LIBER VII · CAPUT 32
PRECEPTS THE MOST USEFUL IN LIFE
Latine · Mayhoff 1906
rursus mortales oraculorum societatem dedere Chiloni Lacedaemonio tria praecepta eius Delphis consecrando aureis litteris, quae sunt haec: nosse se quemque, et nihil nimium cupere, comitemque aeris alieni atque litis esse miseriam. quin et funus eius, cum victore filio Olympiae expirasset gaudio, tota Graecia prosecuta est.
English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57
Again, men have placed on an equality with those of the oracles the precepts uttered by Chilon, the Lacedæmonian. These have been consecrated at Delphi in letters of gold, and are to the following effect: “That each person ought to know himself, and not to desire to possess too much;” and “That misery is the sure companion of debt and litigation.” He died of joy, on hearing that his son had been victorious in the Olympic games, and all Greece assisted at his funeral rites.