Venice masks

Friday 4 October 2019

The Joy of Life - Metrodorus

Hold every path of life.
In the market-place are honours and prudent dealings,
in the house rest;
in the country the charm of nature,
and at sea gain;
and abroad, if thou hast aught, glory,
and if thou art in poverty, thou alone knowest it.
Art married? so will thine household be best;
unmarried? thy life is yet lighter.
Children are darlings;
a childless life is an unanxious one:
youth is strong, and grey hairs again reverend.
The choice is not then of one of the two,
either never to be born or to die;
for all things are good in life.

Metrodorus (? Metrodorus of Lampsacus) (331 - 277 BC) Ancient Greece
Translated by J. W. Mackail
Source: Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology, J. W. Mackail, Longmans, Green, and Co., 1890 [Gutenberg.org]

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