The best of all things for earthly men is not to be born and not to see the beams of the bright sun; but if born, then as quickly as possible to pass the gates of Hades, and to lie deep buried.

πάντων μὲν μὴ φῦναι ἐπιχθονίοισιν ἄριστον, μηδ᾽ ἐσιδεῖν αὐγὰς ὀξέος ἠελίου: φύντα δ᾽ ὅπως ὤκιστα πύλας Ἀΐδαο περῆσαι, καὶ κεῖσθαι πολλὴν γῆν ἐπαμησάμενον.

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Original Citation

Theognis. Elegies. c. 541 BC.

Current Citation

Theognis. "Elegies." Hesiod and Theognis: Theogony, Works and Days, and Elegies, translated by Dorothea Wender. Penguin Classics, 1976.