1. Homer, Iliad, 1.68-1.69, 1.106, 1.122 (8th cent. BCE - 7th cent. BCE)
| 1.68. ἤτοι ὅ γʼ ὣς εἰπὼν κατʼ ἄρʼ ἕζετο· τοῖσι δʼ ἀνέστη 1.69. Κάλχας Θεστορίδης οἰωνοπόλων ὄχʼ ἄριστος 1.106. μάντι κακῶν οὐ πώ ποτέ μοι τὸ κρήγυον εἶπας· 1.122. Ἀτρεΐδη κύδιστε φιλοκτεανώτατε πάντων | 1.68. in hope that he may accept the savour of lambs and unblemished goats, and be willing to ward off the pestilence from us. 1.69. in hope that he may accept the savour of lambs and unblemished goats, and be willing to ward off the pestilence from us. When he had thus spoken he sat down, and among them arose Calchas son of Thestor, far the best of bird-diviners, who knew the things that were, and that were to be, and that had been before 1.106. Prophet of evil, never yet have you spoken to me a pleasant thing; ever is evil dear to your heart to prophesy, but a word of good you have never yet spoken, nor brought to pass. And now among the Danaans you claim in prophecy that for this reason the god who strikes from afar brings woes upon them 1.122. In answer to him spoke swift-footed brilliant Achilles:Most glorious son of Atreus, most covetous of all, how shall the great-hearted Achaeans give you a prize? We know nothing of a hoard of wealth in common store, but whatever we took by pillage from the cities has been apportioned |
|
2. Herodotus, Histories, 7.140-7.141 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 7.140. πέμψαντες γὰρ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι ἐς Δελφοὺς θεοπρόπους χρηστηριάζεσθαι ἦσαν ἕτοιμοι· καί σφι ποιήσασι περὶ τὸ ἱρὸν τὰ νομιζόμενα, ὡς ἐς τὸ μέγαρον ἐσελθόντες ἵζοντο, χρᾷ ἡ Πυθίη, τῇ οὔνομα ἦν Ἀριστονίκη, τάδε. ὦ μέλεοι, τί κάθησθε; λιπὼν φεῦγʼ ἔσχατα γαίης δώματα καὶ πόλιος τροχοειδέος ἄκρα κάρηνα. οὔτε γὰρ ἡ κεφαλὴ μένει ἔμπεδον οὔτε τὸ σῶμα, οὔτε πόδες νέατοι οὔτʼ ὦν χέρες, οὔτε τι μέσσης λείπεται, ἀλλʼ ἄζηλα πέλει· κατὰ γάρ μιν ἐρείπει πῦρ τε καὶ ὀξὺς Ἄρης, Συριηγενὲς ἅρμα διώκων. πολλὰ δὲ κἆλλʼ ἀπολεῖ πυργώματα κοὐ τὸ σὸν οἶον, πολλοὺς δʼ ἀθανάτων νηοὺς μαλερῷ πυρὶ δώσει, οἵ που νῦν ἱδρῶτι ῥεούμενοι ἑστήκασι, δείματι παλλόμενοι, κατὰ δʼ ἀκροτάτοις ὀρόφοισι αἷμα μέλαν κέχυται, προϊδὸν κακότητος ἀνάγκας. ἀλλʼ ἴτον ἐξ ἀδύτοιο, κακοῖς δʼ ἐπικίδνατε θυμόν. 7.141. ταῦτα ἀκούσαντες οἱ τῶν Ἀθηναίων θεοπρόποι συμφορῇ τῇ μεγίστῃ ἐχρέωντο. προβάλλουσι δὲ σφέας αὐτοὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ κακοῦ τοῦ κεχρησμένου, Τίμων ὁ Ἀνδροβούλου, τῶν Δελφῶν ἀνὴρ δόκιμος ὅμοια τῷ μάλιστα, συνεβούλευέ σφι ἱκετηρίην λαβοῦσι δεύτερα αὖτις ἐλθόντας χρᾶσθαι τῷ χρηστηρίῳ ὡς ἱκέτας. πειθομένοισι δὲ ταῦτα τοῖσι Ἀθηναίοισι καὶ λέγουσι “ὦναξ, χρῆσον ἡμῖν ἄμεινόν τι περὶ τῆς πατρίδος, αἰδεσθεὶς τὰς ἱκετηρίας τάσδε τάς τοι ἥκομεν φέροντες, ἢ οὔ τοι ἄπιμεν ἐκ τοῦ ἀδύτου, ἀλλʼ αὐτοῦ τῇδε μενέομεν ἔστʼ ἂν καὶ τελευτήσωμεν,” ταῦτα δὲ λέγουσι ἡ πρόμαντις χρᾷ δεύτερα τάδε. οὐ δύναται Παλλὰς Δίʼ Ὀλύμπιον ἐξιλάσασθαι λισσομένη πολλοῖσι λόγοις καὶ μήτιδι πυκνῇ. σοὶ δὲ τόδʼ αὖτις ἔπος ἐρέω ἀδάμαντι πελάσσας. τῶν ἄλλων γὰρ ἁλισκομένων ὅσα Κέκροπος οὖρος ἐντὸς ἔχει κευθμών τε Κιθαιρῶνος ζαθέοιο, τεῖχος Τριτογενεῖ ξύλινον διδοῖ εὐρύοπα Ζεύς μοῦνον ἀπόρθητον τελέθειν, τὸ σὲ τέκνα τʼ ὀνήσει. μηδὲ σύ γʼ ἱπποσύνην τε μένειν καὶ πεζὸν ἰόντα πολλὸν ἀπʼ ἠπείρου στρατὸν ἥσυχος, ἀλλʼ ὑποχωρεῖν νῶτον ἐπιστρέψας· ἔτι τοι ποτε κἀντίος ἔσσῃ. ὦ θείη Σαλαμίς, ἀπολεῖς δὲ σὺ τέκνα γυναικῶν ἤ που σκιδναμένης Δημήτερος ἢ συνιούσης. | 7.140. The Athenians had sent messages to Delphi asking that an oracle be given them, and when they had performed all due rites at the temple and sat down in the inner hall, the priestess, whose name was Aristonice, gave them this answer: ,
|
|
3. Plato, Apology of Socrates, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 20d. ἐστιν, ἵνα μὴ ἡμεῖς περὶ σοῦ αὐτοσχεδιάζωμεν. ταυτί μοι δοκεῖ δίκαια λέγειν ὁ λέγων, κἀγὼ ὑμῖν πειράσομαι ἀποδεῖξαι τί ποτʼ ἐστὶν τοῦτο ὃ ἐμοὶ πεποίηκεν τό τε ὄνομα καὶ τὴν διαβολήν. ἀκούετε δή. καὶ ἴσως μὲν δόξω τισὶν ὑμῶν παίζειν· εὖ μέντοι ἴστε, πᾶσαν ὑμῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐρῶ. ἐγὼ γάρ, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, διʼ οὐδὲν ἀλλʼ ἢ διὰ σοφίαν τινὰ τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα ἔσχηκα. ποίαν δὴ σοφίαν ταύτην; ἥπερ ἐστὶν ἴσως ἀνθρωπίνη σοφία· τῷ ὄντι γὰρ κινδυνεύω ταύτην εἶναι σοφός. οὗτοι δὲ τάχʼ ἄν, οὓς ἄρτι | 20d. what it is, that we may not act unadvisedly in your case. The man who says this seems to me to be right, and I will try to show you what it is that has brought about my reputation and aroused the prejudice against me. So listen. And perhaps I shall seem to some of you to be joking; be assured, however, I shall speak perfect truth to you.The fact is, men of Athens, that I have acquired this reputation on account of nothing else than a sort of wisdom. What kind of wisdom is this? Just that which is perhaps human wisdom. For perhaps I really am wise in this wisdom; and these men, perhaps |
|
4. Sophocles, Antigone, 1001-1090, 115-154, 988-1000 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 1000. where all birds regularly gather for me, I heard an unintelligible voice among them: they were screaming in dire frenzy that made their language foreign to me. I realized that they were ripping each other with their talons, murderously—the rush of their wings did not lack meaning. |
|
5. Sophocles, Oedipus The King, 101, 1012-1013, 1016-1019, 102, 1020, 103, 1032, 1036, 104-106, 1068, 107, 1071-1075, 1080-1082, 1092, 110, 1105-1107, 111, 1129-1131, 1133-1139, 114-115, 1169-1170, 1177-1181, 1184-1185, 1223-1296, 139-146, 288-289, 298-304, 307, 312-313, 316-317, 320-321, 324-403, 405, 408-425, 429-444, 448-462, 532-630, 709, 711-712, 85, 863-869, 87, 870-879, 88, 880-909, 91, 910-919, 92, 920-923, 928, 946, 95, 953, 96, 965-969, 97, 970-972, 976, 98-100 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 100. OIDIPUS:Speak before all; the burden that I bear Is more for these my subjects than myself. CREON: Let me report then all the god declared. King Phoebus bids us straitly extirpate A fell pollution that infests the land, And no more harbor an inveterate sore. OIDIPUS:What expiation means he? What's amiss? CREON: Banishment, or the shedding blood for blood. This stain of blood makes shipwreck of our state. OIDIPUS:Whom can he mean, the miscreant thus denounced? CREON: Before thou didst assume the helm of State, The sovereign of this land was Laius. OIDIPUS:I heard as much, but never saw the man. CREON: He fell; and now the god's command is plain: Punish his takers-off, whoe'er they be. OIDIPUS:Where are they? Where in the wide world to find The far, faint traces of a bygone crime? CREON: In this land, said the god; "who seeks shall find; Who sits with folded hands or sleeps is blind." OIDIPUS:Was he within his palace, or afield 100. By banishing the man, or by paying back bloodshed with bloodshed, since it is this blood which brings the tempest on our city. Oedipu |
|
6. Sophocles, Women of Trachis, 538, 552-553, 555-581, 584-587, 623, 629-630, 537 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 537. and partly to grieve over my sufferings in your company. I have received a maiden—or, I believe, no longer a maiden, but an experienced woman—into my home, just as a mariner takes on cargo, a merchandise to wreck my peace of mind. And now we are two, a pair waiting under |
|
7. Seneca The Younger, Hercules Oetaeus, 486-538, 567-582, 485 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
|
8. Seneca The Younger, Oedipus, 216, 233-238, 286, 418, 509, 697-708, 838-881, 915-979, 212 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 212. Responsa dubia sorte perplexa iacent. Oed. | |
|