• classical rhetoric

from Simonides, as translated by Anne Carson in The Economy of the Unlost:

Hard to become truly a good man
in hands and feet and mind
built four-square without blame
Now if you ask me, the old saying of Pittakos does not
define its terms properly although
said by a wise man: hard (he says) to be good.
The fact is, God alone could have this privilege.
Man cannot but be bad
if the misfortune machine pulls him down.
Yes sure, every man is good when things are good
and bad when things are bad
(and in general the best are the ones
whom the gods love).
So never shall I go searching after what cannot come into being
anyhow--throwing the space of my life down empty in actionless hope--
an All Blameless Man
among those of us who feed on the food of the earth
(but if I find one I'll send you the news).
I praise and love anyone
whoever willingly does
nothing ugly. Necessity
not even gods fight.
No I do not like blaming. Because for me it's enough
if someone is other than bad--not too much out of hand
conscious at least of the justice that helps the city,
a healthy man. No I shall not
lay blame. Because fools
are a species that never ends.
All things, you know, are beautiful with which
ugly things are not mixed.)

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