lips – what are you laughing at? Change the name and it’s you the story’s being told about; you gather your money-bags together from all around you, then you sleep on top of them, mouth gaping open, and you have to preserve them like sacred objects, or else delight in them as though they were painted miniatures.

Philo, On Joseph 27

Philo is retelling the Biblical story of Joseph, whom he sees as the model of a true statesman. Here is part of the lamentation of Joseph’s father Jacob on hearing the false report of his son’s death and seeing the bloody clothes which ‘prove’ he has been eaten by wild animals.

τί γαρ μεῖζον ἢ οἰκτρότερον πένθος; ἡ μὲν ἐσθὴς τοῦ παιδὸς διακεκόμισταί μοι τῷ πατρί, τοῦ δὲ οὐ μέρος, οὐ μέλος, οὐ βραχὺ λείψανον· ἀλλ’ ὁ μὲν ὅλος δι’ ὅλων δεδαπάνηται μηδὲ ταφῆς δυνηθεὶς μεταλαχεῖν, ἡ δ’ οὐδ’ ἂν εἰσπεμφθῆναί μοι δοκεῖ τὸ παράπαν, εἰ μὴ πρὸς ἀνίας ὑπόμνησιν καὶ ὦν ὑπέμεινε καίνωσιν, εἰς ἀλήστους καὶ συνεχεῖς ἐμοὶ συμφοράς.

For what grief is greater or more pitiable? My boy’s clothing has been brought to me, his father, but no part of him, no limb, no tiny remnant. Yet, while he has been thoroughly consumed and can have no portion of burial, nonetheless I think his clothing would not have been sent to me at all, unless to remind me of my sorrow and to repeat what he suffered – as misfortunes, unbearable and unceasing, for me.

Ovid, Art of love 1.99

A well-known line of Ovid’s dating advice: the theatre is a good place to pick up girls!

spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsae.

The girls come to see the play – and they come so they can be seen themselves.

[Plutarch], On Homer 2.1

The author outlines the principal benefits of reading Homer.

Ὅμηρον τὸν ποιητήν, χρόνῳ μὲν τῶν πλείστων δυνάμει δὲ πάντων πρῶτον γενόμενον, εἰκότως ἀναγινώσκομεν πρῶτον, ὠφελούμενοι τὰ μέγιστα εἴς τε τὴν φωνὴν καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων πολυπειρίαν.

We appropriately read the poet Homer first, since he was among the first poets chronologically and was the first of all in ability: we are hugely benefited in eloquence, in understanding and in experience of things.

Quintilian, Training of the Orator 4.2.91

Quintilian advises the young lawyer not to get caught out when being economical with the truth – and cites a proverbial expression to support his point.

utrubique autem orator meminisse debebit actione tota quid finxerit, quoniam solent excidere quae falsa sunt: verumque est illud quod vulgo dicitur, mendacem memorem esse oportere.

But in either case the orator will have to remember, throughout the whole case, what he has made up, since falsehoods are liable to slip one’s mind. That common expression is true: ‘A liar needs to have a good memory.’

Homer, Iliad 6.12-19

Diomedes kills Axylus, who sounds as though he was a nice guy. 😦

Ἄξυλον δ’ ἄρ’ ἔπεφνε βοὴν ἀγαθὸς Διομήδης
Τευθρανίδην, ὃς ἔναιεν ἐϋκτιμένῃ ἐν Ἀρίσβῃ
ἀφνειὸς βιότοιο, φίλος δ’ ἦν ἀνθρώποισι.
πάντας γὰρ φιλέεσκεν ὁδῷ ἔπι οἰκία ναίων.
ἀλλά οἱ οὔ τις τῶν γε τότ’ ἤρκεσε λυγρὸν ὄλεθρον
πρόσθεν ὑπαντιάσας, ἀλλ’ ἄμφω θυμὸν ἀπηύρα
αὐτὸν καὶ θεράποντα Καλήσιον, ὅς ῥα τόθ’ ἵππων
ἔσκεν ὑφηνίοχος· τὼ δ’ ἄμφω γαῖαν ἐδύτην.

And then Diomedes, good at the battle-cry, killed Axylus, son of Teuthras. He lived in well-built Arisbe, a man rich in substance, and he was friendly to people: he welcomed all guests, as he lived in a house on the road. But none of them was then able to meet the enemy in front of him and keep mournful destruction away, but Diomedes took away the life of them both, Axylus himself and his attendant Calesius, who was at that time the driver of his chariot. So the two of them went below the earth.

Hirtius, Continuation of Caesar’s Gallic War, preface

Aulus Hirtius wrote the final, eighth book of Caesar’s commentaries on the Gallic War. In this passage, from the preface to that book, he praises Caesar’s style.

constat enim inter omnes nihil tam operose ab aliis esse perfectum, quod non horum elegantia commentariorum superetur: qui sunt editi, ne scientia tantarum rerum scriptoribus deesset, adeoque probantur omnium iudicio ut praerepta, non praebita, facultas scriptoribus videatur.

It is agreed by everyone that there has been nothing so painstakingly perfected by other authors that it surpasses the elegance of these Commentaries. They were published so that authors should not lack knowledge of these events, but they are so approved in everyone’s judgement that it seems to have inhibited writers’ deftness rather than supplying them with an opportunity.