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Headword: Ap' echthrôn polla manthanousin hoi sophoi
Adler number: alpha,3104
Translated headword: from enemies the wise learn many things
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
"[From enemies the wise learn many things.] For caution saves everything. You would not learn this, then, from a friend, but the enemy himself compels [sc. you to know it]".[1] And Menander [writes]: "might we not be saved whence we are destroyed?"[2] From our enemies. For when we fear our enemies we are helped by them; and from our enemies we learn about watchfulness and foresight. "After all, cities learned from men [sc. who were] enemies, not friends, to build high walls and to possess long ships. This lesson saves children, home[s], goods".[3]
Greek Original:
Ap' echthrôn polla manthanousin hoi sophoi. hê gar eulabeia sôizei panta. para men oun philou ou mathois an touth', ho d' echthros autos exênankase. kai Menandros: ouch hothen apolomestha sôtheiêmen an; para tôn echthrôn. phoboumenoi gar tous echthrous ôpheloumetha par' autôn: ek te tôn echthrôn polla chrêsima didaskometha pros phulakên kai pronoian. autich' hai poleis par' andrôn emathon echthrôn kou philôn ekponein th' hupsêla teichê naus te kektêsthai makras. to de mathêma touto sôizei paidas, oikon, chrêmata.
Notes:
The headword phrase begins, here, a six-line extract from Aristophanes, interrupted by a shorter one from Menander; see the notes below. Dunbar 279-282 suggests that the Aristophanes passage parodies sophistic argument.
[1] Aristophanes, Birds 375-377 (web address 1 below), loosely quoted.
[2] Menander fr. 840 Kock, 767 Koerte, now 644 K.-A.
[3] Aristophanes, Birds 378-380 (web address 1).
Reference:
Aristophanes, Birds, edited with introduction and commentary by Nan Dunbar (Oxford 1995)
Associated internet address:
Web address 1
Keywords: children; comedy; daily life; ethics; military affairs; proverbs; science and technology
Translated by: Jennifer Benedict on 15 January 2001@06:42:13.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (added note and bibliography; modified keywords; cosmetics) on 15 January 2001@07:52:14.
David Whitehead (added keywords) on 19 August 2002@05:21:12.
David Whitehead (another keyword; cosmetics) on 16 November 2005@08:01:07.
Catharine Roth (updated link) on 1 November 2011@01:22:11.
David Whitehead (tweaks and cosmetics) on 1 November 2011@04:23:31.
David Whitehead on 28 March 2012@09:19:07.
David Whitehead on 30 December 2014@10:56:45.
David Whitehead on 7 August 2015@07:35:48.

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