# data[].attributes.headline
Ἀεὶ γὰρ εὖ πίπτουσιν οἱ Διὸς κύβοι.

# data[].attributes.subject
Ἀεὶ γὰρ εὖ πίπτουσιν οἱ Διὸς κύβοι.

# data[].attributes.body
The dice of Zeus always fall well.

In other words, Zeus is always lucky when gambling at dice. The proverb was used to apply to people who were supernaturally lucky. It's an iambic verse:

Ἀεὶ | γὰρ εὖ || πίπτου|σιν οἱ || Διὸς | κύβοι.

The Greek word κύβος means a cube (yes, it's the origin of English "cube" although the etymology of the Greek word remains mysterious), and in this context it means cubical dice. You can read about the history of dice, including their use in ancient Greece and Rome, at Wikipedia: Dice.

# data[].attributes.headline
Ἀδελφὸς ἀνδρὶ παρείη.

# data[].attributes.subject
Ἀδελφὸς ἀνδρὶ παρείη.

# data[].attributes.body
Let a brother come to a man's aid.

The words appear in Plato's Republic, and he labels the words a saying: τὸ λεγόμενον. The word πάρειμι can just mean to be present, to be next to something, but it can also have the sense of standing by and helping, which is the meaning here. You can also consult Erasmus for more Greek sayings similar to this one.

# data[].attributes.headline
Ἄνευ ξύλου μὴ βάδιζε.

# data[].attributes.subject
Ἄνευ ξύλου μὴ βάδιζε.

# data[].attributes.body
Do not walk without a cudgel.

The word ξύλον means wood and things made of wood; the sense here is a club or cudgel. In other words, don't walk about defenseless. The saying is attributed to Cleomenes, one of the Spartan leaders in the war against the Persians.

# data[].attributes.headline
Πενία δὲ τὴν σοφίαν ἔλαχε.

# data[].attributes.subject
Πενία δὲ τὴν σοφίαν ἔλαχε.

# data[].attributes.body
Poverty brings wisdom.

The idea is that the hardships of poverty teach wisdom, i.e. you learn a lot in the School of Hard Knocks as we say in English. For related sayings in both Greek and Latin, see Erasmus. Here's one that you saw in an earlier blog post: Λιμὸς δὲ πολλῶν γίγνεται διδάσκαλος.

# data[].attributes.headline
Τύχην νόμιζε.

# data[].attributes.subject
Τύχην νόμιζε.

# data[].attributes.body
Recognize (your good) luck.

In other words: it's not just enough to be lucky; you need to be aware of luck when it arrives. This is another one of the maxims attributed by Stobaeus to the Seven Sages. For more about the goddess of Luck, Τύχη, see Wikipedia: Tyche.

# data[].attributes.headline
Μὴ ἴσθι ὡς λέων ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ σου.

# data[].attributes.subject
Μὴ ἴσθι ὡς λέων ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ σου.

# data[].attributes.body
Do not be like a lion in your home.

The idea is to treat your family and other members of your household kindly, not like a wild beast. This saying comes from the Biblical Book of Sirach. The word ἴσθι is the imperative of εἰμί (most forms of this verb are irregular). From the root in Greek οἶκος we get English words like economy and ecology.

# data[].attributes.headline
Ῥήματα ἀντί ἀλφίτων.

# data[].attributes.subject
Ῥήματα ἀντί ἀλφίτων.

# data[].attributes.body
Words in place of barley.

The implication is that words cannot fill your stomach the way barley can; talk is a poor substitute for food when you are hungry. Compare the English saying, "Fine words butter no parsnips." The root in Greek ῥῆμα is the same root you see in ῥήτωρ, and thus also in English rhetoric.

# data[].attributes.headline
Θάλαττα! θάλαττα! 

# data[].attributes.subject
Θάλαττα! θάλαττα! 

# data[].attributes.body
The sea! The sea!

This was the cry of Cyrus's army of Greek mercenaries who had been stranded in Persia and finally reached the Black Sea after a two-year, 3000-mile journey; the story is told in Xenophon's Anabasis. It features the Attic pronunciation: θάλαττα instead of θάλασσα. The phrase has its own Wikipedia article: Thalatta! Thalatta!

# data[].attributes.headline
Ἄδακρυς πόλεμος.

# data[].attributes.subject
Ἄδακρυς πόλεμος.

# data[].attributes.body
A war without tears.

The word ἄδακρυς is an alphaprivate: ἄ-δακρυς, without-tears. The phrase refers to people who face great danger and risk yet achieve perfect success, victory without tears. From the root of Greek πόλεμος, we get the word polemical. The Greek name Ptolemy also comes from this root; see more at Wikipedia: Ptolemy.

# data[].attributes.headline
Ἐπαίνει ἀρετήν.

# data[].attributes.subject
Ἐπαίνει ἀρετήν.

# data[].attributes.body
Praise excellence.

This is another one of the maxims that Stobaeus attributed to the Seven Sages. The verb ἐπαινέω is a contract verb (ἐπ-αινέω), so ἐπαίνει is an imperative (the 3rd-person indicative would be ἐπαινεῖ, with the same spelling but different accent). There is a word in English, aretology, the study of virtue, derived from Greek ἀρετή.

# data[].attributes.headline
Ὅν οἱ θεοὶ φιλοῦσιν ἀποθνῄσκει νέος.

# data[].attributes.subject
Ὅν οἱ θεοὶ φιλοῦσιν ἀποθνῄσκει νέος.

# data[].attributes.body
Whom the gods love dies young.

The adjective νέος can mean new or fresh, and with regard to humans or other animals, as here, it means young. You can see this Greek root in many English words, such as neophyte and neolithic. This is one of the lines of the comic poet Menander; here is the meter marked:

Ὅν οἱ | θεοὶ || φιλοῦ|σιν ἀπο||θνῄσκει | νέος.

(You can often read a three-syllable element in an iambic line as syncopated: ἀπ'θνῄσκει.)

# data[].attributes.headline
Κακὰ πλεῖστα πόλει δυσνομία παρέχει.

# data[].attributes.subject
Κακὰ πλεῖστα πόλει δυσνομία παρέχει.

# data[].attributes.body
Bad laws produce the most evils for a city.

The adjective πλεῖστον is the superlative form of πολύ. The noun δυσνομία is a compound, δυσ-νομία, meaning bad governance, bad laws, or lawlessness. This is one of the sayings attributed to Solon. This line comes from a long elegiac fragment which you can read here: Justice and the City.

# data[].attributes.headline
Οὐδὲν γίγνεται ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος.

# data[].attributes.subject
Οὐδὲν γίγνεται ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος.

# data[].attributes.body
Nothing can come from that which is not.

This is a saying of the philosopher Epicurus, who maintained that for creation to take place, there must be pre-existing matter. You can also find the idea stated thus: οὐδὲν ἐξ οὐδενός. For a discussion of this topic, see the Wikipedia articles: Creatio ex materia and the opposing view: Creatio ex nihilo, which affirms that matter did not pre-exist God, who indeed created something from nothing.

# data[].attributes.headline
Ἐπ' ἀμφότερα καθεύδεις τὰ ὦτα.

# data[].attributes.subject
Ἐπ' ἀμφότερα καθεύδεις τὰ ὦτα.

# data[].attributes.body
You're sleeping on both ears.

This means to be sleeping deeply; compare the English saying "to sleep like a log." The idea is that you are in such a comfortable and secure situation that you don't need to keep an ear open for danger while you sleep. The Greek determiner ἄμφω means "both," and the adjective ἀμφότερος means "each of two, both." You can see this root in amphitheater.

# data[].attributes.headline
Ὑφορῶ μηδένα.

# data[].attributes.subject
Ὑφορῶ μηδένα.

# data[].attributes.body
Do not regard anyone with suspicion.

The verb ὑφοράω is a compound of οράω: ὑπο+ὁράω (the vowel drops, and the aspiration changes the pi to phi). Literally, it means to look at from below, but metaphorically it means to look at someone with suspicion or jealousy, which is the meaning here. Because it is an imperative, it takes the form μηδένα rather than the form οὐδένα that is used with indicative verbs. This is another of the maxims attributed by Stobaeus to the Seven Sages.

# data[].attributes.headline
Ἀφ' Ἑστίας ἀρχόμενοι.

# data[].attributes.subject
Ἀφ' Ἑστίας ἀρχόμενοι.

# data[].attributes.body
Beginning with Hestia.

The preposition ἀπό drops its final vowel before the following vowel, and the aspiration of Ἑστία changes the pi to phi. This saying refers to the appropriate order in which to do things (compare English "begin at the beginning"), based on the fact that sacrifices to the gods began with a sacrifice to Hestia, the goddess of the hearth; honoring Hestia was honoring the fire of the sacrifice itself. You can find out more about Hestia at Wikipedia.

# data[].attributes.headline
Τὸ Ἱππάρχου τειχίον.

# data[].attributes.subject
Τὸ Ἱππάρχου τειχίον.

# data[].attributes.body
The wall of Hipparchus.

Hipparchus, one of the tyrants of Athens (he was the son of Pisistratus), built a wall and a public gymnasium on the Academy grounds in Athens at great cost, and then forced the Athenians to reimburse him. This saying thus referred to any lavish or expensive project. For more about the tyrant Hipparchus, see Wikipedia: Hipparchus. (Note: this is not Hipparchus the mathematician.) Probably the most famous story about Hipparchus is his assassination by the lovers Harmodius and Aristogeiton.

# data[].attributes.headline
Σύροι πρὸς Φοίνικας.

# data[].attributes.subject
Σύροι πρὸς Φοίνικας.

# data[].attributes.body
Syrians versus Phoenicians.

As ethnic stereotypes in ancient Greece, both Syrians and Phoenicians had the reputation of being cheats and swindlers, so this saying referred to one gang of swindlers trying to cheat another gang. The preposition πρὸς plus the accusative can mean simply direction "towards" but it can also have the hostile sense of "against," which is the meaning here.

# data[].attributes.headline
Ἄνω κάτω πάντα.

# data[].attributes.subject
Ἄνω κάτω πάντα.

# data[].attributes.body
Everything is topsy-turvy.

You have two adverbs here: ἄνω, meaning "upwards," and κάτω, meaning "downwards." Those words are already familiar to you from their prepositional forms, ἀνά and κατά. This was a popular phrase in ancient Greek; you can see it used here in Demosthenes's speech Against Aristogiton.

# data[].attributes.headline
Δικαίως κτῶ.

# data[].attributes.subject
Δικαίως κτῶ.

# data[].attributes.body
Acquire possessions rightfully.

The word κτῶ is a middle imperative from the verb κτάομαι (it looks especially weird because the word has only one syllable; hence the circumflex). The adverb δικαίως is formed from the adjective δίκαιος which is in turn formed from the noun δίκη meaning order or justice. For the goddess of Justice, see Wikipedia: Dike.

# data[].attributes.headline
Ἄνδρῶν ἡρώων τέκνα πήματα.

# data[].attributes.subject
Ἄνδρῶν ἡρώων τέκνα πήματα.

# data[].attributes.body
The children of heroes (are) calamities.
In other words, you cannot predict the quality of a person based on who their fathers are; heroes' children do not always turn out to be heroes — sometimes just the opposite. Erasmus includes this saying in his Adagia.

# data[].attributes.headline
Ἀνεῳγμέναι Μουσῶν θύραι.

# data[].attributes.subject
Ἀνεῳγμέναι Μουσῶν θύραι.

# data[].attributes.body
The doors of the Muses (are) open.
In other words: everyone has access to the arts; it is not a private privilege. The Greek θύρα is from the Indo-European root dʰwer, making it cognate with English "door." From Greek Μοῦσα we get English museum and music. You can find out more about the Μοῦσαι at Wikipedia: Muses.

# data[].attributes.headline
Χρυσὸς ὁ ἀφανὴς τύραννος.

# data[].attributes.subject
Χρυσὸς ὁ ἀφανὴς τύραννος.

# data[].attributes.body
Gold is the invisible tyrant.
The adjective ἀφανὴς is an alpha-privative: ἀ-φανὴς, in-visible. From Greek τύραννος, we get English "tyrant." The etymology of the Greek word is obscure; here are some possible etymologies.

# data[].attributes.headline
Σίδηρον πλεῖν διδάσκεις.

# data[].attributes.subject
Σίδηρον πλεῖν διδάσκεις.

# data[].attributes.body
You're teaching iron to float.
This is a proverbial fool's errand: iron is never going to float. At least, that's what the Greeks thought about iron. Later on, of course, iron did learn to float! You can read about the history of iron-hulled sailing ships at Wikipedia.

# data[].attributes.headline
Ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός.

# data[].attributes.subject
Ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός.

# data[].attributes.body
God from the machine.
This is better known in its Latin form: Deus ex machina. The machine in question is the crane used in ancient Greek theater to lower a god onto the stage, and the phrase refers to some unexpected event; find out more at Wikipedia: Deus ex machina. From Greek μηχανή we get English mechanical, and also (via Latin) machine.

# data[].attributes.body
Link to this Padlet. The posts are re-ordered at random each time you refresh the page.

Link to Slideshow view. You'll start at a random point in the slideshow each time too!

Link to the blog posts for this week.

You can get a Padlet app for your phone too, or save the browser version as a widget.

Go back to Week 36.

See all the Greek Proverb Padlets.