Greek Anthology Book 7

ToposText · Greek Anthology · 753 sections

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§ 7.696 ARCHIAS OF MITYLENE Poor Satyr who didst dwell on the hills of Celaenae, thou hangest from a leafy pine, thy beastlike body flogged by the winds, because thou didst enter on fatal strife with Phoebus; and no longer, as of old, shall we Nymphs hear on the Phrygian hills the honeyed notes of thy flute.
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§ 7.697 CHRISTODORUS This tomb covers Joannes, who was the star of Epidamnus, the city founded by the famous sons of Heracles, whence it was brought about that this active hero ever reduced the stubborn strength of the unrighteous. The renowned fatherland of his pious parents and himself was Lychnidus, a city built by Phoenician Cadmus. Thence sprung this Heliconian lamp, because Cadmus first taught the Greeks letters. He attained the consulate, and administering justice in Illyria, crowned the Muses and pure Justice.
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§ 7.698 CHRISTODORUS. HERE lies Joannes of Epidamnus, the far-shining ornament of ever brilliant consuls, who spread abroad the sweet light of the Muses, and more than others amplified the work of hospitality, having a hand that fed all, and alone among men knew not any measure to limit its gifts. He ornamented his lofty consular car with the laws of his country, making bright the works of pure justice. Ye gods! he did not live long, but at the age of only forty-two departed this life, regretted by all poets, whom he loved more than his own parents.
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§ 7.699 ANONYMOUS Icaria, memorial of the disastrous journey of Icarus flying through the newly-trodden air, would he too had never seen thee, would that Triton had never sent thee up above the expanse of the Aegean Sea. For thou hast no sheltered anchorage, either on the northern side nor where the sea breaks on thee from the south. A curse on thee, inhospitable foe of mariners. May I voyage as far from thee as from loathly Hell.
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§ 7.700 DIODORUS GRAMMATICUS Know, thou stone palace of the Night that hides me, and thou, flood of Cocytus, where wailing is loud, it was not my husband, as they say, who, contemplating another marriage, slew me. Why should Rufinus have that evil name for naught? But the fatal Destinies brought me here. Paula of Tarentum is not the only woman who has died before her time.
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§ 7.701 DIODORUS GRAMMATICUS His dear city set up this inscription by the beautiful waters of Ascania to the strong man Achaeus. Nicaea wept for him, and his father Diomedes erected to him this tall and glittering stone monument, lamenting; for it had been meeter for his son to pay him these honours when he died himself.
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§ 7.702 APOLLONIDES The capture of his rod, pulled out of the sea by the six-stranded hair line, was fatal to the fisherman Menestratus; then, when the red phycis, gaping at the errant bait of the murderous hook, swallowed greedily the sharp fraud, as he was cracking its skull with its teeth, it slew him, taking a violent leap and slipping down his throat.
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§ 7.703 MYRINUS (Not Sepulchral) Thyrsis the villager who feeds the Nymphs’ flocks, Thyrsis whose piping is equal to Pan’s, sleeps under the shady pine tree having drunk wine at midday, and Love takes his crook and keeps the flock himself. Ye Nymphs! ye Nymphs! awake the shepherd who fears no wolf, lest Love become the prey of wild beasts.
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§ 7.704 ANONYMOUS When I am dead may earth be mingled with fire. It matters not to me, for with me all is well.
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§ 7.705 ANTIPATER OF THESSALONICA (Not Sepulchral) Amphipolis, tomb of Edonian Phyllis, washed by the Strymon and great Hellespont, all that is left of thee is the ruin of the temple of Brauronian Artemis and the disputed water of thy river. We see her for whom the Athenians strove so long now lying like a torn rag of precious purple on either bank.
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§ 7.706 DIOGENES LAERTIUS Chrysippus became dizzy when he had drunk up the wine at a gulp, and sparing neither the Stoa, nor his country, nor his life, went to the house of Hades.
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§ 7.707 DIOSCORIDES I, too, red-bearded Scirtus the Satyr, guard the body of Sositheus as one of my brothers guards Sophocles on the Acropolis. For he wielded the ivy-bough, yea by the dance I swear it, in a manner worthy of the Satyrs of Phlius, and restoring ancient usage, led me, who had been reared in new-fangled fashions, back to the tradition of our fathers. Once more I forced the virile rhythm on the Doric Muse, and drawn to magniloquence... a daring innovation introduced by Sositheus.
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§ 7.708 DIOSCORIDES Light earth, give birth to ivy that loves the stage to flourish on the tomb of Macho the writer of comedies. For thou holdest no re-dyed drone, but he whom thou clothest is a worthy remnant of ancient art. This shall the old man say: “O city of Cecrops, sometimes on the banks of the Nile, too, the strong-scented thyme of poesy grows.”
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§ 7.709 ALEXANDER Ancient Sardis, home of my fathers, had I been reared in thee I would have been a cernus-bearer or eunuch, wearing ornaments of gold and beating pretty tambourines; but now my name is Alcman, and I am a citizen of Sparta of the many tripods, and have learnt to know the Heliconian Muses who made me greater than the tyrants Dascyles and Gyges.
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§ 7.710 ERINNA Ye columns and my Sirens, and thou, mournful pitcher that holdest the little ash of death, bid them who pass by my tomb hail, be they citizens or from another town; and tell this, too, that I was buried here a bride, and that my father called me Baucis, and that my country was Tenos, that they may know. Say, likewise, that my friend and companion Erinna engraved these lines on my tomb.
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§ 7.711 ANTIPATER OF SIDON Already her saffron couch inside the golden wedding-chamber had been laid for Clinareta the bride of Pitana. Already her parents Derao and Nicippus were looking forward to raising on high in both hands the blazing pine-torch, when sickness carried the girl away and took her to the sea of Lethe. All sadly her girl companions instead of beating at her door beat their breasts, as is the rite of death.
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§ 7.712 ERINNA. I am the tomb of Baucis the bride, and as thou passest the much bewept pillar, say to Hades who dwells below “ Hades, thou art envious.” To thee the fair letters thou seest on the stone will tell the most cruel fate of Bauco, how her bridegroom's father lighted her pyre with those very torches that had burnt while they sang the marriage hymn. And thou, Hymenaeus, didst change the tuneful song of wedding to the dismal voice of lamentation.
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§ 7.713 ANTIPATER OF SIDON (Not Sepulchral) Few are Erinna’s verses nor is she wordy in her songs, but this her little work is inspired. Therefore fail she not to be remembered, and is not held hidden under the shadowy wing of black night. But we, stranger, the countless myriads of later singers, lie in heaps withering from oblivion. The low song of the swan is better than the cawing of jackdaws echoing far and wide through the clouds of spring.
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§ 7.714 ANONYMOUS I sing of Rhegium, that at the point of the shoaly coast of Italy tastes ever of the Sicilian sea, because under the leafy poplar she laid Ibycus the lover of the lyre, the lover of boys, who had tasted many pleasures; and over his tomb she shed in abundance ivy and white reeds.
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§ 7.716 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM Far from the Italian land I lie, far from my country Tarentum, and this is bitterer to me than death. Such is the life of wanderers, ill to live; but the Muses loved me and instead of sourness sweets are mine. The name of Leonidas hath not sunk into oblivion, but the gifts of the Muses proclaim it to the end of days.
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§ 7.716 DIONYSIUS OF RHODES Too early and missed by all us who dwell in the city of Ialysus, hast thou sunk, Phaenocritus, into the sea of oblivion, after plucking for a brief time the flowers of wisdom; and round thy tomb the very owls that never shed tears lamented. No singer shall ever sing as thou didst to future generations as long as men walk upon their feet.
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§ 7.717 Anonymous Ye Naiads, and ye cool pastures, tell the bees that start for their spring journeys that old Lysippus perished lying in ambush for the fleet-footed hares on a winter night. No longer does he take joy in tending the swarms, and the dells where feed the flocks miss much their neighbour of the hill.(?)
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§ 7.718 NOSSIS Stranger, if thou sailest to Mitylene, the city of lovely dances which kindled (?) Sappho, the flower of the Graces, say that the Locrian land bore one dear to the Muses and equal to her and that her name was Nossis. Go!
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§ 7.719 LEONIDAS I am the tomb of Tellen, and under ground I hold the old man, who was the first to learn how to compose comic songs.
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§ 7.720 CHAEREMON Cleuas, the son of Etymocles, who didst wield the spear for Thyreae, thou didst die allotting to thyself the disputed land.
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§ 7.721 CHAEREMON We from Sparta engaged the Argives equal in number and in arms, Thyreae being the prize of the spear, and both abandoning without seeking for pretexts our hope of return home, we leave the birds to tell of our death.
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§ 7.722 THEODORIDAS I weep for Timosthenes, the son of Molossus, slain in battle, dying a stranger on the strange Attic soil.
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§ 7.723 ANONYMOUS (Not Sepulchral) Lacedaemon, formerly unconquered and uninvaded, thou seest the Olenian smoke on the banks of Eurotas. No shade of trees hast thou left; the birds nest on the ground and the wolves hear not the bleating of sheep.
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§ 7.724 ANYTE Thy valour, Proarchus, slew thee in the fight, and thou hast put in black mourning by thy death the house of thy father Phidias. But the stone above thee sings this good message, that thou didst fall fighting for thy dear fatherland.
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§ 7.725 CALLIMACHUS A. “MENECRATES of Aenus, you too were not long on earth. Tell me, best of friends, what caused your death? Was it that which caused the Centaur’s?” B. “The fore-ordained sleep came to me, and the unhappy wine is blamed.”
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§ 7.726 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM Old Platthis often repelled from her her evening and morning sleep, keeping poverty away, and near the door of gray old age used to sing a tune to her spindle and familiar distaff. Still by the loom until the dawn she revolved in company with the Graces that long task of Pallas, or, a loveable figure, smoothed with her wrinkled hand on her wrinkled knee the thread sufficient for the loom. Aged eighty years comely Platthis who wove so well set eyes on the lake of Acheron.
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§ 7.727 THEAETETUS Phileas seemed inferior to none in the gifts of his mind; let him who envies him go and cry himself to death. Yet but empty pleasure hath a man in fame, for in Hades Thersites is as highly honoured as Minos.
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§ 7.728 CALLIMACHUS I, the old woman who am now dust was once the priestess of Demeter and again of the Cabiri and afterwards of Cybele. I was the patroness of many young women. I had two male children and closed my eyes at a goodly old age in their arms. Go in peace.
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§ 7.729 TYMNES The omens were evil when fair Tritonis was brought to bed, for otherwise she would not have perished, unhappy girl, just after the child was born. With her this one babe brought down to Hades so much happiness, and it did not even live beyond the tenth dawn. A form of imprecation.
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§ 7.730 PERSES Unhappy Mnasylla, why does it stand on thy tomb, this picture of thy daughter Neotima whom thou lamentest, her whose life was taken from her by the pangs of labour? She lies in her dear mother’s arms, as if a heavy cloud had gathered 011 her eyelids and, alas, not far away her father Aristoteles rests his head on his right hand. O most miserable pair, not even in death have ye forgotten your grief.
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§ 7.731 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM “I am already supported only on a stick, like a vine on a stake; Death calls me to Hades. Stop not thy ears, Gorgus. What further pleasure hast thou in basking in the sun yet for three or four summers?” So speaking in no braggart strain the old man cast away his life and settled in the abode of the greater number.
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§ 7.732 THEODORIDAS Thou art gone, still without a staff, Cinesias, son of Hermolas, to pay the debt thou owest to Hades, in thy old age but bringing him thyself still complete. So all-subduing Acheron finding thee a just debtor shall love thee.
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§ 7.733 DIOTIMUS We two old women Anaxo and Cleno the twin daughters of Epicrates were ever together; Cleno was in life the priestess of the Graces and Anaxo served Demeter. We wanted nine days to complete our eightieth year. We loved our husbands and children, and we, the old women, won gentle death before them.
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§ 7.734 ANONYMOUS [text corrupt...] O old man, may thy blessed children too reach the road of gray age.
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§ 7.735 DAMAGETUS Phocaea, glorious city, these were the last words Theano spoke as she descended into the vast night: “Alas unhappy that I am, Apellichus! What sea, my husband, art thou crossing in thy swift ship? But by me death stands close, and would I could die holding thy dear hand in mine.”
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§ 7.736 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM Vex not thyself, O man, leading a vagrant life, rolled from one land to another. Vex not thyself if thou hast a little hut to cover thee, warmed by a little fire, if thou hast a poor cake of no fine meal kneaded by thy hands in a stone trough, if thou hast mint or thyme for a relish or even coarse salt not unsweetened.
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§ 7.737 ANONYMOUS Here I thrice unfortunate was slain by an armed robber, and here I lie bewept by none.
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§ 7.738 THEODORIDAS The Keys [ Kleides ] of Cyprus and the promontory of Salamis and the rude south wind destroyed thee, Timarchus, with thy ship and cargo, and thy mourning kinsmen received but the black ashes of thee, ill-fated man.
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§ 7.739 PHAEDIMUS I mourn for Polyanthus, O passer by, whom his wife Aristagora laid in the tomb, her newly wedded lord, receiving his ashes and dust (in the stormy Aegean near Sciathus he had perished) after the fishermen in the early morn had towed his corpse into the harbour of Torone.
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§ 7.740 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM I am the stone that rests on Cretho and makes known his name, but Cretho is ashes underground, he who once vied with Gyges in wealth, who was lord of many herds and flocks, who — why need I say more? he who was blessed by all. Alas, what a little share of his vast lands is his!
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§ 7.741 CRINAGORAS Cite Othryadas, the great glory of Sparta, or Cynegeirus, the sea-fighter, or all great deeds of arms. The Italian warrior who lay by the streams of the Rhine, half dead from many wounds, when he saw the eagle of his dear legion seized by the enemy, again arose from amid the corpses of the slain and killing him who carried it, recovered it for his leaders, alone winning for himself a death that knew not defeat.
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§ 7.742 APOLLONIDES (Not Sepulchral) No longer, Timoclea, hast thou lost the light of thy eyes, now thou hast given birth to twin boys, but thou art now more perfect than thou ever wast, looking with more than two eyes on the burning Chariot of the Sun.
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§ 7.743 ANTIPATER OF SIDON I, Hermocratea, bore twenty-nine children and have not seen the death of one, either boy or girl. For far from Apollo having shot down my sons and Artemis my daughters for me to lament, Artemis came to relieve me in childbed and Phoebus brought my sons to man’s estate unhurt by sickness. See how I justly surpass Niobe both in my children and in restraint of speech.
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§ 7.744 DIOGENES LAERTIUS They say that Eudoxus learnt his own fate in Memphis from the bull with beautiful horns. It spoke not, how could it? for nature has not given speech to cattle nor a talkative tongue to the calf Apis; but standing beside him it licked his cloak, evidently telling him this: “You will divest yourself of life.” So he died shortly after, having seen fifty-three summers.
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§ 7.745 ANTIPATER OF SIDON Ibycus, the robbers slew thee when from the ship thou didst land on the untrodden desert shore. But first didst thou call on the flock of cranes who came to witness that thou didst die a most cruel death. And not in vain didst thou cry out, for through the calling of the cranes the Erinys avenged thy death in the land of Corinth. O ye race of robbers greedy of gain, why fear ye not the anger of the gods? Not even did Aegisthus, who of old slew the singer, escape the eyes of the dark-robed Furies.
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§ 7.746 PYTHAGORAS Here lies great Zan whom they call Zeus.
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§ 7.747 LIBANIUS Julian lies here on the further bank of the strong current of Tigris, “a good king and a valiant warrior.”
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§ 7.748 ANTIPATER OF SIDON What one-eyed Cyclops built all this vast stone mound of Assyrian Semiramis, or what giants, sons of earth, raised it to reach near to the seven Pleiads, inflexible, unshakable, a mass weighing on the broad earth like to the peak of Athos? Ever blessed people, who to the citizens of Heraclea...[missing]

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.