Greek Mythology

"Video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor."

"Pro superi, quantum mortalia pectora caecae noctis habent!"

"Fas est et ab hoste doceri."

"Nec solem proprium natura nec aera fecit nec tenues undas."

"Causa latet, vis est notissima fontis."

"Quoque magis tegitur, tectus magis aestuat ignis."

"Unc duo concordes anima moriemur in una."

"Inopem me copia fecit."

"Extenuant vigiles corpus miserabile curae adducitque cutem macies et in aera sucus corporis omnis abit; vox tantum atque ossa supersunt: vox manet."

"Ultima semper exspectanda dies hominis, dicique beatus ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet."

"Non bene conveniunt nec in una sede morantur maiestas et amor."

"Vixque tenet lacrimas, quia nil lacrimabile cernit."

"Heu! quam difficile est crimen non prodere vultu!"

"Medio tutissimus ibis."

"Facies non omnibus una, non diversa tamen, qualem decet esse sororum."

"Materiam superabat opus."

"Pudet haec opprobria nobis et dici potuisse et non potuisse refelli."

"Ei mihi, quod nullis amor est sanabilis herbis nec prosunt domino, quae prosunt omnibus, artes!"

"Nos duo turba sumus."

"Cuncta prius temptanda, sed inmedicabile curae ense recidendum, ne pars sincera trahatur."

"Effodiuntur opes, inritamenta malorum. Iamque nocens ferrum ferroque nocentius aurum prodierat."

"Amor sceleratus habendi."

"Aurea prima sata est aetas, quae vindice nullo, sponte sua, sine lege fidem rectumque colebat."

"Os homini sublime dedit caelumque videre iussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus."

"Sanctius his animal mentisque capacius altae deerat adhuc et quod dominari in cetera posset: natus homo est."

"Neu regio foret ulla suis animalibus orba, astra tenent caeleste solum formaeque deorum, cesserunt nitidis habitandae piscibus undae, terra feras cepit, volucres agitabilis aer."

"Chaos: rudis indigestaque moles."

"Laocoön, and her two sons Pressured storm, tried to move No other more, emotion bound Martyred, misconstrued"

"o miseri, quae tanta insania, ciues? creditis auectos hostis? aut ulla putatis dona carere dolis Danaum? sic notus Vlixes? aut hoc inclusi ligno occultantur Achiui, aut haec in nostros fabricata est machina muros, inspectura domos uenturaque desuper urbi, aut aliquis latet error; equo ne credite, Teucri. quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentis."

"Theseus was, of course, bravest of the brave, as all heroes are; but, unlike other heroes, he was as compassionate as he was brave, and a man of great intellect as well as great bodily strength. It was natural that the Athenians should have such a hero, because they valued thought and ideas, as no other part of the country did. In Theseus their ideal was embodied."

"Men who hover over their opponents have no cause to evolve a science of wrestling; and Theseus is conventionally shown in combat with hulking of monstrous enemies, living by his wits. The tradition that he emulated the feats of Herakles may well embalm some ancient sneer at the over-compensation of a small assertive man. Napoleon comes to mind. If one examines the legend in this light, a well-defined personality emerges. It is that of a light-weight; brave and aggressive, physically tough and quick; highly sexed and rather promiscuous; touchily proud, but with a feeling for the underdog; resembling Alexander in his precocious competence, gift of leadership, and romantic sense of destiny."

"The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned from Crete had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their places, in so much that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same."

"From Themistocles began the saying, "He is a second Hercules.""

"What else remains, I will not taunt her with. Unhappy Odysseus, he does not know the sufferings that await him; or how these ills I and my Phrygians endure shall one day seem to him precious as gold. For beyond the ten long years spent at Troy he shall drag out other ten and then come to his country all alone . . . where dreadful Charybdis lurks in a narrow channel between the rocks; past Cyclops the savage shepherd, and Ligurian Circe who turns men to swine; shipwrecked often upon the salt sea-wave; longing to eat the lotus, and the sacred cattle of the sun, whose flesh shall utter in the days to come a human voice, bitter to Odysseus. In brief, he shall descend alive to Hades, and, though he shall escape the waters' flood, yet shall he find a thousand troubles in his country when he arrives."

"“See, men and women of Troy, come and see— look on Hector, if, while he was still alive, you would rejoice when he came back from war, for he was a great joy to all our city and its people.”At Cassandra's shout, no man or woman was left unaffected."

"One thing left. I want to sing my own dirge. I pray to the sun, to this last minute of life: let my enemies pay with blood for what they did to me—I'm just a killed slave, easy fistful of death. But you, o humans, o human things—when a man is happy, a shadow could overturn it. When life goes wrong, a wet sponge erases the whole picture. You, you, I pity."

"Hard rocks he soften'd with persuasive song, And sooth'd the rivers as they roll'd along. Yon beeches tall, that bloom near Zona, still Remain memorials of his vocal skill: His lays Pieria's listening trees admire, And move in measures to his melting lyre."

"The Orphics were an ascetic sect; wine, to them, was only a symbol, as, later, in the Christian sacrament. The intoxication that they sought was that of "enthusiasm," of union with the god. They believed themselves, in this way, to acquire mystic knowledge not obtainable by ordinary means. This mystical element entered into Greek philosophy with Pythagoras, who was a reformer of Orphism as Orpheus was a reformer of the religion of . From Pythagoras Orphic elements entered into the philosophy of Plato, and from Plato into most later philosophy that was in any degree religious."

"[Orpheus] had abstained from the love of women, either because things ended badly for him, or because he had sworn to do so. Yet, many felt a desire to be joined with the poet, and many grieved at rejection. Indeed, he was the first of the Thracian people to transfer his affection to young boys and enjoy their brief springtime, and early flowering this side of manhood."

"In Greece the name rbhu appears as Orpheus, the famous poet and musician from Thrace who gave rise to the Orphic cult and mysteries. The later story about his descent into Hades to recover Eurydice may well be an echo of a rejuvenation attempt, while the shamanist aspect of the myth is maintained. Orpheus’s poetry and music links well with the rbhus’ poetic power in [the Rigveda]. It is therefore very curious that many philologists refuse to see this connection... There is no substantial reason, philological or semantic, why Greek Orpheus and Germanic elf should not be related to Sanskrit rbhu."

"I have soared aloft with poetry and with high thought, and though I have laid my hand to many a reflection, I have found nothing stronger than Necessity, nor is there any cure for it in the Thracian tablets set down by the voice of Orpheus nor in all the simples which Phoebus harvested in aid of trouble-ridden mortals and gave to the sons of Asclepius."

"Here the sweet bard his tuneful lyre unstrung, And ceas'd the heavenly music of his tongue; But, with the sound entranc'd, the listening ear Still thought him singing, and still seem'd to hear."

"SOCRATES: When you say this, will you be surprised if your arguments seem to move about instead of staying put? And will you accuse me of being Daedalus who makes them move, though you are yourself much more skillful than Daedalus and make them go round in a circle? Or do you not realize that our argument has moved around and come again to the same place? You surely remember that earlier the pious and the god loved were shown not to be the same but different from each other. Or do you not remember? EUTHYPHRO: I do. SOCRATES: Do you then not realize now that you are saying that what is dear to the gods is the pious? Is this not the same as the god-loved? Or is it not? EUTHYPHRO: It certainly is. SOCRATES: Either we were wrong when we agreed before, or, if we were right then, we are wrong now. EUTHYPHRO: That seems to be so."

"You forget, fuzzy elf … I'm Phoenix. If I die it's only to be reborn — hopefully better and brighter than before."

"LET the bird of loudest lay On the sole Arabian tree, Herald sad and trumpet be, To whose sound chaste wings obey."

"The phœnix fair which rich Arabia breeds, When wasting time expires her tragedy, No more on Phœbus’ radiant rays she feeds, But heapeth up great store of spicery; And on a lofty towering cedar tree, With heavenly substance she herself consumes, From whence she young again appears to be, Out of the cinders of her peerless plumes."

"As if the Phenix hasting to her rest Had gatherd all th’Arabian Spicerie T’enbalme her body in her Tombe, her nest,"

"Let us consider that wonderful sign [of the resurrection] which takes place in eastern lands, that is, in Arabia and the countries round about. There is a certain bird which is called a phœnix. This is the only one of its kind, and lives five hundred years. And when the time of its dissolution draws near that it must die, it builds itself a nest of frankincense, and myrrh, and other spices, into which, when the time is fulfilled, it enters and dies. But as the flesh decays a certain kind of worm is produced, which, being nourished by the juices of the dead bird, brings forth feathers. Then, when it has acquired strength, it takes up that nest in which are the bones of its parent, and bearing these it passes from the land of Arabia into Egypt, to the city called Heliopolis. And, in open day, flying in the sight of all men, it places them on the altar of the sun, and having done this, hastens back to its former abode. The priests then inspect the registers of the dates, and find that it has returned exactly as the five hundredth year was completed."

"There'll be that crowd, that barbarous crowd, through all the centuries, And who can say but some young belle may walk and talk men wild Who is my beauty's equal, though that my heart denies, But not the exact likeness, the simplicity of a child, And that proud look as though she had gazed into the burning sun, And all the shapely body no tittle gone astray. I mourn for that most lonely thing; and yet God's will be done: I knew a phoenix in my youth, so let them have their day."

"Now I will believe That there are unicorns; that in Arabia There is one tree, the phoenix' throne, one phoenix At this hour reigning there."