Fragment 27 (Voigt 158)
27 · Voigt 158When anger spreads through the breast, guard thy tongue from barking idly.
Σκιδναμένας ἐν στήθεσιν ὄργας
μαψυλάκαν γλῶσσαν πεφύλαχθαι.
When through thy breast wild wrath doth spread
And work thy inmost being harm,
Leave thou the fiery word unsaid,
Guard thee; be calm.
— Michael Field, 1889.
Quoted by Plutarch, in his treatise On restraining anger, to show that in wrath nothing is more noble than quietness. Blass thinks that Bergk is wrong in his restoration of the verses; he considers their metre choriambic (like fr. 64, ff.), and reads them thus:
⏓⏓ σκιδναμένας στήθεσιν ὄργας πεφυλαγμένα (?)
γλῶσσαν μαψυλάκαν –⏑⏑––⏑⏑–⏑–
He compares fr. 72 with them.
III