Opening The Delphic Maxims — Apollo in Plato Scroll…
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Apollo · as preserved by Stobaeus
The moral precepts inscribed in golden letters at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Three famous sayings stood at the temple’s entrance — know thyself, nothing in excess, and pledge a surety, and ruin is near. A further list of 147 aphorisms, attributed by the ancient world to the Seven Sages of Greece and preserved in the fifth-century anthology of Stobaeus, was inscribed elsewhere in the precinct; a fragment of the same list survives carved in stone at the Hellenistic Greek city of Ai-Khanoum in modern-day Afghanistan. Know thyself. Nothing in excess. Pledge a surety, and ruin is near. Follow the gods. Obey the law. Revere the gods. Respect your parents. Be ruled by justice. Know what you have learned. Perceive what you have heard. Be yourself. Intend to marry. Know the right moment. Think mortal thoughts. When a stranger, behave as one. Honor the hearth. Rule yourself. Help your …
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