A bad neighbour is as great a misfortune as a good one is a great
blessing.
"Works and Days," Line 346,--_Hesiod_.
HESIOD, a renowned Greek poet, born at Ascra in Boeotia, and lived in
the ninth century (?), B.C. Among his writings are the: "Theogony,"
"Works and Days," "The Shield of Hercules," etc.
"The Homeric Poems are the earliest literary product of the world
which has survived to our day, and they lie at the fountain-head
of all the later literature of Europe."
HOMER, the greatest of epic poets, author of the "Iliad" and "Odyssey."
The date of his birth has never been known, but is generally set at the
eighth or ninth century B.C.
The fox said the grapes were sour.
--_Æsop_.
ÆSOP, a famous Greek fabulist, lived in the seventh century, B.C.
Procure not friends in haste, and when thou hast a friend part not
with him in haste.
--_Solon_.
SOLON, the renowned Athenian legislator, lived about 638-559 B.C. The
constitution which he gave to Athens, made him famous.
What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon also be
beautiful.
--_Sappho_.
SAPPHO, a celebrated Greek poet, was born in the Island of Lesbos, about
612 B.C. Little is known of her life. Only fragments of her poems
remain. We have in complete form a "Hymn to Aphrodite" and an "Ode to a
Beautiful Girl."
Wine is wont to show the mind of man.
"Maxims," Line 500,--_Theognis_.
THEOGNIS OF MEGARA, a famous Greek elegiac poet, flourished in the
latter half of the sixth century B.C. Over one thousand of his verses
have come down to our time.
With the exception of Heraclitus, Parmenides is the greatest of
the pre-Socratic Greek thinkers.
--_Parmenides_.
PARMENIDES, a celebrated Greek philosopher of the fifth century B.C.,
was born at Elea in Southern Italy. He wrote one famous work on
philosophy entitled: "On Nature." It was divided into three sections,
"Proem," "Truth," and "Opinion," but only fragments of this work have
come down to our time.
A lip like Persuasion's calling on us to kiss it.
--_Anacreon_.
ANACREON, a famous lyric poet, of Greece, was born at Teos, in Ionia,
562 (?) B.C., and died 477 B.C. A few of his authentic compositions have
come down to our times.
We count it death to falter, not to die.
Jacobs I. 63, 20,--_Simonides_.
SIMONIDES, a renowned Greek lyric poet, was born in the Island of Ceos
about 556 B.C., and died about 468 B.C. Some of his famous "Epigrams,"
have come down to our times.
By nature men are nearly alike; by practice they get to be wide
apart.
--_Confucius_.
CONFUCIUS, the head of Chinese religious and social philosophy, was born
about 551 B.C., and died 478 B.C. He wrote: "Analects," etc., and is
credited with having compiled the "Ancient Poems." His last work is
called "Annals of Lee" or "Spring and Autumn."
Much knowledge of things divine escapes us through want of faith.
--_Heraclitus_.
HERACLITUS, a renowned Greek philosopher, born in Ephesus, about 535
B.C., died about 475 B.C.
Time as he grows old teaches many lessons.
"Prometheus," 981,--_Æschylus_.
ÆSCHYLUS, the greatest of the Greek dramatists, was born at Eleusis,
Attica, 525 B.C., and died at Gela, Sicily, 456 B.C. Of his numerous
works only seven tragedies remain, "The Suppliants," "The Persians,"
"The Seven Against Thebes," "Prometheus Bound," "Agamemnon,"
"Choephori," and "Eumenides."
He is gifted with genius who knoweth much by natural talent.
--_Pindar_.
PINDAR, the greatest of the Greek lyric poets, was born at Cynoscephalæ
near Boeotian Thebes, 522 B.C., and died at Argos, about 450 B.C. The
Alexandrine scholars divided his poems into 17 books, comprising Hymns,
Pæans, Dithyrambs, Encomia, and Songs of Victory.
Fortune is not on the side of the faint-hearted.
--_Sophocles_.
SOPHOCLES, the great Greek tragic poet, was born at Colonus near Athens,
about 495 B.C.; and died about 405 B.C. His seven great tragedies are:
"Antigone," "Electra," "Ajax," "Trachiniæ," "Philoctetes," "Oedipus
Tyrannus," and "Oedipus at Colonus."
The saying "Call no man happy before he dies" was ascribed to
Solon.
--_Herodotus_, I, 32.
HERODOTUS, "The Father of History," was born at Halicarnassus, in Caria,
about 490 B.C., and died at Thurii, in Magna Græcia, between 428 B.C.
and 426 B.C. His "Exposition of History" in nine books, won for him
everlasting fame.
Moderation, the noblest gift of Heaven.
"Medea," 636,--_Euripides_.
EURIPIDES, a great Greek tragic poet, was born at Athens, about 480
B.C., and died about 406 B.C. Nineteen of his dramas have come down to
our time: "Alcestis," "Andromache," "Hecube," "Bacchæ," "Helena,"
"Electra," "Heraclidæ," "The Mad Hercules," "The Suppliants,"
"Hippolytus," "Iphigenia at Tauris," "Ion," "Iphigenia at Aulis,"
"Medea," "Orestes," "Rhesus," "The Trojan Women," "The Phoenissæ," and
"Cyclops."
Extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme diseases.
Aphorism i,--_Hippocrates_.
HIPPOCRATES, a noted Greek philosopher and writer, termed the "Father of
Medicine," was born according to Soranus, in Cos, in the first year of
the 80th Olimpiad, i.e., in 460 B.C. The earliest Greek edition of the
Hippocratic writings is that which was published by Aldus and Asulanus
at Venice in 1526.
You think that upon the score of fore-knowledge and divining I am
infinitely inferior to the swans. When they perceive approaching
death they sing more merrily than before, because of the joy they
have in going to the God they serve.
"In Phaedo," 77,--_Socrates_.
SOCRATES, the renowned Athenian philosopher, was born at Athens, about
470 B.C., and died 399 B.C. He left no writings, but his philosophical
method and his teaching are to be found in the works of his
contemporaries and disciples.
Envy doth merit like its shade pursue.
--_Aristophanes_.
ARISTOPHANES, the greatest of the Greek writers of comedy, (448-380
B.C.), was born at Athens. Only eleven of his 44 plays have come down to
us. They are: "The Knights," "The Clouds," "The Wasps," "The
Acharnians," "The Peace," "The Lyristrate," "The Birds," "The
Thesmophoriazusæ," "The Frogs," "The Ecclesiazusæ," and "Plutus."
Trees and fields tell me nothing, men are my teachers.
--_Plato_.
PLATO, the renowned Greek philosopher, was born at Athens, about 427
B.C., and died there 347 B.C. Among his famous dialogues are: "Apology,"
"Lysis," "Charmides," "Laches," "Protagoras," "Meno," "Gorgias," "Io,"
"Euthyphro," "Crito," "Phædrus," "The Sophist," "The Politician,"
"Parmenides," "Symposium," "Phædo," "The Republic," "The Laws," etc.
Excess of grief for the deceased is madness; for it is an injury
to the living, and the dead know it not.
--_Xenophon_.
XENOPHON, a famous Greek author, was born at Athens, about 430 B.C., and
died in Corinth, about 355 B.C. He is the author of: "Encomium of
Agesilaus," "Horsemanship," "Hipparchicus," "Cynegeticus," "Cyropædeia,"
"Lacedæmonian Polity," "Hieron," "Athenian Finance," "Symposium,"
"Apology of Socrates," "Oeconomicus," and his most celebrated works,
the "Hellenics" and "Anabasis."
Our Theocritus, our Bion,
And our Pindar's shining goals!--
These were cup-bearers undying,
Of the wine that's meant for souls.
"Wine of Cyprus,"--_E. B. Browning_.
THEOCRITUS, the greatest of Greek bucolic poets, lived in the first half
of the third century B.C. Thirty-one of his idyls and pastorals and a
number of his epigrams have been preserved.
No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness.
--_Aristotle_.
ARISTOTLE, the most renowned of Greek philosophers, was born at Stagira,
Macedonia, 384 B.C., and died at Chalcis, Euboea, 322 B.C. He wrote
numerous treatises on philosophy.
There is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an
advantage and security to all, but especially to democracies as
against despots. What is it? Distrust.
"Philippic 2," Sect. 24,--_Demosthenes_.
DEMOSTHENES, a renowned Athenian orator, was born about 384 B.C., and
died at Calauria, 322 B.C. Besides his numerous orations, he wrote the
"Olynthiacs" and the "Philippics," and his great speech, "On the
Crown."
Amnesty, that noble word, the genuine dictate of wisdom.
--_Æschines_.
ÆSCHINES, a great Athenian orator, rival of Demosthenes, lived 389-314
B.C.
A good man never dies.
"Epigrams," X,--_Callimachus_.
CALLIMACHUS, a renowned Greek poet, born in Cyrene, flourished in the
third century B.C. Besides his tragedies, comedies, elegies and hymns,
he wrote the epics, "Hecale" and "Galatea," a "Hymn to Jupiter," and an
"Epitaph on Heracleitus."
Patience is the best remedy for every trouble.
"Rudens," Act II, Sc. 5, 71,--_Plautus_.
TITUS MACCIUS PLAUTUS, a celebrated Roman comic poet, was born at
Sarsina in Umbria, about 254 B.C., and died at Rome about 184 B.C. His
"Captives" has been declared "the best constructed drama in existence."
Buy not what you need, but what you must have; what you do not
need is dear at a penny.
--_Cato_.
MARCUS PORCIUS CATO, THE CENSOR, a famous Roman statesman and
pamphleteer (234-149 B.C.) He wrote many tractates on different
subjects, but only one of them, "On Farming," has come down to our
times. Of "Beginnings" we have only a few fragments.
"Polybius of Megalopolis in Arcadia must rank as the third Greek
historian, Herodotus and Thucydides being first and second."
POLYBIUS, a celebrated Greek historian, was born at Megalopolis in
Arcadia, 204 B.C., and died 122 B.C. His "Histories," won for him great
fame.
The quarrels of lovers are the renewal of love.
"Andria," Act III, Sc. 3, 23,--_Terence_.
TERENCE, the renowned Latin writer of comedy, was born at Carthage,
about 185 B.C., and died about 159 B.C. Among his writings are:
"Andria," "Hecyra," "Heautontimorumenos," "Eunuchus," "Phormio," and
"Adelphi."
While the sick man has life there is hope.
"Epistolarum ad Atticum,"--_Cicero_.
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO, the prince of Roman orators, a distinguished
writer on philosophy, rhetoric, morals, etc., was born at Arpinum, 106
B.C., and died 43 B.C. Among his treatises on the art of oratory are:
"The Orator, to Marcus Brutus," "Of the Orator," and "Brutus, or of
Illustrious Orators." His philosophical writings include: "The
Academics," "Tusculan Disputations," "Of Definitions of Good and Evil."
Of discussions of moral questions, we have the practical treatise, "Of
Mutual Offices." Theological questions are examined in the two
treatises, "Of Divinations" and "Of the Nature of the Gods"; also the
treatises, "Of Old Age," "Of Friendship," "Of Consolation." The letters
of Cicero are extant to the number of 864, under the titles: "To
Intimate Friends" (16 books), "To Atticus" (also 16 books), "To
Quintus," his brother, (3 books), and "Correspondence with M. Brutus"
(in 2 books).
Wine and other luxuries have a tendency to enervate the mind and
make men less brave in battle.
--_Cæsar_.
CAIUS JULIUS CÆSAR, the great Roman general and writer of memoirs, was
probably born about 100 B.C.; killed March 15, 44 B.C. Besides his
famous "Commentaries," he wrote a grammatical treatise, "On Analogy,"
but it has not come down to our times.
What is food to one man may be fierce poison to others.
"De Rerum Natura," IV, 637,--_Lucretius_.
TITUS LUCRETIUS CARUS, a renowned Roman poet, was born about 98 B.C.,
and died 55 B.C. His one work, "On Nature," in six books, is considered
one of the greatest of Latin didactic poems.
I hate and love--the why I cannot tell But by my tortures know the
fact too well.
"Two Chords," (translation of Sir Theodore Martin),--_Catullus_.
CAIUS VALERIUS CATULLUS, the greatest of Roman lyric poets, was born at
Verona, 84 B.C., and died 54 B.C. A number of his compositions have come
down to our time, The most celebrated are those "To Lesbia," "The Boat,"
and "Address to Himself."