Key to Reading Unit 22

1. There is no man who is fortunate in everything; for either he is nobly-born but does not have a livelihood or he is low-born yet (lit. being low-born) ploughs a rich plain.

2. Mortal men are often harmed by lack of planning.

3. You give this warning as one who was not party to the deed.

4. If you are poor do not have the thoughts of the rich.

5. The generals, after being seized in this way, were taken to the King and put to death by having their heads chopped off; one of them, Clearchus, by common consent of all who were acquainted with him, having the reputation of being a man who was both skilled in war and fond of war to the last degree. Indeed, as long as the Lacedaimonians were at war with the Athenians, he remained loyal, but, when peace had been made, he persuaded his own city (i.e. Sparta) that the Thracians were injuring the Greeks, and, after gaining his point as best he could from the ephors, he set sail with the intention of making war on the Thracians beyond the Chersonese and Perinthus. (Xenophon Anabasis 2.6.1-2)

6. How sweet is beauty when it has a sensible mind.

7. To be healthy is the best [possession] for mortal man, next to be handsome in stature, third to be wealthy without fraud, and fourth to be in the prime of youth among his friends.

8. Summoning Damnippus I spoke to him as follows: 'You happen to be a friend of mine, and I have come to your house and I am guilty of nothing (lit. I do wrong in no way); but I am being destroyed for the sake of my money. So do all in your power to save me in this extremity' (lit. to me suffering this furnish your own power readily for my safety). He promised to do this, but it seemed to him better to mention this to Theognis; for he thought that he (Theognis) would do anything for money (lit. if anyone gave money). While he was talking with Theognis - I happened to be familiar with the house, and knew that it had two entrances - I determined to try to save myself in this way; for I reflected that, if I avoided detection, I would save myself, but, if I were caught, I considered that I would none the less get off, if Theognis had been persuaded by Damnippus to take a bribe; otherwise (lit. but if not), I would perish just the same. With this in mind, I took to flight, while they were keeping guard at the courtyard door; there were three doors through which I had to pass; they all happened to be open. (Lysias Against Eratosthenes 14)

9. Oedipus: Antigone, daughter of a blind old man (i.e. me), to what region have we come or to what city of men (lit. to the city of what men)? Who will entertain the wandering Oedipus today with scanty gifts, Oedipus who asks for little and wins still less than that little, and this is sufficient for me. Suffering(s) and the length of time that attends me and thirdly my nobility teach me to be content. Well, my child, if you see any resting-place, either on profane ground or near groves of the gods, place me and make me sit down, in order that we may enquire where we are; for we have come as strangers to learn from citizens, and to perform what we hear.

(c) Gavin Betts, Alan Henry 2001