One of my goals in learning Greek was to be able to read Æsop’s fables. After a few years of practice, I thought I would give it a try. I’m working from Chambry’s collection, since I have it to hand, but be advised I’m a mere student of Greek and have spent most of my study efforts on Homeric Greek, and so later texts like this one are a little bit of a struggle!
Ἀγαθὰ
Good καὶ
and κακά.
Bad.
Ὑπὸ τῶν κακῶν
By Bad τὰ ἀγαθὰ
Good ἐδιώχθη
was chased ὡς
since ἀσθενῆ ὅντα:
she was weak,
εἰς οὐρανὸν δὲ
and into heaven ἀνῆλθεν.
she fled up. Τὰ δὲ ἀγαθὰ
There, Good ἠρώτησαν
asked τὸν Δία
Zeus,
πῶς
how εἶναι
to be μετ’
among ἀνθρώπων.
mankind. Ὁ δὲ
And he εἶπεν
said μὴ
not
(to be)
μετ’
among
(them) ἀλλήλων πάντα,
all together, ἓν δὲ καθ’ ἓν
but one by one τοῖς ἀνθρώποις
to mankind
ἐπέρχεσθαι.
to show herself. Διὰ τοῦτο
Because of this, τὰ μὲν κακὰ
Bad συνεχῆ
frequently
τοῖς ἀνθρώποις,
to men— ὡς
as πλησίον ὄντα,
she is nearby— ἐπέρχεται
shows herself, τὰ δὲ ἀγαθὰ
but Good
βράδιον,
infrequently, ἐξ οὐρανοῦ
out of heaven κατιόντα.
coming down.
Or, more colloquially,
Good and Bad
Since she was weak, Good was being chased by Bad. She fled up into heaven and asked Zeus, “How am I to be among men?” And he advised not to try to be among them all together, but to sneak down and show herself to them one at a time. It is for this reason that Bad is always among men, since she is close to us; but Good only occasionally, since she has to come down all the way from heaven.
You never see this fable in English, which is a shame: it’s so cute! Of course that’s why bad things come quickly and good things come slowly!
I found translating this one fairly difficult: the vocabulary was very unfamiliar to me, and the grammar is fairly crabbed compared to the elegance of Homeros. Even so, the gist is straightforward enough, and that’s one of the nice things about Æsop: if the fable’s lesson makes sense, you’re probably not too far from the mark...
Ἀγαλματοπώλης.
The Statue-Seller.
Ξύλινόν τις Ἑρμῆν κατασκευάσας
Somebody, fashioning a wooden Hermes καὶ
and, προσενεγκών
carrying it
εἰς ἀγορὰν
to the marketplace, ἐπώλει:
put it up for sale; μηδενὸς δὲ ὠνητοῦ προσιόντος,
but, getting no takers,
ἐκκαλέσασθαί
to elicit τινας βουλόμενος,
anyone willing, ἐβόα
shouted ὡς
that
ἀγαθοποιὸν δαίμονα
a daimon which blessed καὶ
and κέρδους δωρητικὸν
brought profit πιπράσκει.
he was selling.
Τῶν δὲ παρατυχόντων τινὸς
And somebody who happened to be nearby εἰπόντος
said πρὸς αὐτόν:
to him,
“Ὦ οὗτος,
“Hey you! καὶ τί τοῦτον τοιοῦτον ὄντα
why, even such a thing as this, πωλεῖς,
are you selling,
δέον
when it is necessary τῶν παρ’ αὐτοῦ ὠφελειῶν
for yourself it’s help ἀπολαύειν;”
to receive?”
ἀπεκρίνατο
And he answered ὅτι
that ἐγὼ μὲν
he ταχείας
quickly ὠφελείας τινὸς δέομαι,
needed some help,
αὐτὸς δὲ
but it βραδέως εἴωθε τὰ
is it’s nature to slowly κέρδη περιποιεῖν.
accrue profits.
Or, more colloquially,
The Statue-Seller
A man carved a wooden cult-icon* and brought it to the marketplace in order to put it up for sale; but, getting not any takers, started calling out that this was no mere statue, but that it housed a spirit* which brought blessings and profits to its owner. On hearing this, somebody nearby called back, “Hey you! Why are you selling such a thing when you need it’s help yourself?” And the man answered, “I need money quickly, but the nature of the spirit is to build it up over time!”
- wooden cult-icon: the fable calls it a “wooden Hermes,” but the usual term I’ve seen is ξόανον xoanon.
- it housed a spirit: the philosophers of ancient Egypt and Greece taught that various physical things were reflections of higher principles, and so if one constructed an object in a careful manner it would resonate more closely with those higher principles and could be used as a vehicle by them, in much the same way your body is used as a vehicle by your soul. This apparently degenerated into the folk belief that the statue (or, indeed, your body) literally contains a soul, as if a soul is a physical object existing in three-dimensional space.
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