Greek Anthology Book 9

ToposText · Greek Anthology · 827 sections

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§ 9.301 SECUNDUS Why do you drive me, the slow-footed braying ass, round and round with the threshing horses? Is it not enough that, driven in a circle and blindfolded, I am forced to turn the heavy millstone? But I must compete with horses too! Is the next task in store for me to plough with my neck's strength the earth that the share curves?
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§ 9.302 ANTIPATER OF THESSALONICA Bees, ye savage pack, ye killed baby Hermonax as he was creeping to jour hive in quest of honey. Often had he been fed by you, and now, alas! ye have stung him to death. If we speak evil of serpents' nests, learn from Lysidice and Amyntor not to praise hives either. They, too, have in them bitter honey.
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§ 9.303 ADDAEUS To little Calathina, in labour with her puppies, Leto's daughter gave an easy delivery. Artemis hears not only the prayers of women, but knows how to save also the dogs, her companions in the chase.
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§ 9.304 PARMENION On the Battle of Thermopylae Him who, transforming the paths of land and ocean, sailed over the dry land and marched on the sea, three hundred valiant Spartan spears resisted. Shame on you, mountains and seas!
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§ 9.305 ANTIPATER OF THESSALONICA I had drunk my fill of untempered water, when Bacchus yesterday, standing by my bed, spoke thus: “Thou sleepest a sleep worthy of them whom Aphrodite hates. Tell me, thou temperate man, hast thou heard of Hippolytus? Fear lest thou suffer some fate such as his.” Having so spoken he departed, and ever since then water is not agreeable to me.
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§ 9.306 ANTIPHILUS Cease working, ye woodcutters, at least as far as concerns ships. It is no longer pine-trees that glide over the waves but hides. Ships are no longer built with bolts of bronze or iron, but their hulls are held together with flaxen cords, and the same ship now floats on the sea and now travels on land, folded to be mounted on a carriage. Argo was formerly the theme of song, but Pallas has granted to Sabinus to build a still more novel keel.
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§ 9.307 PHILIPPUS Daphne, who once refused Phoebus, now uprears her dark-leaved bough from the altar of Caesar, having found a better god than that former one. Though she hated the son of Leto, she desires Zeus the son of Aeneas. She struck root not in the Earth, her mother, but in a stone. Not even stone can refuse to bear offspring to Caesar.
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§ 9.308 BIANOR On Arion When the sea-robbers near the Tyrrhene surges cast the lyre-player into the sea from the ship, a dolphin straightway received him, together with the sweet-voiced lyre to whose strains lie sung, and swum, saving him from the deep, till it landed on the Isthmus of Corinth. Had the sea, then, fish which were juster than men?
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§ 9.309 ANTIPATER OF THESSALONICA As Gorgo was lighting the coals on her hearth in winter, the fearful noise of the thunder terrified the old woman. Chill seized her lungs and she dropped dead. So then she had been spared with Eld on the one side and Death on the other, either ready to take her on any pretext.
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§ 9.310 ANTIPHILUS OF BYZANTIUM A little mouse devoured some unfired gold-dust, the scrapings of the file's iron teeth, lighter than the sands of Libya. It proved a heavy meal for him; for his belly, trailing with the weight, made the swift creature slow-footed, and so he was caught and cut open, and the stolen treasure extracted from his inside. Even to brutes, gold, thou art the cause of evil.
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§ 9.311 PHILIPPUS OF THESSALONICA A bitch, that vied in swiftness with the deer, was wounded, when heavy with young, in her generative organs. The scab of the wound in a short time entirely closed the orifice, and the pains of labour were at hand. But a man operated on her, terribly though she howled, and the dear little ones leapt forth from her womb. The gracious aid of Artemis in labour is a thing of the past, and Ares, on the other hand, has begun to practise midwifery.
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§ 9.312 ZONAS OF SARDIS Refrain, sirrah, from cutting the oak, the mother of acorns; refrain, and lay low the old stone-pine, or the sea-pine, or this rhamnus with many stems, or the holly-oak, or the dry arbutus. Only keep thy axe far from the oak, for our grannies tell us that oaks were the first mothers.
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§ 9.313 ANYTE Sit here, quite shaded by the beautiful luxuriant foliage of the laurel, and draw sweet drink from the lovely spring, that thy limbs, panting with the labours of summer, may take rest beaten by the western breeze.
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§ 9.314 ANYTE Here stand I, Hermes, in the cross-roads by the wind-swept belt of trees near the grey beach, giving rest to weary travellers, and cold and stainless is the water that the fountain sheds.
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§ 9.315 NICIAS Sit here under the poplar trees, traveller, for thou art weary, and come near and drink from my fountain. When thou art far away bethink thee of the spring near which stands Simus' statue beside his dead son Gillus.
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§ 9.316 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM O ye who pass along this road, whether ye are going from town to the fields or returning to the city from the country, we two gods here are the guardians of the boundary. I, as you see me, am Hermes, and this other fellow is Heracles. We both are gracious to mortals, but to each other — save the mark! If anyone offers a dish of wild pears to both of us, he bolts them. Yes, and indeed, likewise grapes; whether they are ripe ones or any quantity of sour ones, he stows them away. I detest this method of going shares, and get no pleasure from it. Let whoever brings us anything serve it separately to each of us and not to both, saying, “This is for thee, Heracles,” and again, “This is for Hermes.” So he might make up our quarrel.
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§ 9.317 Anonymous Hermaphroditus. “Goatherd, I love seeing this foul-mouthed god struck on his bald pate by the pears.” Silenus. “Goatherd, I buggered this one thrice, and the young billy- goats were looking at me and tupping the young nanny- goats.” Goatherd. “Is it true, Hermaphroditus, that he did so?” Hermaphroditus “No, goatherd, I swear by Hermes.” Silenus. “I swear by Pan I did, and I was laughing all the time.”
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§ 9.318 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM Dear Hermes, whose are this hillside rich in fennel and chervil, and this goat-pasture? Be kind both to the gatherer of herbs and to the goatherd, and thou shalt have thy share of both the herbs and the milk.
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§ 9.319 PHILOXENUS Tlepolemus of Myra, the son of Polycrites, set me up here, Hermes, presiding deity of the course, a pillar to mark the starting point in the holy races of twenty stadia. Toil, ye runners, in the race, banishing soft ease from your knees.
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§ 9.320 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM Eurotas said once to Cypris, “Either arm thyself or go out of Sparta. The town has a craze for arms.” She smiled gently and replied, “I will both remain always unarmed and continue to dwell in the land of Lacedaemon.” Our Cypris is unarmed as elsewhere, and these are shameless writers who declare that with us even the goddess bears arms.
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§ 9.321 ANTIMACHUS Why, Cypris, hast thou, to whom the toil of war is strange, got thee these accoutrements of Ares? What falsifier fitted on thee, to no purpose, this hateful armour? Thou delightest in the Loves and the joys of the bridal bed, and the girls dancing madly to the castanets. Lay down these bloody spears. They are for divine Athena, but come thou to Hymenaeus with the flowing locks.
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§ 9.322 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM These spoils are not mine. Who hung this unwelcome gift on the walls of Ares? Unbruised are the helmets, unstained by blood the polished shields, and unbroken the frail spears. My whole face reddens with shame, and the sweat, gushing from my forehead, bedews my breast. Such ornaments are for a lady's bower, or a banqueting-hall, or a court, or a bridal chamber. But blood-stained be the cavalier's spoils that deck the temple of Ares; in those I take delight.
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§ 9.323 ANTIPATER OF SIDON Who hung here these glittering shields, these unstained spears and unbroken helmets, dedicating to murderous Ares ornaments that are no ornaments? Will no one cast these weapons out of my house? Their place is in the wassailing halls of unwarlike men, not within the walls of Enyalius. I delight in hacked trophies and the blood of dying men, if, indeed, I am Ares the Destroyer.
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§ 9.324 MNASALCAS Why, O pipe, hast thou hied thee here to the house of the Foam-born? Why art thou here fresh from a shepherd's lips? Here are no more hills and dales, naught but the Loves and Desire. The mountains are the dwelling of the rustic Muse.
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§ 9.325 Anonymous on a Shell with an image of Love carved inside it Of old I dwelt in the depths on a sea-washed rock clothed in luxuriant seaweed, but now in my bosom sleeps the delightful child, tender Love, the servant of diademed Cypris.
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§ 9.326 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM Hail, thou cold stream that leapest down from the cloven rock, and ye images of the Nymphs carved by a shepherd's hand! Hail, ye drinking troughs and your thousand little dolls, ye Maidens of the spring, that lie drenched in its waters! All hail! And I, Aristocles, the wayfarer, give you this cup which I dipped in your stream to quench my thirst.
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§ 9.327 HERMOCREON Ye Nymphs of the water, to whom Hermocreon set up these gifts when he had lighted on your delightful fountain, all hail! And may ye ever, full of pure drink, tread with your lovely feet the floor of this your watery home.
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§ 9.328 DAMOSTRATUS Ye Naiad Nymphs, who shed from the mountain cliff this fair stream in inexhaustible volume, Daraostratus, the son of Antilas, gave you these wooden images and the two hairy boar -skins.
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§ 9.329 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM Ye water Nymphs, children of Dorus, water diligently this garden of Timocles, for to you, Maidens, doth the gardener Timocles bring ever in their season gifts from this garden.
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§ 9.330 NICARCHUS A. “I am goat -footed Pan, whom Simo put up by the clear waters of the spring.” B. “And why?” A. “I will tell thee. From the fountain drink as much as thou wilt, and take this hollow pitcher, too, and draw. But offer not the crystalline gifts of the Nymphs to thy feet to bathe them. Seest thou not my menacing form?” B. “Revered god — ” A. “Thou shalt not speak another word, but shalt let me take my will of thee. Such is the custom of Pan. But if thou dost it on purpose, having an inclination for the penalty, I know another trick. I will break thy head with my club.”
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§ 9.331 MELEAGER On Wine and Water The Nymphs washed Bacchus when he leapt from the fire above the ashes he had just been rolling in. Therefore Bacchus is thy friend when united with the Nymphs, but if thou preventest their union thou shalt take to thee a still burning fire.
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§ 9.332 NOSSIS Let us go to the temple to see the statue of Aphrodite, how cunningly wrought it is of gold. Polyarchis erected it, having gained much substance from the glory of her own body.
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§ 9.333 MNASALCAS Let us stand on the low beach of the sea-washed promontory, gazing at the sanctuary of Cypris of the Sea, and the spring overshadowed by poplars from which the yellow kingfishers sip with their bills the running water.
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§ 9.334 PERSES If at the right season thou callest upon me too, little among the lesser gods, thou shalt get thy wish, but crave not for great things. For I, Tychon, have in my power to grant only such things as the people's god may give to a labouring man.
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§ 9.335 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM The two statues, wayfarer, are the gift of the woodman Miccalion; but look, Hermes, how the excellent woodman from his wretched calling managed to give gifts. The good man is always good.
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§ 9.336 CALLIMACHUS I, the hero who guard the stable of Aeetion of Amphipolis, stand here, small myself and in a small porch, carrying nothing but a wriggling snake and a sword. Having lost his temper with.... he did not give me a mount either when he put me up beside him.
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§ 9.337 LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM Good sport! thou who comest to the foot of this two-peaked hill, whether hunting the hare or in pursuit of winged game. Call on me, Pan the ranger of this forest, from the rock, for I help both hounds and limed reeds to capture.
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§ 9.338 THEOCRITUS Thou sleepest, Daphnis, resting thy wearied body on a bed of leaves, and thy stake-nets are new set on the hill. But Pan hunts thee, Pan and Priapus, the saffron-coloured ivy twined on his lovely head. Intent on one purpose they are entering the cave. But fly; dispel the gathering drowsiness of sleep and fly.
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§ 9.339 ARCHIAS OF MYTILENE A raven plying his black wings in the pellucid sky, saw once a scorpion emerging from the ground, and swooped down to catch it; but the scorpion, as the raven dashed down to the ground, was not slow to strike his foot with its powerful sting, and robbed him of life. See how the luckless bird met with the fate he was preparing for another by means of that other.
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§ 9.340 DIOSCORIDES The double flute was the work of Phrygian Hyagnis at the time when the Mother of the Gods first revealed her rites on Cybela, and when the frantic servant of the Idaean chamber first loosed his lovely locks to my notes. But if the shepherd of Celaenae was known earlier as a better player, his strife with Phoebus flayed him.
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§ 9.341 GLAUCUS A. “ Nymphs answer me truly, if Daphnis on his road rested here his white goats.” B. “Yes, yes, piper Pan, and on the back of that poplar tree he cut a message for thee: ( Pan, Pan, go to Malea; to the mountain of Psophis. I shall come there.” A. “Farewell, Nymphs, I go.”
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§ 9.342 PARMENION An epigram of many lines does not, I say, conform to the Muses' law. Seek not the long course in the short stadion. The long race has many rounds, but in the stadion sharp and short is the strain on the wind.
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§ 9.343 ARCHIAS {cp. No. 76) A blackbird, driven over the hedge together with field-fares, entered the hollow of the suspended net. The cords from which there is no escape caught and held fast the whole flock of them, but let the blackbird alone go free from the meshes. Of a truth the race of singers is holy. Even deaf traps show fond care for winged songsters.
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§ 9.344 LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA {This and the following ones are Isopsephe.) There was a time when I gave pleasure to myself alone by lines, and was not known at all to noble Romans. But now I am beloved by all, for late in life I recognised how far Calliope excels Urania.
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§ 9.345 LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA The fury of Athamas against his son Learchus was not so great as the wrath that made Medea plot her children's death. For jealousy is a greater evil than madness. If a mother kills, in whom are children to place confidence?
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§ 9.346 LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA After flying, swallow, across the whole earth and the islands, thou dost rear thy brood on the picture of Medea. Dost thou believe that the Colchian woman who did not spare even her own children will keep her faith to thy young?
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§ 9.347 LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA We oxen are not only skilled in cutting straight furrows with the plough, but, look, we pull ships out of the sea too. For we have been taught the task of oarsmen. Now, sea, thou too shouldst yoke dolphins to plough on the land.
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§ 9.348 LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA Hecatonymus, the stealer of grapes, ran to Hades whipped with a stolen vine-switch.
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§ 9.349 LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA Caesar, may the baths of Cutiliae on this thy birthday gush for thee in abundance of healing, so that all the world may see thee a grandfather as it has seen thee the father of three fair children.
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§ 9.350 LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA Thou sendest me thin sheets of byblus, snowy white, and reed pens, gifts from the headland that the Nile waters. Do not, Dionysius, send another time imperfect gifts to a poet. What use are these without ink?
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§ 9.351 LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA Lysippe's baby, creeping over the edge of a precipice, was on the point of suffering the fate of Astyanax. But she turned it from its path by holding out to it her breast, that thus was its saviour from death as well as from famine.
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§ 9.352 LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA The Nile keeps festival by the holy wave of Tiber, having vowed a sacrifice for Caesar's deliverance. A hundred axes made the willing necks of as many bulls bleed at the altars of Heavenly Zeus.
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§ 9.353 LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA Pappus, thou hast both strictly composed a work adorned with learning, and hast kept thy life strict in firmity of friendship. The Egyptian poet sends thee this gift today when thou dost celebrate thy natal morn.
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§ 9.354 LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA I, whom war dreaded and slew not, am now afflicted by disease, and waste away by intestine warfare. Pierce my heart then, sword, for I will die like a valiant soldier, beating off disease even as I did war.
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§ 9.355 LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA Poppaea Augusta, spouse of Zeus, receive from the Egyptian Leonidas this map of the heavens on thy natal day; for thou takest pleasure in gifts worthy of thy alliance and thy learning.
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§ 9.356 LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA We open another fountain of drink to quaff from it verses of a form hitherto strange to Leonidas. The letters of the couplets give equal numbers. But away with thee, Momus, and set thy sharp teeth in others.
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§ 9.357 Anonymous There are four games in Greece, two sacred to mortals and two to immortals: to Zeus, Apollo, Palaemon, and Archemorus, and their prizes are wild-olive, apples, celery, and pine-branches.
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§ 9.358 Anonymous on Plato's “ Phaedo ” If Plato did not write me there were two Platos, for I have all the flowers of the Socratic dialogues. But Panaetius made me out to be spurious. He who made the soul out to be mortal will make me spurious too.
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§ 9.359 POSIDIPPUS or PLATO, THE COMIC POET What path of life should one pursue? In the market-place are broils and business difficulties, and at home are anxieties; in the country there is too much labour, and at sea there is fear. In a foreign land there is apprehension if you possess anything, and if you are ill off, life is a burden. You are married? You won't be without cares. You are unmarried? You live a still more lonely life. Children are a trouble, and a childless life is a crippled one. Youth is foolish, and old age again is feeble. There is then, it seems, a choice between two things, either not to be born or to die at once on being born.
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§ 9.360 METRODORUS Pursue every path of life. In the market place are honours and prudent dealings, at home rest; in the country the charm of nature, and at sea profit; in a foreign country, if you have any possessions, there is fame, and if you are in want no one knows it but yourself. Are you married? Your house will be the best of houses. Do you remain unmarried? Your life is yet lighter. Children are darlings; a childless life is free from care. Youth is strong, and old age again is pious. Therefore there is no choice between two things, either not to be born or to die; for all in life is excellent.
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§ 9.361 LEO THE PHILOSOPHER (4 Homeric Cento) My cruel-hearted mother, an evil mother to me — it pains me much, the wound that a mortal man inflicted on me — in the dark night when other mortals sleep — naked, without a helmet and shield, nor had he a spear — and all his sword was bathed in hot blood — but afterwards he sent forth a gentle and harmless gale.
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§ 9.362 Anonymous Delightful Alpheus, stream that nourishest the crowns of Zeus, winding with thy muddy water through the plain of Pisa, tranquil at first, but when thou readiest the sea plunging eagerly under the waves of the vast main, now made a bridegroom conducting the current of his love in a self-made channel, thou dost hie to Sicilian Arethusa to be her watery bed-fellow. Then she, taking thee to her tired and panting, wipes off the weed and the bitter flowers of the sea, and joining her lips to thine, clasping like a bride thy Olympian stream in the sweet bonds of her embrace, lulls thee to sleep lying in her bosom.... and thy limpid fount was defiled by showers of blood, and no longer was thy heart filled with desire for thy Syracusan love, but thou didst hold back thy waters, repressed by blushing shame, saving from pollution the sea and thy bridal bed; yet, often compelled by thy longing for nuptial intercourse, wouldst thou pass the sea to thy beloved liquid bride and stand gazing at the stainless water of Arethusa. And the lovely Arethusa, looking on thee surging with tears from the Pelorian rock, would pity thee and beat her breasts, and melt like the dew on roses, the Sicilian fount responding to the lament of the river of Pisa. But he did not escape the eye of all-seeing Justice, that man of blood who mowed down the unwedded harvest of Greece, whereat many wives of the heroes wept for the short-lived children to bear whom they had suffered in vain.
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§ 9.363 MELEAGER Windy winter has left the skies, and the purple season of flowery spring smiles. The dark earth garlands herself in green herbage, and the plants bursting into leaf wave their new-born tresses. The meadows, drinking the nourishing dew of dawn, laugh as the roses open. The shepherd on the hills delights to play shrilly on the pipes, and the goatherd joys in his white kids. Already the mariners sail over the broad billows, their sails bellied by the kindly Zephyr. Already, crowning their heads with the bloom of berried ivy, men cry evoe! to Dionysus the giver of the grape. The bees that the bull's carcase generates bethink them of their artful labours, and seated on the hive they build the fresh white loveliness of their many-celled comb. The races of birds sing loud everywhere: the kingfishers by the waves, the swallows round the house, the swan by the river's brink, the nightingale in the grove. If the foliage of plants rejoices, and the earth flourishes, and the shepherd pipes, and the fleecy flocks disport themselves, and sailors sail, and Dionysus dances, and the birds sing, and the bees bring forth, how should a singer too not sing beautifully in the spring?
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§ 9.364 NESTOR OF LARANDA Pour for me, Muses, a draught of clear delightful song, the rain of Heliconian melody sweetened by your lips. For all for whom is shed the drink of the fountain that gives birth to poets delight in the clear song of your verses.
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§ 9.365 THE EMPEROR JULIAN On an Organ I see a new kind of reeds. Are they, perchance, the wild product of some strange brazen soil? They are not even moved by our winds, but from a cave of bull's hide issues a blast and passes into these hollow reeds at their root. And a valiant man with swift fingers stands touching the notes which play in concert with the pipes, and they, gently leaping, press the music out of the pipes.
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§ 9.366 -Anonymous Sayings of the Seven Sages I will tell you in verse the cities, names, and sayings of the seven sages. Cleobulus of Lindus said that measure was best; Chilon in hollow Lacedaemon said “Know thyself;” and Periander, who dwelt in Corinth, “Master anger; ” Pittacus, who was from Mytilene, said “Naught in excess; ” and Solon, in holy Athens, “Look at the end of life ”; Bias of Priene declared that most men are evil, and Thales of Miletus said “Shun suretyship.”
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§ 9.367 LUCIAN Thero, the son of Menippus, in his youth wasted his inheritance shamefully on prodigal outlay; but Euctemon, his father's friend, when he saw that he was already pressed by parching poverty, strove with tears to cheer him, and gave him his daughter to wife with a large dowry. But when wealth got the better of Thero's wits, he began to live again in the same extravagance, satisfying disgracefully every lust of his vile belly and the parts beneath it. Thus the returning wave of baneful poverty buried Thero the second time, and Euctemon wept a second time, not for Thero, but for his daughter's dowry and bed, and learnt that a man who has made ill use of his own substance will not make honest use of another's.
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§ 9.368 THE EMPEROR JULIAN On Beer Who and whence art thou, Dionysus? For, by the true Bacchus, I know thee not: I know only the son of Zeus. He smells of nectar, but thou of billy- goat. Did the Celts for lack of grapes make thee out of corn? Then thou shouldst be called Demetrius, not Dionysus, being born of corn, rather than of the fire, and Bromus rather than Bromius.
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§ 9.369 CYRILLUS An epigram of two lines has every merit, and if you exceed three lines it is rhapsody, not epigram.
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§ 9.370 TIBERIUS ILLUSTRIS I am a fawn slain by no dogs, or stake-nets, or huntsmen, but in the sea I suffered the fate that threatened me on land. For I rushed into the sea from the wood, and then the netted snare of the fishermen dragged me up on the beach. I was wrong in flying, and all in vain, from the shore, and deservedly was taken by the fisherman after I had deserted my hills. Never again, fishermen, shall your hands be unsuccessful, since you now knit web? that serve both for sea and land.
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§ 9.371 Anonymous A hound was pressing hotly on a swift-footed hare that had just freed itself from the toils of the net. The hare, rapidly turning away from the rough hill, leapt, to avoid the dog's jaws, into the deep water near the shore, where a sea- dog with one snap caught it at once in his teeth. The poor hare was evidently destined to be dog's meat.
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§ 9.372 Anonymous The spider, that had woven her fine web with her slender feet, had caught a cicada in her crooked meshes. But when I saw the little songster lamenting in the fine toils I did not pass hastily by, but freeing him from the nooses, I comforted him and said: “Be saved, thou who callest with the musical voice.”
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§ 9.373 Anonymous Why, shepherds, in wanton sport, do you pull from the dewy branches me, the cicada, the lover of the wilds, the roadside nightingale of the Muses, who at midday chatter shrilly on the hills and in the shady copses? Look at the thrushes and blackbirds! Look at all the starlings, pilferers of the country's wealth! It is lawful to catch the despoilers of the crops. Slay them. Do you grudge me my leaves and fresh dew?
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§ 9.374 Anonymous From the neighbouring grove I, ever-flowing Pure Fount, gush forth for passing travellers. On all sides, well canopied by planes and softly blooming laurels, I offer a cool resting-place under the shade. Therefore pass me not by in summer. Dispel thy thirst and rest thee, too, from toil in peace beside me.
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§ 9.375 Anonymous What man thus carelessly plucked from the vinebranch the unripe grapes of Bacchus that nurse the wine, and when his lips were drawn up by the taste threw them away, half-chewed refuse for travellers to tread on? May Dionysus be his foe, because, like Lycurgus, he quenched good cheer in its growth. Haply by that drink had some man been moved to song, or found relief from plaintive grief.
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§ 9.376 Anonymous Why, foolish carpenter, dost thou make of me, the pine-tree that am the victim of the winds, a ship to travel over the seas, and dreadest not the omen? Boreas persecuted me on land; so how shall I escape the winds at sea?
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§ 9.377 PALLADAS Tantalus ate nothing, for the fruit of the trees that tossed over his head ever eluded him, and owing to this, being in want of food, he was less thirsty; but suppose he had eaten ripe figs, and plums, and apples, do dead men get so very thirsty from eating fresh fruit? But we guests eat all sorts of salted dishes, quails and cheese and goose's fat, poultry and veal, and on the top of all drink only one glass. So we are worse off than you, Tantalus.
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§ 9.378 PALLADAS They say that Sarapis appeared in a dream by night to a murderer who was sleeping under a decayed wall, and thus spoke as in an oracle: “Arise, thou who liest here, and seek, poor wretch, another sleeping place.” The man awoke and departed, and immediately the rotten wall fell to the ground. The evil-doer rejoiced, and in the morning sacrificed to the gods in thanks for his escape, thinking that Sarapis is pleased with murderers. But Sarapis appeared to him again at night, and prophesied thus to him: “Wretch, dost thou think that I protect criminals? If I did not let thee be killed now, it is that thou now hast escaped a painless death; but know that thou art reserved for the cross.”
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§ 9.379 PALLADAS The proverb says, “Even a pig would bite a bad man; ” but I say that we should not say that, but “Even a pig would bite simple unmeddlesome men, but even a snake would be afraid to bite a bad man.”
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§ 9.380 Anonymous If a lark can sing like a swan and if owls dare compete with nightingales, if a cuckoo asserts he is more sweet-voiced than a cicada, then I too can equal Palladius.
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§ 9.381 A HOMERIC CENTO On Hero and Leander On a projecting shore on the broad Hellespont a modest maiden, having mounted to an upper chamber, stood in the tower lamenting and wailing. Holding a golden lamp she gave beautiful light, brooding on that unhappy man, would he come or not swimming. And he swiftly passed across the depth of the sea, through the ambrosial night when other mortals sleep, for a great wave surged towards the dry land of the continent. For as many days and nights as pass, the young man and maiden converse with each other, going to bed together without the knowledge of their dear parents, who inhabit Sestos, and Abydus, and divine Arisbe.
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§ 9.382 Another On the Theme “He who First heard Echo ” Friends, Danaan heroes, servants of Ares, shall I lie or speak the truth, as my heart bids me? At the utmost border of the land where the tall trees grow lives a fair-haired dreadful goddess gifted with speech, either a goddess or a woman, and they called aloud on her. If she hear one call or speak, she excellently repeats what was spoken. But why narrate all this to thee in detail? Only I cannot look on her face or perceive her. Whatever kind of word thou speakest the like shalt thou hear.
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§ 9.383 THE EGYPTIAN MONTHS First Thoth learnt to uplift the hook to prune the grapes; Phaophi brings to fishermen a catch of every variety; Athyr indicates the date of the appearance of the Pleiads; Choiac shows the birth of the sown crops; Tybi displays the purple robe; Mecheir bids sailors prepare for a voyage; Phamenoth trains warriors in the use of arms; Pharmouthi is the first herald of the roses of spring; Pachon keeps for the sickle the ripened corn; Payni is the herald of fruitful autumn; Epephi, who blesses the vine, holds a bunch of grapes; and Mesori brings the vivifying water of Nile.
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§ 9.384 THE ROMAN MONTHS JANUARY: From me opens the door of the solar year and the sun looks on the supreme magistrates of Italy. February: I wet the land with thick snowflakes, making it pregnant with the splendour of spring. March: Mars begins from me, and flowers and sweet milk, and on my twentieth day night and day are equal. April: Let the gardener now cut shoots and graft tame branches on wild stems. May: Now the sea is open; equip the ships; it is time to sail them out of the untroubled harbours. June: I am half way between the rose and white lily, and I am heavy with branches of yellow cherries. July: The Sun crosses Cancer, and the husbandman with his sickle cuts the ripe ears. August: I separate the corn from the straw, and in Leo the fountains of the Naiads are at their purest. September: I am heavy with grapes and all kinds of fruit, and again night and day become equal. October: Who can be sweeter than me, who pour forth wine when I bring Bacchus from the vineyard to the press? November: If thou hast Pallas' olive-trees it is time to press the fruit and remember thee of labour. December: I bid thee cease from ploughing the fallow land, for the frosts will injure the milky seeds.
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§ 9.385 STEPHANUS THE GRAMMARIAN Contents of the Books of the “Iliad” Alpha contains the prayers of Chryses, the plague in the army and the quarrel of the kings. Beta has the dream and the Council, and numbers the ships. Gamma is the single combat for Helen between her husbands. Delta the Council of the gods, the breaking of the oaths, and beginning of the fight. In Epsilon the son of Tydeus wounds Cytherea and Ares. Zeta is the converse between Hector and Andromache. In Eta Ajax fights in single combat with divine Hector. Theta is the Council of the gods, the Trojans' victory, and Hector's boast. Iota is the embassy to stubborn Achilles. In Kappa men go out from both sides to reconnoitre. In Lambda Hector's men wound the chiefs of the Greeks. In My the Achaeans' wall falls by the hands of the Trojans. In Ny Poseidon secretly gives victory to the Greeks. In Xi Hera befools Zeus by love and sleep. In Omicron Zeus is enraged with Poseidon and Hera. In Pi the spear of Hector slays warlike Patroclus. In Ro the Greeks and Trojans are engaged round the corpse. In Sigma Thetis brings arms to Achilles from Hephaestus. In Tau divine Achilles leaves off his wrath and dashes forth. In Ypsilon there is strife among the gods, but it brings victory to the Greeks. In Phi Achilles subdues the Trojans at the river by his might. In Chi Achilles slays Hector after chasing him thrice round the wall. In Psi Achilles celebrates the games he gives the Greeks. In Omega Achilles accepts presents and gives up to Priam his son's body.
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§ 9.386 Anonymous Cypris, of late, on seeing thee naked, exclaimed: “Oh! Oh! look how impudent Nile, envying the sea's parentage, has, without the blood of Uranus, sent up another Cypris from his sweet depths.”
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§ 9.387 THE EMPEROR HADRIAN, Or, as others state, GERMANICUS Hector of the race of Ares, if thou hearest where'er thou art under ground, hail! and stay a little thy sighs for thy country. Ilion is inhabited, and is a famous city containing men inferior to thee, but still lovers of war, while the Myrmidons have perished. Stand by his side and tell Achilles that all Thessaly is subject to the sons of Aeneas.
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§ 9.388 Under the above a soldier {some say Trajan ) wrote: “They are bold, for they look not on the face of my helmet.” When the Emperor praised this and wrote “Reveal who you are,” he replied: {389} I am a soldier of cuirassed Mars and also a servant of Heliconian Apollo, chosen among the first men-at-arms.
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§ 9.390 MENECRATES OF SMYRNA A mother who had laid on the pyre her third child after losing the others too, reviling insatiate Death, on giving birth to a fourth sorrow would not wait, nourishing uncertain hope, but threw the child alive in the fire. “I will not rear it,” she said. “What profits it? My paps, ye toil for Hades. I shall gain mourning with less trouble.”
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§ 9.391 DIOTIMUS This son of Poseidon and the son of Zeus trained their youthful limbs for stubborn wrestling bouts. The contest is no brazen one for a caldron, but for which shall gain death or life. Antaeus has got the fall, and it was fit that Heracles, the son of Zeus, should win. Wrestling is Argive, not Libyan.
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§ 9.392 Anonymous If anyone is afraid of hanging himself, but wants to die, let him drink cold water from Hierapolis.
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§ 9.393 PALLADAS No magistrate ever came here who was both clean-handed and mild; for the one principle seems antagonistic to the other. Mildness is a virtue of the thief, and purity a virtue of the proud. These qualities are the two instruments of government.
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§ 9.394 PALLADAS Gold, father of flatterers, son of pain and care, it is fear to have thee and pain not to have thee.
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§ 9.395 PALLADAS Odysseus said “nothing is sweeter than a man's fatherland,” for in Circe's isle he never ate cheesecake. If he had seen even the smoke curling up from that he would have sent ten Penelopes to the deuce.
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§ 9.396 PAULUS SILENTIARIUS One morning a sweet-voiced blackbird, together with a field-fare, fell into the cloud-like bag of the well-knit net. The field-fare was caught in the noose from which there is no escape, but the songster of the wilderness flew swiftly away from the trap. It would seem that blessed Artemis, the huntress, released the singing-bird for the sake of the sweet-voiced lord of the lyre.
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§ 9.397 PALLADAS A Spartan once was flying from the battle, and his mother, uplifting a sword to smite his breast, exclaimed: “If thou livest, thou dost fix on thy mother eternal disgrace, and dost violate the inherited laws of mighty Sparta. But if thou dost perish by my hand, they will call me an unlucky mother, but saved from disgrace together with my country.”
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§ 9.398 JULIAN, PREFECT OF EGYPT A ship that had escaped the waters of the boisterous sea, perished in the arms of its mother the earth. For fire consumed it where it lay motionless, and as it burnt it called for the aid of its foe the water.
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§ 9.399 Anonymous Thy mind, by its sweet light, conquered the sun, ever flashing forth soft brilliance of wisdom to illuminate mortals, a pleasant and painless splendour.
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§ 9.400 PALLADAS Revered Hypatia, ornament of learning, stainless star of wise teaching, when I see thee and thy discourse I worship thee, looking on the starry house of the Virgin; for thy business is in heaven.
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§ 9.401 PALLADAS Nature, loving the duties of friendship, invented instruments by which absent friends can converse, pens, paper, ink, handwriting, tokens of the heart that mourns afar off.

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.