What I encountered in my reading during the week of October 7th.
The Noble (Beowulf 440-441):
Dryhtnes dome se þe hine deað nimeð.
(Then he that death takes must trust the judgment of the Lord)
The Practical (Horace, Ars Poetica 268-269):
Nocturna versate manu, versate diurna.
(Turn over the Greek examples in your hand by night, turn them over by day)
A Victorian Witticism (James Kirkland’s 1893 commentary to Ars Poetica 270):
“Horace turns aside to give Plautus another punch.”
The Cryptic (Socrates’ last words in Plato, Phaedo 118a):
“Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius.”
The Scriptural (Isaiah 14:7-10, describing the downfall of the King of Babylon; NRSV):
The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
They break forth into singing.
The cypresses exult over you,
The cedars of Lebanon, saying,
“Since you were laid low,
No one comes to cut us down.”
Sheol beneath is stirred up
To meet you when you come;
It rouses the shades to greet you,
All who were leaders of the earth;
It raises from their thrones
All who were kings of the nations.
All of them will speak
And say to you:
“You have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!”
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