Κέρδος αἰσχύνης ἄμεινον
advantage is better than dishonour
Translated by Nick Nicholas7 Nov 2008Vetting: high6 revisions
Translation
"If he does not gain his advantage fairly, but works the unholy, or possesses the untouchable. Where such things occur, what man out of the foolish ones will think any more that he can ward off the arrows from his soul?"1 That is, who could drive away punishment from himself when he does such things?2
Greek original · Adler’s text
Κέρδος αἰσχύνης ἄμεινον. εἰ μὴ τὸ κέρδος κερδανεῖ δικαίως καὶ τῶν ἀσέπτων ἔρξεται καὶ τῶν ἀθίκτων ἕξεται· ματαίων δὲ τίς ἔτι ποτ' ἐν τοῖσδ' ἀνὴρ θυμῷ βέλη ἔρξεται ψυχᾶς ἀμύνειν; τουτέστι τίς ἂν ἀπελάσειεν αὐτοῦ τὴν τιμωρίαν τοιαῦτα πράττοντος;
Betacode
*ke/rdos ai)sxu/nhs a)/meinon. ei) mh\ to\ ke/rdos kerdanei= dikai/ws kai\ tw=n a)se/ptwn e)/rcetai kai\ tw=n a)qi/ktwn e(/cetai: matai/wn de\ ti/s e)/ti pot' e)n toi=sd' a)nh\r qumw=| be/lh e)/rcetai yuxa=s a)mu/nein; toute/sti ti/s a)\n a)pela/seien au)tou= th\n timwri/an toiau=ta pra/ttontos;
Notes (2)
- The unglossed headword phrase is the first half of a line (for the second half see under mu 1360) of Attic comedy -- Callias [kappa 213] fr. 1 Kock and Kassel-Austin, from the Atalante: "advantage is better than dishonour; drag the adulterer to the corner". Fragment taken up by collectors of proverbs (Diogenianus 5.42, Zenobius 4.67, Macarius Chrysocephalus 5.13, Michael Apostolius 9.68). The proverb is vaguely connected to the passage from Sophocles discussed next.
- 1An approximation of Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 889-894 (web address 1): "if he does not gain his advantage fairly, but works the unholy [deeds], or touches the untouchable [sanctities] in folly. Where such things occur, what man will think any more that he can ward off the arrows [of the gods] from his soul?" The original's
mata/|zwn , "doing vain, foolish things", is misconstrued asmatai/wn "of vain, foolish ones", and as the start of a new sentence. ↩ - 2From the scholia thereto (892). ↩
External resources
- Web address 1 perseus.tufts.edu
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Revision history6 revisions · last 5 Aug 2019
- tweaked translation — Catharine Roth
- updated a ref — David Whitehead
- more keywords — David Whitehead
- added link — Catharine Roth
- tweak, typo — Catharine Roth
- augmented notes and keywords; tweaks and cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — Nick Nicholas