Motto over the entrance to
Plato's Academy (quoted in
Elias' commentary on Aristotle's Categories: Eliae in Porphyrii Isagogen et Aristotelis categorias commentaria, CAG XVIII.1, Berlin 1900, p.
118.13–19).[1]
Plutarch elaborated on this phrase in his essay Πῶς Πλάτων ἔλεγε τὸν θεὸν ἀεί γεωμετρεῖν "What is Plato's meaning when he says that God always applies geometry".[2] Based on the phrase of Plato, above, a present-day mnemonic for
π (pi) was derived:
Ἀεὶ ὁ θεὸς ὁ μέγας γεωμετρεῖ τὸ σύμπαν.
Aeì ho theòs ho mégas geōmetreî tò súmpan.
Always the great God applies geometry to the universe.
π = 3.1415926...
ἀεὶ
ὁ
θεὸς
ὁ
μέγας
γεωμετρεῖ
τὸ
σύμπαν
3 letters
1 letter
4 letters
1 letter
5 letters
9 letters
2 letters
6 letters
Ἀετοῦ γῆρας, κορυδοῦ νεότης.
Aetoû gêras, korydoû neótēs.
"An eagle's old age (is worth) a sparrow's youth."
"Hippolocus begat me. I claim to be his son, and he sent me to Troy with strict instructions: Ever to excel, to do better than others, and to bring glory to your forebears, who indeed were very great ... This is my ancestry; this is the blood I am proud to inherit."
Αἴκα.
Aíka.
"If."
Plutarch reports that
Philip II of Macedon sent word to the Spartans, saying that "if I should invade
Laconia, I shall drive you out" (ἂν ἐμβάλω εἰς τὴν Λακωνικήν, ἀναστάτους ὑμᾶς ποιήσω). The Spartans
laconically responded with "if."[3]
Ἀνάγκᾳ δ’ οὐδὲ θεοὶ μάχονται.
Anánkāi d' oudè theoì mákhontai.
"Not even the gods fight necessity" —
Simonides, 8, 20.
Ἀλλὰ τὶ ἦ μοι ταῦτα περὶ δρῦν ἢ περὶ πέτρην;
Allà tì êi moi taûta perì drûn ḕ perì pétrēn?
"But why all this about oak or stone?"
English : Why waste time on trivial subjects, or "Why make a mountain out of a mole hill?"
"
Heaven" is a foundational theological concept in Christianity and Judaism.
"
God's Kingdom" (Βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ, Basileia tou Theou), or the "Kingdom of [the] Heaven[s]" was the main point of Jesus Christ's preaching on earth. The phrase occurs more than a hundred times in the
New Testament.
Βελλεροφόντης τὰ γράμματα
Bellerophóntēs tà grámmata
"Bellerophontic letter"
King
Proetus dared not to kill a guest, so he sent
Bellerophon to King
Iobates, his father-in-law, bearing a sealed message in a folded tablet: "Pray remove the bearer from this world: he attempted to violate
my wife, your daughter."
When
Darius was informed that
Sardis had been captured and burnt by the Athenians he was furious. He placed an arrow on his bow and shot it into the sky, praying to the deities to grant him vengeance on the Athenians. He then ordered one of his servants to say three times a day the above phrase in order to remind him that he should punish the Athenians.[10]
"There is only one
omen, to fight for one's country."
The
Trojan prince
Hector to his friend and lieutenant
Polydamas when the latter was superstitious about a bird omen. The omen was an eagle that flew with a snake in its talons, still alive and struggling to escape. The snake twisted backward until it struck the bird on the neck, forcing the eagle to let the snake fall.[11]
Epeì d' oûn pántes hósoi te peripoloûsin phanerôs kaì hósoi phaínontai kath' hóson àn ethélōsin theoì génesin éskhon, légei pròs autoùs ho tóde tò pân gennḗsas táde.́sas t
"When all of them, those gods who appear in their revolutions, as well as those other gods who appear at will had come into being, the creator of the universe addressed them the following." —
Plato, Timaeus, 41a, on gods and the creator of the universe.
While
Archimedes was taking a bath, he noticed that the level of the water rose as he got in, and he realized that the
volume of water
displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body he had submerged. This meant that the volume of irregular objects could be measured with precision, a previously intractable problem. He was so excited that he ran through the streets naked and still wet from his bath, crying "I have found it!".
Meaning "either you will win the battle, or you will die and then be carried back home on your shield; but you will not throw your shield away to flee."
It was said by Spartan mothers to their sons before they went out to battle to remind them of their bravery and duty to Sparta and Greece.
A
hoplite could not escape the field of battle unless he tossed away the heavy and cumbersome shield. Therefore, "losing one's shield" meant desertion. (
Plutarch, Moralia, 241)
With these words, Julius Caesar described his victory against
Pharnaces, according to Plutarch.[16]
Θθ
Θάλασσα καὶ πῦρ καὶ γυνή, κακὰ τρία.
Thálassa kaì pûr kaì gunḗ, kakà tría.
"Sea and fire and woman, three evils."
Θάλαττα, θάλαττα.
Thálatta, thálatta.
"The Sea! The Sea!"
Thalatta! Thalatta! from
Xenophon's
Anabasis. It was the shouting of joy when the roaming
10,000 Greeks saw Euxeinos Pontos (the Black Sea) from Mount Theches (Θήχης) in Armenia after participating in Cyrus the Younger's failed march against Persian Empire in the year 401 BC.
An injunction urging physicians to care for and heal themselves first before dealing with patients. It was made famous in the Latin translation of the Bible, the
Vulgate. The proverb was quoted by Jesus, recorded in the
Gospel of Luke chapter 4:23.
Luke the Evangelist was a physician.
Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς Θεοῦ Υἱὸς Σωτήρ
Iēsoûs Khristòs Theoû Huiòs Sōtḗr
"Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour." As an
acronym: ΙΧΘΥΣ (
Ichthys) — "fish".
Greek equivalent of the English phrase "A fish rots from the head down"; attested in fifteenth century CE Paroemiae of
Michael Apostolius Paroemiographus.[18]
Κκ
Καὶ σὺ τέκνον;
Kaì sù téknon?
"You too, child?" or "You too, young man?"
On March 15, 44 BC, Julius Caesar was attacked by a group of
senators, including
Marcus Junius Brutus, a senator and Caesar's adopted son.
Suetonius (in De Vita Caesarum, LXXXII)[19] reported that some people thought that, when Caesar saw Brutus, he spoke those words and resigned himself to his fate. Among English speakers, much better known are the Latin words Et tu, Brute?, which
William Shakespeare gave to Caesar in his play, Julius Caesar (act 3, scene 1,85). This means simply "You too, Brutus?"
A Spartan spectator to Diagoras of Rhodes, a former Olympic champion himself, during the 79th
Olympiad, when his two sons became Olympic champions and carried him around the stadium on their shoulders.
Κοινὰ τὰ φίλων.
Koinà tà phílōn.
"The things of friends are common"
The proverb is mentioned in the Republic of
Plato (424A and 449C) as a principle to be applied to marriage and procreation.
Diogenes Laertius (VIII.10) reports the assertion of
Timaeus that
Pythagoras was first to use the saying, along with φιλία ἰσότης (filía isótēs) "Friendship is equality."
Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται.
Krêtes aeì pseûstai.
"Cretans always lie" — One of the earliest
logical paradoxes attributed to
Epimenides of
Knossos known as the
Epimenides paradox. As Epimenides is a Cretan himself, it leads to the conclusion that the above statement is not true, hence the
paradox.
An
Epicurean phrase, because of his belief that politics troubles men and doesn't allow them to reach inner peace. So Epicurus suggested that everybody should live "Hidden" far from cities, not even considering a political career.
Cicero criticized this idea because, as a
stoic, he had a completely different opinion of politics, but the sentiment is echoed by
Ovid's statement bene qui latuit bene vixit ("he has lived well who has stayed well hidden",
Tristia 3.4.25). Plutarch elaborated in his essay Is the Saying "Live in Obscurity" Right? (Εἰ καλῶς εἴρηται τὸ λάθε βιώσας) 1128c.
The last words attributed to
Archimedes (
paraphrased from
Valerius Maximus' Memorable Doings and Sayings). During the raid of
Syracuse by the Romans, Archimedes was busy drawing mathematical circles. He was eventually attacked and killed by a Roman soldier as he was too engrossed in thought to obey the soldier's orders.
"33 Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' 34 But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."
Νενικήκαμεν.
Nenikḗkamen.
"We have won."
The traditional story relates that the Athenian herald
Pheidippides ran the 40 km (25 mi) from the battlefield near the town of
Marathon to
Athens to announce the Greek victory over
Persia in the
Battle of Marathon (490 BC) with the word 'We have won' and collapsed and died on the spot because of exhaustion.
Used by early mathematicians including
Euclid (Elements, 1.4),
Aristotle (APo.90b34), and
Archimedes, written at the end of a mathematical
proof or philosophical
argument, to signify the proof as complete. Later it was latinized as "QED" or the
Halmos tombstone box symbol.
Ὁ σῴζων ἑαυτὸν σωθήτω.
Ho sṓizōn heautòn sōthḗtō.
"he who saves himself may be saved."
Used in cases of destruction or calamity, such as an unorderly evacuation. Each one is responsible for himself and is not to wait for any help.
Οὐ φροντὶς Ἱπποκλείδῃ.
Ou phrontìs Hippokleídēi.
"Hippocleides doesn't care."
From a story in
Herodotus (6.129), in which
Hippocleides loses the chance to marry
Cleisthenes' daughter after getting drunk and dancing on his head. Herodotus says the phrase was a common expression in his own day.
Οὐκ ἂν λάβοις παρὰ τοῦ μὴ ἔχοντος.
Ouk àn labois parà toû mḕ ékhontos.
"You can't get blood out of a stone." (Literally, "You can't take from one who doesn't have.")
Menippus to
Charon when the latter asked Menippus to give him an
obol to convey him across the river to the
underworld.[23]
"All is flux; everything flows" – This phrase was either not spoken by
Heraclitus or did not survive as a quotation of his. This famous aphorism used to characterize Heraclitus' thought comes from
Simplicius, a
Neoplatonist, and from
Plato's Cratylus. The word rhei (ρέι, cf.
rheology) is the Greek word for "to stream"; according to Plato's Cratylus, it is related to the etymology of
Rhea.
πάντοτε ζητεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν
pántote zeteῖn tḕn alḗtheian
"ever seeking the truth" —
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers[24] — a characteristic of
Pyrrhonism. An abbreviated form, ζητεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν ("seek the truth").
"Good heavens!
Mardonius, what kind of men have you brought us to fight against? Men who do not compete for possessions, but for honour."
Spontaneous response of
Tigranes, a Persian general while
Xerxes was interrogating some
Arcadians after the
Battle of Thermopylae. Xerxes asked why there were so few Greek men defending the Thermopylae. The answer was "All the other men are participating in the
Olympic Games". And when asked "What is the prize for the winner?", "An olive-wreath" came the answer. — Herodotus, The Histories[25]
Πάθει μάθος.
Páthei máthos.
"(There is) learning in suffering/experience", or "Knowledge/knowing, or wisdom, or learning, through suffering."[26]
The complete text of this fragment by Heraclitus is: πόλεμος πάντων μὲν πατήρ ἐστι, πάντων δὲ βασιλεύς, καὶ τοὺς μὲν θεοὺς ἔδειξε τοὺς δὲ ἀνθρώπους, τοὺς μὲν δούλους ἐποίησε τοὺς δὲ ἐλευθέρους (War is the father of all and the king of all; and some he has made gods and some men, some bond and some free).
Epigram describing how laypersons were chased away from the
Eleusinian Mysteries.
Ρρ
ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς
rhododáktulos Ēṓs
"rosy-fingered Dawn"
This phrase occurs frequently in the
Homeric poems referring to
Eos, the Titanic goddess of the
dawn. Eos opened the gates of heaven so that
Helios could ride his chariot across the sky every day.
Σσ
Σπεῦδε βραδέως.
Speûde bradéōs.
"Hasten slowly" (cf. Latin festina lente), "less haste, more speed".
According to
Suetonius the phrase "σπεῦδε βραδέως, ἀσφαλὴς γάρ ἐστ᾽ ἀμείνων ἢ θρασὺς στρατηλάτης" was a favorite of
Augustus as he often quoted it.
"All things move and nothing remains still, and you cannot step twice into the same stream".[30]
Τάδ' ἐστὶ Πελοπόννησος, οὐκ Ἰωνία.
Tád' estì Pelopónnēsos, ouk Iōnía.
"Here is Peloponnesus, not Ionia" — Inscription written on a pillar erected by
Theseus on the
Isthmus of Corinth facing toward the West, i.e. toward the
Peloponnese.[31]
Τάδ' οὐχὶ Πελοπόννησος, ἀλλ' Ἰωνία.
Tád' oukhì Pelopónnēsos, all' Iōnía.
"Here is not Peloponnesus, but Ionia" — inscription as per above, but toward East, i.e. toward
Attica.
"What is that which has one voice and yet becomes four-footed and two-footed and three-footed?" — The famous
riddle of the Sphinx.
Oedipus solved the riddle correctly by answering: "Man: as an infant, he crawls on fours; as an adult, he walks on two legs and; in old age, he uses a walking stick".[35]
Τὶ εὔκολον; Τὸ ἄλλῳ ὑποτίθεσθαι.
Tì eúkolon? Tò állōi hupotíthesthai.
"What is easy? To advise another." — Thales
Τὶ καινὸν εἴη τεθεαμένος; Γέροντα τύραννον.
Tì kainòn eíē tetheaménos? Géronta túrannon.
"What is the strangest thing to see? "An aged
tyrant." — Thales[36]
"What is quite common? Hope. When all is gone, there is still hope. Literally: "Because even to those who have nothing else, it is still nearby." — Thales
"Which is older, day or night? "Night is the older, by one day." — Thales
Τὸ γὰρ ἡδύ, ἐὰν πολύ, οὐ τί γε ἡδύ.
Tò gàr hēdú, eàn polú, ou tí ge hēdú.
"A sweet thing tasted too often is no longer sweet."
Τὸ δὶς ἐξαμαρτεῖν οὐκ ἀνδρὸς σοφοῦ.
Tò dìs examarteîn ouk andròs sophoû.
"To make the same mistake twice [is] not [a sign] of a wise man."
Τὸ πεπρωμένον φυγεῖν ἀδύνατον.
Tò peprōménon phugeîn adúnaton.
"It's impossible to escape from what is destined."
Υυ
υἱὸς μονογενής
huiòs monogenḗs
"Only-begotten son" From John 3:16 ουτως γαρ ηγαπησεν ο θεος τον κοσμον ωστε υἱὸν αυτου τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" and see John 1:14
Unigenitus (named for its Latin opening words Unigenitus dei filius, or "Only-begotten son of God") is an apostolic constitution in the form of a papal bull promulgated by Pope
Clement XI in 1713.
Rhetorical device in which the most important action is placed first, even though it happens after the other action. The standard example comes from the
Aeneid of
Virgil (2.353):
Moriamur, et in media arma ruamus "Let us die, and charge into the thick of the fight".
Refers to the
Library of Alexandria, also known as the Great Library in
Alexandria, Egypt, which was once the largest library in the world.
The phrase is used in reverse as ἰατρεῖον ψυχῆς as a motto for
Carolina Rediviva, a university library in
Uppsala, and is echoed in the motto of the
American Philological Association, "ψυχῆς ἰατρὸς τὰ γράμματα" ("literature is the soul's physician"). The phrase "ΨΥΧΗΣ ΙΑΤΡΕΙΟΝ" is above the entrance door of the
Abbey library of Saint Gall.
Translated by
Cicero in his Tusculan Disputations (1.42.101) as «Dic, hospes, Spartae nos te hic vidisse iacentis / dum sanctis patriae legibus obsequimur» (often quoted with the form iacentes).
^Aristophanes goes on: "Firstly, the owls of Laurium (i.e. the Athenian drachmas minted from the silver-mines of Laurium) which every judge desires above all things, shall never be wanting to you"The Birds, 1106
^The word πλατυώνυχον however sounds like πλατωνικόν, i.e. "the platonic thing". See The stranger's knowledge: Political knowledge in Plato's statesman by Xavier Márquez, University of Notre Dame, 2005, p. 120.
^Alex Preminger, Terry V.F. Brogan, and Frank J. Warnke, The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 3rd ed., Princeton University Press, 1993,
ISBN0-691-02123-6, p. 874.