Epicharmus -- Fragment 230 K-A = B 11 DK [tr. Douglas (1985)]

Dave — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:41:17 +0000

I don’t want to die, but I don’t worry about being dead.

[Emori nolo, sed me esse mortuum nihil æstimo.]

Epicharmus of Kos (c. 540 – c. 450 BC) Greek dramatist and philosopher
Fragment 230 K-A = B 11 DK [tr. Douglas (1985)]
(Source)

Frag. 230, also identified as frag. 247. Recorded only in Cicero, Tusculan Disputations [Tusculanae Disputationes], 1.8/1.15 (45 BC), and sometimes attributed directly to him. Cicero's Marcus explicitly chooses to quote it in Latin, and no full Greek version has been preserved, so the original Greek is unknown. It is thought to be from one of Epicharmus' comedies.

In turn, Cicero's rendition is quoted in Montaigne, Essays, 2.13 "On Judging the Death of Another" (1580). Most of the translations below are from translators of Cicero or Montaigne.

See Kollwitz.

(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:

I would not die too soone,
But care not, when tis doone.
[tr. Florio (1603)]

I doe not feare death but the paine of death, which goeth before it.
[tr. Hoddesdon (1606)]

I would not die, but care not to be dead.
[tr. Browne (1642)]

To dye I'me loth, but weigh not to be dead.
[tr. Wase (1643)]

I would not die, but yet
Am not concerned that I shall be dead.
[tr. Main (1824)]

To quit the scene of life I am right loath;
Once fairly dead, I set it all at nought.
[tr. Otis (1839)]

I would not die, but yet
Am not concerned that I shall be dead.
[tr. Yonge (1853)]

I have no mind to die, but I have no objection to be dead.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]

I am unwilling to die, but I care not if I were dead.
[Source (1877)]

I dread to die, but dread not being dead.
[tr. Peabody (1886)]

I do not wish to die, but I care not if I were dead.
[Source (1886)]

Verily I shrink from dying; little reck of being dead.
[tr. Black (1889)]

I am unwilling to die, but I value myself as nothing when dead.
[tr. Taylor/Hunt (1916)]

I do not wish to die; but to be dead, I make no account of.
[tr. Ives (1925)]

It is not death, but dying, that I fear.
[tr. Frame (1943)]

I think nothing of being dead: it is the dying that I dislike.
[tr. Screech (1987)]

I have no desire to die, but I count my death as nothing.
[tr. Habinek (1996)]

I don't want to die but being dead doesn't worry me at all.
[tr. Davie (2017)]

I don't want to die; but being dead — I don't mind that!
[Source]

WIST Quotations

Epicharmus -- Fragment 230 K-A = B 11 DK [tr. Douglas (1985)]