Aesop "Let a man be one thing or the other..."

[ravas]

"A doubtful friend is worse than a certain enemy. Let a man be one thing or the other, and we then know how to meet him."
-Aesop

Some thoughts for a more neutral / modern phrasing:
Let a person be as they choose, and then we know how to meet them.
Accept a person as they are, and then we know how to meet them.

I found this very difficult to translate.

ga nai i'a lo prenu cu cuxna vo'a gi mi'a djuno le du'u tadji lo nu penmi vo'a

Smells like gibberish to me.

e'o sidju

[selpa'i]

la .ravas. cu cusku di'e

> "A doubtful friend is worse than a certain enemy. Let a man be one thing
> or the other, and we then know how to meet him."

I would use {poi'i}/{voi} (in the new sense), but since this is the
beginner list, I won't. Here is the fully explicit version:

lo prenu poi lo du'u ke'a pendo cu se senpi cu xlalymau lo prenu
poi lo du'u ke'a bradi cu se birti .i ko'oi lo prenu cu ckaji pa lo re
mei .i se va'o bo ma'a djuno lo du'u ma kau mapti tadji lo ka penmi py

(I should say this is just *one* of many possible translations. I can't
even say that this would be my favorite, but it's pretty good :P)

If you're feeling lazy, you can tanru-ize certain parts, e.g.

lo pendo jai se senpi cu xlalymau lo bradi jai se birti

Of course this sacrifices a lot of the precision.

mi'e la selpa'i mu'o

[Pierre Abbat]

On Monday, January 26, 2015 02:13:27 ravas wrote:
> "A doubtful friend is worse than a certain enemy. Let a man be one thing or
> the other, and we then know how to meet him."
> -Aesop
>
> Some thoughts for a more neutral / modern phrasing:
> Let a person be as they choose, and then we know how to meet them.
> Accept a person as they are, and then we know how to meet them.

I'd have to see the Greek, but I guess the meaning is "Let a man be a certain
friend or a certain enemy".

lo selsenpi pendo cu xlamau lo selbirti bradi .i .au lo remna cu selbirti
pendo ja bradi .iseki'ubo ma'a djuno lo du'u penmi ri ta'i makau

mu'omi'e .piier.
--
The gostak pelled at the fostin lutt for darfs for her martle plave.
The darfs had smibbed, the lutt was thale, and the pilter had nothing snave.

[ravas]

i'o la piier. e la selpa'i. pu sidju mi

[Michael Turniansky]

  I wonder if English "meet" here isn't being taken to literally in all your translations (penmi).  I would think "jikca" might be more the intent?  But I could be wrong.

         --gejyspa

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