More than ‘know thyself’: on all the other Delphic maxims
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Re: More than ‘know thyself’: on all the other Delphic maxims
#2“Beget from noble routes” to me can be translated:
Accomplish your goals in an honorable way.
Something akin to:
“The ends don’t justify the means”.
Re: More than ‘know thyself’: on all the other Delphic maxims
#3“Beget from noble routes” to me can be translated: Accomplish your goals in an honorable way. Something akin to: “The ends don’t justify the means”.
I agree that was what jumped into mind when I read it as well.
I guess it's obvious but -
Re: More than ‘know thyself’: on all the other Delphic maxims
#4"Master wedding-feasts" A maxim about Ancient Greek wedding crashers?
"Admire oracles" - Ha ha!
"Keep deeply the top secret" - how is this one simply baffling (per the article)? I'm not sure if they are referring to religious secrets or state secrets, but either way, how is encouraging people to keep secrets baffling?
Re: More than ‘know thyself’: on all the other Delphic maxims
#5“Beget from noble routes” to me can be translated: Accomplish your goals in an honorable way. Something akin to: “The ends don’t justify the means”.
The phrase is: "Ἐξ εὐγενῶν γέννα"
Which roughly means "seek to become relatives with noble people"
or alternatively
"seek to create with noble ingredients"
Re: More than ‘know thyself’: on all the other Delphic maxims
#6All 147 maxims are available here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphic_maxims#147_Delphic_max...
The last is, fittingly, the most meaningful of them all: On reaching the end be without sorrow.
Re: More than ‘know thyself’: on all the other Delphic maxims
#7All 147 maxims are available here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphic_maxims#147_Delphic_max... The last is, fittingly, the most meaningful of them all: On reaching the end be without sorrow.
"Do not stop to be thrifty" -- I imagine that should be "Do not stop being thrifty"?
"Master wedding-feasts" -- what does that mean?
"Grieve for no one" seems odd.
Re: More than ‘know thyself’: on all the other Delphic maxims
#8All 147 maxims are available here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphic_maxims#147_Delphic_max... The last is, fittingly, the most meaningful of them all: On reaching the end be without sorrow.
"Do not stop to be thrifty" -- I imagine that should be "Do not stop being thrifty"? "Master wedding-feasts" -- what does that mean? "Grieve for no one" seems odd.
For the second, Γάμος is like the word "marriage", meaning both the occasion of getting married and the state of being married. So a better translation would be "Master (your) marriage". Given the Ancient Greeks' dim view of women, I'm guessing it boils down to "Wear the pants at home."
For the third, I think it should be "Cause no grief onto [others]" (ἐπί+ dat.)
Re: More than ‘know thyself’: on all the other Delphic maxims
#9“Beget from noble routes” to me can be translated: Accomplish your goals in an honorable way. Something akin to: “The ends don’t justify the means”.
The phrase is: "Ἐξ εὐγενῶν γέννα" Which roughly means "seek to become relatives with noble people" or alternatively "seek to create with noble ingredients"
Definitely the latter. One could almost paraphrase as “the ends reflect the means... therefore use noble means”
Re: More than ‘know thyself’: on all the other Delphic maxims
#10All 147 maxims are available here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphic_maxims#147_Delphic_max... The last is, fittingly, the most meaningful of them all: On reaching the end be without sorrow.
"Do not stop to be thrifty" -- I imagine that should be "Do not stop being thrifty"? "Master wedding-feasts" -- what does that mean? "Grieve for no one" seems odd.
Do not stop to be thrifty
My guess is that rather than "always be thrifty", this is more like "don't let cost-optimizations stop forward progress". So, somewhat more like "penny-wise, pound-foolish" or "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good" than "always be thrifty".
Master wedding-feasts
My guess here would be a meaning like "take full advantage of important ceremonial celebration feasts", with possible connotations of both "enjoy them fully" but also "don't over-imbibe or take them for granted".
Grieve for no one
Could very well be dependent on the exact form of 'grieve' in the original formulation; if a word meaning to mope or remain backward-looking (as opposed to honoring/learning in memories), it might really be about doing the right kind of mourning. Or, if the emphasis was on 'one' unique person, it might mean never to focus grief on any singular loss, as loss is universal – sort of related for "ask not for whom the bell tolls – it tolls for thee".