Agathon

Agathon (Greek: Ἀγάθων, Agáthōn; c. 448 – 400 BCE) was an Athenian tragic poet and friend of Euripides.

Quotes

Greek text cited from B. Snell, R. Kannicht, Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, vol. I (Göttingen, 1986).

• μόνου γὰρ αὐτοῦ καὶ θεὸς στερίσκεται,
  ἀγένητα ποιεῖν ἅσσ᾿ ἂν ᾖ πεπραγμένα.
  • This only is denied even to God,
    The power to make what has been done undone.
  • Frg. 5 TrGF (tr. H. Rackham, 1926)
  • Alternative translation:
    • Not even the gods can change the past.

• τέχνη τύχην ἔστερξε καὶ τύχη τέχνην.
  • Art loves chance, and chance loves art.
  • Frg. 6 TrGF (tr. R. W. Browne, 1850)

• φαῦλοι βροτῶν γὰρ τοῦ πονεῖν ἡσσώμενοι
  θανεῖν ἐρῶσιν.
  • Small men, by toil o'ercome, desire to die.
  • Frg. 7 TrGF (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

• τάχ᾿ ἄν τις εἰκὸς αὐτὸ τοῦτ᾿ εἶναι λέγοι,
  βροτοῖσι πολλὰ τυγχάνειν οὐκ εἰκότα.
  • One might perhaps say that this very thing is probable,
    that many things happen to men that are not probable.
  • Frg. 9 TrGF (tr. J. H. Freese, G. Striker, 2020)

• ἰδίας ὁδοὺς ζητοῦσι φιλόπονοι φύσεις.
  • Toil-loving natures their own paths pursue.
  • Frg. 21 TrGF (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1897)

Attributed

• Ἀγάθων ἔφη· τὸν ἄρχοντα τριῶν δεῖ μεμνῆσθαι· πρῶτον ὅτι ἀνθρώπων ἄρχει, δεύτερον ὅτι νόμοις ἄρχει, τρίτον ὅτι οὐκ ἀεὶ ἄρχει.
  • Every ruler must remember three things. Firstly, that he rules man; secondly, that he rules according to law, and thirdly, that he does not rule for ever.
  • T 26 TrGF; reported by Stobaeus, Anthology, IV.5.24