Fragments - Lines 0467 - 0496 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJIKDLFKMNOP DKQRFSTDDU| Of those now here with us do not detain anyone who is unwilling to remain | A |
| Nor show the door to anyone who does not wish to go | B |
| Nor wake anyone who is sleeping Simonides should one of us | C |
| Well fortified by wine be gripped by gentle slumber | D |
| Nor bid the wakeful man to sleep against his will | E |
| For everything that is forced is by nature painful | F |
| For the one who wants to drink let the boy stand close and pour | G |
| Not on all nights is it possible to enjoy delights like these | H |
| But as for me since I have reached my limit of honey sweet wine | I |
| I shall think of sleep that loosens cares going home | J |
| I have reached the point when a man feels most pleasure in drinking wine | I |
| Being neither sober at all nor yet excessively drunk | K |
| Whoever goes beyond the limit of drinking that man no longer | D |
| Is master of his own tongue or of his mind | L |
| He talks recklessly saying things which the sober find disgraceful | F |
| And feels no shame in any action when he is drunk | K |
| A man of sound sense before and now a fool But you | M |
| Understanding these things should not drink to excess | N |
| But either stand up and leave before you get drunk don't let your belly | O |
| Overpower you as if you were a base laborer hired by the day | P |
| Or else stay put and refrain from drinking But no 'Pour me another' | D |
| Is what you keep idly chattering and that's why you get drunk | K |
| For one cup comes around in the name of friendship another on a bet | Q |
| Another you pour out as a libation for the gods another you keep on hand | R |
| And you do not know how to refuse That man is truly invincible | F |
| Who though he has drunk many cups says nothing foolish | S |
| As for the rest of you take care in what you say as you linger around the wine bowl | T |
| Steering well clear of quarrels with one another | D |
| Speaking in a way that any may hear whether you address one or all together | D |
| Conducted in this way a drinking party proves far from unpleasant | U |
Theognis
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