Philemon (poet)

Philemon (Ancient Greek: Φιλήμων, Philḗmon; c. 362 BC – c. 262 BC) was a Greek poet and playwright of New Comedy. He was born either at Soli in Cilicia or at Syracuse in Sicily but moved to Athens some time before 330 BC, when he is known to have been producing plays. None of the ninety-seven comedies he composed has survived intact.

Quotes

• ὦ πῶς πονηρόν ἐστιν ἀνθρώπου φύσις
  τὸ σύνολον· οὐ γὰρ ἄν ποτ᾿ ἐδεήθη νόμου.
  • How radically bad is the nature of man! for otherwise he would stand in need of no laws to restrain him.
  • Frg. 2 K.-A.

• κἂν δοῦλος ᾖ τις, οὐθὲν ἧττον, δέσποτα,
  ἄνθρωπος οὗτός ἐστιν, ἂν ἄνθρωπος ᾖ.
  • Although one be a slave, yet being human,
    O master, he is none the less a man.
  • Frg. 22 K.-A. (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• χαλεπὸν τὸ ποιεῖν, τὸ δὲ κελεῦσαι ῥᾴδιον.
  • 'Tis easy to command, not easy to obey.
  • Frg. 27 K.-A. (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• πάντ᾿ ἔστιν ἐξευρεῖν, ἐὰν μὴ τὸν πόνον
  φεύγῃ τις, ὃς πρόσεστι τοῖς ζητουμένοις.
  • Nought can elude our search, unless we shun
    The toil that aideth ever those who seek.
  • Frg. 37 K.-A. (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• εἰ πάντες ἀποθανούμεθ᾿ οἷς μὴ γίγνεται
  ἃ βουλόμεσθα, πάντες ἀποθανούμεθα.
  • If we were all to perish who did not succeed in obtaining what we wished, all mankind would die.
  • Frg. 72 K.-A.

• οὐκ ἔστιν οὔτε ζωγράφος, μὰ τοὺς θεούς,
  οὔτ᾿ ἀνδριαντοποιός, ὅστις ἂν πλάσαι
  κάλλος τοιοῦτον, οἷον ἡ ἀλήθει᾿ ἔχει.
  • No painter and no sculptor, by the gods!
    Can carve or limn a form so beautiful
    As truth possesses.
  • Frg. 75 K.-A. (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• εἰ τὰ δάκρυ᾿ ἡμῖν τῶν κακῶν ἦν φάρμακον,
  ἀεί θ᾿ ὁ κλαύσας τοῦ πονεῖν ἐπαύετο,
  ἠλλαττόμεσθ᾿ ἂν δάκρυα δόντες χρυσίον.
  • If tears were for our sorrows remedy,
    And he who wept no longer felt the smart,
    Then would we gladly barter gold for tears.
  • Frg. 77.1–3 K.-A. (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• ἄνθρωπον ὄντα ῥᾴδιον παραινέσαι
  ἔστιν, ποῆσαι δ᾿ αὐτὸν οὐχὶ ῥᾴδιον.
  • 'Tis easy to give praise to one who toils,
    Not easy for ourselves to earn the praise.
  • Frg. 78.1–2 K.-A. (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• ἀεὶ γεωργὸς εἰς νέωτα πλούσιος.
  • The husbandman is always to be rich the next year.
  • Frg. 85 K.-A.

• ἐὰν τρισμυρίας
  ἀλώπεκάς τις συναγάγῃ, μίαν φύσιν
  ἁπαξαπασῶν ὄψεται τρόπον θ᾿ ἕνα.
  ἡμῶν δ᾿ ὅσα καὶ τὰ σώματ᾿ ἐστὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν
  καθ᾿ ἑνός, τοσούτους ἔστι καὶ τρόπους ἰδεῖν.
  • Whoso ten thousand foxes should collect,
    In all that herd would the same nature see
    And the same habits: let him count mankind,
    And for each separate body he shall find
    A different character.
  • Frg. 93.7–11 K.-A. (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• ἀνὴρ ὁ δίκαιός ἐστιν οὐχ ὁ μὴ ἀδικῶν,
  ἀλλ᾿ ὅστις ἀδικεῖν δυνάμενος μὴ βούλεται·
  οὐδ᾿ ὃς τὰ μικρὰ λαμβάνειν ἀπέσχετο,
  ἀλλ᾿ ὃς τὰ μεγάλα καρτερεῖ μὴ λαμβάνων,
  ἔχειν δυνάμενος καὶ κρατεῖν ἀζημίως·
  οὐδ᾿ ὅς γε ταῦτα πάντα διατηρεῖ μόνον,
  ἀλλ᾿ ὅστις ἄδολον γνησίαν τ᾿ ἔχων φύσιν
  εἶναι δίκαιος κοὐ δοκεῖν εἶναι θέλει.
  • The just man is not he who does no man an injury, but he who, being able to inflict it, does not wish to do so; nor yet is it the man who has abstained from seizing petty gains, but who determines not to lay hold of great possessions, when he might do so, and might hold them with impunity; nor is it the man who observes all these things, but who, endued with a noble and ingenuous disposition, wishes to be just, and not merely to seem so.
  • Frg. 97 K.-A.

  Compare Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 592 (tr. H. W. Smyth, 1922):
  οὐ γὰρ δοκεῖν ἄριστος ἀλλ᾿ εἶναι θέλει.
  For his resolve is not to seem the bravest, but to be.

• πολλάκις ἔχων τις οὐδὲ τἀναγκαῖα νῦν
  αὔριον ἐπλούτησ᾿, ὥστε χἀτέρους τρέφειν·
  θησαυρὸν εὑρὼν τήμερόν τις αὔριον
  ἅπαντα τἀκ τῆς οἰκίας ἀπώλεσεν.
  • Oft one who finds himself to-day without
    The bare necessities, to-morrow's rich,
    And able others to support, while one
    Who finds to-day a treasure, will to-morrow
    Lose all the wealth that's stored within his house.
  • Frg. 112 K.-A. (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• ἂν οἷς ἔχομεν τούτοισι μηδὲ χρώμεθα,
  ἃ δ᾿ οὐκ ἔχομεν ζητῶμεν, ὧν μὲν διὰ τύχην,
  ὧν δὲ δι᾿ ἑαυτοὺς ἐσόμεθ᾿ ἐστερημένοι.
  • If what we have we know not how to enjoy,
    And pray for what we have not, we shall lose
    By fate the last, by our own fault the first.
  • Frg. 116 K.-A. (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• οὔτε γὰρ ἰατρὸς οὐδὲ εἷς, ἐὰν σκοπῇς,
  τοὺς αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ βούλεθ᾿ ὑγιαίνειν φίλους.
  • Not one amongst the doctors, as you'll see,
    For his own friends desires to prescribe.
  • Frg. 122.1–2 K.-A. (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• ὁρῶσι πάντες πρῶτον, εἶτ᾿ ἐθαύμασαν,
  ἔπειτ᾿ ἐπεθεώρησαν, εἶτ᾿ εἰς ἐλπίδα
  ἐνέπεσον· οὕτω γίγνετ᾿ ἐκ τούτων ἔρως.
  • With all men sight is first, then admiration;
    Then follows careful scrutiny, and next
    They dare to hope, and thus from these beginnings
    At last they fall in love.
  • Frg. 126 K.-A. (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• ὡς ἡδέως μοι γέγονε τὰ πρότερον κακά·
  εἰ μὴ τότ᾿ ἐπόνουν, νῦν ἂν οὐκ εὐφραινόμην.
  • How pleasant it is to think of former evils! for if I had not then been in difficulties, I would not now be in joy.
  • Frg. 140 K.-A.

• ἀγαθὴ γὰρ ἡ λύπη καθ᾿ αὑτῆς ἀναπλάσαι
  ἀτεχνῶς διπλάσια τῆς ἀληθείας κακά.
  • Grief is apt to imagine to itself evils more than double the reality.
  • Frg. 147 K.-A.

• πόλλ᾿ ἔστιν ἐν πολλαῖσιν οἰκίαις κακά,
  ἃ καλῶς ὅταν ἐνέγκῃς ἀγαθὰ γενήσεται.
  • In many households many ills thou'lt find
    That, borne with steadfastness, to blessings turn.
  • Frg. 148 K.-A. (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• ἐνταῦθ᾿ ἀνὴρ ⟨γάρ⟩ ἐστιν ἀνδρὸς διάφορος,
  ἐν τῷ τό τε κακὸν εὖ φέρειν καὶ τἀγαθόν.
  • In this thing one man is superior to another, that he is better able to bear adversity and prosperity.
  • Frg. 149 K.-A.

• αἰτῶ δ᾿ ὑγίειαν πρῶτον, εἶτ᾿ εὐπραξίαν,
  τρίτον δὲ χαίρειν, εἶτ᾿ ὀφείλειν μηδενί.
  • I pray, first, for good health; then, for prosperity; thirdly, for happiness; and, lastly, to owe no man anything.
  • Frg. 150 K.-A.

• νόσον πολὺ κρεῖττόν ἐστιν ἢ λύπην φέρειν.
  • Sickness than sorrow is far easier borne.
  • Frg. 171 K.-A. (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

Quotes about Philemon

• Poeta fuit hic Philemon, mediae comoediae scriptor, fabulas cum Menandro in scaenam dictavit certavitque cum eo, fortasse impar, certe aemulus, namque eum etiam vicit saepenumero (pudet dicere). Reperias tamen apud ipsum multos sales, argumenta lepide inflexa, agnitus lucide explicatos, personas rebus competentes, sententias vitae congruentes, ioca non infra soccum, seria non usque ad coturnum.
  • This Philemon was a poet, a writer of Middle Comedy, who wrote plays for the stage in Menander’s time and competed with him, perhaps with less talent, but certainly with as much success, since he actually defeated him many times, I am sorry to say. Nonetheless, you will find much wit in his works, plots cleverly constructed, recognitions brilliantly contrived, characters fitting the situation, sentiments applicable to life, jokes not too low for comedy, solemnity not high enough for tragedy.
  • Apuleius, Florida, 16.6–9 (tr. C. P. Jones, 2017)

• Habent tamen alii quoque comici, si cum venia legantur, quaedam quae possis decerpere, et praecipue Philemon, qui ut pravis sui temporis iudiciis Menandro saepe praelatus est, ita consensu tamen omnium meruit credi secundus.
  • However, other comic poets too [sc. besides Menander], if you do not read them too critically, contain passages you can excerpt, especially Philemon, who was often preferred to Menander by the depraved taste of his age, and has none the less deserved to be universally regarded as second best.
  • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, X.1.72 (tr. D. A. Russell, 2002)

References

Text

• Kassel, Rudolf; Austin, Colin. Poetae Comici Graeci, vol. VII Menecrates-Xenophon. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1989.

Translations

• Harbottle, Thomas Benfield. Dictionary of Quotations (Classical). London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1897. Internet Archive
• Ramage, Craufurd Tait. Beautiful Thoughts from Greek Authors. Liverpool: Edward Howell, 1873, pp. 344–350. Google Books