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THEOGNIS
"Some call for rainy weather, some for dry."
What the advice was which required such a seal of secrecy begins to appear shortly, in a fragment which presages a revolution, in which Cyrnus is looked-to to play a leader's part. It is interesting as a picture of the state of things which one revolution had brought about, and for which Theognis was hatching a panacea in another. Slightly altered, to meet the political sense of the "good" and "bad," the "better-most" and the "worse" in Megarian parlance, the following extract from Mr Frere is a faithful transcript:—
"Our commonwealth preserves its former frame,
Our common people are no more the same;
They that in skins and hides were rudely dressed,
Nor dreamed of law, nor sought to be redressed
By rules of right, but, in the days of old,
Without the walls, like deer, their place did hold,
Are now the dominant class, and we, the rest,
Their betters nominally, once the best,
Degenerate, debased, timid, and mean;
Who can endure to witness such a scene?
Their easy courtesies, the ready smile
Prompt to deride, to flatter, to beguile!
Their utter disregard of right or wrong,
Of truth or honour! Out of such a throng
Never imagine you can choose a just
Or steady friend, or faithful to his trust.
But change your habits! let them go their way!
Be condescending, affable, and gay!
Adopt with every man the style and tone,
Most courteous, most congenial with his own!
But in your secret counsels keep aloof
From feeble paltry souls, that at the proof
Our common people are no more the same;
They that in skins and hides were rudely dressed,
Nor dreamed of law, nor sought to be redressed
By rules of right, but, in the days of old,
Without the walls, like deer, their place did hold,
Are now the dominant class, and we, the rest,
Their betters nominally, once the best,
Degenerate, debased, timid, and mean;
Who can endure to witness such a scene?
Their easy courtesies, the ready smile
Prompt to deride, to flatter, to beguile!
Their utter disregard of right or wrong,
Of truth or honour! Out of such a throng
Never imagine you can choose a just
Or steady friend, or faithful to his trust.
But change your habits! let them go their way!
Be condescending, affable, and gay!
Adopt with every man the style and tone,
Most courteous, most congenial with his own!
But in your secret counsels keep aloof
From feeble paltry souls, that at the proof
