Aristotle, Rhetoric 1378b 23-25

A definition of hybris, that hard-to-translate word that indicates getting too full of yourself and assaulting or abusing someone else as a result.

ἔστι γὰρ ὕβρις τὸ πράττειν καὶ λέγειν ἐφ’ οἷς αἰσχύνη ἔστι τῷ πάσχοντι, μὴ ἵνα τι γίγνηται αὑτῷ ἄλλο ἢ ὅ τι ἐγένετο, ἀλλ’ ὅπως ἡσθῇ.

Hybris is doing and saying things by which disgrace results for the person who is the butt of them – not with the aim of getting for oneself anything other than the thing which happened, but to give oneself pleasure.

Apuleius, Apology 24.1-3

de patria mea vero, quod eam sitam Numidiae et Gaetuliae in ipso confinio mei<s> scriptis ostendi scis, quibus memet professus sum, cum Lolliano Avito c.v. praesente publice dissererem, Seminumidam et Semigaetulum. non video quid mihi sit in ea re pudendum, haud minus quam Cyro maiori, quod genere mixto fuit Semimedus ac Semipersa. non enim ubi prognatus, sed ut moratus quisque sit spectandum, nec qua regione, sed qua ratione vitam vivere inierit, considerandum est.

On the subject of my fatherland: you know that I indicate in my writings that it lies on the very border of Numidia and Gaetulia, and by those writings I have testified, when I delivered my speech in public, in the presence of the most distinguished man Lollianus Avitus, that I am half-Numidian and half-Gaetulian. I don’t see why this fact should cause me to be ashamed, any more than Cyrus the Great should have been ashamed that he was of mixed race, being half-Mede and half-Persian. For what should be examined is not where any person was born, but what their character is like; and what should be taken into account is not in what region, but in what fashion, they have begun to live.

Praxilla, fr.1 (PMG 747)

For background on the poet Praxilla and her Hymn to Adonis from which these lines come, see this helpful page.

κάλλιστον μὲν ἐγὼ λείπω φάος ἠελίοιο,
δεύτερον ἄστρα φαεινὰ σεληναίης τε πρόσωπον
ἠδὲ καὶ ὡραίους σικύους καὶ μῆλα καὶ ὄγχνας.

The most beautiful thing I leave behind is the light of the sun; second, the shining stars and the face of the moon, and also ripe cucumbers, apples, and pears.

Pomponius Mela, Description of the World 1.56

According to Benjamin Isaac (see p.325 here), Pomponius Mela ‘is generally less judgmental and more appreciative of foreign peoples than most ancient authors. However, even by his own standards his praise for the Phoenicians is lavish’.

Phoenicen inlustravere Phoenices, sollers hominum genus et ad belli pacisque munia eximium: litteras et litterarum operas aliasque etiam artes, maria navibus adire, classe confligere, inperitare gentibus, regnum proeliumque conmenti.

Phoenicia is inhabited by the Phoenicians, an intelligent race of men and exceptional in the deeds both of war and of peace: they devised letters [i.e. the alphabet], works of literature, and the other arts too, and going on the sea in ships, fighting with a fleet, ruling peoples, and dominion and battle.  

Dionysius Periegetes, Guide to the inhabited world, 1-9

If Wikipedia is to be believed, this poem was last translated into English in 1789. Here’s the opening.

ἀρχόμενος γαῖάν τε καὶ εὐρέα πόντον ἀείδειν
καὶ ποταμοὺς πόλιάς τε καὶ ἀνδρῶν ἄκριτα φῦλα,
μνήσομαι Ὠκεανοῖο βαθυρρόου· ἐν γὰρ ἐκείνῳ
πᾶσα χθὼν, ἅτε νῆσος ἀπείριτος, ἐστεφάνωται,
οὐ μὲν πᾶσα διαπρὸ περίδρομος, ἀλλὰ διαμφὶς
ὀξυτέρη βεβαυῖα πρὸς ἠελίοιο κελεύθους,
σφενδόνη εἰοικυῖα· μίαν δέ ἑ καίπερ ἐοῦσαν
ἄνθρωποι τρισσῇσιν ἐπ’ ἠπείροισι δάσαντο·
πρώτην μὲν Λιβύην, μετὰ δ’ Εὐρῶπην Ἀσίην τε.

As I begin to sing of the earth and the wide sea, of rivers and cities and the uncountable races of men, I shall remember the deep-flowing Ocean. For within it the whole earth is encircled, like an immense island, not totally circular, but being more pointed in both directions towards the ways of the sun, like a sling. And although it is one, humans have divided it among themselves into three continents: first Libya, then Europe and Asia.

Seneca the Younger, Phaedra 469-473

The disasters that would happen without the power of Love.

excedat agedum rebus humanis Venus,
quae supplet ac restituit exhaustum genus:
orbis iacebit squalido turpis situ,
vacuum sine ullis piscibus stabit mare,
alesque caelo derit et silvis fera,
solis et aer pervius ventis fuit.

Come, let Venus depart from human affairs, she who makes good and restores the worn-out race; the world will lie foul in neglected squalor; the sea will stand empty, without any fish; the sky will be without birds, the woods without beasts, and the sky will be a path only for the winds.

Herodotus, Histories 4.185.3

ὑπὲρ δὲ τῆς ὀφρύης τὸ πρὸς νότου καὶ ἐς μεσόγαιαν τῆς Λιβύης ἔρημος καὶ ἄνυδρος καὶ ἄθηρος καὶ ἄνομβρος καὶ ἄξυλος ἐστὶ ἡ χώρη, καὶ ἰκμάδος ἐστὶ ἐν αὐτῇ οὐδέν.

Beyond the ridge, in the southern and inland area of Libya, the country is desert – no water, no wild beasts, no rainfall, no trees; there is not any moisture in it at all.

Cicero, Letters to his Friends 5.12.1

To Lucius Lucceius.

coram me tecum eadem haec agere saepe conantem deterruit pudor quidam paene subrusticus, quae nunc expromam absens audacius; epistula enim non erubescit.

I have often tried to speak of these matters with you in person, but an almost clownish sense of shyness has scared me off; now, being away from you, I shall declare them more boldly, since a letter does not blush.

Homer, Odyssey 12.184-191

The song of the Sirens.

δεῦρ’ ἄγ’ ἰών, πολύαιν’ Ὀδυσεῦ, μέγα κῦδος Ἀχαιῶν,
νῆα κατάστησον, ἵνα νωιτέρην ὄπ’ ἀκούσῃς.
οὐ γάρ πώ τις τῇδε παρήλασε νηὶ μελαίνῃ,
πρίν γ’ ἡμέων μελίγηρυν ἀπὸ στομάτων ὄπ’ ἀκοῦσαι,
ἀλλ’ ὅ γε τερψάμενος νεῖται καὶ πλείονα εἰδώς.
ἴδμεν γάρ τοι πάνθ’ ὅσ’ ἐνὶ Τροίῃ εὐρείῃ
Ἀργεῖοι Τρῶές τε θεῶν ἰότητι μόγησαν,
ἴδμεν δ’, ὅσσα γένηται ἐπὶ χθονὶ πουλυβοτείρῃ.

Come here as you travel, much-praised Odysseus, the Achaeans’ great glory. Halt your ship, so you may hear our voices. For never yet has any man sailed past in his black ship before he has heard the sweet voice from our mouths, but he delights in it and goes on his way with more knowledge. For we know everything which the Argives and Trojans suffered in wide Troy through the will of the gods, and we know whatever happens on the much-nourishing earth.

Suetonius, Tiberius 69

circa deos ac religiones neglegentior, quippe addictus mathematicae plenusque persuasionis cuncta fato agi, tonitrua tamen praeter modum expavescebat, et turbatiore caelo numquam non coronam lauream capite gestavit, quod fulmine afflari negetur id genus frondis.

He rather neglected matters concerning the gods and religion, as he was addicted to astrology and was fully persuaded that everything happens according to fate; nonetheless he was excessively terrified of thunder, and whenever the sky was looking rather stormy he was never without a laurel wreath on his head, because it is said that that kind of leaf does not get struck by lightning.