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diff --git a/35907-h/35907-h.htm b/35907-h/35907-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5030eb9 --- /dev/null +++ b/35907-h/35907-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1436 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Love, Worship And Death, by Sir Rennell Rodd. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +a:link {color: #800000; text-decoration: none; } +v:link {color: #800000; text-decoration: none; } + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +.small {font-size: 0.8em; margin-left: 25%;} + +.bodyB {margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + } + +.small-d {font-size: 0.8em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35907 ***</div> + + + +<h1>LOVE, WORSHIP AND DEATH</h1> + +<h3>Some renderings from the Greek Anthology</h3> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>SIR RENNELL RODD</h2> + + +<h4>AUTHOR OF</h4> + +<h4>'BALLADS OF THE FLEET'</h4> + +<h4>'THE VIOLET CROWN,' ETC.</h4> + + +<h5>LONDON</h5> + +<h5>EDWARD ARNOLD</h5> + +<h5>1916</h5> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>INTRODUCTION</h3> + + +<p>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 characterised family relations, the reciprocal affection 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 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 expression 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.</p> + +<p>The poems, of which some renderings are here offered to those who cannot +read the originals, cover a period of about a thousand years, broken by +one interval during which the lesser lyre is silent. The poets of the +<i>elegy</i> and the <i>melos</i> appear in due succession after those of the +<i>epic</i> and, significant perhaps of the transition, there are found in +the first great period of the lyric the names of two women, Sappho of +Lesbos, acknowledged by the unanimous voice of antiquity, 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 <i>melos</i> were for the most part natives of</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;">'the sprinkled isles,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Lily on lily that overlace the sea.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A new epoch of lyrical revival is inaugurated 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 +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.</p> + +<p>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 reference to his <i>Select Epigrams from +the Greek Anthology</i> suggests one plea of justification for the present +little collection of renderings, since the greater number of them have +been by him translated incomparably well into prose.</p> + +<p>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 extraneous additions; the omission of no +essential feature, and the interpretation, by such equivalent as most +adequately corresponds, of individualities of style and assonances of +language. But not the least essential 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 this test especially that +renderings in verse too often fail to conform. I have discarded not a +few because they seemed too obviously to bear the forced expression +which the effort 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.</p> + +<p>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 conscious thought, and the more elaborate expression of later +centuries when the horizons of Hellenism had been vastly extended.</p> + +<p>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 of 1914 and 1915.</p> + +<p>R.R.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="small"><b>INDEX OF AUTHORS</b><br /> +<br /></p> +<p class="small"> +<br /> +MIMNERMUS—<a href="#CARPE_DIEM">CARPE DIEM</a><br /> +<br /> +SAPPHO—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I. <a href="#A_BITTER_WORD">A BITTER WORD</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">II. <a href="#THE_BELOVED_PRESENCE">THE BELOVED PRESENCE</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">III. <a href="#HESPER">HESPER</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">IV. <a href="#OUT_OF_REACH">OUT OF REACH</a></span><br /> +<br /> +ANACREONTICA—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I. <a href="#LOVES_CHALLENGE">LOVE'S CHALLENGE</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">II. <a href="#BACCHANAL">BACCHANAL</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">III. <a href="#HER_PORTRAIT">HER PORTRAIT</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">IV. <a href="#METAMORPHOSIS">METAMORPHOSIS</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">V. <a href="#APOLOGIA">APOLOGIA</a></span><br /> +<br /> +UNKNOWN—<a href="#ANACREONS_GRAVE">ANACREON'S GRAVE</a><br /> +<br /> +SIMONIDES—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I. <a href="#ON_THE_SPARTANS">ON THE SPARTANS</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">II. <a href="#ON_THE_ATHENIANS">ON THE ATHENIANS</a></span><br /> +<br /> +PLATO—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I. <a href="#A_GRAVE_IN_PERSIA">A GRAVE IN PERSIA</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">II. <a href="#STARWORSHIP">STARWORSHIP</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">III. <a href="#THE_UNSET_STAR">THE UNSET STAR</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">IV. <a href="#LAIS">LAIS</a></span><br /> +<br /> +PERSES—<a href="#A_RUSTIC_SHRINE">A RUSTIC SHRINE</a><br /> +<br /> +ANYTE OF TEGEA—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I. <a href="#A_SHRINE_BY_THE_SEA">A SHRINE BY THE SEA</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">II. <a href="#THE_GOD_OF_THE_CROSS-ROADS">THE GOD OF THE CROSS-ROADS</a></span><br /> +<br /> +ADDAEUS—<a href="#THE_ANCIENT_OX">THE ANCIENT OX</a><br /> +<br /> +ASCLEPIADES—<a href="#THE_PRAISE_OF_LOVE">THE PRAISE OF LOVE</a><br /> +<br /> +MICIAS—<a href="#A_WAYSIDE_FOUNTAIN">A WAYSIDE FOUNTAIN</a><br /> +<br /> +CALLIMACHUS—<a href="#CAST_UP_BY_THE_SEA">CAST UP BY THE SEA</a><br /> +<br /> +NOSSIS—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I. <a href="#ROSES_OF_CYPRIS">ROSES OF CYPRIS</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">II. <a href="#RINTHOS_GRAVE">RINTHO'S GRAVE</a></span><br /> +<br /> +LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I. <a href="#ERINNA">ERINNA</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">II. <a href="#THE_FOUNTAIN_HEAD">THE FOUNTAIN HEAD</a></span><br /> +<br /> +DIONYSUS—<a href="#THE_ROSE_OF_YOUTH">THE ROSE OF YOUTH</a><br /> +<br /> +DAMAGETUS—<a href="#THEANO">THEANO</a><br /> +<br /> +ARCHIAS—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I. <a href="#THE_HARBOUR_GOD">THE HARBOUR GOD</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">II. <a href="#A_GRAVE_BY_THE_SEA">A GRAVE BY THE SEA</a></span><br /> +<br /> +MELEAGER—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I. <a href="#LOVES_QUIVER">LOVE'S QUIVER</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">II. <a href="#THE_CUP">THE CUP</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">III. <a href="#ZENOPHILE">ZENOPHILE</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">IV. <a href="#LOVE_AND_DEATH">LOVE AND DEATH</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">V. <a href="#LOVES_MALICE">LOVE'S MALICE</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">VI. <a href="#ASCLEPIAS">ASCLEPIAS</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">VII. <a href="#HELIODORA">HELIODORA</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">VIII. <a href="#THE_WREATH">THE WREATH</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">IX. <a href="#LIBATION">LIBATION</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">X. <a href="#THE_GRAVE_OF_HELIODORA">THE GRAVE OF HELIODORA</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">XI. <a href="#HIS_EPITAPH">HIS EPITAPH</a></span><br /> +<br /> +CRINAGORAS—<a href="#ROSES_IN_WINTER">ROSES IN WINTER</a><br /> +<br /> +JULIUS POLYAENUS—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#AN_EXILES_PRAYER">AN EXILE'S PRAYER</a></span><br /> +<br /> +ANTIPATER OF THESSALONICA—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#A_GRAVE_AT_OSTIA">A GRAVE AT OSTIA</a></span><br /> +<br /> +UNKNOWN—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#FRIENDSHIPS_EPITAPH">FRIENDSHIP'S EPITAPH</a></span><br /> +<br /> +UNKNOWN—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#THE_COUNSEL_OF_PAN">THE COUNSEL OF PAN</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#BENITIER">BÉNITIER</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#THE_END_OF_THE_COMEDY">THE END OF THE COMEDY</a></span><br /> +<br /> +STRATO—<a href="#THE_KISS">THE KISS</a><br /> +<br /> +AMMIANUS—<a href="#THE_LORD_OF_LANDS">THE LORD OF LANDS</a><br /> +<br /> +ALPHEUS—<a href="#MYCENAE">MYCENAE</a><br /> +<br /> +MACEDONIUS—<a href="#THE_THRESHOLD">THE THRESHOLD</a><br /> +<br /> +<a href="#NOTES">NOTES</a><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> + +<h3>LOVE, WORSHIP AND DEATH</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="bodyB"> +MIMNERMUS<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">7TH CENTURY B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CARPE_DIEM" id="CARPE_DIEM"></a>CARPE DIEM<br /> +<br /> +Hold fast thine youth, dear soul of mine, new lives will come to birth,<br /> +And I that shall have passed away be one with the brown earth.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +SAPPHO<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">7TH AND 6TH CENTURY B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +I<br /> +<br /> +<a name="A_BITTER_WORD" id="A_BITTER_WORD"></a>A BITTER WORD<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Dying thou shalt lie in nothingness, nor after<br /> +Love shall abide here nor memory of thee;<br /> +For thou hast no portion in the roses of Pieria;<br /> +But even in the nether world obscurely shalt thou wander<br /> +Flitting hither thither with the phantoms of the dead.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href="#Note_1">Note 1</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +II<br /> +<br /> +<a name="THE_BELOVED_PRESENCE" id="THE_BELOVED_PRESENCE"></a>THE BELOVED PRESENCE<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Blest as the Gods are esteem I him who alway<br /> +Sits face to face with thee and watching thee forgoes not<br /> +The voice that is music and the smile that is seduction,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Smile that my heart knows</span><br /> +Fluttered in its chambers. For lo, when I behold thee<br /> +Forthwith my voice fails, my tongue is tied in silence,<br /> +Flame of fire goes through me, my ears are full of murmur,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Blinded I see naught:</span><br /> +Sweat breaketh forth on me, and all my being trembles,<br /> +Paler am I grown than the pallor of the dry grass,<br /> +Death seemeth almost to have laid his hand upon me.—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8.5em;">Then I dare all things.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href="#Note_2">Note 2</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +III<br /> +<br /> +<a name="HESPER" id="HESPER"></a>HESPER<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Thou, Hesper, bringest homeward all<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That radiant dawn sped far and wide:</span><br /> +The sheep to fold, the goat to stall,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The children to their mother's side.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +IV<br /> +<br /> +<a name="OUT_OF_REACH" id="OUT_OF_REACH"></a>OUT OF REACH<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Like the apple that ripens rosy at the end of a branch on high,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At the utmost end of the utmost bough,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which those that gather forgot till now.</span><br /> +Nay, did not forget, but only they never might come thereby.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +ANACREONTICA<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">ANACREON, 6TH CENTURY B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +I<br /> +<br /> +<a name="LOVES_CHALLENGE" id="LOVES_CHALLENGE"></a>LOVE'S CHALLENGE<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Love smote me with his jacinth wand and challenged me to race,<br /> +And wore me down with running till the sweat poured off my face,<br /> +Through breaks of tangled woodland, by chasms sheer to scale,<br /> +Until my heart was in my lips and at the point to fail.<br /> +Then as I felt his tender wings brush lightly round my head,<br /> +''Tis proven that thou lackest the strength to love,' he said.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href="#Note_3">Note 3</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +II<br /> +<br /> +<a name="BACCHANAL" id="BACCHANAL"></a>BACCHANAL<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +When Bacchus hath possessed me my cares are lulled in wine,<br /> +And all the wealth of Croesus is not more his than mine:<br /> +I crown my head with ivy, I lift my voice to sing,<br /> +And in my exultation seem lord of every thing.<br /> +So let the warrior don his arms, give me my cup instead,<br /> +If I must lie my length on earth, why better drunk than dead.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +III<br /> +<br /> +<a name="HER_PORTRAIT" id="HER_PORTRAIT"></a>HER PORTRAIT<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Master of all the craftsmen,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prince of the Rhodian art,</span><br /> +Interpret, master craftsman,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Each detail I impart,</span><br /> +And draw as were she present<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The mistress of my heart.</span><br /> +<br /> +First you must match those masses<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of darkly clustered hair,</span><br /> +And if such skill be in your wax<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The scent that harbours there;</span><br /> +And where the flowing tresses cast<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A warm-toned shadow, trace</span><br /> +A forehead white as ivory,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The oval of her face.</span><br /> +Her brows you must not quite divide<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor wholly join, there lies</span><br /> +A subtle link between them<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Above the dark-lashed eyes.</span><br /> +And you must borrow flame of fire<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To give her glance its due,</span><br /> +As tender as Cithera's<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And as Athena's blue.</span><br /> +For cheek and nostril rose-leaves<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And milk you shall enlist,</span><br /> +And shape her lips like Peitho's<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Inviting to be kissed.</span><br /> +Let all the Graces stay their flight<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And gather round to deck</span><br /> +The outline of her tender chin,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The marble of her neck.</span><br /> +And for the rest—bedrape her<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In robe of purple hue,</span><br /> +With here and there to give it life<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The flesh tint peeping through.</span><br /> +Now hold thy hand,—for I can see<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The face and form I seek,</span><br /> +And surely in a moment's space<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I think your wax will speak.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href="#Note_4">Note 4</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +IV<br /> +<br /> +<a name="METAMORPHOSIS" id="METAMORPHOSIS"></a>METAMORPHOSIS<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +If she who, born to Tantalus,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As Niobe we know,</span><br /> +Was turned to stone among the hills<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of Phrygia long ago;</span><br /> +If Proene by such magic change<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Was made a bird that flies,</span><br /> +Let me become the mirror<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That holds my lady's eyes!</span><br /> +Or let me be the water<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In which your beauty bathes,</span><br /> +Or the dress which clinging closely<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Your gracious presence swathes;</span><br /> +Or change me to the perfume<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">You sprinkle on your skin,</span><br /> +Or let me be the pearl-drop<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That hangs beneath your chin;</span><br /> +And if not these the girdle<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">You bind below your breast;</span><br /> +Or be at least the sandal<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Your little foot hath pressed.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +V<br /> +<br /> +<a name="APOLOGIA" id="APOLOGIA"></a>APOLOGIA<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +The brown earth drinks from heaven, and from the earth the tree,<br /> +The sea drinks down the vapour, and the sun drinks up the sea,<br /> +The moon drinks in the sunlight; now therefore, comrades, say<br /> +What fault have you to find in me if I would drink as they?<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +AUTHOR UNKNOWN<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="ANACREONS_GRAVE" id="ANACREONS_GRAVE"></a>ANACREON'S GRAVE<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +You that pass this place of graves<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pause and spill a cup for me,</span><br /> +For I hold Anacreon's ashes,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And would drink as once would he.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +SIMONIDES<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">556-467 B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<i>THE PLATAEAN EPITAPHS</i><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +I<br /> +<br /> +<a name="ON_THE_SPARTANS" id="ON_THE_SPARTANS"></a>ON THE SPARTANS<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +These who with fame eternal their own dear land endowed<br /> +Took on them as a mantle the shade of death's dark cloud;<br /> +Yet dying thus they died not, on whom is glory shed<br /> +By virtue which exalts them above all other dead.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +II<br /> +<br /> +<a name="ON_THE_ATHENIANS" id="ON_THE_ATHENIANS"></a>ON THE ATHENIANS<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +If to die nobly be the meed that lures the noblest mind,<br /> +Then unto us of all men in this was fortune kind.<br /> +For Greece we marched, that freedom's arm should ever round her fold;<br /> +We died, but gained for guerdon renown that grows not old.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +PLATO<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">429-347 B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +I<br /> +<br /> +<a name="A_GRAVE_IN_PERSIA" id="A_GRAVE_IN_PERSIA"></a>A GRAVE IN PERSIA<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Far from our own Ægean shore<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the surges booming deep,</span><br /> +Here where Ecbatana's great plain<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lies broad, we exiles sleep.</span><br /> +Farewell, Eretria the renowned,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where once we used to dwell;</span><br /> +Farewell, our neighbour Athens;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beloved sea, farewell!</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href="#Note_5">Note 5</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +II<br /> +<br /> +<a name="STARWORSHIP" id="STARWORSHIP"></a>STARWORSHIP<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Thou gazest starward, star of mine, whose heaven I fain would be,<br /> +That all my myriad starry eyes might only gaze on thee.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +III<br /> +<br /> +<a name="THE_UNSET_STAR" id="THE_UNSET_STAR"></a>THE UNSET STAR<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Star that didst on the living at dawn thy lustre shed,<br /> +Now as the star of evening thou shinest with the dead!<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +IV<br /> +<br /> +<a name="LAIS" id="LAIS"></a>LAIS<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +I that through the land of Hellas<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Laughed in triumph and disdain,</span><br /> +Lais, of whose open porches<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All the love-struck youth were fain,</span><br /> +Bring the mirror once I gazed in,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cyprian, at thy shrine to vow,</span><br /> +Since I see not there what once was,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And I would not what is now.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +PERSES<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">4TH CENTURY B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="A_RUSTIC_SHRINE" id="A_RUSTIC_SHRINE"></a>A RUSTIC SHRINE<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +I am the god of the little things,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In whom you will surely find,</span><br /> +If you call upon me in season,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A little god who is kind.</span><br /> +You must not ask of me great things,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But what is in my control,</span><br /> +I, Tychon, god of the humble,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">May grant to a simple soul.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href="#Note_6">Note 6</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +ANYTE OF TEGEA<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">4TH CENTURY B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +I<br /> +<br /> +<a name="A_SHRINE_BY_THE_SEA" id="A_SHRINE_BY_THE_SEA"></a>A SHRINE BY THE SEA<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +This is the Cyprian's holy ground,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who ever loves to stand</span><br /> +Where she can watch the shining seas<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beyond the utmost land;</span><br /> +That sailors on their voyages<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">May prosper by her aid,</span><br /> +Whose radiant effigy the deep<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beholding is afraid.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +II<br /> +<br /> +<a name="THE_GOD_OF_THE_CROSS-ROADS" id="THE_GOD_OF_THE_CROSS-ROADS"></a>THE GOD OF THE CROSS-ROADS<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +I, Hermes, by the grey sea-shore,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Set where the three roads meet,</span><br /> +Outside the wind-swept garden,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Give rest to weary feet;</span><br /> +The waters of my fountain<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Are clear, and cool, and sweet.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +ADDAEUS<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">4TH CENTURY B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="THE_ANCIENT_OX" id="THE_ANCIENT_OX"></a>THE ANCIENT OX<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +The ox of Alcon was not led to the slaughter when at length<br /> +Age and the weary furrow had sapped his olden strength.<br /> +His faithful work was honoured, and in the deep grass now<br /> +He strays and lows contentment, enfranchised from the plough.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +ASCLEPIADES<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">3RD CENTURY B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="THE_PRAISE_OF_LOVE" id="THE_PRAISE_OF_LOVE"></a>THE PRAISE OF LOVE<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Sweet is the snow in summer thirst to drink, and sweet the day<br /> +When sailors see spring's garland bloom and winter pass away.<br /> +But the sweetest thing on earth is when, one mantle for their cover,<br /> +Two hearts recite the Cyprian's praise as lover unto lover.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +MICIAS<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">3RD CENTURY B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="A_WAYSIDE_FOUNTAIN" id="A_WAYSIDE_FOUNTAIN"></a>A WAYSIDE FOUNTAIN<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Rest here beneath the poplars,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When tired with travelling,</span><br /> +And drawing nigh refresh you<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With water from our spring.</span><br /> +So may you keep in memory<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When under other skies</span><br /> +The fount his father Simus set<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By the grave where Gillus lies.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +CALLIMACHUS<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">3RD CENTURY B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CAST_UP_BY_THE_SEA" id="CAST_UP_BY_THE_SEA"></a>CAST UP BY THE SEA<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Who were you, shipwrecked sailor? The body that he found,<br /> +Cast on the beach, Leontichus laid in this burial mound;<br /> +And mindful of his own grim life he wept, for neither he<br /> +May rest in peace who like a gull goes up and down the sea.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +NOSSIS<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">3RD CENTURY B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +I<br /> +<br /> +<a name="ROSES_OF_CYPRIS" id="ROSES_OF_CYPRIS"></a>ROSES OF CYPRIS<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Of all the world's delightful things most sweet is love. The rest,<br /> +Ay, even honey in the mouth, are only second best.<br /> +This Nossis saith. And only they the Cyprian loves may know<br /> +The glory of the roses that in her garden grow.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +II<br /> +<br /> +<a name="RINTHOS_GRAVE" id="RINTHOS_GRAVE"></a>RINTHO'S GRAVE<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Give me a hearty laugh, and say<br /> +A friendly word and go thy way.<br /> +Rintho was I of Syracuse,<br /> +A modest song bird of the muse,<br /> +Whose tears and smiles together sown<br /> +Have born an ivy all my own.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href="#Note_7">Note 7</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">3RD CENTURY B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +I<br /> +<br /> +<a name="ERINNA" id="ERINNA"></a>ERINNA<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +The lyric maid Erinna, the poet-bee that drew<br /> +The honey from the rarest blooms the muses' garden grew,<br /> +Hath Hades snatched to be his bride. Mark where the maiden saith,<br /> +Prophetic in her wisdom, 'How envious art thou, Death!'<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href="#Note_8">Note 8</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +II<br /> +<br /> +<a name="THE_FOUNTAIN_HEAD" id="THE_FOUNTAIN_HEAD"></a>THE FOUNTAIN HEAD<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Pause not here to drink thy fill<br /> +Where the sheep have stirred the rill,<br /> +And the pool lies warm and still—<br /> +Cross yon ridge a little way,<br /> +Where the grazing heifers stray,<br /> +And the stone-pine's branches sway<br /> +O'er a creviced rock below;<br /> +Thence the bubbling waters flow<br /> +Cooler than the northern snow.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +DIONYSUS<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">2ND CENTURY B.C. (?)</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="THE_ROSE_OF_YOUTH" id="THE_ROSE_OF_YOUTH"></a>THE ROSE OF YOUTH<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Girl with the roses and the grace<br /> +Of all the roses in your face,<br /> +Are you, or are the blooms you bear,<br /> +Or haply both your market ware?<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +DAMAGETUS<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">2ND CENTURY B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="THEANO" id="THEANO"></a>THEANO<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +These words, renowned Phocæa, were the last Theano said,<br /> +As she went down into the night that none hath harvested.<br /> +Hapless am I, Apellichus, beloved husband mine,<br /> +Where in the wide, wide waters is now that bark of thine?<br /> +My doom hath come upon me, and would to God that I<br /> +Had felt my hand in thy dear hand on the day I had to die.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +ARCHIAS<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">1ST CENTURY B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +I +<br /> +<a name="THE_HARBOUR_GOD" id="THE_HARBOUR_GOD"></a>THE HARBOUR GOD<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Me, Pan, whose presence haunts the shore,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The fisher folk set here,</span><br /> +To guard their haven anchorage<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On the cliff that they revere;</span><br /> +And thence I watch them cast the net<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And mind their fishing gear.</span><br /> +Sail past me, traveller: for I send<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The gentle southern breeze,</span><br /> +Because of this their piety,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To speed thee over seas.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +II<br /> +<br /> +<a name="A_GRAVE_BY_THE_SEA" id="A_GRAVE_BY_THE_SEA"></a>A GRAVE BY THE SEA<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +I, shipwrecked Theris, whom the tide<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Flung landward from the deep,</span><br /> +Not even dead may I forget<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The shores that know not sleep.</span><br /> +Beneath the cliffs that break the surf<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My body found a grave,</span><br /> +Dug by the hands of stranger men,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beside the cruel wave:</span><br /> +And still ill-starred among the dead<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I hear for evermore</span><br /> +The hateful booming of the seas<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That thunder on the shore.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +MELEAGER<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">1ST CENTURY B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +I<br /> +<br /> +<a name="LOVES_QUIVER" id="LOVES_QUIVER"></a>LOVE'S QUIVER<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +By Heliodora's sandalled foot, and Demo's waving hair,<br /> +By Dorothea's wreath of blooms unbudding to the air,<br /> +By Anticlea's winsome smile and the great eyes of her,<br /> +And by Timarion's open door distilling scent like myrrh,<br /> +I know the god of love has spent his arrows winged to smart,<br /> +For all the shafts his quiver held I have them in my heart.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +II<br /> +<br /> +<a name="THE_CUP" id="THE_CUP"></a>THE CUP<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +The cup takes heart of gladness, whose boast it is to be<br /> +Sipped by the mouth of love's delight, soft-voiced Zenophile.<br /> +Most favoured cup! I would that she with lips to my lips pressed<br /> +Would drink the soul in one deep draught, that is my body's guest.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +III<br /> +<br /> +<a name="ZENOPHILE" id="ZENOPHILE"></a>ZENOPHILE<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Sweet is the music of that air, by Pan of Arcady,<br /> +Thou drawest from the harpstrings, too sweet, Zenophile;<br /> +The thronging loves on every side close in and press me nigh,<br /> +And leave me scarce a breathing space, so whither can I fly?<br /> +Is it thy beauty or thy song that kindles my desire,<br /> +Thy grace, or every thing thou art? For I am all on fire.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +IV<br /> +<br /> +<a name="LOVE_AND_DEATH" id="LOVE_AND_DEATH"></a>LOVE AND DEATH<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Friend Cleobulus, when I die<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who conquered by desire,</span><br /> +Abandoned in the ashes lie<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of youth's consuming fire,</span><br /> +Do me this service, drench in wine<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The urn you pass beneath,</span><br /> +And grave upon it this one line,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'The gift of Love to Death.'</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +V<br /> +<br /> +<a name="LOVES_MALICE" id="LOVES_MALICE"></a>LOVE'S MALICE<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Cruel is Love, ah cruel, and what can I do more<br /> +Than moaning love is cruel, repeat it o'er and o'er?<br /> +I know the boy is laughing and pleased that I grow grim,<br /> +And just the bitter things I say are the bread of life to him.<br /> +But you that from the grey-green wave arising, Cyprian, came,<br /> +'Tis strange that out of water you should have borne a flame.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +VI<br /> +<br /> +<a name="ASCLEPIAS" id="ASCLEPIAS"></a>ASCLEPIAS<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Like the calm sea beguiling with those blue eyes of hers,<br /> +Asclepias tempteth all men to be love's mariners.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +VII<br /> +<br /> +<a name="HELIODORA" id="HELIODORA"></a>HELIODORA<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Say Heliodore, and Heliodore, and still say Heliodore,<br /> +And let the music of her name mix with the wine you pour.<br /> +And wreath me with the wreath she wore, that holds the scent of myrrh,<br /> +For all that it be yesterday's, in memory of her.<br /> +The rose that loveth lovers, the rose lets fall a tear<br /> +Because my arms are empty, because she is not here.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +VIII<br /> +<br /> +<a name="THE_WREATH" id="THE_WREATH"></a>THE WREATH<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +White violet with the tender-leaved narcissus I will twine,<br /> +And the laughing lips of lilies with myrtle blooms combine;<br /> +And I will bind the hyacinth, the dark red-purple flower,<br /> +With crocus sweet and roses that are the lovers' dower,<br /> +To make the wreath that Heliodore's curl-scented brow shall wear,<br /> +To strew with falling petals the glory of her hair.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +IX<br /> +<br /> +<a name="LIBATION" id="LIBATION"></a>LIBATION<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Pour out as if for Peitho, and for the Cyprian pour,<br /> +Then for the sweet-voiced Graces, but all for Heliodore;<br /> +For there is but one goddess whose worship I enshrine,<br /> +And blent with her beloved name I drink the virgin wine.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +X<br /> +<br /> +<a name="THE_GRAVE_OF_HELIODORA" id="THE_GRAVE_OF_HELIODORA"></a>THE GRAVE OF HELIODORA<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Tears for thee, Heliodore, and bitter tears to shed,<br /> +If all that love has left to give can reach thee with the dead;<br /> +Here at thy grave I offer, that tear-drenched grave of thine,<br /> +Libation of my longing before affection's shrine.<br /> +Forlorn I mourn thee, dearest, in the land where shadows dwell,<br /> +Forlorn, and grudge the tribute death could have spared so well.<br /> +Where is the flower I cherished? Plucked by the god of doom;<br /> +Plucked, and his dust has tarnished the scarce unbudded bloom.<br /> +I may but pray thee, mother earth, who givest all thy best,<br /> +Clasp her I mourn for ever close to thy gentle breast.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +XI<br /> +<br /> +<a name="HIS_EPITAPH" id="HIS_EPITAPH"></a>HIS EPITAPH<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Tread softly, ye that pass, for here<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The old man rests his head,</span><br /> +And sleeps the sleep that all men must<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Among the honoured dead.</span><br /> +Meleager, son of Eucrates,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who linked the joyous train</span><br /> +Of Graces and of Muses<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With love's delicious pain.</span><br /> +From Gadara, the sacred land,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I came and god-built Tyre,</span><br /> +But Meropis and pleasant Cos<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Consoled life's waning fire.</span><br /> +If thou be Syrian, say Salaam,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or Hail, if Greek thou be,</span><br /> +Say Naidios, if Phœnician born,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For all are one to me.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +CRINAGORAS<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">1ST CENTURY B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="ROSES_IN_WINTER" id="ROSES_IN_WINTER"></a>ROSES IN WINTER<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +In spring it was we roses<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Were used to bloom of old,</span><br /> +Who now in midmost winter<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our crimson cells unfold,</span><br /> +To greet thee on the birthday<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That shall thy bridal bring.</span><br /> +'Tis more to grace so fair a brow<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Than know the suns of spring.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +JULIUS POLYAENUS<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">1ST CENTURY B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="AN_EXILES_PRAYER" id="AN_EXILES_PRAYER"></a>AN EXILE'S PRAYER<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Among the myriad voices that seek to win thine ear<br /> +From those whose prayers are granted, from those who pray in fear,<br /> +O Zeus of Scheria's holy plain, let my voice reach thee too,<br /> +And hearken and incline the brow that binds thy promise true.<br /> +Let my long exile have an end, my toil and travel past,<br /> +Grant me in my own native land to live at rest at last!<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +ANTIPATER OF THESSALONICA<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">1ST CENTURY B.C.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="A_GRAVE_AT_OSTIA" id="A_GRAVE_AT_OSTIA"></a>A GRAVE AT OSTIA<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Ausonian earth contains me<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That was a Libyan maid,</span><br /> +And in the sea's sand hard by Rome<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My virgin form was laid.</span><br /> +Pompeia with a mother's care<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Watched o'er my tender years,</span><br /> +Entombed me here among the free,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And gave me many tears.</span><br /> +Not as she prayed the torch was fired,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She would have burned for me;</span><br /> +The lamp which took the torch's place<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Was thine, Persephone.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +AUTHOR UNKNOWN<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="FRIENDSHIPS_EPITAPH" id="FRIENDSHIPS_EPITAPH"></a>FRIENDSHIP'S EPITAPH<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +This stone, my good Sabinus, although it be but small,<br /> +Shall be of our great friendship a witness unto all.<br /> +Ever shall I desire thee, and thou, if this may be,<br /> +Forbear to drink among the dead the lethe-draft for me.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href="#Note_9">Note 9</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="THE_COUNSEL_OF_PAN" id="THE_COUNSEL_OF_PAN"></a>THE COUNSEL OF PAN<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +In this green meadow, traveller, yield<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy weary limbs to rest:</span><br /> +The branches of the stone pine sway<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the wind from out the west;</span><br /> +The cricket calls, and all noon long<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The shepherd's piping fills</span><br /> +The plane-grove's leafy shadows<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By the spring among the hills.</span><br /> +Soothed by these sounds thou shalt avoid<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The dogstar's autumn fires,</span><br /> +And then to-morrow cross the ridge;—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Such wisdom Pan inspires.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="BENITIER" id="BENITIER"></a>BÉNITIER<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Touch but the virgin water, clean of soul,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor fear to pass into the pure god's sight:</span><br /> +For the good a drop suffices. But the whole<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Great ocean could not wash the unclean white.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="THE_END_OF_THE_COMEDY" id="THE_END_OF_THE_COMEDY"></a>THE END OF THE COMEDY<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Fortune and Hope, a long adieu!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My ship is safe in port.</span><br /> +With me is nothing left to do,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Make other lives your sport.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href="#Note_10">Note 10</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +STRATO<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">2ND CENTURY A.D.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="THE_KISS" id="THE_KISS"></a>THE KISS<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +It was at even and the hour in which good-nights are bid<br /> +That Mœris kissed me, if indeed I do not dream she did.<br /> +Of all the rest that happened there is naught that I forget,<br /> +No word she said, no question of all she asked,—and yet<br /> +If she indeed did kiss me, my doubt can not decide,<br /> +For how could I still walk the earth had I been deified!<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +AMMIANUS<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">2ND CENTURY A.D.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="THE_LORD_OF_LANDS" id="THE_LORD_OF_LANDS"></a>THE LORD OF LANDS<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Though till the gates of Heracles thy land-marks thou extend,<br /> +Their share in earth is equal for all men at the end;<br /> +And thou shalt lie as Irus lies, one obol all thy store,<br /> +And be resolved into an earth that is thine own no more.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href="#Note_11">Note 11</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +ALPHEUS<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">2ND CENTURY A.D.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="MYCENAE" id="MYCENAE"></a>MYCENAE<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +The cities of the hero age thine eyes may seek in vain,<br /> +Save where some wrecks of ruin still break the level plain.<br /> +So once I saw Mycenae, the ill-starred, a barren height<br /> +Too bleak for goats to pasture,—the goat-herds point the site.<br /> +And as I passed a greybeard said, 'Here used to stand of old<br /> +A city built by giants, and passing rich in gold.'<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href="#Note_12">Note 12</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +MACEDONIUS<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-d">6TH CENTURY A.D.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="THE_THRESHOLD" id="THE_THRESHOLD"></a>THE THRESHOLD<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Spirit of Birth, that gave me life,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Earth, that receives my clay,</span><br /> +Farewell, for I have travelled<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The stage that twixt you lay.</span><br /> +I go, and have no knowledge<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From whence I came to you,</span><br /> +Nor whither I shall journey,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor whose I am, nor who.</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="NOTES" id="NOTES"></a>NOTES</h3> + + +<p><a name="Note_1" id="Note_1"></a>Note 1.</p> + +<p>In this, No. 68 of the Sappho fragments, I have followed the reading</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>κατθάνοισα δὲ κείσεαι οὐδέ ποτα μναμοσύνα</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><i>σέθεν</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>ἔσσετ' οὐδ' ἔρος εἰς ὔστερον·</i></span><br /> +</p> + +<p>rather than</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>κατθάνοισα δὲ κείσεαι πότα, κωὐ μναμοσύνα σέθεν.</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>ἔσσετ' οὔτε τότ' οὔτ' ὔστερον·</i></span><br /> +<br /> +'Dying thou shalt lie in nothingness, nor of<br /> +thee<br /> +There nor thereafter shall memory abide.'<br /> +</p> + + +<p><a name="Note_2" id="Note_2"></a>Note 2.</p> + +<p>A portion of this fragment was adopted by Catullus.</p> + + +<p><a name="Note_3" id="Note_3"></a>Note 3.</p> + +<p>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 preserved 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. The specimens here given must be classed upon the +productions of his later imitators, although they are inserted in the +place where in chronological order the real Anacreon would have +followed.</p> + + +<p><a name="Note_4" id="Note_4"></a>Note 4.</p> + +<p>The portraiture of the Greeks was executed with tinted wax, and not with +colours rendered fluid by a liquid or oily medium. The various tints and +tones of wax were probably laid on with the finger tips or with a +spatula.</p> + + +<p><a name="Note_5" id="Note_5"></a>Note 5.</p> + +<p>There was more than one Plato, but the great Plato is evidently referred +to in the prefatory poem of Meleager as included among the poets of his +anthology.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>If the epigram on Lais is not attributed to the great Plato by the most +competent authorities, the dates of the two famous courtesans who bore +the name would not exclude the possibility of his being the author.</p> + + +<p><a name="Note_6" id="Note_6"></a>Note 6.</p> + +<p>Tychon is identified with Priapus.</p> + + +<p><a name="Note_7" id="Note_7"></a>Note 7.</p> + +<p>Rintho founded a new school of serio-comic drama about 300 B.C. The ivy +was sacred to Dionysus, in whose worship the drama had its origin.</p> + + +<p><a name="Note_8" id="Note_8"></a>Note 8.</p> + +<p>Also attributed to Meleager. The phrase, <i>βάσκανος ἔσσ' Ἀΐδα</i>, here +quoted is from Erinna's lament for Baucis, one of the rare surviving +lyrics of the Rhodian poetess.</p> + + +<p><a name="Note_9" id="Note_9"></a>Note 9.</p> + +<p>The anonymous epigrams here inserted are probably not in their proper +chronological places. But as they could not be definitely assigned to +any date I have placed them between the two categories of B.C. and A.D.</p> + + + +<p><a name="Note_10" id="Note_10"></a>Note 10.</p> + +<p>There is a Latin version of this epigram on a tomb in the pavement of a +church in Rome (S. Lorenzo in Panisperna).</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Inveni portum, spes et fortuna valete,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Nil mihi vobiscum, ludite nunc alios.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p><a name="Note_11" id="Note_11"></a>Note 11.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<p><a name="Note_12" id="Note_12"></a>Note 12.</p> + +<p>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 excavations of Schliemann.</p> + + + + + + + + + + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 35907 ***</div> + +</body> +</html> |