Simonides of Ceos (c.556 BC –469 BC) was a Greek lyric poet.
Not even the gods fight against necessity.- ὦ ξεῖν', ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε
κείμεθα τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι. (wrongly attributed)[1] - Ō xein', angellein Lakedaimoniois hoti tē(i)de
keimetha tois keinōn rhēmasi peithomenoi. - [Word-for-word translation]
O stranger, announce to the Lacadaemonians [Spartans] that here
We lie, to their words [or laws] obedient.- Go, tell the Spartans, stranger passing by
That here, obedient to their laws, we lie. - Epitaph on the Cenotaph ofThermopylae, recorded byHerodotus.
- Note: There is a long unsolved dispute around the interpretation of the wordrhemasi, such as laws, words or orders.
- Variant translations:
- Go, tell the Spartans, thou who passest by,
That here obedient to their laws we lie. - Stranger, go tell the men of Lacedaemon
That we, who lie here, did as we were ordered. - Stranger, bring the message to the Spartans that here
We remain, obedient to their orders. - Oh foreigner, tell the Lacedaemonians
That here we lie, obeying their words. - Go, tell the Spartans, passerby,
that here by Spartan law we lie. - Go, tell the Spartans
stranger passing by,
that here, obedient to Spartan law,
we dead of Sparta lie
- Here lies Megistias, who died
When the Medes crossedSpercheius' tide.
A great seer, yet he scorned to save
Himself, and shared the Spartans' grave.- Epitaph of the Spartan Diviner, Megistias, at Thermopylae
- ἀνάγκῃ δ᾽ οὐδὲ θεοὶ μάχονται.
- "Anankei d' oude theoi makhontai."
- Not even the gods fight against necessity.
- Quoted byPlato in the dialogueProtagoras,345d (Simonides Fr. 37.1.27ff.).
- Variant translations:
- The gods do not fight against necessity.
- Not even the gods war against necessity.
- I praise and love all men who do no sin willingly; but with necessity even the gods do not contend.
- We did not flinch but gave our lives to save Greece when her fate hung on a razor's edge.
- From the Cenotaph at the Isthmos
- … ζωγραφίαν ποίησιν σιωπῶσαν προσαγορεύει [sc. ὁ Σιμωνίδης], τὴν δὲ ποίησιν ζωγραφίαν λαλοῦσαν.
- … zographian poiesin sioposan prosagoreuei, ten de poiesin zographian lalousan.
- Painting is silent poetry, and poetry painting that speaks.
- Quoted byPlutarch,De gloria Atheniensium3.346f.
- Variant translations:
- Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting with the gift of speech.
- Painting is silent poetry, poetry is eloquent painting.
- See also:Ut pictura poesis
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