Original text (Ancient Greek)
Poverty united to bad conduct utterly destroys and upturns the life of man.
No man's more fortunate than he who's poor,
Since for the worse his fortune cannot change.
I am a mortal; this very thing is the greatest cause of sorrow in life.
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind.
To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
Not for the body, but for the heart; companion and company are needed.
Love seldom haunts the breast where learning lies,
And Venus sets ere Mercury can rise.
Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Diphilus (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.