No Fear of Retribution

No Fear of Retribution

AΦOBON O ΘEOΣ

ANYΠOΠTON O ΘANATOΣ

KAI TAΓAΘON MEN EYKTHTON

TO ΔE ΔEINON EYEKKAPTEPHTON

– TETPAΦAPMAKOΣ


I wanted to produce a translation that maintains Philodemus' rhyme schema, so I came up with this:


"No fear of retribution,

No dread of dissolution;

As The Good is easy to get,

So the bad is patiently met."


The photograph is Ruins of the Temple of Athena, Assos, Turkey by Herbert Weber

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  • And, if I may say, I always get a kick out of remembering that ΔEINON is the same word as the first part of dinosaur "terrible lizard." :)

    Love 1 Like 1

  • Well done! That's a great way to avoid the imperatives that usually get used in translations even though they're not in the text.

    Thanks 1 Like 1