More than ‘know thyself’: on all the other Delphic maxims
aeon.co
aeon.co
The Delphic Oracle said no-one was wiser than Socrates; Socrates thought he wasn't wise, but came to understand that although no-one else was either, only he knew that he knew nothing. In epistemology (theory of knowledge) class at uni (philosophy course) once I said to the lecturer that I knew nothing. I really believed I knew nothing for certain. He said, not very charitably, "Don't you know your name?". Luckily no-one said that to Socrates. Well, maybe they did.
Although thinking about that now, the Oracle only said that no-one was wiser than Socrates, which is compatible with all men being fools equally. And the Oracle did give similarly veiled, tricky prophecies:
"Croesus...asked if he should make war on the Persians and if he should take to himself any allied force. The oracles to whom he sent this question included those at Delphi and Thebes. Both oracles gave the same response, that if Croesus made war on the Persians, he would destroy a mighty empire...However, it was his empire, not that of the Persians, that was defeated, fulfilling the prophecy but not his interpretation of it."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oracular_statements_fr...
Accomplish your goals in an honorable way.
Something akin to:
“The ends don’t justify the means”.
I guess it's obvious but -
Which roughly means "seek to become relatives with noble people"
or alternatively
"seek to create with noble ingredients"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphic_maxims#147_Delphic_max...
The last is, fittingly, the most meaningful of them all: On reaching the end be without sorrow.
That said, oracles were definitely not shy of making money.
"Master wedding-feasts" -- what does that mean?
"Grieve for no one" seems odd.
For the third, I think it should be "Cause no grief onto [others]" (ἐπί+ dat.)
My guess is that rather than "always be thrifty", this is more like "don't let cost-optimizations stop forward progress". So, somewhat more like "penny-wise, pound-foolish" or "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good" than "always be thrifty".
Master wedding-feasts
My guess here would be a meaning like "take full advantage of important ceremonial celebration feasts", with possible connotations of both "enjoy them fully" but also "don't over-imbibe or take them for granted".
Grieve for no one
Could very well be dependent on the exact form of 'grieve' in the original formulation; if a word meaning to mope or remain backward-looking (as opposed to honoring/learning in memories), it might really be about doing the right kind of mourning. Or, if the emphasis was on 'one' unique person, it might mean never to focus grief on any singular loss, as loss is universal – sort of related for "ask not for whom the bell tolls – it tolls for thee".
I think this might be a mistranslation. Maxim #118 has the same last two words in Greek, and is translated as "Do not abandon honor". So #122 is probably better translated as "Do not abandon thrift", or "Do not forget to be thrifty", or something like that.
"Admire oracles" - Ha ha!
"Keep deeply the top secret" - how is this one simply baffling (per the article)? I'm not sure if they are referring to religious secrets or state secrets, but either way, how is encouraging people to keep secrets baffling?
Also, yes, it took the English language many years to come up with the pithier "Loose lips sink ships".