ON A THEOGNIDEAN COUPLET, DELIAN EPIGRAM, AND NUGGET OF WISDOM

Abstract

SVMMARIVM – De disticho Theognideo agitur, quod Aristoteles Deli inscriptum dicit. Stilus,
argumentum, mos personae pariter et ad symposium et ad monumentum votivum in
publico conlocatum apta dicuntur. Hinc de Theognideorum pertinentia ad genus sapientiae
praeceptorum disseritur.

ABSTRACT – This paper engages with a couplet of the Theognidean Sylloge (Thgn. 255-256),
which Aristotle quotes (with slight changes) and says to be inscribed in Delos. After surveying
the textual transmission of the distich and the problems this presents, the author examines
the text’s engagement with the ubiquitous archaic and classical topos of ‘what is best for
man’. The suitability of the couplet for both the sympotic context and the inscriptional one is
then emphasised, and it is considered in the light of the Theognidea’s belonging to the tradition
of the discourse of wisdom.