Archilochos gilt als frühester formvollendeter, griechischer Lyriker und wurde sogar dem Homer gleichgestellt. Er war der nicht-eheliche Sohn eines Mannes aus dem parischen Adelsgeschlecht und einer thrakischen Sklavin und aufgrund seiner unehelichen Geburt zeit seines Lebens arm, da er von der väterlichen Erbfolge ausgeschlossen war. Möglicherweise war sein Vater Telesikles, der Gründer der parischen Kolonie auf Thasos. Zeitlebens zog er unstet umher. Der Überlieferung nach fand er den Tod im Krieg zwischen Paros und Naxos. Archilochos gilt als erster griechischer Jambograph, der sich für die Schmähung durch Lykambes mittels jambischer Verse wehrte.
Archilochos’ Lebensdaten sind umstritten, da sie nicht direkt überliefert sind, sondern nur umständlich rekonstruiert werden können, und er selbst seine Vita teilweise nach dem literarischen Vorbild des homerischen Odysseus stilisiert hat. Jedoch lässt sich die Gründung der Kolonie auf Thasos auf etwa 660 v. Chr. datieren. Ebenso ist von Archilochos die Beschreibung einer Sonnenfinsternis überliefert, womit wahrscheinlich jene am 6. April 648 v. Chr. über Thasos gemeint ist. Da Archilochos etwa 645 v. Chr. als aktiver Krieger im Kampf fiel, ist davon auszugehen, dass er nicht viel älter als 40 Jahre wurde.
“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”
As quoted in The Hedgehog and the Fox (1953) by Isaiah Berlin
Variant translations:
The fox knows many things; the hedgehog one great thing.
The fox knows many tricks; the hedgehog one good one.
The fox knows many tricks; and the hedgehog only one; but that is the best one of all.
Fragments
“I have a high art: I hurt with cruelty those who wound me.”
As quoted in Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, Vol. 20 (2001), p. 184
As quoted in Quotations for Martial Artists : Hundreds of Inspirational Quotes to Motivate and Enlighten the Modern Warrior (2003) edited by John D. Moore
Fragments
Variante: I have a high art; I hurt with cruelty those who would damage me.
Fragments
Variante: The affairs of gold-laden Gyges do not interest me
zealousy of the gods has never seized me nor anger
at their deeds. But I have no love for great tyranny
for its deeds are very far from my eyes.
Kontext: These golden matters
Of Gyges and his treasuries
Are no concern of mine.
Jealousy has no power over me,
Nor do I envy a god his work,
And I do not burn to rule.
Such things have no
Fascination for my eyes.
Fragments
Variante: A Saian boasts about the shield which beside a bush
though good armour I unwillingly left behind.
I saved myself, so what do I care about the shield?
To hell with it! I'll get one soon just as good.
Variante: I don't give a damn if some Thracian ape strut
Proud of that first-rate shield the bushes got.
Leaving it was hell, but in a tricky spot
I kept my hide intact. Good shields can be bought. (as translated by Stuart Silverman)
Variante: Let who will boast their courage in the field,
I find but little safety from my shield.
Nature's, not honour's, law we must obey:
This made me cast my useless shield away,
And by a prudent flight and cunning save
A life, which valour could not, from the grave.
A better buckler I can soon regain;
But who can get another life again?
“Keep some measure in the joy you take in luck, and the degree you
give way to sorrow.”
Fragment 67, as translated by R. Lattimore http://www.rhapsodes.fll.vt.edu/arkhilokhos67.htm
Variant translations:
Soul, my soul, don't let them break you,
all these troubles. Never yield:
though their force is overwhelming,
up! attack them shield to shield...
"Archilochos: To His Soul" : A fragment http://web.archive.org/20030629194753/geocities.com/joncpoetics/translations/Archsoul.htm as translated from the Greek by Jon Corelis http://web.archive.org/20030805055937/www.geocities.com/joncpoetics/
Take the joy and bear the sorrow,
looking past your hopes and fears:
learn to recognize the measured
dance that orders all our years.
"Archilochos: To His Soul" : A fragment, as translated from the Greek by Jon Corelis
Fragments
Kontext: Heart, my heart, so battered with misfortune far beyond your strength,
up, and face the men who hate us. Bare your chest to the assault
of the enemy, and fight them off. Stand fast among the beamlike spears.
Give no ground; and if you beat them, do not brag in open show,
nor, if they beat you, run home and lie down on your bed and cry.
Keep some measure in the joy you take in luck, and the degree you
give way to sorrow. All our life is up-and-down like this.
Fragments
Variante: Zeus, the father of the Olympic Gods, turned mid-day into night, hiding the light of the dazzling Sun; and sore fear came upon men.
Kontext: Nothing can be surprising any more or impossible or miraculous, now that Zeus, father of the Olympians has made night out of noonday, hiding the bright sunlight, and... fear has come upon mankind. After this, men can believe anything, expect anything. Don't any of you be surprised in future if land beasts change places with dolphins and go to live in their salty pastures, and get to like the sounding waves of the sea more than the land, while the dolphins prefer the mountains.
Fragment 67, as translated by R. Lattimore http://www.rhapsodes.fll.vt.edu/arkhilokhos67.htm
Variant translations:
Soul, my soul, don't let them break you,
all these troubles. Never yield:
though their force is overwhelming,
up! attack them shield to shield...
"Archilochos: To His Soul" : A fragment http://web.archive.org/20030629194753/geocities.com/joncpoetics/translations/Archsoul.htm as translated from the Greek by Jon Corelis http://web.archive.org/20030805055937/www.geocities.com/joncpoetics/
Take the joy and bear the sorrow,
looking past your hopes and fears:
learn to recognize the measured
dance that orders all our years.
"Archilochos: To His Soul" : A fragment, as translated from the Greek by Jon Corelis
Fragments
Kontext: Heart, my heart, so battered with misfortune far beyond your strength,
up, and face the men who hate us. Bare your chest to the assault
of the enemy, and fight them off. Stand fast among the beamlike spears.
Give no ground; and if you beat them, do not brag in open show,
nor, if they beat you, run home and lie down on your bed and cry.
Keep some measure in the joy you take in luck, and the degree you
give way to sorrow. All our life is up-and-down like this.
“Old women should not seek to be perfumed.”
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, first ebook edition, 2014
Attributed quotes
