Diphilus (original) (raw)

No man's more fortunate than he who's poor,
Since for the worse his fortune cannot change.

Diphilus (Greek: Δίφιλος, Díphilos) was a Greek poet and playwright, native of Sinope, and contemporary of Menander (342–291 BC). Most of Diphilus' plays—acclaimed for his comic wit and humor, and about 100 in number—were written and acted at Athens, but he led a wandering life, and died at Smyrna.

• ὦ μακάρι᾿, ἀτυχεῖν θνητὸς ὢν ἐπίστασο,
  ἵν᾿ αὐτὰ τἀναγκαῖα δυστυχῇς μόνον,
  πλείω δὲ διὰ τὴν ἀμαθίαν μὴ προσλάβῃς.

  • O happy man! being mortal, know that thou art born to trouble, in order that thou mayest suffer only in what is necessary, and not add to it by thy folly.
  • Frg. 4 K.-A. (tr. C. T. Ramage, 1873)

• ἀπροσδόκητον οὐδὲν ἀνθρώποις πάθος·
  ἐφημέρους γὰρ τὰς τύχας κεκτήμεθα.

  • To man no suffering unexpected comes;
    We hold our fortune but from day to day.
  • Frg. 44 K.-A.

• οὐκ ἔστι βίος ὃς οὐχὶ κέκτηται κακά,
  λύπας, μερίμνας, ἁρπαγάς, στρεβλάς, νόσους·
  τούτων ὁ θάνατος καθάπερ ἰατρὸς φανεὶς
  ἀνέπαυσε τοὺς ἔχοντας ἀναπαύσας ὕπνῳ.

  • There is no life that hath not many an ill,
    Griefs, losses, cares, disease, new torments still,
    From which death only, that physician blest,
    Sets free the sufferer and gives him rest.
  • Frg. 88 K.-A.

• ὅστις γὰρ αὐτὸς αὑτὸν οὐκ αἰσχύνεται
  συνειδόθ᾿ αὑτῷ φαῦλα διαπεπραγμένῳ,
  πῶς τόν γε μηδὲν εἰδότ᾿ αἰσχυνθήσεται;

  • For whosoever is not ashamed when he is conscious to himself of having committed some base act, how will he be ashamed before him who is ignorant of it?
  • Frg. 92 K.-A. (tr. C. T. Ramage, 1873)

• εἰ μὴ τὸ λαβεῖν ἦν, οὐδὲ εἷς πονηρὸς ἦν.

  • Were there no lust of gain none would be evil.
  • Frg. 94.1 K.-A.

• ἀρ᾿ ἐστὶν ἀνοητότατον αἰσχροκερδία·
  πρὸς τῷ λαβεῖν γὰρ ὢν ὁ νοῦς τἆλλ᾿ οὐχ ὁρᾷ.

  • How senseless is the sordid love of gain;
    Blind to all else the mind that's set on profit.
  • Frg. 99 K.-A.

• ἔργον συναγαγεῖν σωρὸν ἐν πολλῷ χρόνῳ,
  ἐν ἡμέρᾳ δὲ διαφορῆσαι ῥᾴδιον.

  • Long time thou'lt toil to gather up the heap
    Which thou canst scatter in a single day.
  • Frg. 100 K.-A.
    * Alternate translation (C. T. Ramage, 1873):
    * It is difficult to gather a heap in a long time, but it is easy to squander the whole in a day.

• πένητος ἀνδρὸς οὐδὲν εὐτυχέστερον·
  τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον μεταβολὴν οὐ προσδοκᾷ.

  • No man's more fortunate than he who's poor,
    Since for the worse his fortune cannot change.
  • Frg. 104 K.-A.

• πενία δὲ συγκραθεῖσα δυσσεβεῖ τρόπῳ
  ἄρδην ἀνεῖλε καὶ κατέστρεψεν βίον.

  • Poverty united to bad conduct utterly destroys and upturns the life of man.
  • Frg. 105 K.-A. (tr. C. T. Ramage, 1873)

• ἄνθρωπός εἰμι, τοῦτο δ᾿ αὐτὸ τῷ βίῳ
  πρόφασιν μεγίστην εἰς τὸ λυπεῖσθαι φέρει.

  • I am a mortal; this very thing is the greatest cause of sorrow in life.
  • Frg. 106 K.-A. (tr. C. T. Ramage, 1873)

• οὐκ ἔστ᾿ ἀναιδοῦς ζῷον εὐθαρσέστερον.

  • There is no animal more bold than shamelessness.
  • Frg. 110 K.-A. (tr. C. T. Ramage, 1873)

• ἂν γνῷς τί ἐστ᾿ ἄνθρωπος, ἡδίων ἔσῃ.

  • If thou knowest what man is, thou wilt be more happy.
  • Frg. 112 K.-A. (tr. C. T. Ramage, 1873)

• ὡς μακάριον φρόνησις ἐν χρηστῷ τρόπῳ.

  • How completely blessed is prudence in a good disposition!
  • Frg. 113 K.-A. (tr. C. T. Ramage, 1873)

• λύπης δὲ πάσης γίνετ᾿ ἰατρὸς χρόνος.

  • Time is of every woe the healer.
  • Frg. 116 K.-A.

• ὃς
  οὔτ᾿ ἐρυθριᾶν ἐπίστατ᾿ οὔτε δεδιέναι,
  τὰ πρῶτα πάσης τῆς ἀναιδείας ἔχει.

  • Whoever does not know to blush or be afraid, has the first principles of every kind of baseness.
  • Menander, frg. 751 K.-A. (tr. C. T. Ramage, 1873); misattributed to Diphilus due to a confusion in Stobaeus, Anthology, III.32.10.

Text

• Kassel, Rudolf; Austin, Colin. Poetae Comici Graeci, vol. V Damoxenus–Magnes. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1986.

Translations

• Harbottle, Thomas Benfield. Dictionary of Quotations (Classical). London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1897. Internet Archive
• Ramage, Craufurd Tait. Beautiful Thoughts from Greek Authors. Liverpool: Edward Howell, 1873, pp. 133–136. Google Books
• Encyclopedic article on Diphilus on Wikipedia