1. Aristophanes, Acharnians, 154-172, 153 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 153. καὶ νῦν ὅπερ μαχιμώτατον Θρᾳκῶν ἔθνος | |
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2. Aristophanes, Birds, 1616-1682, 1615 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 1615. κἀμοὶ δοκεῖ. τί δαὶ σὺ φῄς; ναβαισατρεῦ. | |
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3. Aristophanes, Lysistrata, 388-403, 421-423, 425, 456-461, 463-465, 469-470, 387 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 387. ἆρ' ἐξέλαμψε τῶν γυναικῶν ἡ τρυφὴ | |
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4. Aristophanes, The Rich Man, 490-497, 507-534, 553-556, 571, 604, 489 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 489. φανερὸν μὲν ἔγωγ' οἶμαι γνῶναι τοῦτ' εἶναι πᾶσιν ὁμοίως | |
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5. Aristophanes, The Women Celebrating The Thesmophoria, 1002-1230, 200-201, 237, 248, 254, 289, 369, 383-388, 455-456, 509, 515-516, 530-532, 538, 543-549, 643-648, 769-778, 804, 869-870, 930-1000 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 1000. εὐπέταλος ἕλικι θάλλει. | |
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6. Euripides, Andromache, 222 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 222. ὦ φίλταθ' ̔́Εκτορ, ἀλλ' ἐγὼ τὴν σὴν χάριν | |
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7. Euripides, Orestes, 1371-1536, 1370 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 1370. in my Asian slippers, by clambering over the cedar-beams that roof the porch and the Doric triglyphs, away, away! O Earth, Earth! in barbaric flight! |
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8. Herodotus, Histories, 9.78-9.79 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 9.78. There was at Plataea in the army of the Aeginetans one Lampon, son of Pytheas, a leading man of Aegina. He hastened to Pausanias with really outrageous counsel and coming upon him, said to him: ,“son of Cleombrotus, you have done a deed of surpassing greatness and glory; the god has granted to you in saving Hellas to have won greater renown than any Greek whom we know. But now you must finish what remains for the rest, so that your fame may be greater still and so that no barbarian will hereafter begin doing reckless deeds against the Greeks. ,When Leonidas was killed at Thermopylae, Mardonius and Xerxes cut off his head and set it on a pole; make them a like return, and you will win praise from all Spartans and the rest of Hellas besides. For if you impale Mardonius, you will be avenged for your father's brother Leonidas.” 9.79. This is what Lampon, thinking to please, said. Pausanias, however, answered him as follows: “Aeginetan, I thank you for your goodwill and forethought, but you have missed the mark of right judgment. First you exalt me and my fatherland and my deeds, yet next you cast me down to mere nothingness when you advise me to insult the dead, and say that I shall win more praise if I do so. That would be an act more proper for barbarians than for Greeks and one that we consider worthy of censure even in barbarians. ,No, as for myself, I would prefer to find no favor either with the people of Aegina or anyone else who is pleased by such acts. It is enough for me if I please the Spartans by righteous deeds and speech. As for Leonidas, whom you would have me avenge, I think that he has received a full measure of vengeance; the uncounted souls of these that you see have done honor to him and the rest of those who died at Thermopylae. But to you this is my warning: do not come again to me with words like these nor give me such counsel. Be thankful now that you go unpunished.” |
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9. Hippocrates, On Airs, Waters, And Places, 16 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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10. Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library, 5.32.7 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 5.32.7. Although their wives are comely, they have very little to do with them, but rage with lust, in outlandish fashion, for the embraces of males. It is their practice to sleep upon the ground on the skins of wild beasts and to tumble with a catamite on each side. And the most astonishing thing of all is that they feel no concern for their proper dignity, but prostitute to others without a qualm the flower of their bodies; nor do they consider this a disgraceful thing to do, but rather when anyone of them is thus approached and refuses the favour offered him, this they consider an act of dishonour. |
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11. Julius Caesar, De Bello Gallico, 6.21 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
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12. Strabo, Geography, 15.1.59-15.1.60 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 15.1.59. Megasthenes divides the philosophers again into two kinds, the Brachmanes and the Garmanes. The Brachmanes are held in greater repute, for they agree more exactly in their opinions. Even from the time of their conception in the womb they are under the care and guardianship of learned men, who go to the mother, and seem to perform some incantation for the happiness and welfare of the mother and the unborn child, but in reality they suggest prudent advice, and the mothers who listen to them most willingly are thought to be the most fortunate in their offspring. After the birth of the children, there is a succession of persons who have the care of them, and as they advance in years, masters more able and accomplished succeed.The philosophers live in a grove in front of the city within a moderate-sized enclosure. Their diet is frugal, and they lie upon straw pallets and on skins. They abstain from animal food, and from sexual intercourse with women; their time is occupied in grave discourse, and they communicate with those who are inclined to listen to them; but the hearer is not permitted to speak or cough, or even to spit on the ground; otherwise, he is expelled that very day from their society, on the ground of having no control over himself. After living thirty-seven years in this manner, each individual retires to his own possessions, and lives with less restraint, wearing robes of fine linen, and rings of gold, but without profuseness, upon the hands and in the ears. They eat the flesh of animals, of those particularly which do not assist man in his labour, and abstain from hot and seasoned food. They have as many wives as they please with a view to numerous offspring, for from many wives greater advantages are derived.As they have no slaves, they require more the services, which are at hand, of their children.The Brachmanes do not communicate their philosophy to their wives, for fear they should divulge to the profane, if they became depraved, anything which ought to be concealed or lest they should abandon their husbands in case they became good (philosophers) themselves. For no one who despises alike pleasure and pain, life and death, is willing to be subject to the authority of another; and such is the character of a virtuous man and a virtuous woman.They discourse much on death, for it is their opinion that the present life is the state of one conceived in the womb, and that death to philosophers is birth to a real and a happy life. They therefore discipline themselves much to prepare for death, and maintain that nothing which happens to man is bad or good, for otherwise the same things would not be the occasion of sorrow to some and of joy to others, opinions being merely dreams, nor that the same persons could be affected with sorrow and joy by the same things, on different occasions.With regard to opinions on physical phenomena, they display, says Megasthenes, great simplicity, their actions being better than their reasoning, for their belief is chiefly founded on fables. On many subjects their sentiments are the same as those of the Greeks. According to the Brachmanes, the world was created, and is liable to corruption; it is of a spheroidal figure; the god who made and governs it pervades the whole of it; the principles of all things are different, but the principle of the world's formation was water; in addition to the four elements there is a fifth nature, of which the heavens and the stars are composed; the earth is situated in the centre of the universe. Many other peculiar things they say of the principle of generation and of the soul. They invent fables also, after the manner of Plato, on the immortality of the soul, and on the punishments in Hades, and other things of this kind. This is the account which Megasthenes gives of the Brachmanes. 15.1.60. of the Garmanes, the most honourable, he says, are the Hylobii, who live in the forests, and subsist on leaves and wild fruits: they are clothed with garments made of the bark of trees, and abstain from commerce with women and from wine. The kings hold communication with them by messengers, concerning the causes of things, and through them worship and supplicate the Divinity.Second in honour to the Hylobii, are the physicians, for they apply philosophy to the study of the nature of man. They are of frugal habits, but do not live in the fields, and subsist upon rice and meal, which every one gives when asked, and receive them hospitably. They are able to cause persons to have a numerous offspring, and to have either male or female children, by means of charms. They cure diseases by diet, rather than by medicinal remedies. Among the latter, the most in repute are unguents and cataplasms. All others they suppose partake greatly of a noxious nature.Both this and the other class of persons practise fortitude, as well in supporting active toil as in enduring suffering, so that they will continue a whole day in the same posture, without motion.There are enchanters and diviners, versed in the rites and customs relative to the dead, who go about villages and towns begging. There are others who are more civilized and better informed than these, who inculcate the vulgar opinions concerning Hades, which, according to their ideas, tend to piety and sanctity. Women study philosophy with some of them, but abstain from sexual intercourse. |
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