Since You're Mortal . . .: Life Lessons from the Lost Greek Plays

by James Romm

Acclaimed classicist James Romm translates surviving pieces of timeless wisdom from the lost plays of ancient Athens.


“The truly happy man ought to stay at home.” “Hunger, and lack of coin, put a stop to love.” “Hades, alone of the gods, does not enjoy bribes.” These quotes—and hundreds of others from the great Greek dramatists, including Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Menander—were preserved in the fifth century AD, when a man named Stobaeus compiled an anthology to inspire and instruct his son. The quotes were pithy packets of wisdom expressed in eloquent verse and selected with a father’s discerning some prompt “aha” moments, others offer wit or dark humor, still others give moral insight. In Since You’re Mortal . . . , James Romm is the first to translate fragments saved by Stobaeus as poetry for modern English-language readers. Vividly rendered and beautifully presented, this volume serves as an ages-old but timeless guide to living a thoughtful, virtuous life.

Genres: Philosophy, History, Nonfiction, Plays, Greek Mythology, Drama

176 pages, Hardcover

Published May 5, 2026

Reviews

[Massimo Pigliucci]

Since You're Mortal is an intriguing collection of ancient Greek sayings from a variety of authors, all Athenian poets and playwrights who wrote some of the most insightful ancient plays and tragedies. The book, subtitled "Life lessons from the lost Greek plays," is a selection of the best of the best of a large number of citations originally assembled by "the man from Stobi," better known by his latinized name, Johannes Stobaeus. He hailed from the Balkan city of Stobi (modern North Macedonia) and had a son named Septimius. Johannes thought it a good idea to gift his son with a collection of wisdom quotes from the Athenian playwrights, a collection that still delights modern readers (though there is no full version available in English, a group of scholars is working on one, to be published by Oxford University Press). The selection that makes up Since You're Mortal is the work of author and translator James Romm, who definitely knows what he's doing here. The book is divided into thematic chapters: on the human condition; on love, lust, and passion; on luck and chance; on using one's head; on food, drink, and pleasure; on the ethical life; on troubles, griefs, and sorrows; on having and not having; on loyalty; on change, growth, and decay; on politics; on longevity and decline; on death and eternity; and a final chapter of assorted words of wisdom. Don't read it from beginning to end, browse and sample, and most importantly, highlight and reflect. The only thing I wish the book had more of is Romm's own commentary, which in this edition is limited to the introduction. Next time, perhaps?

[Sami Gonzalez]

I want to read every greek play now

[Ryan Teston]

A short book primarily consisting of aphorisms from Ancient Greek plays that no longer exist except for the excerpts that make up this book. There are some profound bits of wisdom here, but a few are a bit ambiguous or too on the nose to stand out. All of them, however, made me wish we had access to the original works. Such a shame the world lost so much art and literature (very likely) forever.

[Ryo]

I received a copy of this book for free in a Goodreads giveaway.

I hadn't really read books consisting mostly of quotations before, so it's hard for me to rate this. The book is basically all quotations from lost ancient Greek plays, organized by topic, preceded by just a short introduction. A lot of interesting quotations, and the book is pretty short and sweet, but I felt like there was an opportunity for some interesting commentary that's not in the book.

The introduction sets up the rest of the book, which is entirely quotations from lost Greek plays from ancient times. They're mostly from a compilation that Stobaeus created for his son, consisting of these quotes and many others that provided wisdom and guidance. The book is well-organized, with quotes organized into fourteen different topics, including love, food and drink, politics, and death. The author has chosen a lot of quotes that are still relevant today, and it's an effective illustration of the eternal wisdom of some of the ancient Greek playwrights.

Aside from the introduction, though, there's no commentary at all, and while that makes it easy to just fly through a bunch of quotations, I could not help but feel that some context and commentary would have been helpful. For example, some explanation about the eating habits of the ancient Greeks would have been helpful in the section about food and drink, or mentioning how long people typically lived back then in sections about longevity and death would have been nice.

But I appreciated that the book did not overstay its welcome, and the author did effectively distill what seems like a very long list of quotations into a manageable number of still-accessible and relevant ones, even if they are presented as-is without any commentary after the introduction.

[Rod]

No earth-shattering wisdom here, but I found it engaging and entertaining, nonetheless. As may be expected, it is not always the content, but rather the way in which it is expressed that is delightfully humorous and/or moving.

It is hard to overturn in a single day
the ignorance built up over years.
--Menander, "The Carthaginian"

Don't scold the elderly for making mistakes;
it's hard work to transplant an aging tree.
--Anonymous

You can maybe tell from those selections that I am an...ahem...senior citizen.

I leave you with this (by Euripides, from whence the title of this volume was derived):

Since you're mortal, expect to endure mortal things;
or do you, mere human, think you should have a god's life?

Of course, I am curious about the plays from which these words came, but the truth is that there are enough available texts by the likes of Euripides and Aeschylus and Sophocles to keep me busy for the remainder of my days...me being mortal and all.

[LizNReads]

Idk what I was expecting from this book, but it took me by surprise. This is all quotations from people who were once someone in Greece way back in the day. The author divided these quotes by how they relate to life, and later by author, leaving those whom author was unknown at the end. I’m rating it 5⭐️ because, although it’s all quotes, I love that the author’s intentions is to share with the world what once helped people deal with every-day life situations, leaving these quotes up for your own understanding/deciphering rather than them telling you WHAT to do at any given point.

[Roger]

A pleasant easy read. Aphorisms gleaned from plays and other Greek sources that never made their way into the canon most folks are familiar with.

Three stars because they don't always hang together and lack context. That said worth the 90 or so minutes it takes to get through it.

The most interesting aspect of this slim volume was the back story involving how these fragments survived.

Thank you Stobaeus!

[Chris Miller]

This is an extremely interesting book. In the fifth century BCE, Johannes of Stobi began to collect quotes from poetry, essays, and plays for his son. While only a few plays survived, so did this book. The result is that it gives deep insight into what was lost. Thoughtful, perplexing, amusing, insightful, Aha-provoking, it provides a poignant look at what is lost in the ravages of time.

[Madeline Anton]

Wonderful that Stonaus, the man from Stobi, compiled these quotes from Greek plays in the 5th c. AD for his son. I enjoyed the groupings of the chapters and appreciated much of the wisdom.

James Romm also wrote “Plato and the Tyrant: The fall of Greece’s greatest dynasty and the making of a philosophic masterpiece” which I read part of. It is quite dense. I enjoyed this book more.

[liza ✧˖*°࿐]

Eh… not my cup of tea tbh

[Becky Carlan]

A clever book of exordia, Greek one-liners that would be a great reference!

[Becky]

This is a great little book. My next read-through will include annotations.

[Joe]

An anonymous man livng in the 5th century collected quotes from Greek authors to send to his son as a guide to life. It's a tragedy that the vast majority of ancient Greek plays have been lost. This is just a sampling of those works.