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,\\UUNIV[RS
Si ir^iiiiMi! r;
LOVE, WORSHIP AND DEATH
LOVE, WORSHIP AND DEATH
Some Renderings from the
Greek Anthology
BY
SIR RENNELL ROOD
author of
'ballads of the FLEKT '
'the VIOLF.r CROWN,' ETC.
A A'EIV AND ENLARGED EDITION
LONDON
EDWARD ARNOLD
1919
Ail rif/its rtser-.'td
PREFACE
The little volume published in 1916 under
the title of Love, Worship and Death met
with a kindly reception which has en-
couraged me to reprint the renderings from
the Greek Anthology which it contained
with an almost equal number of others
hitherto unpublished.
In this new edition I have placed in a
group by themselves the translations from
the lyric poetesses of ancient Greece, to-
gether with some of the memorial verses
recording the fame of Sappho and Erinna.
In other respects the approximately chrono-
logical arrangement of the former volume is
preserved. References to the Greek texts
have been added to the index.
V
The introduction to the first edition is
reproduced with only a few verbal correc-
tions. There is little to add to it save the
consoling reflection which I have derived
from a renewed examination of the greater
portion of the Anthology. The experiences
of the late grim years have revealed to us
how readily a large section of civilised
mankind can revert to the instincts of the
primeval savage. On the other hand these
little poems, written for the most part some
two thousand years ago, bear eloquent testi-
mony that those qualities of kindliness and
tenderness and sympathy, which they so
beautifully express, are eternal and essential
in the heart of man. In evidence of which
I may refer my readers to the versions on
pages 24, 61, and 72, R. R.
VI
INTRODUCTION TO THE
FIRST EDITION
Among the many diverse forms of expression
in which the Greek genius has been revealed
to us, that which is preserved in the lyrics
of the Anthology most typically reflects the
familiar life of men, the thought and feeling
of every day in the lost ancient world.
These little flowers of song reveal, as does
no other phase of that great literature, a
personal outlook on life, kindly, direct
and simple, the tenderness which charac-
terised family relations, the reciprocal affec-
tion of master and slave, sympathy with the
domestic animals, a generous sense of the
obligations of friendship, a gentle piety and
a close intimacy with the nature gods, of
whose presence, malignant or benign, the
vii
Greek was ever sensitively conscious. For
these reasons they still make so vivid an
appeal to us after a long silence of many
centuries. To myself who have lived for
some years in that enchanted world of
Greece, and have sailed from island to
island of its haunted seas, the shores have
seemed still quick with the voices of those
gracious presences who gave exquisite form
to their thoughts on life and death, their
sense of awe and beauty and love. There
indeed poetry seems the appropriate expres-
sion of the environment, and there even
still to-day, more than anywhere else in the
world, the correlation of our life with nature
may be felt instinctively ; the human soul
seems nearest to the soul of the world.
The poems, of which some renderings are
here offered to those who cannot read the
originals, cover a period of about a thousand
viii
years, broken by one interval during which
the lesser lyre is silent. The poets of the
elegy and the melos appear in due succession
after those of the epic, and, significant per-
haps of the transition, there are found in
the first great period of the lyric the names
of two women, Sappho of Lesbos, acknow-
ledged by the unanimous voice of anti-
quity, which is confirmed by the quality of
a few remaining fragments, to be among the
greatest poets of all times, and Corinna of
Tanagra, who contended with Pindar and
rivalled Sappho's mastery. The canon of
Alexandria does not include among the nine
greater lyrists the name of Erinna of Rhodes,
who died too young, in the maiden glory of
her youth and fame. The earlier poets of
the melos were for the most part natives of
'the sprinkled isles,
Lily on lily that o'erlace the sea.'
ix
Theirs is the age of the austerer mood, when
the clean-cut marble outlines of a great
language matured in its noblest expression.
Then a century of song is followed by the
period of the dramatists during which the
lyric muse is almost silent, in an age of
political and intellectual intensity.
A new epoch of lyrical revival is inaugur-
ated by the advent of Alexander, and the
wide extension of Hellenic culture to more
distant areas of the Mediterranean. Then
follows the long succession of poets who
may generally be classified as of the school
of Alexandria. Among them are three
other women singers of high renown, Anyte
of Tegea, Nossis of Locri in southern Italy,
and Moero of Byzantium. The later writers
of this period had lost the graver purity of
the first lyric outburst, but they had gained
by a wider range of sympathy and a closer
X
touch with nature. This group may be said
to close with Meleager, who was born in
Syria and educated at Tyre, whose contact
with the eastern world explains a certain
suggestive and exotic fascination in his
poetry which is not strictly Greek. The
Alexandrian is followed by the Roman
period, and the Roman by the Byzantine,
in which the spirit of the muse of Hellas
expires reluctantly in an atmosphere of
bureaucratic and religious pedantry.
These few words of introduction should
suffice, since the development of the lyric
poetry of Greece and the characteristics of
its successive exponents have been made
familiar to English readers in the admirable
work of my friend J. W. Mackail. A refer-
ence to his Select Epigrams from the Greek
Anthology suggests one plea of justification
for the present little collection of renderings,
xi
a considerable number of which have been
by him translated incomparably well into
prose. 1
Of the quality of verse translation there
are many tests : the closeness with which
the intention and atmosphere of the original
has been maintained ; the absence of ex-
traneous additions ; the omission of no
essential feature, and the interpretation, by
such equivalent as most adequately corre-
sponds, of individualities of style and asson-
ances of language. But not the least essen-
tial justification of poetical translation is
that the version should constitute a poem
on its own account, worthy to stand by
itself on its own merits if the reader were
unaware that it was a translation. It is to
^ A complete English prose translation of the
Greek Anthology, by W. R. Paton, has now been
published in the Loeb Classical Library.
xii
this test especially that renderings in verse
too often fail to conform. I have discarded
not a few because they seemed too ob-
viously to bear the forced expression which
the eflfort to interpret is apt to induce. Of
those that remain some at least I hope
approach the desired standard, failing to
achieve which they would undoubtedly be
better expressed in simple prose. And yet
there is a value in rendering rhythm by
rhythm where it is possible, and if any
success has been attained, such translations
probably convey more of the spirit of the
original, which meant verse, with all which
that implies, and not prose.
The arrangement in this little volume is
approximately chronological in sequence.
This should serve to illustrate the severe and
restrained simplicity of the earlier writers
as contrasted with the more complex and
xiii
conscious thought, and the more elaborate
expression of later centuries when the hori-
zons of Hellenism had been vastly extended.
The interpretation of these lyrics has
been my sole and grateful distraction during
a period of ceaseless work and intense
anxiety in the tragic years, 1914 to 1916.
R. R.
XIV
INDEX OF AUTHORS
(References to Greek Texts follow the Title)
A.P.=Antkologia Palatina : Rook and Number.
P.=Planudean Appendix, as published in the Loeb
Classical Library.
.5. = Brunck's Analecta Vetertim Poetarum Grae-
conim : Volume and page.
M. Indicates that the text is included in Mackail's
Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology.
PART I
MIMNERML'S pace
Carpe Dikm. M. .... 3
ANACREONTICA
I. Love's Ciiallengk. /?., i. 83 . . 4
II. Bacchanal. 5., i. 93 . . . . 5
III. Her Portrait. /?. ,i. 93 . 6
IV. The Lutk Constrains. /?., i. 79 . 9
V. Mktamorphosis. Z7. , i. 90 . . 10
VI. Ai'Oi.oiiiA. ^. . i. 90 . . . . la
UNKNOWN
ANACREON'S (iRAVK. Z/./'. , vii. 28. M. I3
XV
SIMONIDES
I. On THE Spartans. A.P., vVi. 2^1. M.
n. On THE Athenians. ^.Z*., vii, 253. M.
HI. The Lion of Thermopylae. A. P.,
vii. 344 a and b .
IV. The Dead at Thermopylae. B., i.
123
PLATO
I. A Grave IN Persia. ^./'., vii. 256. M.
II. Star Worship. A. P., vii. 669. M.
III. The Unset Star. A.P.,\u.6jo. M.
IV. Lais. A. P., vi. i.
V. A Shrine of Pan.
PERSES
A Rustic Shrine.
ADDAEUS
The Ancient Ox.
M.
P; 13.
M.
A. P., ix. 334. j\/.
A. P., vi. i8. M.
PHILETAS
Nothing for Tears (Stobaeus). M.
ASCLEPIADES
I. The Praise OF Love. A.P.,v. i6g. M.
II. A Grave on the Shore. A. P., vii.
284. M.
LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM
I. Spring by the Sea. A. P., x. i. M.
II. The Fountain Head. P., 226. AJ.
III. Priapus the Watchman. /'.,236 .
IV. His Epitaph. A. P., vii. 715
xvi
FAGB
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
30
31
32
A.P.,y\\.'2j7. M.
CALLTMACHUS
Cast UP by the Sea
MNASALCAS
To THE Archer God. A. P., vi. 9.
FOSEIDIPPUS
I. DoRiCHA (Athenaeus). M. .
II. ElRENION. A. P., V. 194
III. The Sailor's Grave. A. P., vii. 267
PTOLEMAEUS
Intimations of Immortality. ^l.P.
if- S77
DA.MAGETUS
Theano. a. P., vii. 735. M.
DIONYSIUS
The Rose OF Youth. A.P.,y.8i
ARCHIAS
I. The Harbolr God. A.P.,x. 10.
II. .\ Grave by the Sea. A. P.
278. M.
ML Echo. ^I.P., i.\. 27 . . .
IV. The Aphrodite ok Apelles.
MELEAGER
I. Love'.s Quiver. A. P., v. 19S
II. Thi Cup. A. P., v. 171. Af.
III. Zenophili . A. P., V. 139. A/.
IV. Ix)VE and Death. A.P., xii. 74
V. LovF.'s Malice. A. P., v. 176.
VI. .\SCLKPIAs. A. p., V. 156. Af.
b xvii
.\f.
Af.
vii.
P., 179
A/.
Af.
M.
PAGE
33
34
35
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
vn. TiMAKioN's Captive. A. P., xii. 113
VIM. Vksper Redux. A. P., xii. 114. M.
IX. HliLIODOKA. A. P., V. 136. M. .
X. The Wreath. A. P., v. 147. M.
XI. Libation. A.P.,\. \y]. M.
XII. The Grave of Heliodoka. A. P.
vii. 476. M. . . . .
XIII. His Ei'iTAPH. A. P., vii. 419. M,
DIODORUS ZONAS
The Dead Child. A. P., vii. 365
APOLLONIDES
Death's Hymenaeal. A. P., vii. 378
M.
CRINAGORAS
Roses in Winter. A. P., vi. 343.
JULIUS POLYAENUS
.An Exile's Prayer. A.P.,\\.-}.
antipater of THESSALONICA
I. A Grave at OsTiA. ^.Z*., vii. 185.
II. Aegean Isles. .4./'. , ix. 421
STRATO
The Kiss. A. P., xii. 177. M. .
AMMIANUS
The Lord uk Lands. A. P., x. 209,
ALPHEUS
Mycenae. A. P., ix. loi. A/.
PALLADAS
The Pessimist. A. P., x. 84. M.
xviii
jif.
M.
M.
M.
I'AGE
52
53
54
55
56
57
59
6i
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
MACEDONIUS
The Threshold. A. P., vii, 566. .1/.
UNKNOWN
Friendship's Epitaph. A. P., vii.
346. :!/.
The E.nvious Lovek. A.P.,\. 82 and
83. M.
The Counsel of Pan. P., 227. A/.
The Eternal Feminine. A. P., v. 26
The Aphrodite of Cnidos. P., i68.
BivNiTiER. A. P., xiv. 71. M.
Amvntichus. A. p., vii. 321
A Sadducee. ^.,iii. 299 .
Ekos of the Garden. P., 202. A/.
Petroma Musa. B., iii. 306. J/.
The End of the Comedv. A. P.. ix.
49. -J/.
PAGE
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
8i
82
.-J. P., V
PART II
SAPPHO
I. Timas (Athenaeus)
II. DiCA ....
ill. A Bitter Word. //., i. 57
IV. Hesper ....
V. A Fayou.m Fkagment .
VI. The Beloved Presence, fi.,
VII. Out of Reach
viii. I'HK Lonely Night. H.. i. 56
xix
i. .,89
'• 55
95
96
97
98
99
lOI
103
104
ERINNA PAGB
I. Thk Dead Bride. /1.P.,\\\. 7x2. M. 105
II. The GRAvii OK Baucis. A.P.,\\\, 710 107
.^NYTE OF TEGEA
I. A Shrine by the Sea. A. P., ix.
144. M. 109
II. The God OK THE Cross-Roads. A. P.,
ix. 314. M no
III, A Rustic Offering. P., 291 . , in
IV. A Picture. A. P., vi. 312 . . . 112
V. The Goat. A. P., ix. 745 . . ■ "3
MOERO
I. A Bunch OF Grapes. ^/.A,vi. 119. M. 114
II. Ex VoTO, A. P., vi, 189, M. . . "S
NOSSIS
I, Roses of Cypris. A. P., v. 176. M. . 116
11. Rintho's Grave. A. P., vii. 414. M. 117
III. A Rival. A. P., vii. 718 . . .118
THE PRAISE OF SAPPHO AND ERINNA
Leonidas of Tarentum. a. p., vii.
13. M 121
ASCLEI'IADES. A. P., vii. II . . . 122
TULLIUS LAUREA. A.P.,V\\.l7. . 123
Antipater of Sidon, i. A. P., vii. 14 124
II. A. p., vii. 713 126
Unknown, I. ^.Z*., ix. 190 . . . 128
II. A. P., vii. 12 . . . X29
NOTES 130
XX
PART I
7TII CENTURY B.C. TO 6TII CENTURY A.D.
MIMNERMUS
7th century b.c.
Carpe Diem
Hold fast thine youth, dear soul of mine,
new lives will come to birth,
And I that shall have passed away be one
with the brown earth.
Note I.
ANACREONTICA
ANACREON, 6tH CENTURY B.C.
I
Love's Challenge
Love smote me with his jacinth wand and
challenged me to race,
And wore me down with running till the
sweat poured off my face,
Through breaks of tangled woodland, by
chasms sheer to scale.
Until my heart was in my lips and at the
point to fail.
Then as I felt his tender wings brush lightly
round my head,
'Tis proven that thou lackest the strength
to love,' he said.
Note 2.
ANACREONTICA
II
Bacchanal
When Bacchus hath possessed me my cares
are lulled in wine,
And all the weahh of Croesus is not more
his than mine :
I crown my head with ivy, I lift my voice to
sing,
And in my exultation seem lord of every
thing.
So let the warrior don his arms, give me my
cup instead,
If I must lie my length on earth, why better
drunk than dead.
ANACREONTICA
III
Her Portrait
Master of all the craftsmen,
Prince of the Rhodian art,
Interpret, master craftsman,
Each detail I impart,
And draw as were she present
The mistress of my heart.
First you must match those masses
Of darkly clustered hair,
And if such skill be in your wax
The scent that harbours there ;
And where the flowing tresses cast
A warm-toned shadow, trace
6
A forehead white as ivory
The oval of her face.
Her brows you must not quite divide
Nor wholly join, there lies
A subtle link between them
Above the dark-lashed eyes.
And you must borrow flame of fire
To give her glance its due,
As tender as Cithera's
And as Athena's blue.
For cheek and nostril rose-leaves
And milk you shall enlist,
And shape her lips Uke Peitho's,
Inviting to be kissed.
Let all the Graces stay their flight
And gather round to deck
The outline of her tender chin,
The marble of her neck.
And for the rest bedrape her
In robe of purple hue,
7
With here and there to give it life
The flesh tint peeping through.
Now hold thy hand, — for I can see
The face and form I seek,
And surely in a moment's space
I think your wax will speak.
Note 3.
8
ANACREONTICA
IV
The Lute Constrains
Of Atreus' sons, of Cadmus' might
My purpose was to sing,
But love invades in my despite
The lute's rebellious string.
To tell the toil of Heracles
I strung each cord anew,
But still as it accompanies
The love-refrain breaks through.
Goodbye, ye heroes. This my lyre
Can only sing of love's desire.
ANACREONTICA
V
Metamorphosis
If she who, born to Tantalus,
As Niobe we know.
Was turned to stone among the hills
Of Phrygia long ago ;
If Procne by such magic change
Was made a bird that flies,
Let me become the mirror
That holds my lady's eyes !
Or let me be the water
In which your beauty bathes,
Or the dress which clinging closely
Your gracious presence swathes;
lo
Or change me to the perfume
You sprinkle on your skin.
Or let me be the pearl-drop
That hangs beneath your chin ;
And if not these the girdle
You bind below your breast ;
Or be at least the sandal
Your little foot hath pressed.
II
ANACREONTICA
VI
Apologia
The brown earth drinks from heaven, and
from the earth the tree,
The sea drinks down the vapour, and the
sun drinks up the sea,
The moon drinks in the sunlight ; now
therefore, comrades, say
What fault have you to find in me if I
would drink as they ?
12
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Anacreon's Grave
You that pass this place of graves
Pause and spill a cup for me,
For I hold Anacreon's ashes,
And would drink as once would he.
13
SIMONIDES
556-467 B.C.
THE PLATAEAN EPITAPHS
I
On the Spartans
These who with fame eternal their own
dear land endowed
Took on them as a mantle the shade of
death's dark cloud ;
Yet dying thus they died not, on whom is
glory shed
By virtue which exalts them above all other
dead.
14
SIMONIDES
II
On the Athenians
If to die nobly be the meed that lures the
noblest mind,
Then unto us of all men in this was fortune
kind.
For Greece we marched, that freedom's arm
should ever round her fold ;
We died, Ijut gained for guerdon renown
that grows not old.
15
SIMONIDES
III
The Lion of Thermopylae
I AM the noblest of the beasts as once of
mortals he
Whose marble sepulchre I crown by men
was held to be.
Had he not had a lion heart to match the
name I gave
I should not now be standing on guard
above his grave.
Note 3 a.
i6
SIMONIDES
IV
The Dead at Thermopylae
Glory immortal shall their portion be
Who died in battle at Thermopylae.
Their lot was happy, memory their crown,
Their tomb an altar and their death renown.
Wherefore since here lie shrouded men so
brave
Corroding age and time that soon or late
Subdueth all things shall forbear their
grave ;
And they will hold this precinct consecrate
Who dwell in Hellas. That these words are
true
Let Sparta's king Leonidas proclaim,
Whose virtue earned as heritage and due
High honour and an everlasting name.
B 17
PLATO
429-347 B.C.
I
A Grave in Persia
Far from our own Aegean shore
And the surges booming deep,
Here where Ecbatana's great plain
Lies broad, we exiles sleep.
Farewell, Eretria the renowned,
Where once we used to dwell ;
Farewell, our neighbour Athens ;
Beloved sea, farewell !
Note 4.
18
PLATO
II
Star Worship
Thou gazest starward, star of mine, whose
heaven I fain would be,
That all my myriad starry eyes might only
gaze on thee.
19
PLATO
III
The Unset Star
Star that didst on the living at dawn thy
lustre shed,
Now as the star of evening thou shinest
with the dead !
20
PLATO
IV
Lais
I THAT through the land of Hellas
Laughed in triumph and disdain,
Lais, of whose open porches
All the love-struck youth were fain,
Bring the mirror once I gazed in,
Cyprian, at thy shrine to vow.
Since I see not there what once was,
And I would not what is now.
31
PLATO
V
A Shrine of Pan
Sit down beside this pine tree, whose lofty
rustling crest
Is filled with murmur of the breeze that
freshens from the west ;
And where the waters of my spring go
chattering as they leap
The reed pipe's melody shall draw down
thy charmed eyelids sleep.
22
PERSES
4TH CENTURY B.C.
A Rustic Shrine
I AM the god of the little things,
In whom you will surely find,
If you call upon me in season,
A little god who is kind.
You must not ask of me great things.
But what is in my control,
I, Tychon, god of the humble,
May grant to a simple soul.
Note 5.
23
ADDAEUS
4th century b.c.
The Ancient Ox
The ox of Alcon was not led to the
slaughter when at length
Age and the weary furrow had sapped his
olden strength.
His faithful work was honoured, and in the
deep grass now
He strays and lows contentment, enfran-
chised from the plough.
24
PHILETAS
4th century b.c.
Nothing for Tears
I SHALL not weep for you, most dear of all
ray friends, you knew
Life's goodlier gifts, and in return Death
claimed his destined due.
25
ASCLEPIADES
3RD CENTURY B.C.
I
The Praise of Love
Sweet is the snow in summer thirst to
drink, and sweet the day
When sailors see spring's garland bloom
and winter pass away.
But the sweetest thing on earth is when,
one mantle for their cover,
Two hearts recite the Cyprian's praise as
lover unto lover.
26
ASCLEPIADES
II
A Grave on the Shore
Keep thine eight cubits distance, rough sea,
from off my grave,
And roaring with thy might and main roll
up thy swelHng wave.
But if thy will be to despoil the tomb of
Eumares
Thou wilt find his bones and ashes there,
and nought more rare than these.
27
LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM
3RD CENTURY B.C.
I
Spring by the Sea
This is the sailor's season. The breeze sets
fair and west,
And the shrill-twittering swallow is once
again our guest.
Now all the meads are full of bloom and
now once more the main
That storm and wave had winnowed has
grown serene again.
So, seamen, weigh the anchor up, and let
the stern-ropes slip
28
And shake out all your canvas to speed
along the ship.
Priapus, I, the Haven-God, thus issue my
decree,
Go forth, O man, and prosper thy traffic
in the sea.
Note 6.
29
LEONIDAS OF TARP:nTUM
II
The Fountain Hf.ad
Pause not here to drink thy fill
Where the sheep have stirred the rill,
And the pool lies warm and still.
Cross yon ridge a little way,
Where the grazing heifers stray,
And the stone-pine's branches sway
O'er a creviced rock below ;
Thence the bubbling waters flow
Cooler than the northern snow.
3«
LEON IDAS OF TARENTUM
III
Priapus the Watchman
Deinomenes hath set me here in the hedge
where thorns abound,
That I, Priapus, may not sleep, but watch
his garden ground.
Look, thief, how wide awake I keep ! And
is all this, say you.
For the sake of those few cabbages ? Yes,
just because so few.
3'
LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM
IV
His Epitaph
Far from the land of Italy, and far away
Hie
From my Tarentum. This to me was
harder than to die.
The wanderer's life is no good life, what
though to make amends
In all my toils and troubles the Muses were
my friends.
Nor hath the name Leonidas lost grace
through fault of mine,
The Muse's gift shall make it known where-
ever suns may shine.
32
CALLIMACHUS
3rd century b.c.
Cast up by the Sea
Who were you, shipwrecked sailor? The
body that he found,
Cast on the beach, Leontichus laid in this
burial mound ;
And mindful of his own grim life he wept,
for neither he
May rest in peace who like a gull goes up
and down the sea.
33
MNASALCAS
3RD CENTURY B.C.
To THE Archer God
These votive gifts, O Phoebus, on thee,
his crescent bow,
His quiver once with arrows filled, doth
Promachus bestow.
The winged shafts are no more there, for
tiiose were deadly guests
His foemen in the battle's brunt have taken
to their breasts.
34
POSEIDIPPUS
3RD OR 2ND CENTURY B.C.
I
DORICHA
Ah, Doricha, thy bones are dust long since,
and even so
The braided band that bound thy hair, and
dust long, long ago
That mantle breathing scent of myrrh,
wherein through love's long feast
Thou heldest fair Charaxus wrapped, till
dawn was in the east.
But the white page abideth still of Sappho's
sweetest song.
Re-echoing thy beloved name, and shall
abide yet long,
35
The name that here in Naucratis shall live
for years to be,
So long as the lagoon of the Nile shall
tempt ships oversea.
Note 7.
36
POSEIDIPPUS
II
EiRENION
Eirenion's gracious presence the little
Loves espied,
As from the golden chambers of Cypris
forth they hied.
From head to foot like some fresh flower, a
holy thing she stood,
And pure as sculptured marble in her grace
of maidenhood.
Then many were the hands essayed to speed
their winged darts
From taut-drawn purple bowstrings in
quest of youthful hearts.
37
POSEIDIPPUS
III
The Sailor's Grave
Good sea-folk wherefore lay me here, so
near the salt sea wave !
Far from the shore ye should have dug the
drowned man's piteous grave.
I would not hear the sea, my doom. Yet,
whosoe'er ye be,
Farewell and thanks to you that showed
Nicetas charity.
38
PTOLEMAEUS THE KING
3rd or 2nd century b.c.
Intimations of Immortality
I know this creature of a day must die, but
when these eyes
Behold the stars' infinitude revolving with
the skies,
Then I whose feet no longer rest upon the
earth they trod
Am bidden to a deathless feast, the very
guest of God.
Note 8.
39
DAMAGETUS
3rd or 2nd century b.c.
Theano
These words, renowned Phocaea, were the
last Theano said,
As she went down into the night that none
hath harvested.
Hapless am I, Apellichus, beloved husband
mine,
Where in the wide wide waters is now that
bark of thine ?
My doom hath come upon me, and would
to God that I
Had felt my hand in thy dear hand on the
day I had to die.
40
DIONYSIUS
2nd century b.c. (?)
The Rose of Youth
Girl with the roses and the grace
Of all the roses in your face,
Are you, or are the blooms you bear,
Or haply both your market ware ?
41
ARCHIAS
1ST CENTURY B.C.
I
The Harbour God
Me. Pan, whose presence haunts the shore,
The fisher folk set here,
To guard their haven anchorage
On the cliff that they revere ;
And thence I watch them cast the net
And mind their fishing gear.
Sail past me, traveller : for I send
The gentle southern breeze,
Because of this their piety,
To speed thee over seas.
42
ARCHIAS
II
A Grave by the Sea
I, SHIPWRECKED Theris, whom the tide
Flung landward from t'ne deep,
Not even dead may I forget
The shores that know not sleep.
Beneath the cliffs that break the surf
My body found a grave,
Dug by the hands of stranger men.
Beside the cruel wave :
And still ill-starred among the dead
I hear for evermore
The hateful booming of the seas
That thunder on the shore.
Note 9.
43
ARCHIAS
III
Echo
Say naught untoward when you near the
precinct where I dwell,
For Echo can be shrill or still, but all I
hear I tell ;
Each word you say I give you back, and if
you make no sign
Then I am mute, was ever tongue less prone
to trip than mine?
44
ARCHIAS
IV
The Aphrodite of Apelles
Apelles saw the Cyprian, her very self,
when she
Emerged newborn and naked from out the
mother sea.
And just as he beheld her his art reveals
her there
With gracious hands still wringing the wet
foam from her hair.
45
MELEAGER
1ST CENTURY B.C.
I
Love's Quiver
By Heliodora's sandalled foot, and Demo's
waving hair,
By Dorothea's wreath of blooms unbudding
to the air,
By Anticlea's winsome smile and the great
eyes of her,
And by Timarion's open door distilling
scent like myrrh,
I know the god of love has spent his arrows
winged to smart,
For all the shafts his quiver held I have
them in my heart.
46
MELEAGER
II
The Cup
The cup takes heart of gladness, whose
boast it is to be
Sipped by the mouth of love's delight, soft-
voiced Zenophile.
Most favoured cup ! I would that she with
lips to my lips pressed
Would drink the soul in one deep draught,
that is my body's guest.
47
MELEAGER
III
Zenophile
SwEKT is the music of that air, by Pan of
Arcady,
Thou drawest from the harpstrings, too
sweet, Zenophile;
The thronging loves on every side close in
and press me nigh,
And leave me scarce a breathing space, so
whither can I fly ?
Is it thy beauty or thy song that kindles my
desire,
Thy grace or every thing thou art ? For I
am all on fire.
48
MELEAGER
IV
Love and Death
Friend Cleobulus, when I die
Who conquered by desire,
Abandoned in the ashes he
Of youth's consuming fire,
Do me this service, drench in wine
The urn you pass beneath,
And grave upon it this one Une,
' The gift of Love to Death.'
49
MELEAGER
V
Love's Malice
Cruel is Love, ah cruel, and what can I do
more
Than moaning love is cruel, repeat it o'er
and o'er ?
I know the boy is laughing and pleased that
I grow grim,
And just the bitter things I say are the bread
of life to him.
But you that from the grey-green wave
arising, Cyprian, came,
'Tis strange that out of water you should
have borne a flame.
5°
MELEAGER
VI
ASCLEPIAS
Like the calm sea beguiling with those blue
eyes of hers,
Asclepias tempteth all men to be love's
mariners.
5'
MELEAGER
VII
Timarion's Captive
The love-god's self in midmost air was
caught and bound a prize
Despite his wings when he was chased,
Timarion, by thine eyes.
5«
MELEAGER
VIII
Vesper Redux
Dawn's herald, morning-star, farewell !
Return soon as you may ;
And stealthily as evening-star
Bring her you scared away.
5.-5
MELEAGER
IX
Heliodora
Say Heliodore, and Heliodore, and still say
Heliodore,
And let the music of her name mix with the
wine you pour.
And wreathe me with the wreath she wore,
that holds the scent of myrrh,
For all that it be yesterday's, in memory of
her.
The rose that loveth lovers, the rose lets fall
a tear
Because my arms are empty, because she is
not here.
54
MELEAGER
X
The Wreath
White violet with the tender-leaved nar-
cissus I will twine,
And the laughing lips of lilies with myrtle
blooms combine;
And I will bind the hyacinth, the dark red-
purple flower,
With crocus sweet and roses that are the
lovers' dower,
To make the wreath that Heliodore's curl-
scented brow shall wear.
To strew with falling petals the glory of her
hair.
55
MELEAGER
XI
Libation
Pour out as if for Peitho, and for the
Cyprian pour,
Then for the sweet-voiced Graces, but all
for Heliodore ;
For there is but one goddess whose worship
I enshrine,
And blent with her beloved name I drink
the virgin wine.
56
MELEAGER
Xll
The Grave of Heliodora
Tears for thee, Heliodore, and bitter tears
to shed,
If all that love has left to give can reach
thee with the dead ;
Here at thy grave I offer, that tear-drenched
grave of thine,
Libation of my longing as at a lover's shrine.
Forlorn I mourn thee, dearest, in the land
where shadows dwell,
Forlorn, and grudge the tribute death could
have spared so well.
57
Where is the flower I cherished ? Plucked
by the god of doom ;
Plucked, and his dust has tarnished the
scarce unbudded bloom.
I may but pray thee, mother earth, who
givest all thy best.
Clasp her I mourn forever close to thy
gentle breast.
58
MELEAGER
XIII
His Epitaph
Tread softly, ye that pass, for here
The old man rests his head,
And sleeps the sleep that all men must
Among the honoured dead ;
Meleager, son of Eucrates,
Who linked the joyous train
Of Graces and of Muses
With love's delicious pain.
From Gadara, the sacred land,
I came and god-built Tyre,
But Meropis and pleasant Cos
Consoled life's waning fire.
59
If thou be Syrian, say Salaam,
Or Hail, if Greek thou be,
Say Naidios, if Phoenician born,
For all are one to me.
Note lo.
60
DIODORUS ZONAS OF SARDIS
1st century b.c.
The Dead Child
Thou that on Hades water dost ply the oar
and steer
The bark in which the dead folk pass across
the sedgy mere,
Dark Charon, reach a guiding hand for
Cynarus to take
When he must mount thy foot-board that
bridges o'er the lake.
For the child has got no sandals and he will
surely shrink
From pressing with his naked foot the wet
sands by the brink.
6i
APOLLONIDES
1st century b.c. and a.d.
Death's Hymenaeal
First Heliodorns closed his eyes and scarce
an hour apart
Diogeneia followed the husband of her heart.
Thus undivided as in life the same stone
roofs the pair
Who welcome as a bridal bed the common
grave they share.
Note II.
62
CRINAGORAS
1ST CENTURY B.C.
RosKS IN Winter
In spring it was we roses
Were used to bloom of old,
Who now in midmost winter
Our crimson cells unfold,
To greet thee on the birthday
That shall thy bridal bring.
'Tis more to grace so fair a brow
Than know the suns of spring.
63
JULIUS POLYAENUS
1st century b.c.
An Exile's Prayer
Among the myriad voices that seek to win
thine ear
From those wiiose prayers are granted, from
those who pray in fear,
O Zeus of Scheria's holy plain, let my voice
reach thee too.
And hearken and incline the brow that
binds thy promise true.
Let my long exile have an end, my toil and
travel past.
Grant me in my own native land to live at
rest at last !
64
ANTIPATER OF THESSALONICA
1ST CENTURY B.C.
r
A Grave at Ostia
AusoNiAN earth contains me
That was a Libyan maid,
And in the sea's sand hard by Rome
My virgin form was laid.
Pompeia with a mother's care
Watched o'er my tender years,
Entombed me here among the free,
And gave me many tears.
Not as she prayed the torch was fired,
She would have burned for me ;
The lamp which took the torch's place
Was thine, Persephone.
65
ANTIPATER OF THESSALONICA
II
Aegean Isles
You islands, from the greater world like
broken fragments torn,
That rough Aegean girdles round, how lie
you now forlorn,
The glory that was yours long years has
gone the way of fate,
Siphnos and Pholegandros are not more
desolate.
Great fame had Delos once of old, but even
Delos knew
The presence of her god withdrawn. So is
it now with you.
Note 12.
66
STRATO
2nd century a.d.
The Kiss
It was at even and the hour in which good-
nights are bid
That Moeris kissed me, if indeed I do not
dream she did.
Of all the rest that happened there is naught
that I forget,
No word she said, no question of all she
asked, — and yet
If she indeed did kiss me, my doubt can
not decide.
For how could I still walk the earth had I
been deified !
AMMIANUS
2nd century a.d.
The Lord of Lands
Though till the gates of Heracles thy land-
marks thou extend,
Their share in earth is equal for ail men at
the end ;
And thou shalt lie as Irus lies, one obol all
thy store,
And be resolved into an earth that is thine
own no more.
Note 13.
68
ALPHEUS
2nd century a.d.
Mycenae
The cities of the hero age thine eyes may
seek in vain,
Save where some wrecks of ruin still break
the level plain.
So once I saw Mycenae, the ill-starred, a
barren height
Too bleak for goats to pasture, — the goat-
herds point the site.
And as I passed a greybeard said, 'Here
used to stand of old
A city built by giants, and passing rich in
gold.'
Note 14.
69
PALLADAS
4th a.nd 5th century a.d.
The Pessimist
Now having wept a while I die as I was
born with tears,
And in the midst of weeping I passed ray
living years.
Ah feeble, wretched race of man, for ever in
distress
Till underground ye pass at last and end in
nothingness.
Note 15.
70
MACEDONIUS
6th century a.d.
The Threshold
Spirit of Birth, that gave me life,
Earth, that receives my clay,
Farewell, for I have travelled
The stage that twixt you lay.
I go, and have no knowledge
From whence I came to you,
Nor whither I shall journey,
Nor whose I am, nor who.
7'
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Friendship's Epitaph
This stone, my good Sabinus, although it
be but small,
Shall be of our great friendship a witness
unto all.
Ever shall I desire thee, and thou, if this
may be,
Forbear to drink among the dead the lethe-
draft for me.
72
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
The Envious Lover
I WOULD I were the passing breeze that
when abroad you go
Your bosom to the sunlight bared might
stay me as I blow.
I would I were the blush-red rose, and so
have grace to rest
Where your two hands had set me against a
snow-white breast.
Note 1 6.
73
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
The Counsel of Pan
In this green meadow, traveller, yield
Thy weary limbs to rest :
The branches of the stone-pine sway
To the wind from out the west ;
The cricket calls, and all noon long
The shepherd's piping fills
The plane-grove's leafy shadows
By the spring among the hills.
Soothed by these sounds thou shalt avoid
The dogstar's autumn fires,
And then to-morrow cross the ridge ; —
Such wisdom Pan inspires.
Note 17.
74
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
The Eternal Feminine
When I behold that glory of dark blue-
shadowed hair,
Or when an auburn gold illumes those
tresses, lady fair,
I cannot tell which suits you best, but I am
bold to say
That love will not abandon those locks
when they grow grey.
75
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
The Aphrodite of Cnidos
Adonis and Anchises and Paris, none save
these
Had seen me naked that I know. How did
Praxiteles ?
76
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
B^NITIER
Touch but the virgin water, clean of soul,
Nor fear to pass into the pure god's
sight :
For the good a drop suffices. But the
whole
Great ocean could not wash the unclean
white.
77
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Amyntichus
This old Amyntichus, dear Earth, into thy
bosom take.
Remembering all the many ways he
laboured for thy sake.
For he was used to plant in thee his olive
stocks in line
And set for thine adornment fresh cuttings
of the vine.
With corn he filled thee, and he ridged the
little streams that flow
To make thy fruit and herbage in rich
abundance grow.
Wherefore rewarding him do thou lie light
upon his bed
And make the spring grass bourgeon above
his hoary head.
7«
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
A Sadducee
Pass not my grave, O wayfarer, without a
glance, but stay
And read what here is written, and learning
go thy way.
There is no bark to Hades, no Charon with
his oar.
No Aeacus with key in hand, no hell-hound
at the door.
But all of us who underground were buried
when we died
Are only bones or ashes, and there is
nought beside.
Wayfarer, take the road again, what was to
say is said.
I would not have you call me long-winded
being dead.
70
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Eros of the Garden
I AM not he of Libanus, O stranger ! My
delight
Is not in lovers' converse and revels all the
night ;
A lowlier god whose mother nymph the
neighbour valley knows,
Whose rustic task is but to bless what in
this garden grows.
And that is why I bear four crowns, to
mark the seasons four.
Gifts from the well-beloved fruit-laden
threshing floor.
Note 1 8.
9o
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Petronia Musa
The nightingale whose song was sweet,
Musa the blue-eyed maid,
So suddenly grown songless, in this small
grave is laid.
And marble still she rests we knew so
famous and so wise ;
My pretty Musa, may the dust be light that
on thee lies.
Note 19.
81
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
The End of the Comedy
Fortune and Hope, a long adieu !
My ship is safe in port.
With me is nothing left to do,
Make other lives your sport.
Note 20.
82
PART II
THE WOMEN POETS
INTRODUCTIOxN TO PART II
The nine most famous poetesses of ancient
Greece are enumerated in an epigram by
Antipater of Thessalonica, a copious writer
of Greek verse in the Augustan age, who is
distinguished from the homonymous poet of
Sidon by the name of that city of which his
friend, Lucius Calpurnius Piso, appointed
him governor.
' Tliese women with the voice of gods ivere
taught in Helicon
To sing, or on Pierias hi/l, the rock of
Mace don :
Praxilla, Moero, Anytr, great Homer s
woman peer,
And Sappho whom the fair-headed maids of
Mytilene revere ;
85
Erinna, Telesilla, Cortnna, who revealed
The puissance of Athena's resistless battle
shield ;
And Nossis with her woman's word and
Myrtds tragic grace ;
Their songs are writ on pages that time shall
not efface.
Nine muses mighty Ouranos begat and nine
the earth.
To be an everlasting joy to men of mortal
birth:
The poems of five only of the nine were
inchided in the Garland of Meleager, into
which he wove, as we learn from his preface,
many lilies of Anyte and many of Moero,
and of Sappho some few flowers, but only
roses ; with these the iris of Nossis, breath-
ing perfume in its perfect bloom, Nossis for
whose tablets Love himself melted the wax,
and the sweet virginal crocus of Erinna.
86
In neither of these poetical catalogues are
the names set down in chronological order.
The earliest in date is Sappho, with her
reputed contemporaries and disciples, Erinna
and Telesippa, for so should her name be
written. They flourished about the year
600 B.C. The latest of the nine belong to
the third century before our era.
The incomparable Sappho has been the
subject of many studies in modern times,
from Welcker to Comparetti, Wharton and
Wilamowitz. Scanty as is the sum of frag-
ments of her song which have been rescued
from oblivion, these suffice to confirm her
imperishable fame. Recent transcriptions
from the papyrus wrappings in the graves of
the Fayoum have added somewhat to their
number, which it is permitted to hope will
yet be increased by further discoveries, h
is, however, hardly probable that they will
87
throw more light upon the enigma of her
life. The well-established facts to be drawn
from ancient records are too well known to
call for repetition here.
We have no word of Telesippa. Of Erinna
only three lyrics survive in the Anthology.
Her most famous poem was the 'Distaff,'
containing three hundred lines in all, a few
of which have been preserved by quotation.
Although she died at the age of nineteen,
as we know from a series of little poems in
her praise, she was nevertheless numbered
among the nine mortal muses. It has been
assumed that a line of Sappho which is
found in the Enchiridion of Hephaestion
refers to her : ' Mnasidica is more beautiful
than the delicate Gyrinno.^ Eranna, which
occurs in another fragment, quoted by the
same author, would appear to be a qualify-
ing adjective, signifying beloved, rather than
88
another form of her name. Her birthplace
according to the balance of evidence was
the island of Telos near Rhodes, when
the Doric dialect prevailed. It has been
suggested that her verse displays a blending
of the Aeolic with the Doric, and this would
find a reasonable explanation if the legend
be accepted that she belonged to the school
of Sappho. The honour of having given
birth to Erinna has also been assigned to
Tenos and to Teos. But these were
Ionian islands. Their similarity of name
and their greater importance would account
for the substitution. Eusebius dissents
from other writers of antiquity who number
her among the contemporaries of Sappho,
and assigns to her a date about 350 n.c.
One of the three pieces preserved in the
Anthology, a quatrain on the portrait of
Agatharcis, describes it as so living thai if
89
the painter could only have given the
picture a voice, the maiden would have
seemed to be present in person. From
the plastic art of the sixth and seventh
centuries as we know it, it is difficult to
infer that the contemporary art of painting
could have been so realistic as to justify
the claims of the epigram, which might be
more appropriate to the fourth century. An
Anacreontic poem which urges a similar
plea is almost certainly one of the imitations
of a later period. No one of the extant
poems by known writers in praise of Erinna
is earlier than the third century B.C. But
that is equally true of those dedicated to
Sappho. The quatrain of Leonidas of
Tarentum might indeed seem to have been
composed at the time of her death, but
even if the date which Eusebius assigns to
Erinna be accepted, Leonidas would have
90
flourished half a century later. There may
indeed have been two Erinnas. In any
case, we cannot but be reluctant to abandon
the tradition of antiquity which identified
the child of genius with Gyrinno, and
rather would w^e wish to believe that it was
of her that Sappho so magnificently said :
Ov8' lav SoKifioi/xt, rrpocriSoKrav e^aos dAioj
i<T(Ti(T6ai. (Tocfiiav TTdpOfvov tt's ovStya irw
ypoi'ov TOiai'Tav.
Among the bronze statues in the Gymna-
sium known as Zeuxippos at Byzantium,
only that of Erinna of all the women poets
was held worthy to stand with Sappho's.
As she appeared to Asclepiades and Leoni-
das and Antipater of Sidon, so the memory
of her still fascinates and tantalises the
imagination across more than two thousand
years.
Myrtis of Anthcdon and Corinna of
91
Tanagra are both connected with the
legends of Pindar in the fifth century. Of
the first no lines survive. Of the second
only a few quoted fragments. But the
picture of Corinna which Pausanias saw at
Tanagra suggested to him the reflection that
it was as much her beauty as her talent
which induced the judges to award her the
prize of victory in the contest with Pindar.
Statues were erected in her honour, and her
claim was urged to the first place among the
lyric Muses.
Praxilla belongs to the same period. She
was renowned for the composition of the
scholion, which appears to have been a short
ode or snatch sung at banquets by, or on
behalf of, each of the guests in turn to
the accompaniment of the lyre. One such
little snatch attributed to Praxilla has been
preserved.
92
The date of Anyte of Tegea cannot be
fixed with certainty. The Lilies of Anyte
consist as known by us of twenty-four
epigrams, and one of these is headed 'Anyte
of Mytilene.' They are so fine in quality,
so simple and direct, so free from device or
artificiality, that they might be ascribed
to the great lyric period. The reference
to her by Antipater of Thessalonica as
the female Homer also suggests antiquity.
But the balance of probability from infer-
ence regarding her date points to the latter
years of the fourth century n.c.
Moero of Byzantium lived about the same
time, or a little later. She was the mother
of a famous son, Homerus the tragedian, of
whom no work has survived.
Nossis was the poetess of the greater
Greece in southern Italy. She came from
the Locri.'in colony on the shore of the
93
Ionian Sea, near the modern Gerace. From
the evidence of eleven lyrics in the Antho-
logy, which also record the name of her
mother and her daughter, her date may be
fixed at about 309 b.c. She was thus
contemporary with Leonidas, the poet of
Tarentum. She doubtless witnessed the
invasion of Pyrrhus and the despoiling of
the famous temple of Persephone at Locri,
to which he afterwards, conscience-stricken,
restored the looted treasure.
This is practically all we know about
'These women with the voice of gods.'
And yet in no other three hundred years of
literary history have women poets achieved
such high renown, nor has any pleiad arisen
since to contest the fame of the nine mortal
muses.
94
SAPPHO
7TH AND 6th century B.C.
I
TiMAS
This is the dust of Timas. Whereas she
herited
Persephone's dark mansion before her day
to wed,
The maids her comrades edged the steel
and shore their curls and gave
Their best-beloved treasure to Jtrew upon
her grave.
95
SAPPHO
II
DiCA
Now wreathe thee a wreath, my Dica, with
delicate fingers twine
The tender sprays of the anise for that
beautiful hair of thine;
For on them that are decked with garlands
the goddesses look with grace,
From those that come to them crownless
they will surely avert their face.
96
SAPPHO
III
A Bitter Word
Dying thou shalt lie in nothingness, nor
after
Love shall abide here nor memory of thee ;
For thou hast no portion in the roses of
Pieria ;
But even in the nether world obscurely shalt
thou wander
Flitting hither thither with the phantoms of
the dead.
Note 21.
• 97
SAPPHO
IV
Hesper
Thou, Hesper, bringest homeward all
That radiant dawn sped far and wide
The sheep to fold, the goat to stall,
The children to their mother's side.
98
SAPPHO
V
A Fayoum Fragment
From Sardis oft her thought will travel
hither.
Once, in those days we lived our lives to-
gether,
Thou wast a goddess surely in the eyes
Of Arignota, who was wont to prize
Thy song above all others. Now she dwells
Among the Lydian women she excels
As, when night falls and sunset dies away,
The moon outglories with her rosy ray
The stars around her, and her light illumes
The salt sea and the cornland with its
blooms,
99
What time the gracious dew shed earthward
over
The tender grasses and the flowering clorer
Makes quick the blossom and revives the
rose.
There oft-times restless up and down she
goes
Remembering gentle Atthis, and her soul
Is spent with longing, and her heart for dole
Is heavy. And she cries aloud and shrill
Bidding us come. But here the night is
still
Despite of all its myriad ears ; and we -
Mark not that voice that calls across the
sea.
Note 22.
lOQ
SAPPHO
VI
The Beloved Presence
Blest as the Gods are esteem I him who
alway
Sits face to face with thee, and watching thee
forgoes not
The voice that is music and the smile that
is seduction,
Smile that my heart knows
Fluttered in its chambers. For lo, when I
behold thee
Forthwith my voice fails, my tongue is tied
in silence,
lOI
Flame of fire goes through me, my ears are
full of murmur,
Blinded I see naught :
Sweat breaketh forth on me, and all my
being trembles,
Paler am I grown than the pallor of the
dry grass,
Death seemeth almost to have laid his hand
upon me. —
Then I dare all things.
Note 23.
I02
SAPPHO
VII
Out of Reach
Like the apple that ripens rosy at the end
of a branch on high,
At the utmost end of the utmost bough,
Which those that gathered forgot till now.
Nay, did not forget, but only they never
might come thereby.
103
SAPPHO
VIII
The Lonely Night
The moon is down, the Pleiads set,
And half the night has flown :
The hour is overdue, and yet
Must I lie here alone.
104
ERINNA
ABOUT 600 B.C.
I
The Dead Bride
Baucis, a bride, is here inurned. Say this
when you draw near
My tear-drenched pillar so that Death deep
under ground may hear,
Say, 'Death, how art thou envious?' And
read the bitter doom
Of Baucis in the fair design engraven on
my tomb.
The torches of the marriage train that
Hymen came to fire
The father of my bridegroom took to light
my burial pyre.
105
And thou, O Hymenaeus, didst hush the
bridal throng,
And change to dirge of mourning the merry
marriage song.
Note 24.
106
ERINNA
II
The Grave of Baucis
Ye columns with my sirens crowned, thou
urn of many a sigh
In which the scanty ashes are gathered when
we die,
Give greetings unto those who pass this
tomb of mine, be they
My city's folk or dwellers of alien townships,
say,
That I who here am sepulchred was buried
as a bride,
That the name my father called me by was
Baucis, say beside
107
That Telos was my birthplace, and tell them
that this stave
Erinna my dear comrade hath written for
my grave.
Note 25.
108
ANYTE OF TEGEA
4TH CENTURY B.C.
I
A Shrine by the Sea
This is the Cyprian's holy ground,
Who ever loves to stand
Where she ran watch the shining seas
Beyond the utmost land ;
That sailors on their voyages
May prosper by her aid,
Whose radiant effigy the deep
Beholding is afraid.
109
ANYTE OF TEGEA
II
The God of the Cross-Roads
I, Hermes, by the grey sea-shore,
Set where the three roads meet,
Outside the wind-swept garden,
Give rest to weary feet ;
The waters of my fountain
Are clear, and cool, and sweet.
no
ANYTE OF TEGEA
III
A Rustic Offering
This gift set by their lonely cliff Theodotus
prepared
For the nymphs that haunt the homestead
and Pan the shaggy-haired ;
Because when he was weary in the scorching
summer heat
Their hands outstretched refreshed him with
water honey-sweet.
1 1 I
ANYTE OF TEGEA
IV
A Picture
They have put a bridle on the goat, with
purple reins to guide,
Whose back without misgiving the laughing
boys bestride,
And so with curb-chain tightened beneath
his bearded lip
They round the temple precincts do feats
of horsemanship.
112
ANYTE OF TEGEA
V
The Goat
You see with what a roguish eye and self-
complacent mien
Yon horned goat of Bromios surveys his
shaggy chin.
He is proud to know those bearded cheeks
have oft-times been caressed
By the Naiad's rosy fingers who haunts the
mountain crest.
Note 26.
I'S
MOERO
3RD CENTURY B.C.
I
A Bunch of Grapes
Thou liest in the golden porch of Aphro-
dite's shrine
A votive cluster of the grape filled full of
juicy wine.
No more with clinging tendril hands thy
mother vine will spread
The nectar of her leaf in love to shadow o'er
thy head.
114
MOERO
II
Ex VOTO
Ye nymphs that haunt the Anigrus with
roselike feet that tread
The mystical deep reaches, maids of the
river-bed,
Hail, Goddesses, restore to health Cleony-
mus, for he
Set here beneath the pine-grove your votive
effigy.
Note 27.
'»5
NOSSIS
3RD CENTURY B.C.
I
Roses of Cvpris
Of all the world's delightful things most
sweet is love. The rest
Ay, even honey in the mouth, are only
second best.
This Nossis saith. And only they the
Cyprian loves may know
The glory of the roses that in her garden
grow.
ii6
NOSSIS
II
RiNTHo's Grave
Give me a hearty laugh, and say
A friendly word and go thy way.
Rintho was I ot Syracuse,
A modest song-bird of the muse,
Whose tears and smiles together sown
Have born an ivy all my own.
Note 28.
117
NOSSIS
III
A Rival
If, stranger, to the dancing isle, to Mitylene
you fare
The flower of all the Graces to seek in
Sappho there,
Why, tell them that this Locrian land bore
one of no less fame.
The darling of the Muses, and that Nossis
is her name.
ii8
THE PRAISE OF SAPPHO
AND ERINNA
LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM
3rd century b.c.
Erinna
The lyric maid Erinna, the poet-bee that
drew
The honey from the rarest blooms the
Muses' garden grew,
Hath Hades snatched to be his bride.
Mark where the maiden saith,
Prophetic in her wisdom, ' How envious art
thou. Death ! '
Note 29.
121
ASCLEPIADES
3rd century b.c.
Erinna
This is Erinna's gracious work, the sum
whereof is small,
As must be since the maiden lived but
nineteen years in all ;
But strength it has that others lack, and
many. Had her fate
Not doomed her to die early what name
had been so great ?
123
TULLIUS LAUREA
1st cektury b.c.
The Grave of Sappho
Beholding my Aeolian grave, oh thou that
passest by,
Say not the Lesbian singer was ever doomed
to die.
The tomb was reared by mortal men, and
in a little space
Whatever human hands have wrought must
pass and leave no trace.
But you that for the Muses' sake have cared
for me and mine.
For me who wore the garland of each of all
the nine,
Ye know death's night could not prevail to
darken Sappho's fame,
Nor ever day shall dawn on earth that lacks
my lyric name.
123
ANTIPATER OF SIDON
1ST CENTURY B.C.
I
Sappho
We know thou shroudest Sappho's dust,
who once, Aeolian earth,
Sang with immortal muses, a muse of mortal
birth ;
Whom Cypris loved and Eros, whom Peitho
taught to braid
A garland for Pieria that time shall never
fade;
Whose song charmed Hellas and on thee
an ampler lustre shed ;
Ye fates, who from your distaff draw the
trebly twisted thread,
124
Could all your spinning not ordain eternal
life to one
Who with eternal gifts endowed the maids
of Helicon ?
"5
ANTIPATER OF SIDON
II
Erinna
What though Erinna's song was brief, her
words were doled in thrift,
The little that she left behind was all the
Muses' gift.
Wherefore her name abideth, nor ever yet
black night
Could spread a shadowy pinion to hide her
from the light.
But we the younger singers, the thousand
of to-day,
We pass, my friend, unnoticed, adown
oblivion's way.
126
Far better is the one short song the swan
finds grace to sing
Than all the cawing of the rooks blown
down the clouds of spring.
127
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
I
The 'Distaff' of Erinna
This comb is from a Lesbian hive, Erinna's,
sweet though small,
And the honey of the Muses is brimming
over all.
For these three hundred lines may rank
with Homer's own as peers,
Although they be a maiden's work, and she
but nineteen years.
Still trembling at her mother's frown this
girl who might not choose
But ply the loom and distaff in secret served
the muse.
As Sappho's lyric melody outsoars Erinna's
lute,
Erinna's epic cadence leaves even Sappho
mute.
Note 30.
128
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
ti
Erinna
Just when thy voice had learnt to form the
honeyed note of spring,
And just when, like the dying swan's, thy
lips were set to sing,
The fate who rules the distaff" and spins the
flaxen thread
Ordained thee cross the waters wide, the
river of the dead.
But that fair toil thy verse enshrines pro-
claims thee deathless still,
Erinna, where the songs go up from the
Pierian hill.
1 29
NOTES
Note I, p. 3.
Incorporated among the fragments of
Theognis, but attributed by Bergk to Mim-
nermus.
Note 2, p. 4.
Anacreon's date is 563-478 B.C. It must,
alas, be admitted that the poems attributed to
him are, with the exception of a few fragments,
all of them dubious and most of them certainly
spurious. He had a great number of imitators
down to a much later time, and a considerable
number of the pseudo-Anacreontic poems are
preser\'ed in an appendix to the Palatine
Anthology. It may be assumed that some of
them reflect a portion of his spirit, and many of
them are graceful in conceit and beautiful in
form. Most of the specimens here given must
be classed among the productions of his later
imitators, although they are inserted in the
place where in chronological order the real
Anacreon would have followed.
Note 3, p. 6.
The portraiture of the Greeks was executed
with tinted wax, and not with colours rendered
fluid by Uquid or oily medium. The various
tints and tones of wax were probably laid on
with the finger-tips or with a spatula.
Note 3a, p. x6.
The two distichs of this quatrain are
separated in the Codices, and the second is
attributed to Callimachus. But they obviously
belong together and should be attributed to
Simonides, the contemporary of Leonidas.
Note 4, p. 18.
There was more than one Plato, but the
great Plato is evidently referred to in the pre-
fatory poem of Meleager as included among
the poets of his anthology.
Captives from Eretria were established in a
colony in Persia by Darius after the first
Persian war. The colony at Ardericca was,
however, hundreds of miles from Ecbatana.
If the epigram on Lais is not attributed to
the great Plato by the most competent authori-
ties, the dates of the two famous courtesans
who bore the name would not exclude the
possibility of his being the author.
»3»
Note 5, p. 23.
Tychon is identified with Priapus.
Note 6, p. 28.
Some two hundred years later Antipater of
Sidon re-wrote or plagiarised this epigram.
The later version is more self-conscious and
lacks the spontaneity of the earlier. The two
are placed together in Mackail's select epi-
grams, sect. 6, xxvi. and xxvii.
Note 7, p. 35.
Charaxus, the brother of Sappho, carried the
wines of Lesbos to Naucratis, in those days the
only settlement of Greeks in Egypt. There he
fell in love with the beautiful courtesan Doricha,
and redeemed her from slavery. The story is
told by Herodotus, who calls her Rhodopis, as
also by Strabo and Athenaeus.
Note 8, p. 39.
There are three epigrams assigned to
' Ptolemy the King,' a description which would
rather suggest the founder of the dynasty.
But the earlier Ptolemies were all of them
patrons of letters. One of the extant epigrams
refers to Hegesianax and Hermippus as having
registered all the stars in the sky. A Hege-
132
sianax was contemporary with Antiochus the
Great (223-187 B.C.) ; a Hermippus, known
chiefly as a biographical writer, also lived in
the latter half of the 3rd century B.C. Her-
mippus the astrologer, referred to by Athenaeus,
may not have been the same person, and
Athenaeus assigns no date to him. If the
astronomers mentioned in the epigram could
be safely identified with writers who lived at
the close of the 3rd century, the poet-king who
referred to them in the past must be a later
Ptolemy of the 2nd century.
Note 9, p. 43-
An additional couplet, found in the MSS.
and published by Brunck, is judiciously omitted
by Mackail as being a later addition and a
mere repetition of what precedes.
Note 10, p. 59.
Naidios seems doubtful. Brunck reads
Haudonis.
Note II, p. 62.
The version follows the reading
("lji<f)u> fi ojf o'u«'«i'aio)'.
I'runck has
'tfi.<\iU) b wf vfitvatov.
I'' '33
Note 12, p. 66.
These lines are of interest as revealing the
desolation of Delos and the comparative deser-
tion of many of the Aegean islands as early
as the 1st century B.C. The poem no doubt
contemplated some particular group of islands,
as Pholegandros and Siphnos are also Aegean
isles. Compare the epigram of Alpheus on
page 69.
Note 13, p. 68.
Irus was the beggar of the Odyssey who ran
messages for the suitors of Penelope. The
obol referred to is the small coin placed
between the lips of the dead to pay the toll to
the ferryman of Hades.
Note 14, p. 69.
It is interesting to know from the evidence
of Alpheus, who visited the sites of the
Homeric cities, that nearly two thousand years
ago the site of Mycenae was just as it remained
until the e.xcavations of Schliemann.
Note 15, p. 70,
This and the following epigram are included
as curious instances of the last phase of poetic
literature in Byzantium, where the lyre of the
134
Muse was henceforth rarely heard. The battle
of pagan genius against the spirit of Christianity
was already lost, and Palladas, the author of
an eulogy on Hypatia, stands in his sombre
pessimism between two faiths, the nascent and
the dead.
Note 1 6, p. 73.
The two couplets appear thus as a single
epigram in Brunck's Anaiecta. In the Palatine
Anthology they are separated, and both de-
scribed as of unknown authorship. A third
couplet in an appendix so closely resembles the
second that one appears to be a mere plagiarism
of the other. This last is attributed by Mackail
to Theophanes. Planudes, on the other hand,
joins the three couplets into a single epigram
which he assigns to Dionysius the sophist.
Note 17, p. 74.
A variant reading of the final couplet sub-
stitutes Hermes for Pan, and w^iof, in due
time, for avptov, to-morrow.
Note 18, p. 80.
Another epigram apparently inspired by the
same statue, to which a very different inter-
pretation is given, is found in the Anthology of
Planudes, attributed to the Byzantine lawyer
Marianus, who wrote in the 5th and 6th century
A.D. The rendering did not seem worthy of
taking a place among those here published, but
for purposes of comparison it may be included
in a note :
Where is that bow of thine strung taut, ana
vhere the reed-like dart
Sped by the hand that never fails to sttike the
midmost heart ?
Where are thy ivings, thy torch of bale, and
ivherefo7'e dearest thou
Three diadems in thy two hands, and a fourth
one on thy brow ?
I a fit not savage passion'' s child, I do not spring
from earth.
Nor did the common Cyprian, O stranger, give
me birth
Who, where the human heart is clean, the lamp
of learning light.
And teach the soul the upward way toward the
heavenly height.
And from the virtues four I wove these
garlands that I bear.
But wisdofiis crown the best of all I choose
myself to wear.
136
Note 19, p. 81.
The interest of this little epitaph of the
Roman period is increased by the fact that it
still may be read on the stone on which it was
engraved above the portrait in relief of Fetronia
Musa herself It stands in the great hall of
the Villa Umberto (Villa liorghese) at Rome.
Below the portrait is another epitaph of eight
lines, and the name Petroniae Musae. On the
two sides are a lyre with four strings and a
lute with eleven, the instruments of her craft.
There is also in Florence an urn with the
name Petronia Musa. The portrait is well
preserved except for the mutilation of the nose.
Note 20, p. 82.
There is a Latin version of this epigram on a
tomb in the pavement of a church in Rome
(S. Lorenzo in Panisperna).
Inveni portum, spes et fortuna vaiete,
Nil mihi vobiscum, ludite nunc alios.
Note 21, p. 97.
In this, No. 68 of the Sappho fragments, 1
have followed the reading
KarQavoiaa hi. K([<Ttai uvhf ttoto ^vafioavva
((rCTtT Ovd' (pOi €tS VCTTfpOV'
rather than
Karduvoiaa bt Kflafai noTUyKuv fivafiocrvvu fftdfv.
ftratT ovTf tot' ovt' vartpov'
' Dying thou shalt lie in nothingness, nor of
thee
Theie nor thereafter shall memory abide.'
Note 22, p. 99.
From the Berlin-Fayoum fragments, variously
amended. The translation follows the text of
U. V. Wilamowitz {Sappho and Simonidcs).
Other critics believe the reference to be to the
absent Atthis. The version here adopted pre-
supposes a third person, who might also be
Andromeda, the comrade of Sappho and Atthis.
Arignota may not even be a name, but only an
epithet meaning far-famed or pre-eminent.
Note 23, p. 101.
A portion of this fragment was adapted by
Catullus.
Note 24, p. 105.
Lines 3 and 4 are rendered from Bergk's
emendation of the obviously corrupt text of the
MSS. The same motive is beautifully treated
by Meleager in the epigram on Clearista.
(Brunck, i. 36.)
138
Note 25, p. 107.
The column or stele crowned with a Siren is
well known on Greek monumental design. The
grave of Baucis was marked by two such
columns. On each one was, it seems, engraved
one of the epitaphs of Erinna ; that beginning
with her name we may infer on the nearer one
first approached on leaving the city. Between
the two columns was the urn containing the
ashes, on which was shown in coloured relief
the death of Baucis, or, if indeed Erinna was
the contemporary of Sappho, it is more
probable that the scene was only drawn or
painted.
The text of the seventh line is doubtful.
Welcher corrects Tr]pa8 to rriXia ; others read
rrjvia ; Brunck has x*^^' 7^''"^ '^'?»"? f^y^"^^ *"'"'•
As Erinna evidently came from the same city
the reading is important as fixing her birth-
place. Eusebius gives her date as about 350
B.C., in opposition to the majority who make
her the contemporary of Sappho. At that time
the Doric dialect in which she wrote was not
in use in Tenos. For this and other reasons
the reading of Telos is to be preferred.
Note 26, p. 113.
Bromios = Bacchus.
139
Note 27, p. 115.
The JVISS. has 'A^aSpvaStr, which Mr.
Mackail corrects or restores to 'AviyplaBts,
Anigrus, to whom, on account of the reputed
healing properties of the river water, the appeal
might appropriately be made. The Dryad is
essentially a Nymph of the trees.
Note 28, p. 117.
Rintho founded a new school of serio-comic
drama about 300 R.c. The ivy was sacred to
Dionysus, in whose worship the drama had its
origin.
Note 29, p. 121.
Also attributed to Meleager. The phrase,
^daKovos ecra 'AiSa, here quoted is from Erinna's
lament for Baucis. See p. 105.
Note 30, p. 128.
The concluding lines depart to some extent
from the principles laid down in the introduc-
tion with regard to the test of translation. But
it is not possible to deal in English verse with
a line which describes Erinna as excelling in
hexameters otherwise than by a paraphrase.
Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to Hii Majesty
.It the Edinljurgh University Press
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