“Suppose some god should say: Die when thou wilt, Mortal, expect another life on earth; And for that life make choice of all creation What thou wilt be--dog, sheep, goat, man, or horse; For live again thou must; it is thy fate; Choose only in what form; there thou art free. So help me, Crato, I would fairly answer Let me be all things, anything but man. He only of all creatures feels afflictions. The generous horse is valued for his worth. And dog by merit is preferred to dog, And warrior cock is pampered for his courage, And awes the baser brood. But what is man? Truth, virtue, valour, how do they avail him? Of this world’s good the first and greatest share Is flattery’s prize. The informer takes the next. And barefaced knavery garbles what is left. I’d rather be an ass than what I am And see these villains lord it o’er their betters.” Other Fragments of Menander follow. “Be off! these shams of golden tresses spare; No honest woman ever dyes her hair.” “Better to have, if good you rightly measure, Little with joy than much that brings not pleasure, Scant means with peace than piles of anxious treasure.” “Marriage, if truth be told (of this be sure), An evil is--but one we must endure.” “Wretched is he that has one son; or, rather, More wretched he who of more sons is father.” “Think this, on marriage when your mind is set: If the harm is small, ’tis the chief good you’ll get.” “Slave not for one who has been himself a slave; Steers, loosed from ploughs, of toil small memory have.” “A handsome person, with perverted will, Is a fine craft that’s handled without skill.” “Let not a friend your cherished secrets hear; Then, if you quarrel, you’ve no cause for fear.” “More love a mother than a father shows: He _thinks_ this is his son; she only _knows_.” “Fathers’ and lovers’ threats no truth have got. They swear dire vengeance,--but they mean it not.” “Your petty tyrant’s insolence I hate; If wrong is done me, be it from the great.” “A lie has often, I have known before, More weight than truth, and people trust it more.” “Don’t talk of birth and family; all of those Who have no natural worth on that repose. Blue blood, grand pedigree, illustrious sires He boasts of, who to nothing more aspires. What use long ancestry your _pride_ to call? One must have had them to be born at all! And those who have no pedigree to show, Or who their grandsires were but scantly know.” “From change of homes or lack of friends at need, And so have lost all record of their breed, Are not more “low-born” than your men of blood; A nigger’s well-born, if he makes for good!” The following are a few more epigrammatic bits from the writings of less noted contemporaries. PHILIPPIDES