Theognis, a Dorian noble of Megara, flourished about the middle or in the later half of the 6th century B.C. His lot was cast in a troubled time. The overthrow of the tyrant Theagenes brought oligarchy and democracy face to face, and produced a period of confusion and struggle, during which Theognis was driven from his native city. Before his return he had visited Eubœa and Sicily. Under his name two books of elegiacs have come down to us numbering together about 1400 lines. Most of his political verses are addressed to a young Megarian noble named Cyrrus, on whom he seeks to impress the orthodox doctrines of Dorian aristocracy. The oligarchs are the 'good'; the commons the 'bad.' At dinner Cyrrus must sit as near as possible to a good man, so as to carry off some benefit from what he says. The growing influence of wealth disturbs his vision of the future. 'Money mixes race;' but such marriages are the bane of the city. His conclusion is that 'the best thing for a man is not to be born into the world at all, and the next best thing is to die at once.' His social verses present him in a less melancholy mood. Here too the didactic element plays a large part, though his wisdom is more worldly than moral. It is a disgrace to be drunk when the company are sober, but also a disgrace to be sober when the company are drunk, and the ideal stage is that of being 'no longer sober and yet not very drunk.' Cyrrus must suit his demeanour to his company. 'Amongst the uproarious,' says Theognis, 'I am very uproarious, and amongst the proper no man more proper than I.' Cyrrus must 'exceed in nothing; the mean is best in all things.'
For beauty of thought, expression, or imagery we must look elsewhere than in the elegiacs of Theognis. Passion there is none, nor do the profound problems of life which filled the drama of a later age seem to have touched the poet's simple Dorian mind. But his shrewd common sense recommended him to conservative fathers as an authority for their children's instruction, and his wise sayings were so well known that it became a proverb, 'I knew that before Theognis was born.' See Hookham Frere's Theognis Restitutus (Malta, 1842).