1. Hesiod, Theogony, 305, 949, 955, 277 (8th cent. BCE - 7th cent. BCE)
| 277. Panopea, pink-armed Hipponoe |
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2. Homer, Iliad, 2.447, 12.323, 17.444 (8th cent. BCE - 7th cent. BCE)
| 2.447. /The kings, nurtured of Zeus, that were about Atreus' son, sped swiftly, marshalling the host, and in their midst was the flashing-eyed Athene, bearing the priceless aegis, that knoweth neither age nor death, wherefrom are hung an hundred tassels all of gold, all of them cunningly woven, and each one of the worth of an hundred oxen. 12.323. /and drink choice wine, honey-sweet: nay, but their might too is goodly, seeing they fight amid the foremost Lycians. Ah friend, if once escaped from this battle we were for ever to be ageless and immortal, neither should I fight myself amid the foremost |
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3. Homeric Hymns, To Aphrodite, 218-238, 214 (8th cent. BCE - 7th cent. BCE)
| 214. No longer did he mourn but, filled with bliss |
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4. Mimnermus of Colophon, Fragments, 4 (7th cent. BCE - 6th cent. BCE)
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5. Plato, Laws, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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6. Plato, Symposium, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 177a. They all said they did so desire, and bade him make his proposal. So Eryximachus proceeded: The beginning of what I have to say is in the words of Euripides’ Melanippe, for not mine the tale that I intend to tell; it comes from Phaedrus here. He is constantly complaining to me and saying,—Is it not a curious thing, Eryximachus, that while other gods have hymns and psalms indited in their honor by the poets, the god of Love, so ancient and so great |
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7. Cicero, On Divination, 1.101 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 1.101. Saepe etiam et in proeliis Fauni auditi et in rebus turbidis veridicae voces ex occulto missae esse dicuntur; cuius generis duo sint ex multis exempla, sed maxuma: Nam non multo ante urbem captam exaudita vox est a luco Vestae, qui a Palatii radice in novam viam devexus est, ut muri et portae reficerentur; futurum esse, nisi provisum esset, ut Roma caperetur. Quod neglectum tum, cum caveri poterat, post acceptam illam maximam cladem expiatum est; ara enim Aio Loquenti, quam saeptam videmus, exadversus eum locum consecrata est. Atque etiam scriptum a multis est, cum terrae motus factus esset, ut sue plena procuratio fieret, vocem ab aede Iunonis ex arce extitisse; quocirca Iunonem illam appellatam Monetam. Haec igitur et a dis significata et a nostris maioribus iudicata contemnimus? | 1.101. Again, we are told that fauns have often been heard in battle and that during turbulent times truly prophetic messages have been sent from mysterious places. Out of many instances of this class I shall give only two, but they are very striking. Not long before the capture of the city by the Gauls, a voice, issuing from Vestas sacred grove, which slopes from the foot of the Palatine Hill to New Road, was heard to say, the walls and gates must be repaired; unless this is done the city will be taken. Neglect of this warning, while it was possible to heed it, was atoned for after the supreme disaster had occurred; for, adjoining the grove, an altar, which is now to be seen enclosed with a hedge, was dedicated to Aius the Speaker. The other illustration has been reported by many writers. At the time of the earthquake a voice came from Junos temple on the citadel commanding that an expiatory sacrifice be made of a pregt sow. From this fact the goddess was called Juno the Adviser. Are we, then, lightly to regard these warnings which the gods have sent and our forefathers adjudged to be trustworthy? |
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8. Cicero, On The Nature of The Gods, 2.6, 2.15, 2.43 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 2.6. Nor is this unaccountable or accidental; it is the result, firstly, of the fact that the gods often manifest their power in bodily presence. For instance in the Latin War, at the critical battle of Lake Regillus between the dictator Aulus Postumius and Octavius Mamilius of Tusculum, Castor and Pollux were seen fighting on horseback in our ranks. And in more modern history likewise these sons of Tyndareus brought the news of the defeat of Perses. What happened was that Publius Vatinius, the grandfather of our young contemporary, was returning to Rome by night from Reate, of which he was governor, when he was informed by two young warriors on white horses that King Perses had that very day been taken prisoner. When Vatinius carried the news to the Senate, at first he was flung into gaol on the charge of spreading an unfounded report on a matter of national concern; but afterwards a dispatch arrived from Paulus, and the date was found to tally, so the Senate bestowed upon Vatinius both a grant of land and exemption from military service. It is also recorded in history that when the Locrians won their great victory over the people of Crotona at the important battle of the River Sagra, news of the engagement was reported at the Olympic Games on the very same day. often has the sound of the voices of the Fauns, often has the apparition of a divine form compelled anyone that is not either feeble-minded or impious to admit the real presence of the gods. 2.15. And the fourth and most potent cause of the belief he said was the uniform motion and revolution of the heavens, and the varied groupings and ordered beauty of the sun, moon and stars, the very sight of which was in itself enough to prove that these things are not the mere effect of chance. When a man goes into a house, a wrestling-school or a public assembly and observes in all that goes on arrangement, regularity and system, he cannot possibly suppose that these things come about without a cause: he realizes that there is someone who presides and controls. Far more therefore with the vast movements and phases of the heavenly bodies, and these ordered processes of a multitude of enormous masses of matter, which throughout the countless ages of the infinite past have never in the smallest degree played false, is he compelled to infer that these mighty world-motions are regulated by some Mind. 2.43. moreover the substance employed as food is also believed to have some influence on mental acuteness; it is therefore likely that the stars possess surpassing intelligence, since they inhabit the ethereal region of the world and also are nourished by the moist vapours of sea and earth, rarefied in their passage through the wide intervening space. Again, the consciousness and intelligence of the stars is most clearly evinced by their order and regularity; for regular and rhythmical motion is impossible without design, which contains no trace of casual or accidental variation; now the order and eternal regularity of the constellations indicates neither a process of nature, for it is highly rational, nor chance, for chance loves variation and abhors regularity; it follows therefore that the stars move of their own free-will and because of their intelligence and divinity. |
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9. Cicero, On Duties, 1.151 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 1.151. Quibus autem artibus aut prudentia maior inest aut non mediocris utilitas quaeritur, ut medicina, ut architectura, ut doctrina rerum honestarum, eae sunt iis, quorum ordini conveniunt, honestae. Mercatura autem, si tenuis est. sordida putanda est; sin magna et copiosa, multa undique apportans multisque sine vanitate impertiens, non est admodum vituperanda, atque etiam, si satiata quaestu vel contenta potius, ut saepe ex alto in portum, ex ipso portu se in agros possessionesque contulit, videtur iure optimo posse laudari. Omnium autem rerum, ex quibus aliquid acquiritur, nihil est agri cultura melius, nihil uberius, nihil dulcius, nihil homine libero dignius; de qua quoniam in Catone Maiore satis multa diximus, illim assumes, quae ad hunc locum pertinebunt. | 1.151. But the professions in which either a higher degree of intelligence is required or from which no small benefit to society is derived â medicine and architecture, for example, and teaching â these are proper for those whose social position they become. Trade, if it is on a small scale, is to be considered vulgar; but if wholesale and on a large scale, importing large quantities from all parts of the world and distributing to many without misrepresentation, it is not to be greatly disparaged. Nay, it even seems to deserve the highest respect, if those who are engaged in it, satiated, or rather, I should say, satisfied with the fortunes they have made, make their way from the port to a country estate, as they have often made it from the sea into port. But of all the occupations by which gain is secured, none is better than agriculture, none more profitable, none more delightful, none more becoming to a freeman. But since I have discussed this quite fully in my Cato Major, you will find there the material that applies to this point. |
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10. Varro, On The Latin Language, 7.36 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
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11. Horace, Letters, 2.2.49-2.2.52 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
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12. Horace, Sermones, 1.1.73, 1.2.78-1.2.79, 1.2.119, 1.4, 1.4.108, 1.4.110-1.4.111, 1.5.101, 1.6, 1.6.6, 1.6.18, 1.6.45-1.6.46, 1.6.69, 1.6.71, 1.6.114-1.6.115, 2.2.1-2.2.2, 2.2.20-2.2.21, 2.3.5 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 1.4. As for the witnesses whom I shall produce for the proof of what I say, they shall be such as are esteemed to be of the greatest reputation for truth, and the most skilful in the knowledge of all antiquity, by the Greeks themselves. I will also show, that those who have written so reproachfully and falsely about us, are to be convicted by what they have written themselves to the contrary. 1.4. but as to the time from the death of Moses till the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, who reigned after Xerxes, the prophets, who were after Moses, wrote down what was done in their times in thirteen books. The remaining four books contain hymns to God, and precepts for the conduct of human life. 1.6. 2. And now, in the first place, I cannot but greatly wonder at those men who suppose that we must attend to none but Grecians, when we are inquiring about the most ancient facts, and must inform ourselves of their truth from them only, while we must not believe ourselves nor other men; for I am convinced that the very reverse is the truth of the case. I mean this,—if we will not be led by vain opinions, but will make inquiry after truth from facts themselves; 1.6. 12. As for ourselves, therefore, we neither inhabit a maritime country, nor do we delight in merchandise, nor in such a mixture with other men as arises from it; but the cities we dwell in are remote from the sea, and having a fruitful country for our habitation, we take pains in cultivating that only. Our principal care of all is this, to educate our children well; and we think it to be the most necessary business of our whole life to observe the laws that have been given us, and to keep those rules of piety that have been delivered down to us. |
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13. Lucretius Carus, On The Nature of Things, 1.6-1.9, 1.39, 1.44-1.49, 1.54-1.61, 1.75-1.79, 1.102, 1.107, 1.123, 1.127-1.148, 1.159-1.214, 1.224, 1.255, 1.262, 1.280-1.294, 1.319, 1.331, 1.358, 1.407, 1.450, 1.465, 1.551-1.584, 1.595-1.596, 1.996-1.998, 1.1021-1.1028, 1.1116, 2.1-2.66, 2.74, 2.81, 2.95, 2.244-2.293, 2.478-2.521, 2.646-2.651, 2.1058-2.1063, 2.1090-2.1104, 2.1116-2.1117, 3.1-3.2, 3.9, 3.12-3.13, 3.18, 3.22, 3.31-3.93, 3.113, 3.207, 3.211, 3.910, 3.938-3.943, 3.1038, 3.1057-3.1067, 3.1078, 4.1-4.41, 4.43, 4.454, 4.580-4.594, 4.759-4.767, 4.991, 5.10-5.12, 5.54-5.59, 5.64-5.66, 5.68-5.69, 5.73-5.81, 5.83-5.90, 5.110-5.125, 5.129, 5.136, 5.146-5.234, 5.419-5.431, 5.665, 5.677-5.679, 5.731-5.770, 5.826, 5.925-5.1010, 5.1129-5.1130, 5.1161-5.1240, 5.1430-5.1433, 5.1436-5.1439, 6.1-6.95, 6.129, 6.155, 6.186, 6.218, 6.247-6.248, 6.288, 6.328, 6.379-6.422, 6.437, 6.535-6.608, 6.639-6.702, 6.910, 6.933, 6.1056, 6.1178 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
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14. Vergil, Georgics, 1.60-1.63, 1.233-1.249, 1.257, 1.471-1.473, 1.477-1.483, 2.458-2.474, 2.495-2.540 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 1.60. And teach the furrow-burnished share to shine. 1.61. That land the craving farmer's prayer fulfils 1.62. Which twice the sunshine, twice the frost has felt; 1.63. Ay, that's the land whose boundless harvest-crop 1.233. Or burrow for their bed the purblind moles 1.234. Or toad is found in hollows, and all the swarm 1.235. of earth's unsightly creatures; or a huge 1.236. Corn-heap the weevil plunders, and the ant 1.237. Fearful of coming age and penury. 1.238. Mark too, what time the walnut in the wood 1.239. With ample bloom shall clothe her, and bow down 1.240. Her odorous branches, if the fruit prevail 1.241. Like store of grain will follow, and there shall come 1.242. A mighty winnowing-time with mighty heat; 1.243. But if the shade with wealth of leaves abound 1.244. Vainly your threshing-floor will bruise the stalk 1.245. Rich but in chaff. Many myself have seen 1.246. Steep, as they sow, their pulse-seeds, drenching them 1.247. With nitre and black oil-lees, that the fruit 1.248. Might swell within the treacherous pods, and they 1.249. Make speed to boil at howso small a fire. 1.257. His arms to slacken, lo! with headlong force 1.471. With brimming dikes are flooded, and at sea 1.472. No mariner but furls his dripping sails. 1.473. Never at unawares did shower annoy: 1.477. Through gaping nostrils, or about the mere 1.478. Shrill-twittering flits the swallow, and the frog 1.479. Crouch in the mud and chant their dirge of old. 1.480. oft, too, the ant from out her inmost cells 1.481. Fretting the narrow path, her eggs conveys; 1.482. Or the huge bow sucks moisture; or a host 1.483. of rooks from food returning in long line 2.458. Forbear their frailty, and while yet the bough 2.459. Shoots joyfully toward heaven, with loosened rein 2.460. Launched on the void, assail it not as yet 2.461. With keen-edged sickle, but let the leaves alone 2.462. Be culled with clip of fingers here and there. 2.463. But when they clasp the elms with sturdy trunk 2.464. Erect, then strip the leaves off, prune the boughs; 2.465. Sooner they shrink from steel, but then put forth 2.466. The arm of power, and stem the branchy tide. 2.467. Hedges too must be woven and all beast 2.468. Barred entrance, chiefly while the leaf is young 2.469. And witless of disaster; for therewith 2.470. Beside harsh winters and o'erpowering sun 2.471. Wild buffaloes and pestering goats for ay 2.472. Besport them, sheep and heifers glut their greed. 2.473. Nor cold by hoar-frost curdled, nor the prone 2.474. Dead weight of summer upon the parched crags 2.495. Led by the horn shall at the altar stand 2.496. Whose entrails rich on hazel-spits we'll roast. 2.497. This further task again, to dress the vine 2.498. Hath needs beyond exhausting; the whole soil 2.499. Thrice, four times, yearly must be cleft, the sod 2.500. With hoes reversed be crushed continually 2.501. The whole plantation lightened of its leaves. 2.502. Round on the labourer spins the wheel of toil 2.503. As on its own track rolls the circling year. 2.504. Soon as the vine her lingering leaves hath shed 2.505. And the chill north wind from the forests shook 2.506. Their coronal, even then the careful swain 2.507. Looks keenly forward to the coming year 2.508. With Saturn's curved fang pursues and prune 2.509. The vine forlorn, and lops it into shape. 2.510. Be first to dig the ground up, first to clear 2.511. And burn the refuse-branches, first to house 2.512. Again your vine-poles, last to gather fruit. 2.513. Twice doth the thickening shade beset the vine 2.514. Twice weeds with stifling briers o'ergrow the crop; 2.515. And each a toilsome labour. Do thou praise 2.516. Broad acres, farm but few. Rough twigs beside 2.517. of butcher's broom among the woods are cut 2.518. And reeds upon the river-banks, and still 2.519. The undressed willow claims thy fostering care. 2.520. So now the vines are fettered, now the tree 2.521. Let go the sickle, and the last dresser now 2.522. Sings of his finished rows; but still the ground 2.523. Must vexed be, the dust be stirred, and heaven 2.524. Still set thee trembling for the ripened grapes. 2.525. Not so with olives; small husbandry need they 2.526. Nor look for sickle bowed or biting rake 2.527. When once they have gripped the soil, and borne the breeze. 2.528. Earth of herself, with hooked fang laid bare 2.529. Yields moisture for the plants, and heavy fruit 2.530. The ploughshare aiding; therewithal thou'lt rear 2.531. The olive's fatness well-beloved of Peace. 2.532. Apples, moreover, soon as first they feel 2.533. Their stems wax lusty, and have found their strength 2.534. To heaven climb swiftly, self-impelled, nor crave 2.535. Our succour. All the grove meanwhile no le 2.536. With fruit is swelling, and the wild haunts of bird 2.537. Blush with their blood-red berries. Cytisu 2.538. Is good to browse on, the tall forest yield 2.539. Pine-torches, and the nightly fires are fed 2.540. And shoot forth radiance. And shall men be loath |
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15. Sextus, Against The Mathematicians, 9.111 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
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16. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of The Philosophers, 7.54, 10.31-10.32, 10.139 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
| 7.54. The standard of truth they declare to be the apprehending presentation, i.e. that which comes from a real object – according to Chrysippus in the twelfth book of his Physics and to Antipater and Apollodorus. Boethus, on the other hand, admits a plurality of standards, namely intelligence, sense-perception, appetency, and knowledge; while Chrysippus in the first book of his Exposition of Doctrine contradicts himself and declares that sensation and preconception are the only standards, preconception being a general notion which comes by the gift of nature (an innate conception of universals or general concepts). Again, certain others of the older Stoics make Right Reason the standard; so also does Posidonius in his treatise On the Standard. 10.31. They reject dialectic as superfluous; holding that in their inquiries the physicists should be content to employ the ordinary terms for things. Now in The Canon Epicurus affirms that our sensations and preconceptions and our feelings are the standards of truth; the Epicureans generally make perceptions of mental presentations to be also standards. His own statements are also to be found in the Summary addressed to Herodotus and in the Sovran Maxims. Every sensation, he says, is devoid of reason and incapable of memory; for neither is it self-caused nor, regarded as having an external cause, can it add anything thereto or take anything therefrom. 10.32. Nor is there anything which can refute sensations or convict them of error: one sensation cannot convict another and kindred sensation, for they are equally valid; nor can one sensation refute another which is not kindred but heterogeneous, for the objects which the two senses judge are not the same; nor again can reason refute them, for reason is wholly dependent on sensation; nor can one sense refute another, since we pay equal heed to all. And the reality of separate perceptions guarantees the truth of our senses. But seeing and hearing are just as real as feeling pain. Hence it is from plain facts that we must start when we draw inferences about the unknown. For all our notions are derived from perceptions, either by actual contact or by analogy, or resemblance, or composition, with some slight aid from reasoning. And the objects presented to mad-men and to people in dreams are true, for they produce effects – i.e. movements in the mind – which that which is unreal never does. 10.139. [A blessed and eternal being has no trouble himself and brings no trouble upon any other being; hence he is exempt from movements of anger and partiality, for every such movement implies weakness [Elsewhere he says that the gods are discernible by reason alone, some being numerically distinct, while others result uniformly from the continuous influx of similar images directed to the same spot and in human form.]Death is nothing to us; for the body, when it has been resolved into its elements, has no feeling, and that which has no feeling is nothing to us.The magnitude of pleasure reaches its limit in the removal of all pain. When pleasure is present, so long as it is uninterrupted, there is no pain either of body or of mind or of both together. |
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17. Porphyry, Letter To Marcella, 24 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
| 24. No god is responsible for a man's evils, for he has chosen his lot himself. The prayer which is accompanied by base actions is impure, and |45 therefore not acceptable to God; but that which is accompanied by noble actions is pure, and at the same time acceptable. There are four first principles that must be upheld concerning God—faith, truth, love, hope. We must have faith that our only salvation is in turning to God. And having faith, we must strive with all our might to know the truth about God. And when we know this, we must love Him we do know. And when we love Him we must nourish our souls on good hopes for our life, for it is by their good hopes good men are superior to bad ones. Let then these four principles be firmly held. |
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18. Epicurus, Letter To Herodotus, 77, 38
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19. Epicurus, Kuriai Doxai, 23-24, 11
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20. Mimnermus, Fragments, 4
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