Greek Anthology Book 16 Planudean
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§ 1 DAMAGETUS: I am no wrestler from Messene or from Argos; Sparta, Sparta famous for her men, is my country. Those others are skilled in the art, but I, as becomes the boys of Lacedaemon, prevail by strength.
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§ 2 SIMONIDES: Know Theognetus when thou lookest on him, the boy who conquered at Olympia, the dexterous charioteer of wrestling, most lovely to behold, but in combat nowise inferior to his beauty. He won a crown for the city of his noble fathers.
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§ 3 BY the SAME: Diophon, the son of Philo, was victor at the Isthmian and Pythian games in jumping, fleetness of foot, throwing the quoit, throwing the javelin, and wrestling.
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§ 4 ANONYMOUS: What Hector would say when wounded by the Greeks Strike my body now after my death, for the very hares insult the body of a dead lion.
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§ 5 ALCAEUS OF MESSENE: Both Xerxes led a Persian host to the land of Hellas, and Titus, too, led there a host from broad Italy, but the one meant to set the yoke of slavery on the neck of Europe, the other to put an end to the servitude of Hellas.
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§ 6 ANONYMOUS: The sovereign lord of Europe, who by sea and land is as much the King of mortals as Zeus of immortals, the son of Demetrius, wielder of the strong spear, dedicated to Hecate of the roadside this booty won from bold Ciroadas, his children, and all the land of the Odrysians. Once more has the glory of Philip mounted near to the thrones of the gods.
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§ 6A PANTELEUS On Callimachus and Cynaegirus O empty toil and ineffective war! What shall we say when we meet our King? O King, why didst thou send me against immortal warriors? We shoot them and they fall not, we wound them and they fear not. A single man laid low a whole host, and covered with blood he stands in the midst, the image of tireless Ares; he stands like a tree with iron roots and will not fall, and.soon he will be in the ships. Loose the cable, captain; let us escape from the dead man’s threats.
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§ 7 ALCAEUS OF MESSENE: Mixing in harmony with the singer’s voice the notes of his soft flute, Dorotheus, having come in touch with the deathless Graces, piped the mournful Trojans and Semele, slain in her labour by the levin-brand, and he piped the exploit of the horse. He alone among the holy prophets of Dionysus escaped the nimble wings of Blame. By birth he was a Theban, son of Sosicles, and in the temple of Dionysus he dedicated his mouth-band and reed-pipes.
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§ 8 By the same: On Marsyas No longer in Phrygia, the nurse of pines, as ere while, shalt thou play, speaking music through thy deftly-pierced reeds; nor in thy hands shall the craftsmanship of Tritonian Athena bloom again as erst it did, O Satyr, son of a Nymph. For now thy wrists are bound tight with gyves, for that thou, a mortal, didst encounter Phoebus in a strife meet but for gods. And the flutes that shrill a note as honeyed as his lyre’s won for thee from the contest no crown but death.
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§ 9 ANONYMOUS O Dog-fly belly, through whom parasite fawners sell for a sop the law of liberty. (for poem 10 see Book IX 118
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§ 11 HERMOCREON: Seat thee, stranger, as thou passest by, under this shady plane-tree, whose leaves the west wind shakes with its gentle blast; here where Nicagoras set me up, Hermes, the famous son of Maia, to be the guardian of his fruitful field and his cattle.
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§ 12 Anonymous On a Statue of Pan Come and sit under my pine that murmurs thus sweetly, bending to the soft west wind. And see, too, this fountain that drops honey, beside which, playing on my reeds in the solitude, I bring sweet sleep.
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§ 13 PLATO: Sit down by this high-foliaged vocal pine that quivers in the constant western breeze, and beside my plashing stream Pan’s pipe shall bring slumber to thy charmed eyelids.
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§ 14 ZENODOTUS: Who carved Love and placed him by the fountain, thinking to still this fire with water?
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§ 15 ANONYMOUS: The goat-footed Satyr, once ever tipsy with the winy fount of Bromius, once the comrade of the Bacchanals, now, both his ankles bound fast in fetters, works in brass the arms for the son of goddess Thetis, not practising the skilled labour of an artist, but sustaining by toil his needy, drudging life.
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§ 15A ANONYMOUS: A. Where are those cups of thine, thou tippler, where the thyrses beautifully entwined, and thy revels, O nimble-footed Satyr? Who set thee to the chisel, making fast thy feet in welded fetters, thee who didst once wrap Bacchus in swaddling-bands? B. Hideous want and all-enduring necessity, which have put me beside Hephaestus to drink coal-dust.
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§ 16 ANONYMOUS: All that is superfluous is inopportune; for there is an old saying that too much of even honey is gall.
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§ 17 ANONYMOUS: O Pan, sound a holy air to the feeding flocks, running thy curved lips over the golden reeds, that they may often bring home to Clymenus teeming gifts of white milk in their udders, and that the lord of the she- goats, standing in comely wise at thy altar, may belch the red blood from his shaggy breast.
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§ 18 ANONYMOUS: Delight thy soul by borrowing, and leave to the lenders the cramp they get in their fingers by bending them to handle the reckoning counters.
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§ 19 ANONYMOUS: “ Peace ( Irene ) be to all” said the bishop on his appearance. How can she accompany all, when he alone has her within?
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§ 19A HERODICUS OF BABYLON: Away with you from Greece, ye scholars of Aristarchus; take flight over the broad back of the sea, more fearful than the brown antelope, ye who buzz in corners and talk of monosyllables, whose business is “sphin” and “sphoin” and “min” and “nin” Let these things be yours, ye fretful men, but may Hellas and divine Babylon ever remain for Herodicus.
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§ 20 AMMIANUS I MARVELLED when I saw the rhetor Maurus, the heavy-lipped and white-robed demon of the art of Rhetoric.
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§ 21 ANONYMOUS On Nicolaus, Patriarch of Alexandria He who subdued kings and put an end to the arrogance of the enemy, defending the orthodoxy of the Fathers, Nicolaus, the high-priest of Christ, lies under this little monument. But his most rich virtue took wing to the ends of the world, and his spirit dwells in the chambers of the blest. For such a blessed life he desired while yet on earth, afflicting his comely body by glorious labours.
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§ 22 ANONYMOUS: Gregorius set up the image of Nicolaus, a pillar testifying to his orthodoxy and a tribute to his temperance.
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§ 23 SIMONIDES: A. SAY who thou art, whose son, from what country, and in what a victor. B. Casmylus, son of Evagoras, a Rhodian, victor in boxing at the Pythian games.
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§ 24 BY THE SAME: This is a beautiful statue of beautiful Milo, who, by the banks of Pisa, conquered seven times and never once fell on his knees.
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§ 25 PHILIPPUS: If thou hast ever heard of Demostratus from Sinope, who twice won the Isthmian pine-wreath, it is he whom thou lookest on, he whose back never left its seal on the sand from a fall in limber wrestling bouts. Gaze at his countenance animated by pluck like a savage beast’s, how it preserves its ancient look of keenness to win. And the bronze says, “Let my base set me free, and like a living man I will dight me again for the combat.”
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§ 26 SIMONIDES: We fell under the fold of Dirphys, and our funeral mound was raised near the Euripus by our country. And not undeservedly: for we lost our delightful youth facing the rugged cloud of battle.
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§ 26A Anonymous On Philopoemen His valour and his glory are known throughout Greece, this man who wrought many things by his might and many by his counsels, the Arcadian warrior Philopoemen, the captain of the spearmen, whom great fame followed in the war. The two trophies from the tyrants of Sparta speak to this; he did away with the growing servitude. Therefore did Tegea set up the statue of the great-souled son of Craugis, the establisher of perfect freedom.
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§ 26B PHILIP, KING OF MACEDON Barkless and leafless, traveller, on this ridge a lofty cross is planted by Alcaeus.
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§ 27 ANONYMOUS: The Epitaph of Sardanapalus Knowing well that thou wast born mortal, lift up thy heart, taking thy pleasure in feasting. Once dead, no enjoyment shall be thine. For I, too, who ruled over great Nineveh, am dust. I have what I ate, and my wanton frolics and the joys I learnt in Love’s company, but those many and rich possessions are left behind. This is wise counsel for men concerning life.
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§ 28 ANONYMOUS: Hellas judged Thebes to be first in flute-playing, and Thebes Pronomus the son of Oeniades.
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§ 29 ANONYMOUS: If thou didst ever hear of a certain dear son of Ares, both powerful in bodily strength and bold in fight, think it was none other than Hector, son of Priam, whom once the husband of Diomede slew in combat, as he made war on the Greeks for the land of the Trojans, and whom in death this tomb here covers.
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§ 30 GEMINUS: The hand of Thasian Polygnotus made me, and I am that Salmoneus who madly imitated the thunder of Zeus, Zeus who in Hades again destroys me and strikes me with his bolts, hating even my mute presentment. Hold back thy fiery blast, Zeus, and abate thy wrath, for I, thy mark, am lifeless. War not with soulless images.
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§ 31 SPEUSIPPUS: The earth holds in its bosom this, the body of Plato, but his soul is equal in rank to the blessed gods.
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§ 32 LEONTIUS SCHOLASTICUS On a Portrait of Gabriel the Prefect in Byzantium The Sun, too, is represented in pictures, but Art draws the Sun with his light hidden. And thee, Gabriel, learned prefect of the city, doth Art paint without thy virtues and without all thy achievements.
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§ 32A THEAETETUS SCHOLASTICUS ROME and Beroe, when they saw this Julianus, the light of the Law, said, “Nature can do all.”
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§ 33 By THE SAME AS poem 32 On a Portrait of Callinicus the Cubicularius Thou conquerest in beauty of soul as much as in beauty of face, for thou possessest everything that is worthy of thy name, and ever in the bed-chamber, sending the emperor to sleep, thou dost sow all gentleness in his ears.
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§ 34 THEODORETUS GRAMMATICUS On the Portrait of Philippus, Prefect of Smyrna This is the gift of Philadelphia to Philippus. Mark how well the city remembers his just rule.
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§ 35 ANONYMOUS: The Carians, mindful of many benefits, set here just Palmas whom they venerated so much.
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§ 36 AGATHIAS On the Picture of a certain Sophist at Pergamus Forgive our delay in offering the portrait long due to you on account of your discourses and well-running, honeyed speech; but now, Heraclamon, we have set up this picture of you in return for your labours and care for the city’s weal. If the gift be little, blame us not; for with such gifts we ever reward good men.
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§ 37 LEONTIUS SCHOLASTICUS MINOTAURUS: Thou seest Peter in his golden robes, and the Provinces that stand by him witness to his successive labours; the first is a witness of the East, and the pair after her are witnesses of the purple shell, and again of the East.
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§ 38 JOANNES BARBOCALLUS On a Portrait of Synesius Scholasticus set up in Berytus to commemorate his victory in battle Not only by Eurotas are there warriors, and not only by Ilissus are there men mindful of Justice. Victory and Themis reverenced Synesius as if he were from Sparta, as if he were a citizen of Athens herself.
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§ 39 ARABIUS SCHOLASTICUS On a Portrait of Longinus the Prefect in Byzantium The Nile, Persia, the Iberian, the Lycians, the West, Armenia, the Indians, the Colchians near the crags of Caucasus, and the burning plains of the widely-scattered Arabians, are witnesses to the rapidly executed labours of Longinus; and as he was on his journeys a swift minister of the Emperor, so likewise was he swift in giving us peace which had lain in hiding.
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§ 40 CRINAGORAS: Not only three Fortunes should be thy neighbours, Crispus, because of the great riches of thy heart, but all the fortunes of all the world; for to so great a man what honour shall suffice for his infinite benevolence to his friends? But now may Caesar, who is even more powerful than these Fortunes, raise thee to higher dignities. What fortune stands firm without him?
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§ 41 AGATHIAS SCHOLASTICUS On a Portrait dedicated in the Property of Placidia by the new Curators of the Treasury Those who are entering on the new office dedicated Thomas, the universal Emperor’s blameless Curator, close to the sacred Pair, that by his very portrait also he may have a place next Majesty. For he raised higher the thrones of the divine Palace by increasing their wealth, but with piety. The work is one of gratitude; for what can the pencil give, if it give not the memory due to good men?
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§ 42 ANONYMOUS: We erected here in marble the statue of Theodosius, great in counsel, the Proconsul, ruler of Asia, because he raised Smyrna from ruin and brought her to light again, the city much besung for her beautiful edifices.
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§ 43 ANONYMOUS: Damocharis, judge famous for thy skill, this glory is thine, that labouring vigorously, thou didst completely rebuild Smyrna after the fatal disaster of the earthquake.
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§ 44 ANONYMOUS: All Nature, O Queen, ever sings thy might, for that thou didst destroy the ranks of the enemy, for that after the evil broils thou didst kindle a light for prudent men and didst scatter the civil troubles of the strife that loosed the horses.
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§ 45 ANONYMOUS: We orators would have combined to honour Theodorus with golden portraits of eternal memory, had he not avoided gold even when it is in paintings.
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§ 46 ANONYMOUS: The Emperor, the Army, the cities, and the People erected the statue of Nicetas, bold in war, for his great exploits in slaying the Persians.
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§ 47 ANONYMOUS: The Green Faction erected, because of his merits, the statue of Nicetas the great in war, the fearless leader. e
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§ 48 ANONYMOUS: I am Proclus, the son of Paul, a Byzantine whom the Imperial Court stole from the Courts of Law where I flourished, to be the faithful mouth of our mighty Emperor. This bronze announces what reward my labours had. Son and father held all the same offices, but the son surpassed the father by his consular fasces.
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§ 49 APOLLONIDES: The olden time admired Cinyras or both the Phrygians, but we, Leo, will sing thy beauty, O renowned son of Cercaphus. Most blessed of islands, then, is Rhodes, on which such a sun shines.
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§ 50 BY THE SAME: If such a Leo (lion) had chanced to face Heracles, this would not have been his twelfth labour.
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§ 51 MACEDONIUS THE CONSUL: We honour the boy Thyonichus with this statue, not that thou mayst see by the beauty of this monument how comely he was, but, good Sir, that thou mayst learn his achievement, and be emulous of such enthusiasm. This is he whose legs never gave way owing to fatigue, and who vanquished every adversary, him of his own age, the younger one, and the elder one.
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§ 52 PHILIPPUS: Perhaps, O stranger, seeing me thus with a belly like a bull and with solidly built limbs, like a second Atlas, thou marvellest, doubting if I am of mortal nature. But know that I am Heras of Laodicea, the all-round fighter, crowned by Smyrna and the oak of Pergamus, by Delphi, Corinth, Elis, Argos, and Actium. But if thou enquirest as to my victories in other contests thou shalt number also the sands of Libya.
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§ 53 ANONYMOUS: Whether Ladas jumped the Stadion or flew over it, his fleetness was portentous and not easy to express in words.
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§ 54 ANONYMOUS: Just as thou wert in life, Ladas, flying before wind-footed Thymus, just touching the ground with the tips of thy toes, so did Myron mould thee in bronze, stamping on all thy body thy expectation of the Olympian crown.
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§ 54A ANONYMOUS: Full of hope is he, and he shows that the breath on the tip of his lips comes from deep within the hollow of his sides. The bronze is ready to leap forth to gain the crown, and the base shall not hold it back. O Art, swifter than the wind! 3
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§ 55 TROILUS GRAMMATICUS: A. Statue, who dedicated thee, and because of what, and to whom? B. The city to Lyron for his wrestling.
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§ 56 ANONYMOUS: Byzantine Rome set up this statue, in addition to two others, to Eusebius for his horsemanship. For he was crowned after gaining no disputed victory, but far excelling in fleetness of foot1 and valour. Therefore he quenched the light of his adversaries’ rivalry; but also he put a stop to the former dissensions of the people.
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§ 57 PAULUS SILENTIARIUS On a Bacchant in Byzantium Not Nature, but Art, made the Bacchant frenzied, mixing madness with the stone.
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§ 58 ANONYMOUS On the same Hold the Bacchant, lest, though she be stone, she leap over the threshold and escape from the temple.
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§ 59 AGATHIAS SCHOLASTICUS On the same The sculptor set up a statue of a Bacchant, yet ignorant of how to beat the swift cymbals with her hands and ashamed. For so does she bend forward, and looks as if she were crying, “Go ye out, and I will strike them with none standing by.”
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§ 60 SIMONIDES A. Who is this? B. A Bacchant. A. And who carved her? B. Scopas. A. And who made her frenzied, Bacchus or Scopas? B. Scopas.
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§ 61 CRINAGORAS: East and West are the limits of the world, and through both ends of the earth passed the exploits of Nero. The Sun as he rose saw Armenia subdued by his hands and Germania as he went down the sky. Let us sing his double victory in war; Araxes knows it and Rhine, drunk now by enslaved peoples.
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§ 62 ANONYMOUS On the Statue of Justinian in the Hippodrome These gifts, O King, slayer of the Persians, are brought to thee by Eustathius, the father and son of thy Rome:2 a horse for thy victory, another laurelled Victory, and thyself seated on the horse swift as the wind. Thy might, Justinian, is set on high, but may the champions of the Persians and Scythians lie ever in chains on the ground.
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§ 63 ANONYMOUS On the same The bronze from the Assyrian spoils moulded the horse and the monarch and Babylon perishing. This is Justinian, whom Julian us, holding the balance of the East, erected, his own witness to his slaying of the Persians.
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§ 64 ANONYMOUS On the Statue of the Emperor Justin by the Harbour I, THE Prefect Theodorus, erected by the shore this splendid statue to Justin the Emperor, so that he might spread abroad his calm in the harbour also.
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§ 65 ANONYMOUS On a Statue of the Emperor Theodosius Thou didst spring from the East to mid heaven, gentle-hearted Theodosius, a second sun, giver of light to mortals, with Ocean at thy feet as well as the boundless land, resplendent on all sides, helmeted, reining in easily, O great-hearted King, thy magnificent horse, though he strives to break away.
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§ 66 ANONYMOUS Calliades, fashioning them in a single group, dedicated here mighty Byzas and lovable Phidalia.
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§ 67 ANONYMOUS I, lovable Phidalia, was the wife of Byzas, and I am a gift commemorating a mighty contest.
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§ 68 ASCLEPIADES OR POSIDIPPUS: This is a statue of Cypris. But come let us see if it be not Berenice’s. I am in doubt of which one should say it is the better likeness.
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§ 69 ANONYMOUS: Julianus, the Prefect of the city, dedicates Zeno, the Emperor. Julianus dedicates Ariadne, the consort of Zeno.
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§ 70 ANONYMOUS: The Emperor, seeing that the house of Helicon was rejuvenated by the glorious labour of Julianus, the ruler of the city, stationed himself, all of gold, before the habitation of the Muses.
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§ 71 ANONYMOUS: It is everywhere the theme of song, the glory of Julianus, who, after adorning the house of the Muses, erected the golden statue of Anastasia.
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§ 72 ANONYMOUS Another statue loaded with spoils shall the bold Persian erect within Susa to the Emperor for his victory, and yet another the host of the long-haired Avares beyond the Danube shearing the locks from their squalid heads. But this one here was erected for the righteousness of his rule by the Sovereign City after the consular fillet. But mayst thou stand firm, O fortunate Byzantine Rome, who hast rewarded the god-given might of Justin.
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§ 73 ANONYMOUS: This golden Aurelianus, who stands here, is he who adorned the consular throne, whom our greatest emperors styled thrice Prefect and their father. The work is the Senate’s, to the troubles of which he willingly put an end.
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§ 74 ANONYMOUS: To a Magistrate Mix with mildness a little terror, for the buzzing bee herself is armed with a sharp sting, the noble horse is not guided without a whip, nor does a herd of swine obey the swineherd before they hear the sound of the far-booming crook.
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§ 75 ANTIPATER OF THESSALONICA: Son of Kings, like to Zeus, Apollo, and Ares, lovely offspring granted to a mother’s prayers, from the Fates all kingly, all perfect things have come to thee, and thou art become the theme of Poets. Zeus has his royal sceptre, Ares his spear, and Phoebus his beauty, but thine, Cotys, are all three together.
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§ 76 SYNESIUS THE PHILOSOPHER: The three children of Tyndareus, Castor, Helen, and Pollux.
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§ 77 PAULUS SILENTIARIUS: Scarcely has the pencil portrayed the girl’s eyes, but not at all her hair nor the supreme lustre of her skin. If any can paint the sheen of the sun, he will paint the sheen of Theodora.
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§ 78 By the same: (?) Thou art envious, O pencil, and grudgest us who look, hiding her golden hair in a caul. But if in the picture thou hidest the supreme grace of her supreme head, thou canst not be trusted touching the rest of her beauty. Every pencil is favourable to form, but thou alone hast stolen from the loveliness of Theodora.
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§ 79 SYNESIUS THE PHILOSOPHER On his Sister The statue is of golden Cypris or of golden Stratonice.
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§ 80 AGATHIAS SCHOLASTICUS: I was a harlot in Byzantine Rome, granting my venal favours to all. I am Callirhoe the versatile, whom Thomas, goaded by love, set in this picture, showing what great desire he has in his soul; for even as his wax melts, so melts his heart.
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§ 81 PHILIPPUS On the statue of Zeus at Olympia Either God came from Heaven to Earth to show thee His image, Phidias, or thou didst go to see God.
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§ 82 SIMONIDES: Chares of Lindus made the Colossus of Rhodes, eighty cubits high.
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§ 83 ANONYMOUS On the Picture of Ajax by Timomachus? Ajax, more the son of Timomachus than thine own father's, Art seized on thee as thou really wert; the painter saw thee in thy frenzy; his hand grew mad as the madman, and the tears he mixed on his palette were a compound of all the griefs that made up thy sorrow.
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§ 84 ANONYMOUS: With no ignorant hand did Cimon paint these things; but no work is without blame, which not even Daedalus of blessed memory escaped.
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§ 85 ANONYMOUS On a Headless Statue This work of art has lost what was required for judging it; for even it itself cannot inform us to whom it gave its head.
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§ 86 ANONYMOUS On a Statue of Priapus Beware from afar off of the guardian set up in the kitchen-garden. I am such as thou seest me, O thou who goest past me, made of fig-wood, not polished with shagreen, nor carved by rule and measure, but by a shepherd’s self-taught chisel. Laugh foolishly at me, but take care not to damage Eucles’ property or you may have to laugh grimly too.
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§ 87 JULIANUS: The flame that gives life to Art was my gift, and now from Art and fire I get the semblance of ceaseless pain. Ungrateful of a truth is the race of mankind, since in return for his benefit to them this is what Prometheus gets from workers in bronze.
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§ 88 BY THE SAME: Homer's book calls brass a metal that is inconsumable by age, but the sculptor has visibly confuted it. For come here and look at Prometheus groaning; look at the torments of the brass consumed from its inmOst vitals. Wax wrath, O Heracles, that after the deed of thy quiver the son of Iapetos suffers ceaseless pain.
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§ 89 GALLUS On Tantalus carved on a Cup He who once sat at the table of the gods, he who often filled his belly with nectar, now lusts for a mortal liquor, but the envious brew is ever lower than his lips. “Drink,” says the carving, “and learn the secret of silence; thus are we punished who are loose of tongue.”
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§ 90 ANONYMOUS: Crush, sturdy Heracles, the long necks of the snakes; choke the deep throats of the venomous brutes. Even from thy babyhood toil to defeat the spite of envious Hera, learn to labour from thy cradle up. For thy prize was no bowl of beaten brass, no cauldrons, but the road to the court of Zeus.
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§ 91 ANONYMOUS On a Monument on the Acropolis of Pergamus with Reliefs of the Labours of Heracles LOOK, Heracles, thou of the countless labours, at these thy emprises, after achieving which thou didst go to Olympus, the house of the immortals: Geryon, the famous apples, the great task of Augeas, the horses, Hippolyte, the many-headed snake, the boar, the baying hound of Chaos, the wild beast of Nemea, the birds, the bull, the Maenalian hind. But now, standing on the height of Pergamus, the inexpugnable city, defend the great sons of Telephus.
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§ 92 ANONYMOUS: The Labours of Heracles FIRST, in Nemea he slew the mighty lion. Secondly, in Lerna he destroyed the many-necked hydra. Thirdly, after this he killed the Erymanthian boar. Next, in the fourth place, he captured the hind with the golden horns. Fifthly, he chased away the Stymphalian birds. Sixthly, he won the Amazon’s bright girdle. Seventhly, he cleaned out the abundant dung of Augeas. Eighthly, he drove away from Crete the fire-breathing bull. Ninthly, he carried off from Thrace the horses of Diomedes. Tenthly, he brought from Erythea the oxen of Geryon. Eleventhly, he led up from Hades the dog Cerberus. Twelfthly, he brought to Greece the golden apples. In the thirteenth place he had this terrible labour: in one night he lay with fifty maidens.
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§ 93 PHILIPPUS On the same I SLEW the vast wild beast of Nemea, I slew the hydra and the bull, and smashed the jaw of the boar; when I had torn off the girdle 2 I took the horses of Diomedes. After plucking the golden apples I captured Geryon. Augeas learnt to know me, the hind did not escape me, and I killed the birds. I led Cerberus, and myself dwell in Olympus.
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§ 94 ARCHIAS: Ye rustic ploughmen of Nemea, tremble no more at the deep roaring of the lion, slayer of bulls. It has fallen by the hands of Heracles, the supreme achiever of emprises, its throat strangled by his death-dealing hands. Drive out your flocks to pasture; let Echo, the denizen of the lonely glen, again hear the sound of bleating. And do thou, clothed in the lion -skin, again arm thee with the pelt, appeasing the spite of Hera who hateth her lord’s bastards.
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Via ToposText (topostext.org), a project of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation created by Brady Kiesling. Translated by William Roger Paton (1857-1921). Composed ca. 500 CE. Licence: public domain. Source.