Greek Anthology Books 1-6

ToposText · Greek Anthology · 820 sections

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§ 6.39 ARCHIAS The three Samian sisters Satyra, Heraclea, and Euphro, daughters of Xuthus and Melite, dedicate to thee, Lady Athene, whose workwomen they were, the implements with which they long supported themselves in their poverty, the first her spindle, twirling servant of the spidery thread, together with its long distaff, the other her musical comb, busy maker of close-woven cloth, and the third the basket that loved to hold her wool.
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§ 6.40 MACEDONIUS The two oxen are mine and they helped to grow the corn. Be kind, Demeter, and receive them, though they be of dough and not from the herd. Grant that my real oxen may live, and fill thou my fields with sheaves, returning me richest thanks. For the years of thy husbandman, who loves the truth, are already four-score and four. He never reaped rich Corinthian harvests, but never tasted bitter poverty, stranger to corn.
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§ 6.41 AGATHIAS SCHOLASTICUS His brazen share that breaks the clods and cuts the fallows, the leather thong that passes under the neck of the ox, the goad with which he pricks it, and his plough-bolt doth the husbandman Callimenes dedicate to thee, Demeter, after cutting the back of his well-ploughed field. Grant me to reap the corn, and I will bring thee a sickle, too.
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§ 6.42 Anonymous Poor Alcimenes, having tasted the gifts of fruitful summer in a little garden, when he brought to Pan as a present an apple, a fig, and some water, said: “Thou givest me from thy treasury the good things of life; so accept these, the fruits from the garden and the water from thy rock, and give me in return more than thou hast received.”
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§ 6.43 PLATO (?) Some traveller, who stilled here his tormenting thirst in the heat, moulded in bronze and dedicated ex voto this servant of the Nymphs, the damp songster who loves the rain, the frog who takes joy in light fountains; for it guided him to the water, as he wandered, singing opportunely with its amphibious mouth from the damp hollow. Then, not deserting the guiding voice, he found the drink he longed for.
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§ 6.44 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM(?) To the must-bibbing Satyrs and to Bacchus the planter of the vine did Heronax consecrate these three casks of fresh wine filled from three vineyards, the first-fruits of his planting. We, having first poured what is right from them to purple Bacchus and the Satyrs, will drink more than the Satyrs.
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§ 6.45 Anonymous Comaulus hung up alive to Bacchus this hedgehog, its body bristling with sharp spines, the grape-gatherer, the spoiler of the sweet vineyards, having caught it curled up in a ball and rolling on the grapes.
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§ 6.46 ANTIPATER OF SIDON Pherenicus, having quitted the wars and the altar, presented to Athene his brazen trumpet, erst the spokesman of peace and war, sending forth a barbarous clamour from its mouth.
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§ 6.47 ANTIPATER OF SIDON Bitto dedicated to Athene her melodious loomcomb, implement of the work that was her scanty livelihood, saying, “Hail, goddess, and take this; for I, a widow in my fortieth year, forswear thy gifts and on the contrary take to the works of Cypris; I see that the wish is stronger than age.”
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§ 6.48 Anonymous Bitto dedicated to Athene her industrious loomcomb, the implement of her scanty livelihood, for then she conceived a hatred for all toil among workfolk, and for the weaver's wretched cares. To Athene she said, “I will take to the works of Cypris, voting like Paris against thee.”
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§ 6.49 On a Tripod at Delphi I am a bronze tripod, dedicated at Delphi to adorn the shrine; swift-footed Achilles offered me as a prize at Patroclus' funeral feast, and Diomed the warlike son of Tydeus dedicated me, having conquered in the horse-race by the broad Hellespont.
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§ 6.50 SIMONIDES On the Altar at Plataea commemorating the battle This altar of Zeus Eleutherios did the Hellenes erect, an ornament for Hellas such as becomes a free land, after that, obeying their brave hearts' impulse, they had driven out the Persians by the might of their hands and by the toil of battle.
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§ 6.51 Anonymous To thee, my mother Rhea, nurse of Phrygian lions, whose devotees tread the heights of Dindymus, did womanish Alexis, ceasing from furious clashing of the brass, dedicate these stimulants of his madness — his shrill-toned cymbals, the noise of his deep-voiced flute, to which the crooked horn of a young steer gave a curved form, his echoing tambourines, his knives reddened with blood, and the yellow hair which once tossed on his shoulders. Be kind, O Queen, and give rest in his old age from his former wildness to him who went mad in his youth.
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§ 6.52 SIMONIDES Rest, my long lance, thus against the high column and remain sacred to Panomphaean Zeus. For now thy point is old, and thou art worn by long brandishing in the battle.
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§ 6.53 BACCHYLIDES Eudemus dedicated this temple in his field to Zephyr the richest of all winds; for he came in answer to his prayer to help him winnow quickly the grain from the ripe ears.
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§ 6.54 PAULUS SILENTIARIUS To Lycorean Apollo doth Locrian Eunomus dedicate the brazen cicada, in memory of his contest for the crown. The contest was in lyre-playing, and opposite him stood his competitor, Parthis. But when the Locrian shell rang to the stroke of the plectrum, the string cracked with a hoarse cry. But before the running melody could go lame, a cicada lighted on the lyre chirping tenderly and caught up the vanishing note of the chord, adapting to the fashion of our playing its wild music that used to echo in the woods. Therefore, divine Son of Leto, doth he honour thee with the gift of thy cicada, perching the brazen songster upon thy lyre.
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§ 6.55 JOHANNES BARBOCALLUS I, Hermophiles the herdsman, the bridegroom of rosy-wreathed Eurynome, dedicate curdled milk and honey-combs to Peitho and Aphrodite. Receive the curds in place of her, the honey in place of me.
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§ 6.56 MACEDONIUS THE CONSUL Lenagoras, a vine-dresser, dedicated to Bacchus an ivy-crowned Satyr overloaded with wine. His head is nodding and you would say that everything in him is drunk, everything is unsteady, the fawnskin, his hair, the ivy, his eyes. Art with her mute moulding imitates even Nature, and Matter does not venture to oppose her.
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§ 6.57 PAULUS SILENTIARIUS To thee, goat -footed Pan, did Teucer, the Arab, dedicate on the pine-tree this lion's skin, armed with five-pointed claws, flenched with its tawny, gaping head, and the very lance he slew it with. On the half eaten lance-head on which the brute vented its roaring anger, remain the marks of its teeth. But the Nymphs of the streams and woods celebrated its death by a dance, since it often used to terrify them too.
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§ 6.58 ISIDORUS SCHOLASTICUS of Bolbytine(?) Thy friend Endymion, O Moon, dedicates to thee, ashamed, his bed that survives in vain and its futile cover; for grey hair reigns over his whole head and no trace of his former beauty is left.
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§ 6.59 AGATHIAS SCHOLASTICUS Callirrhoe dedicates to Aphrodite her garland, to Pallas her tress and to Artemis her girdle; for she found the husband she wanted, she grew up in virtue and she gave birth to boys.
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§ 6.60 PALLADAS Pamphile, in place of an ox and a golden offering, dedicated to Isis these glossy locks; and the goddess takes more pleasure in them than Apollo in the gold that Croesus sent him from Lydia.
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§ 6.61 PALLADAS O heavenly razor, happy razor with which Pamphile shore her plaited tresses to dedicate them. It was no human smith that wrought thee, but beside the forge of Hephaestus the bright-snooded Grace (to use Homer's words) took up the golden hammer and fashioned thee with her own hands.
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§ 6.62 PHILIPPUS OF THESSALONICA Callimenes, on giving up his work, now old age has veiled his eyes, dedicates to the Muses his circular lead which marks off the margin of the pages, and the knife that sharpens his pointed pens, his longest ruler, and the pumice from the beach, the dry porous stone of the sea.
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§ 6.63 DAMOCHARIS Weary Menedemus, his old eyes misty, dedicates to thee, Hermes (and feed ever thy labourer), these implements of his calling, the round lead full of black matter giving birth to lines, the ruler that with a sharp edge, rotating on its axis, and fixed to a holder keeps the pens very straight, the receptacle of the black writing fluid, his well-cut reed-pens split at the top, the rough stone that sharpens and improves the pens when they are worn and the writing is too scratchy, and the flat steel penknife with sharp point.
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§ 6.64 PAULUS SILENTIARIUS Philodemus, now that his wrinkled brows owing to old age come to hang over his eyes, dedicates to Hermes the round lead that draws dark lines, the pumice, rough whet-stone of hard pens, the knife, flat sharpener of the split reed-pens, the ruler that takes charge of the straightness of lines, the ink long kept in hollowed caverns and the notched pens blackened at the point.
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§ 6.65 PAULUS SILENTIARIUS Callimenes, resting from its long labour his sluggish hand that trembles with age, dedicates to Hermes his disc of lead that running correctly close to the straight ruler can deftly mark its track, the hard steel that eats the pens, the ruler itself, too, guide of the undeviating line, the rough stone on which the double-tooth of the pen is sharpened when blunted by long use, the sponge, wandering Triton's couch in the deep, healer of the pen's errors, and the ink-box with many cavities that holds in one all the implements of calligraphy.
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§ 6.66 PAULUS SILENTIARIUS Here Callimenes, his eye and hand enfeebled by age, dedicates to the laughter-loving Muses the never-moistened lead which draws that undeviating line on which is based the regularity of the script, the ruler which guides the course of this revolving lead, the porous stone like a sponge, the receptacle of the permanent ink, the pens themselves, too, their tips dyed black, the sponge, flower of the sea, forming the meadows of the liquid deep, and the knife, brazen artificer of slender pens.
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§ 6.67 JULIAN PREFECT OF EGYPT Philodemus, now that Time has dulled his eyesight and set his hand at liberty, dedicates to Hermes this lead, that keeps straight for pens their undeviating path, the ruler, the lead's companion and guide, the porous stone which sharpens the blunt lip of the pen, the pens and ink, mystic implements of the human voice, and the pen-knife sharp as a chopper.
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§ 6.68 JULIAN PREFECT OF EGYPT I dedicate to thee this lead disc that, by its revolutions, marks the furrows for the straight-travelling pen to run in, the ruler which assures that the mark of the staining lead shall be straight, the stone that sharpens the deftly split pens, the inkstand and pens, by which Time guards for future generations the voice of the departed. Receive, too, the steel chisel, to which bold Ares and the Muses assigned its proper task. These all, Hermes, are thy tools, and do thou set straight the life of feeble Philodemus, whose livelihood is failing him.
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§ 6.69 MACEDONIUS THE CONSUL Crantas, after his many voyages, dedicates his ship to Poseidon, fixing it firmly on the floor of the temple. It cares not for the winds now it is on the earth, the earth on which Crantas, stretching himself at his ease, sleeps a fearless sleep.
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§ 6.70 MACEDONIUS THE CONSUL O King of the sea and lord of the land, I, Crantas, dedicate to thee this my ship, no longer immerged in the sea — my ship, bird blown by the wandering winds, in which I, poor wretch, often thought I was being driven to Hades. Now, having renounced them all, fear, hope, sea, storms, I plant my steps confidently on dry land.
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§ 6.71 PAULUS SILENTIARIUS Here in the dust lie dedicated to thee, Lais, all these spoils of love-smitten Anaxagoras. To thee he gives the leaves of his wreaths torn into a thousand pieces, to thee the shattered cups from which he quaffed the maddening wine, to thee his locks dripping with scent. For at these doors, poor wretch, full oft he passed the night with the young men his companions, but could never draw from thee one word, one sweet promise, not even a word of scorn for honeyed hope. Alas! Alas! all wasted away he leaves here these tokens of his love-revelling, and curses the beauty of the unbending fair.
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§ 6.72 AGATHIAS SCHOLASTICUS I saw the hare sitting near the vine, nibbling off many grapes. I called the farmer, who saw it, and surprising it he knocked out its brains with a stone. He said in triumph, “It seems I have given a double gift to Bacchus, a libation and a sacrifice.”
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§ 6.73 MACEDONIUS THE CONSUL I, Daphnis the piper, in my shaky old age, my idle hand now heavy, dedicate, now I have ceased from the labours of the fold, my shepherd's crook to rustic Pan. For still I play on the pipes, still in my trembling body my voice dwells unshaken. But let no goatherd tell the ravenous wolves in the mountains of the feebleness of my old years.
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§ 6.74 AGATHIAS SCHOLASTICUS I, Eurynome the Bacchant, who used to race over the rocks, who formerly tore the breasts of many long-horned bulls, who boasted of the lions I had overcome and slain, and made toys of the heads of irresistible beasts, have now (and pardon me), Dionysus, abandoned thy dance, and am eager rather to join the revels of Cypris. This club I dedicate to thee, and throwing aside my ivy crown, I will clasp rich gold bracelets round my wrists.
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§ 6.75 PAULUS SILENTIARIUS Androclus, O Apollo, gives to thee this bow, with which, hunting successfully, he shot full many a beast. For never did the archer's hand send the arrow to leap amiss, all in vain, from the curved horn, but as often as the string, fatal to every quarry, twanged, so often he slew some game in the air or in the wood, So now he brings thee, Phoebus, this Lyctian weapon, enclasping his gift with golden rings.
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§ 6.76 AGATHIAS SCHOLASTICUS Cypris, thy husband Anchises, for whose sake thou didst often hasten of old to the Trojan shore, now just managed to find a black hair to cut from his temple, and dedicates it to thee as a relic of his former beauty. But, goddess, (for thou canst), either make me young again, or accept my age as youth.
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§ 6.77 ERATOSTHENES SCHOLASTICUS Xenophon, the toper, dedicates his empty cask to thee, Bacchus. Receive it kindly, for it is all he has.
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§ 6.78 ERATOSTHENES SCHOLASTICUS Daphnis, lover of women, dedicates to dear Pan the pierced reed-pipe, and this skin and club. Accept O Pan, the gifts of Daphnis, for like him thou lovest music and art unhappy in love.
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§ 6.79 AGATHIAS SCHOLASTICUS O Pan of the hills, Stratonicus the husbandman, in thanks for thy kindness, dedicates this unsown precinct and says, “Feed thy flocks here and be welcome, looking on thy plot of land, that the plough never more shall cut. Thy little country domain will bring thee luck, for Echo will be pleased with it, and will even celebrate here her marriage with thee.”
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§ 6.80 AGATHIAS SCHOLASTICUS I am the nine books of Agathias' Daphniad, and he who composed me dedicates me to thee, Aphrodite. For I am not so dear to the Muses as to Love., since I treat of the mysteries of so many loves. In return for his pains he begs thee to grant him either not to love or to love one who soon consents.
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§ 6.81 PAULUS SILENTIARIUS Lysimachus, who has now exchanged his armour for an old man's staff, presents to Ares his oxhide shield, the protector of his body, his spear that often tasted the entrails of his foes, his coat of mail that warded off missiles from his breast, and his helmet with thick horse-hair plume.
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§ 6.82 PAULUS SILENTIARIUS Meliscus would dedicate his reed-flute to Pan, but Pan says he will not accept the gift in these words: “It was from the reeds I was infected with love-madness.”
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§ 6.83 MACEDONIUS THE CONSUL Eumolpus, finding fault with his aged hands, laid his lyre on the tripod as an offering to Phoebus. He said, “May I never touch a lyre again or carry the instrument of the music I made of old. Let young men love the lyre-string, but I, instead of holding the plectrum, support my shaky hands on a staff.”
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§ 6.84 PAULUS SILENTIARIUS This bossed fragment of his shield, which, when fighting gloriously, he held on his left arm, did Nicagoras dedicate to Zeus; but all the rest of it the darts and stones as thick as hail and the edge of the sword cut away. Yet though thus hacked all round in his martial hand it was preserved by Nicagoras and preserved Nicagoras. Looking on this shield one shall read the perfect observance of the Spartan law, “Meet undaunted the battle shock.”
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§ 6.85 PALLADAS His breaster and leggers and shield and spear and heller Captain Gordi dedicates to Timothy.
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§ 6.86 EUTOLMIUS SCHOLASTICUS (allusion to the above) Rufus Gellius, son of Memmias, suspended here to Athene his greaves, breastplate, shield, helmet and spear.
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§ 6.87 Anonymous Thy Pan, Bacchus, dedicates to thee his fawn-skin and club, seduced away from thy dance by Venus; for he loves Echo and wanders up and down. But do thou, Bacchus, forgive him, for the like hath befallen thee.
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§ 6.88 ANTIPHANES OF MACEDONIA Cytherea herself loosed from her breast her delightful cestus and gave it to thee, Ino, for thine own, so that ever with love-charms that melt the heart thou mayest subdue men; and surely thou hast spent them all on me alone.
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§ 6.89 MAECIUS QUINTUS Priapus, who dost delight in the sea-worn rocks of this island near the coast, and in its rugged peak, to thee doth Paris the fisherman dedicate this hardshelled lobster which he overcame by his lucky rod. Its flesh he roasted and enjoyed munching with his half-decayed teeth, but this its shell he gave to thee. Therefore give him no great gift, kind god, but enough catch from his nets to still his barking belly.
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§ 6.90 PHILIPPUS OF THESSALONICA Poseidon, King of the sea, to thee doth Archides, now he hath ceased to wander along the beach, dedicate his anchor that rests in the seaweed and secures his boat, his two oars that repel the water, the leads over which his net forms a vault, his weels marked by floats, his broad-brimmed rainproof hat, and the flint that generates light for mariners at even.
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§ 6.91 THALLUS OF MILETUS The shield is the offering of Promachus, the spears of Aconteus, the sword of Eumedes, and this bow is Cydon's. Hippomedon offers the reins, Melantas the helmet, Nico the greaves, Aristomachus the pike, and Philinus the cuirass. Grant to them all, Ares, spoiler of men, ever to win trophies from the foemen.
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§ 6.92 PHILIPPUS OF THESSALONICA Demophon the goldsmith, his eyes misty with age, dedicates to Hermes the windy bellows of his forge, the keen-biting file that scrapes the gold, the doubleclawed fire-tongs, and these hare's pads that gather up the shavings.
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§ 6.93 ANTIPATER OF SIDON Harpalion the huntsman, the old man nothing but wrinkles, offered me, this hunting spear, to Heracles; for by reason of many years his hands would no longer support my weight and his head is now grey.
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§ 6.94 PHILIPPUS OF THESSALONICA Clytosthenes, his feet that raced in fury now enfeebled by age, dedicates to thee, Rhea of the lioncar, his tambourines beaten by the hand, his shrill hollow-rimmed cymbals, his double-flute that calls through its horn, on which he once made shrieking music, twisting his neck about, and the two-edged knife with which he opened his veins.
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§ 6.95 ANTIPHILUS Parmis the husbandman, resting from his sore toil, dedicates to Demeter his ox -turning iron-tipped, threatening goad, his bag, measure of the seedcorn, his curved sickle, husbandry's weapon, that cuts off the corn-ears, his winnowing fork, threefingered hand of the harvest, that throws the corn up against the wind, and his laced boots.
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§ 6.96 ERYCIUS Glaucon and Corydon, who keep their cattle on the hills, Arcadians both, drawing back its neck slaughtered for Cyllenian Pan, the mountain-lover, a horned steer, and fixed by a long nail to the goodly plane-tree its horns, twelve palms long, a fair ornament for the pastoral god.
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§ 6.97 ANTIPHILUS OF BYZANTIUM The spear of Alexander; the inscription on thee tells that after the war he dedicated thee to Artemis as a token thereof, the weapon of his invincible arm. O good spear, before the shaking of which earth and sea yielded! Hail, fearless spear! and ever all who look on thee will tremble, mindful of that mighty hand.
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§ 6.98 ZONAS To Demeter the Winnower and the Horae (seasons) that tread in the furrows Heronax from his scanty tilth offers a portion of the corn from his threshing-floor and these various vegetables on a wooden tripod — very little from a small store; for he owns but this little glebe on the barren hill-side.
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§ 6.99 PHILIPPUS OF THESSALONICA Philoxenides the worthy goatherd dedicated thee, the Pan he carved from an unbarked beech trunk, after sacrificing an old he- goat and making thy holy altar drunk with the first milk of a she- goat. In reward for which the goats in his fold shall all bear twins in the womb and escape the sharp tooth of the wolf.
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§ 6.100 CRINAGORAS Antiphanes, whose father bore the same name, dedicated to Hermes, still burning in his hand, the torch, object of the young men's holy strife, the glorious meed of victory, having run swiftly with it, as if mindful of how Prometheus stole the fire.
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§ 6.101 PHILIPPUS Timasion, whose limbs have now lost their lustiness, dedicated to thee, slow-footed Hephaestus, his knives that have slaughtered many beasts, his windy bellows that feed the fire, his pierced tammy and that four-footed bridge of fire, the charcoal pan on which the meat is set, his ladle that skims off the foaming fat, together with his iron-fingered flesh-hook.
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§ 6.102 PHILIPPUS To thee, Priapus, who lovest the wayfarer, did the gardener Lamon, praying that his trees and his own limbs may flourish, dedicate a yellow-coated pomegranate, figs wrinkled like old men, half-ripe reddening grapes plucked from a cluster, a sweet-scented quince with a fleece of fine down, a walnut peeping from its green outer skin, a cucumber wont to lie embedded in its leaves with the bloom on it, and a goldensmocked olive already ripe.
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§ 6.103 PHILIPPUS Leontichus, when time had stripped from his limbs all bloom, gave to thee, grey-eyed Athene, his taut plumb-line weighted with lead, his hammer that strikes planks, his curved bow-drill with its string attached to it at both ends, his sturdy axe for hewing tree-trunks, his straight-running saw that follows the drops of red ochre, his augers worked by the hand, his gimlets, and his taut ochre-stained line just touched by the extreme edge of the rule.
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§ 6.104 PHILIPPUS Lysixenus, deprived of the use of his limbs by much ploughing, suspends to Demeter with the wreath of corn, his seed-bag carried on the shoulder, his mallet for breaking clods, his curved sickle that gathers the corn, his sharp-toothed threshing “trebbia,” his plough-tree with the curved plough and the share that loves the earth, his goad that pricks the oxen in the rear, the traces attached to their legs that make them turn, and his wooden winnowing-fork, the hand of the husbandman.
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§ 6.105 APOLLONIDES I, Menis the net-fisher, give to thee, Artemis of the harbour, a grilled red-mullet and a hake, a cup of wine filled to the brim with a piece of dry bread broken into it, a poor sacrifice, in return for which grant that my nets may be always full of fish; for all nets, gracious goddess, are given to thy keeping.
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§ 6.106 ZONAS This skin, O woodland god, did Telamon, the slayer of wolves, suspend to thee on the plane-tree in the field, also his staff of wild olive wood winch he often sent whirling from his hand. But do thou, Pan, god of the hills, receive these not very rich gifts, and open to him this mountain, thy domain, to hunt thereon with success.
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§ 6.107 PHILIPPUS The huntsman Gelo dedicates to Pan, the ranger of the forest, me, his spear, the edge of which time hath worn by use, also the old rags of his twisted hunting-nets, his nooses that throttle the neck, his foot-traps, made of sinews, quick to nip beasts by the leg, and the collars, masters of his dogs' necks; for Time has overcome his strength, and he has now renounced wandering over the hills.
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§ 6.108 MYRINUS Ye Pans, keepers of the high mountains, ye jolly horned dancers, lords of grassy Arcady, make Diotimus rich in sheep and goats, accepting the gifts of his splendid sacrifice.
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§ 6.109 ANTIPATER Craugis the huntsman, son of Neolaidas, an Arcadian of Orchomenus, gives to thee, Pan the Scout, this scrap of his old fowling-net, his triple-twisted snare for the feet, his spring-traps made of sinews, his latticed cages, his nooses for the throat which one draws up, his sharp stakes hardened in the fire, the sticky moisture of the oak, the cane wet with it that catches birds, the triple cord which is pulled to close the hidden spring-net, and the net for catching by the neck the clamorous cranes.
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§ 6.110 LEONIDAS or MNASALCAS Cleolaus killed with his sharp spear, from his ambush under the hill, this hind by the winding water of Maeander, and nailed to the lofty pine the eight-tyned defence of its forehead.
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§ 6.111 ANTIPATER Lycormas, the son of Thearidas of Lasion, slew with the butt end of his whirled spear the hind that used to feed about the Ladon and the waters of Erymanthus and the heights of Pholoe, home of wild beasts. Its skin and two spiked horns he flenched, and hung up by the shrine of Artemis the Huntress.
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§ 6.112 PERSES These three heads of Maenalian stags with vast antlers hang in thy portico, Apollo. They were shot from horseback by the hands of Gyges, Dailochos and Promenes, the children of valiant Leontiades.
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§ 6.113 SIMMIAS GRAMMATICUS I was formerly one of the two horns of a wild long-haired ibex, and was garlanded with green leaves; but now the worker in horn has adapted me for Nicomachus, stretching on me the strong sinew of a crumple-horned ox.
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§ 6.114 PHILIPPUS OF THESSALONICA We hang in the porch, a gift of the king to Heracles, the skin and mighty horns, fourteen palms long, of a wild bull, which when it confronted Philip, glorying in its strength, his terrible spear brought to ground, on the spurs of Orbelus, the land of wild cattle. Blest indeed is Macedon, which is ruled by such a chief.
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§ 6.115 ANTIPATER The bull that bellowed erst on the heights of Orbelus, the brute that laid Macedonia waste, Philip, the wielder of the thunder-bolt, the destroyer of the Dardanians, hath slain, piercing its forehead with his hunting-spear; and to thee, Heracles, he hath dedicated with its strong hide these horns, the defence of its monstrous head. From thy race he sprung, and it well becomes him to emulate his ancestor's prowess in slaying cattle.
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§ 6.116 SAMUS As a gift to thee, Heracles, sacker of Orchomenus, did Philip dedicate this, the smooth hide, with its horns, of the loud-bellowing bull, whose glorying insolence he quenched in the rough foot-hills of Orbelus. Let envy pine away; but thy glory is increased, in that from thy race sprang the Beroean lord of Macedon.
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§ 6.117 PANCRATES The hammer from the fire, with the pliers and tongs, is consecrated to thee, Hephaestus, the gift of Polycrates, with which often beating on his anvil he gained substance for his children, driving away doleful poverty.
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§ 6.118 ANTIPATER The lyre, the bow, and the intricate nets are dedicated to Phoebus by Sosis, Phila and Polycrates. The archer dedicated the horn bow, she, the musician, the tortoise-shell lyre, the hunter his nets. Let the first be supreme in archery, let her be supreme in playing, and let the last be first among huntsmen.
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§ 6.119 MOERO OF BYZANTIUM Cluster, full of the juice of Dionysus, thou restest under the roof of Aphrodite's golden chamber: no longer shall the vine, thy mother, cast her lovely branch around thee, and put forth above thy head her sweet leaves.
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§ 6.120 LEONIDAS Not only do I know how to sing perched in the high trees, warm in the midsummer heat, making music for the wayfarer without payment, and feasting on delicate dew, but thou shalt see me too, the cicada, seated on helmeted Athene's spear. For as much as the Muses love me, I love Athene; she, the maiden, is the author of the flute.
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§ 6.121 CALLIMACHUS Ye denizens of Cynthus, be of good cheer; for the bow of Cretan Echemmas hangs in Ortygia in the house of Artemis, that bow with which he cleared a great mountain of you. Now he rests, ye goats, for the goddess has made him consent to a truce.
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§ 6.122 NICIAS Maenad of Ares, sustainer of war, impetuous spear, who now hath set thee here, a gift to the goddess who awakes the battle? " Menius; for springing lightly from his hand in the forefront of the fight I wrought havoc among the Odrysae on the plain."
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§ 6.123 ANYTE Stand here, thou murderous spear, no longer drip from thy brazen barb the dismal blood of foes; but resting in the high marble house of Athene, announce the bravery of Cretan Echecratidas.
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§ 6.124 HEGESIPPUS I am fixed here under the roof of warrior Pallas' temple, the shield from the mortal shoulders of Timanor, often befouled with the dust of iron war. Ever did I save my bearer from death.
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§ 6.125 MNASALCAS Now I rest here far from the battle, I who often saved my lord's fair breast by my back. Though receiving far-flying arrows and dreadful stones in thousands and long lances, I aver I never quitted Cleitus' long arm in the horrid din of battle.
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§ 6.126 DIOSCORIDES Not idly did Hyllus the son of Polyttus, the stout Cretan warrior, blazon on his shield the Gorgon, that turns men to stone, and the three legs. This is what they seem to tell his foes: “O thou who brandishest thy spear against my shield, look not on me, and fly with three legs from the swift-footed man.”
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§ 6.127 NICIAS (A Shield speaks} So one day I was fated to leave the hideous field of battle and listen to the song and dance of girls round the temple of Artemis, where Epixenus set me, when white old age began to wear out his limbs.
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§ 6.128 MNASALCAS Rest in this holy house, bright shield, a gift from the wars to Artemis, Leto's child. For oft in the battle, fighting on Alexander's arm, thou didst in comely wise befoul with dust thy golden rim.
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§ 6.129 LEONIDAS Eight shields, eight helmets, eight woven coats of mail and as many blood-stained axes, these are the arms, spoil of the Lucanians, that Hagnon, son of Euanthes, the doughty fighter, dedicated to Coryphasian Athene.
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§ 6.130 LEONIDAS The shields, spoils of the brave Gauls, did Molossian Pyrrhus hang here as a gift to Itonian Athene, after destroying the whole army of Antigonus.'Tis no great wonder! Now, as of old, the sons of Aeacus are warriors.
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§ 6.131 LEONIDAS These great shields won from the Lucanians, and the row of bridles, and the polished double-pointed spears are suspended here to Pallas, missing the horses and the men their masters; but them black death hath devoured.
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§ 6.132 NOSSIS These their shields the Bruttians threw from their doomed shoulders, smitten by the swiftly-charging Locrians. Here they hang in the temple of the gods, praising them, the brave, and regretting not the clasp of the cowards they left.
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§ 6.133 ARCHILOCHUS Alcibia dedicated to Hera the holy veil of her hair, when she entered into lawful wedlock.
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§ 6.134 ANACREON (?) Helicomas, she who holds the thyrsus, and Xanthippe next to her, and Glauce, are coming down the mountain on their way to the dance, and they are bringing for Dionysus ivy, grapes, and a fat goat.
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§ 6.135 ANACREON (?) This horse of Phidolas from spacious Corinth is dedicated to Zeus in memory of the might of its legs.
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§ 6.136 ANACREON (?) Praxidice worked and Dyseris designed this garment. It testifies to the skill of both.
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§ 6.137 ANACREON (?) Apollo of the silver bow, grant willingly thy grace to Naucrates, the son of Aeschylus, receiving these his vows.
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§ 6.138 ANACREON (?) Calliteles set me here of old, but this his descendants erected, to whom grant thy grace in return.

Via ToposText (topostext.org), a project of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation created by Brady Kiesling. Translated by William Roger Paton (1857-1921). Composed ca. 900 CE. Licence: public domain. Source.