Since You're Mortal...: Life Lessons from the Lost Greek Plays

"The truly happy man ought to stay at home." "Hunger, and lack of coin, put a stop to love." "Hades, alone of the gods, does not enjoy bribes." These quotes-and hundreds of others from the great Greek dramatists, including Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Menander-were preserved in the fifth century AD, when a man named Stobaeus compiled an anthology to inspire and instruct his son. The quotes were pithy packets of wisdom expressed in eloquent verse and selected with a father's discerning eye: some prompt "aha" moments, others offer wit or dark humor, still others give moral insight. In Since You're Mortal . . ., James Romm is the first to translate fragments saved by Stobaeus as poetry for modern English-language readers. Vividly rendered and beautifully presented, this volume serves as an ages-old but timeless guide to living a thoughtful, virtuous life.