Sources and commentary

Campbell states (on page 153) that this poem is from Stobaeus 3.20.28 and that Dionysius of Helicarnassus gives the first line as an example of the trochaic rhythm. He gives various possible alternatives for ἀναδευ in line 2 and concedes that for ἐν δοκοῖσιν in the third line ἐνδόκοισιν, meaning 'ambushes' might be correct. He also has other notes and comments.

Professor Harris comments (at page 80) that "This famous passage seemed a model for life in the canon of Hellenic thought, and turns up somewhat altered in Horace's well known paradigm for the Golden Mean. "Go not too much one way or too far the other, strive for a balanced and equal-tempered way of living, as a formula for the good life." In the confusing world of Horace reeling from a century of civil warfare and outrage, this made sense, although it can easily produce a shillyshallying morality. But was somewhat different from the age of Archilochus where survival in a hundred minor inter-state conflicts depended on having enough courage to stand up and fight ---- or be taken into slavery if still alive after the carnage."