Editing Simonides of Ceos (section)

== Ethics ==
Simonides championed a tolerant, humanistic outlook that celebrated ordinary goodness, and recognized the immense pressures that life places on human beings.<ref>{{cite book |first=Charles |last=Segal |chapter=Choral Lyric in the Fifth Century |editor1=Easterling, P. |editor2=Knox, B. |series=The Cambridge History of Classical Literature |title=Greek Literature |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1985 |page=244}}</ref> This attitude is evident in the following poem of Simonides (fr.&nbsp;542),<ref name=Beresford/> quoted in Plato's dialogue, the [[Protagoras (dialogue)|Protagoras]], and reconstructed here according to a recent interpretation, making it the only lyric poem of Simonides that survives intact:<ref name=Beresford>{{cite journal |title=Nobody's Perfect: A new text and interpretation of Simonides PMG&nbsp;542 |journal=Classical Philology |volume=103 |issue=3 |year=2008 |pages=237–256|doi=10.1086/596516 |last1=Beresford |first1=Adam |s2cid=162250223 }}</ref><ref group=lower-alpha>{{poemquote|
ἄνδρ' ἀγαθὸν μὲν ἀλαθέως γενέσθαι
χαλεπὸν, χερσίν τε καὶ ποσὶ καὶ νόωι
:: τετράγωνον, ἄνευ ψόγου τετυγμένον·
θεὸς ἂν μόνος τοῦτ' ἔχοι γέρας‧ ἄνδρα δ' οὐκ
:: ἔστι μὴ οὐ κακὸν ἔμμεναι,
ὃν ἀμήχανος συμφορὰ καθέληι·
πράξας γὰρ εὖ πᾶς ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός,
κακὸς δ' εἰ κακῶς, <οὓς
δ' οἱ θεοὶ φιλέωσιν
πλεῖστον, εἰσ' ἄριστοι.>

οὐδ᾽ ἐμοὶ ἐμμελέως τὸ Πιττάκειον
νέμεται, καίτοι σοφοῦ παρὰ φωτὸς εἰ-
:: ρημένον· χαλεπὸν φάτ' ἐσθλὸν ἔμμεναι.
<ἐμοὶ ἀρκέει> μητ' <ἐὼν> ἀπάλαμνος εἰ-
:: δώς τ' ὀνησίπολιν δίκαν,
ὑγιὴς ἀνήρ· οὐ<δὲ μή νιν> ἐγώ
μωμήσομαι· τῶν γὰρ ἠλιθίων
ἀπείρων γενέθλα.
πάντα τοι καλά, τοῖσίν
τ' αἰσχρὰ μὴ μέμεικται.

τοὔνεκεν οὔ ποτ' ἐγὼ τὸ μὴ γενέσθαι
δυνατὸν διζήμενος κενεὰν ἐς ἄ-
:: πρακτον ἐλπίδα μοῖραν αἰῶνος βαλέω,
πανάμωμον ἄνθρωπον, εὐρυεδέος ὅσοι
:: καρπὸν αἰνύμεθα χθονός·
ἐπὶ δ' ὔμμιν εὑρὼν ἀπαγγελέω.
πάντας δ' ἐπαίνημι καὶ φιλέω,
ἑκὼν ὅστις ἔρδηι
μηδὲν αἰσχρόν· ἀνάγκαι
δ' οὐδὲ θεοὶ μάχονται.}}			
</ref>
{{quote|
For a man it's certainly hard to be truly good—perfect in hands, feet, and mind, built without a single flaw; only a god can have that prize; but a man, there's no way he can help being bad when some crisis that he cannot deal with takes him down. Any man's good when he's doing well in life, bad when he's doing badly, and the best of us are those the gods love most.

But for me that saying of Pittacus doesn't quite ring true (even though he was a smart man): he says "being good is hard": for me, a man's good enough as long as he's not too lawless, and has the sense of right that does cities good: a solid guy. I won't find fault with a man like that. After all, isn't there a limitless supply of fools? The way I see it, if there's no great shame in it, all's fair.

So I'm not going to throw away my dole of life on a vain, empty hope, searching for something there cannot be, a completely blameless man—at least not among us mortals who win our bread from the broad earth. (If I do find one, mind you, I'll be sure to let you know.) So long as he does nothing shameful willfully, I give my praise and love to any man. Not even the gods can fight necessity.}}