by Theocritus
[1] Thou’rt come, dear heart; thou’rt come after two days and nights, albeit one will turn a lover gray. As spring is sweeter than winter, and pippin than damson-plum; as mother-ewe is shaggier than her lambkin, and maiden more to be desired than a thice-wed wife; as the fawn is nimbler-footed than the calf, and the nightingale clearest-tongued of all the wingèd songsters; so am I gladded above all at the sight of thee, and run to thee as a wayfarer runneth to the shady oak when the sun is burning hot. And ’tis O that equal Loves might inspire thee and me, and we become this song and saying unto all them that follow after:-
θείω δή τινε τώδε μετὰ προτέροισι γενέσθην
φῶθ᾽, ὁ μὲν εἴσπνηλος, φαίη χ᾽ ὡμυκλαϊάσδων,
τὸν δ᾽ ἕτερον πάλιν ὥς κεν ὁ Θεσσαλὸς εἴποι ἀίταν.
ἀλλήλους δ᾽ ἐφίλησαν ἴσῳ ζυγῷ. ἦ ῥα τότ᾽ ἦσαν 15
χρύσειοι πάλιν ἄνδρες, ὃ κἀντεφίλησ᾽ ὁ φιληθείς.
[12] Here were two men of might the antique years among,
The one Inspirant hight i’ th’ Amyclaean tongue,
The t’other Fere would be in speech of Thessalye;
Each lov’d each, even-peise: O other golden days,
Wheas love-I love-you all men did hold for true!
εἰ γὰρ τοῦτο πάτερ Κρονίδα πέλοι, εἰ γὰρ ἀγήρῳ
ἀθάνατοι, γενεαῖς δὲ διηκοσίαισιν ἔπειτα
ἀγγείλειεν ἐμοί τις ἀνέξοδον εἰς ᾿Αχέροντα:
‘ἡ σὴ νῦν φιλότης καὶ τοῦ χαρίεντος ἀίτεω 20
πᾶσι διὰ στόματος, μετὰ δ᾽ ἠιθέοισι μάλιστα.’
ἀλλ᾽ ἤτοι τούτων μὲν ὑπέρτεροι Οὐρανίωνες
ἔσσονθ᾽ ὡς ἐθέλοντι. ἐγὼ δέ σε τὸν καλὸν αἰνέων
ψεύδεα ῥινὸς ὕπερθεν ἀραιᾶς οὐκ ἀναφύσω.
ἢν γὰρ καί τι δάκῃς, τὸ μὲν ἀβλαβὲς εὐθὺς ἔθηκας, 25
διπλάσιον δ᾽ ὤνασας, ἔχων δ᾽ ἐπίμετρον ἀπῆνθον.
[17] O would to thee, Father Zeus, and to you, unaging Host of Heaven, that when a hundred hundred years shall be passed away, one bring me word upon the prisoning bank of Acheron our love is yet upon every lip, upon the young men’s most of all! Be that or no the People of Heaven shall stablish as they will; for theirs is the dominion; now, when I sing thy praises, there shall no push-o’-leasing rise upon the tip of this tongue; for if e’er thou giv’st me torment, thou healest the wound out of hand, and I am better off than before, seeing I come away with over-measure.
Νισαῖοι Μεγαρῆες ἀριστεύοντες ἐρετμοῖς,
ὄλβιοι οἰκείοιτε, τὸν ᾿Αττικὸν ὡς περίαλλα
ξεῖνον ἐτιμήσασθε Διοκλέα τὸν φιλόπαιδα.
αἰεί οἱ περὶ τύμβον ἀολλέες εἴαρι πράτῳ 30
κοῦροι ἐριδμαίνοντι φιλήματος ἄκρα φέρεσθαι.
ὃς δέ κε προσμάξῃ γλυκερώτερα χείλεσι χείλη,
βριθόμενος στεφάνοισιν ἑὰν ἐς μητέρ᾽ ἀπῆνθεν.
ὄλβιος, ὅστις παισὶ φιλήματα κεῖνα διαιτᾷ.
ἦ που τὸν χαροπὸν Γανυμήδεα πόλλ᾽ ἐπιβωτᾷ 35
Λυδίῃ ἶσον ἔχειν πέτρῃ στόμα, χρυσὸν ὁποίῃ
πεύθονται μὴ φαῦλος ἐτήτυμω ἀργυραμοιβοί.
[27] Heaven rest you glad, Nisaean masters o’ the oar, for that you have done such exceeding honour unto an Attic stranger – to with Diocles (who so loved his boys); about whose grave, so surely as Spring cometh round, your children vie in a kissing-match, and whosoever presseth lip sweetliest upon lip, cometh away to’s mother loaden with garlands. Happy the justicer holdeth that court of kissing! God wot he prays beamy Ganymed, and prays indeed, to make his lips like the touchstones which show the money-changer whether the gold be bold or dross.
IDYLL XIII. ὕλας
IDYLL XIII. HYLAS
Theocritus tells his friend Nicas in epic shape the tale of the Apotheosis of Hylas, the beloved of Heracles. If, as is probable, the words ‘as we seem to think’ are a delicate way of saying ‘as you seem to think,’ the poem may well be an answer to a friendly rebuke of the author of XII, XXIX, and XXX.
οὐχ ἁμῖν τὸν ῎Ερωτα μόνοις ἔτεχ᾽, ὡς ἐδοκεῦμες,
Νικία, ᾧ τινι τοῦτο θεῶν ποκα τέκνον ἔγεντο.
οὐχ ἁμῖν τὰ καλὰ πράτοις καλὰ φαίνεται εἶμεν,
οἳ θνατοὶ πελόμεσθα, τὸ δ᾽ αὔριον οὐκ ἐσορῶμες:
ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡμφιτρύωνος ὁ χαλκεοκάρδιος υἱός, 5
ὃς τὸν λῖν ὑπέμεινε τὸν ἄγριον, ἤρατο παιδός,
τῶ χαρίεντος ῞Υλα, τῶ τὰν πλοκαμῖδα φορεῦντος,
καί νιν πάντ᾽ ἐδίδαξε πατὴρ ὡσεὶ φίλον υἱέα,
ὅσσα μαθὼν ἀγαθὸς καὶ ἀοίδιμος αὐτὸς ἔγεντο:
χωρὶς δ᾽ οὐδέποκ᾽ ἦς, οὔτ᾽ εἰ μέσον ἆμαρ ὄροιτο, 10
οὔτ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ὅχ᾽ ἁ λεύκιππος ἀνατρέχοι ἐς Διὸς ᾿Αώς,
οὐδ᾽ ὁπόκ᾽ ὀρτάλιχοι μινυροὶ ποτὶ κοῖτον ὁρῷεν,
σεισαμένας πτερὰ ματρὸς ἐπ᾽ αἰθαλόεντι πετεύρῳ,
ὡς αὐτῷ κατὰ θυμὸν ὁ παῖς πεποναμένος εἴη,
αὐτῷ δ᾽ εὖ ἕλκων ἐς ἀλαθινὸν ἄνδρ᾽ ἀποβαίη. 15
[1] From what god soever sprung, Nicias, Love was not, as we seem to think, born for us alone; nor first unto us of mortal flesh that cannot see the morrow, look things of beauty beautiful. For Amphitryon’s brazen-heart son that braved the roaring lion, he too once loved a lad, to wit the beauteous Hylas of the curly locks, and even as father his son, had taught him all the lore that made himself a good man and brought him fame; and would never leave him, neither if Day had risen to the noon, nor when Dawn’s white steeds first galloped up in to the home of Zeus, nor yet when the twittering chickens went scurrying at the flapping of their mother’s wings to their bed upon the smoky hen-roost. This did he that he might have the lad fashioned to his mind, and that pulling a straight furrow from the outset the same might come to be a true man.
ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε τὸ χρύσειον ἔπλει μετὰ κῶας ᾿Ιήσων
Αἰσονίδας, οἱ δ᾽ αὐτῷ ἀριστῆες συνέποντο
πασᾶν ἐκ πολίων προλελεγμένοι, ὧν ὄφελός τι,
ἵκετο χὡ ταλαεργὸς ἀνὴρ ἐς ἀφνειὸν ᾿Ιωλκόν,
᾿Αλκμήνης υἱὸς Μιδεάτιδος ἡρωίνης, 20
σὺν δ᾽ αὐτῷ κατέβαινεν ῞Υλας εὔεδρον ἐς ᾿Αργώ,
ἅτις κυανεᾶν οὐχ ἥψατο συνδρομάδων ναῦς,
ἀλλὰ διεξάιξε — βαθὺν δ᾽ εἰσέδραμε Φᾶσιν —
αἰετὸς ἐς μέγα λαῖτμα: ἀφ᾽ οὗ τότε χοιράδες ἔσταν.
[16] Now when Jason son of Aeson was to go to fetch the Golden Fleece with his following of champions that were chosen of the be
st out of all the cities in the land, then came there with them to the rich Iolcus the great man of toil who was son of the high-born Alcmena of Midea, and went down with Hylas at his side to that good ship Argo, even to her that speeding ungrazed clean through the blue Clappers, ran into Phasis bay as an eagle into a great gulf whereafter those Clappers have stood still, reefs ever more.
ἆμος δ᾽ ἀντέλλοντι Πελειάδες, ἐσχατιαὶ δὲ 25
ἄρνα νέον βόσκοντι, τετραμμένου εἴαρος ἤδη,
τᾶμος ναυτιλίας μιμνάσκετο θεῖος ἄωτος
ἡρώων, κοίλαν δὲ καθιδρυνθέντες ἐς ᾿Αργὼ
῾Ελλάσποντον ἵκοντο νότῳ τρίτον ἆμαρ ἀέντι,
εἴσω δ᾽ ὅρμον ἔθεντο Προποντίδος, ἔνθα Κιανῶν 30
αὔλακας εὐρύνοντι βόες τρίβοντες ἄροτρα.
ἐκβάντες δ᾽ ἐπὶ θῖνα κατὰ ζυγὰ δαῖτα πένοντο
δειελινοί, πολλοὶ δὲ μίαν στορέσαντο χαμεύναν.
λειμὼν γάρ σφιν ἔκειτο, μέγα στιβάδεσσιν ὄνειαρ,
ἔνθεν βούτομον ὀξὺ βαθύν τ᾽ ἐτάμοντο κύπειρον. 35
[25] And at the rising of the Pleiads, what time of the waning spring the young lambs find pasture in the uplands, then it was that that divine flower of hero-folk was minded of its voyaging, and taking seat in the Argo’s hull came after two days’ blowing of the Southwind to the Hellespont, and made haven within Propontis at the spot where furrow is broadened and share brightened by the oxen of the Cianians. Being gone forth upon the strand, as for their supper they were making it ready thwart by thwart; but one couch was strown them for all, for they found to their hand a meadow that furnished good store of litter, and thence did cut them taper rushes and tall bedstraw.
κᾤχεθ᾽ ῞Υλας ὁ ξανθὸς ὕδωρ ἐπιδόρπιον οἰσῶν
αὐτῷ θ᾽ ῾Ηρακλῆι καὶ ἀστεμφεῖ Τελαμῶνι,
οἳ μίαν ἄμφω ἑταῖροι ἀεὶ δαίνυντο τράπεζαν,
χάλκεον ἄγγος ἔχων. τάχα δὲ κράναν ἐνόησεν
ἡμένῳ ἐν χώρῳ: περὶ δὲ θρύα πολλὰ πεφύκει, 40
κυάνεόν τε χελιδόνιον χλωρόν τ᾽ ἀδίαντον
καὶ θάλλοντα σέλινα καὶ εἰλιτενὴς ἄγρωστις.
ὕδατι δ᾽ ἐν μέσσῳ Νύμφαι χορὸν ἀρτίζοντο,
νύμφαι ἀκοίμητοι, δειναὶ θεαὶ ἀγροιώταις,
Εὐνείκα καὶ Μαλὶς ἔαρ θ᾽ ὁρόωσα Νύχεια, 45
ἤτοι ὁ κοῦρος ἐπεῖχε ποτῷ πολυχανδέα κρωσσὸν
βάψαι ἐπειγόμενος, ταὶ δ᾽ ἐν χερὶ πᾶσαι ἔφυσαν:
πασάων γὰρ ἔρως ἁπαλὰς φρένας ἐξεσόβησεν
᾿Αργείῳ ἐπὶ παιδί: κατήριπε δ᾽ ἐς μέλαν ὕδωρ
ἀθρόος, ὡς ὅτε πυρσὸς ἀπ᾽ οὐρανοῦ ἤριπεν ἀστὴρ 50
ἀθρόος, ἐν πόντῳ, ναύταις δέ τις εἶπεν ἑταίροις:
‘κουφότερ᾽ ὦ παῖδες ποιεῖσθ᾽ ὅπλα: πνευστικὸς οὖρος.’
νύμφαι μὲν σφετέροις ἐπὶ γούνασι κοῦρον ἔχοισαι
δακρυόεντ᾽ ἀγανοῖσι παρεψύχοντ᾽ ἐπέεσσιν.
[36] Meanwhile the golden-haired Hylas was gone to bring water against supper for his own Heracles and for the valiant Telamon – for they two did ever eat together at a common board – bone with a brazen ewer. Ere long he espied a spring; in a hollow it lay, whereabout there grew many herbs, as well blue swallow-wort and fresh green maidenhair as blooming parsley and tangled deergrass. Now in the midst of the water there was a dance of the Nymphs afoot, of those Nymphs who, like the water, take no rest, those Nymphs who are the dread Goddesses of the country-folk, Eunica to wit and Malis and Nycheia with the springtime eyes. And there, when the lad put forth the capacious pitcher in haste to dip it in, lo! with one accord they all clung fast to his arm, because love of the young Argive had fluttered all their render breasts. And down he sank into the black water headlong, as when a falling star will sink headlong in the main and a mariner cry to his shipmates ‘Hoist away, my lads; the breeze freshens.’ Then took the Nymphs the weeping lad upon their knees and offered him comfort of gentle speech.
᾿Αμφιτρυωνιάδας δὲ ταρασσόμενος περὶ παιδὶ 55
ᾤχετο, μαιωτιστὶ λαβὼν εὐκαμπέα τόξα
καὶ ῥόπαλον, τό οἱ αἰὲν ἐχάνδανε δεξιτερὴ χείρ.
τρὶς μὲν ῞Υλαν ἄυσεν, ὅσον βαρὺς ἤρυγε λαιμός:
τρὶς δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ὁ παῖς ὑπάκουσεν, ἀραιὰ δ᾽ ἵκετο φωνὰ
ἐξ ὕδατος, παρεὼν δὲ μάλα σχεδὸν εἴδετο πόρρω. 60
ὡς δ᾽ ὁπότ᾽ ἠυγένειος ἀπόπροθι λῖς ἐσακούσας†,
νεβροῦ φθεγξαμένας τις ἐν οὔρεσιν ὠμοφάγος λῖς
ἐξ εὐνᾶς ἔσπευσεν ἑτοιμοτάταν ἐπὶ δαῖτα:
῾Ηρακλέης τοιοῦτος ἐν ἀτρίπτοισιν ἀκάνθαις
παῖδα ποθῶν δεδόνητο, πολὺν δ᾽ ἐπελάμβανε χῶρον.
σχέτλιοι οἱ φιλέοντες: ἀλώμενος ὅσσ᾽ ἐμόγησεν
οὔρεα καὶ δρυμούς, τὰ δ᾽ ᾿Ιήσονος ὕστερα πάντ᾽ ἦς.
ναῦς γέμεν ἄρμεν᾽ ἔχοισα μετάρσια τῶν παρεόντων,
ἱστία δ᾽ ἡμίθεοι μεσονύκτιον ἐξεκάθαιρον
῾Ηρακλῆα μένοντες. ὁ δ᾽ ᾇ πόδες ἆγον ἐχώρει 70
μαινόμενος: χαλεπὸς γὰρ ἔσω θεὸς ἧπαρ ἄμυσσεν.
οὕτω μὲν κάλλιστος ῞Υλας μακάρων ἀμιθρεῖται:
[55] Meantime the son of Amphitryon was grown troubled for the child, and gone forth with that bow of his that was bent Scythian-wise and the cudgel that was ever in the grasp of his right hand. Thrice cried he on Hylas as loud as his deep throttle could belch sound; thrice likewise did the child make answer, albeit his voice came thin from the water and he that was hard by seemed very far away. When a fawn cries in the hills, some ravening lion will speed from his lair to get him a meal so ready; and even so went Heracles wildly to and fro amid the pathless brake, and covered much country because of his longing for the child. As lovers know no flinching, so endless was the toil of his wandering by wood and wold, and all Jason’s business was but a by-end. And all the while the ship stood tackle aloft, and so far as might be, laden, and the heroes passed thee night a-clearing of the channel, waiting upon Heracles. But he alas! was running whithersoever his feet might carry him, in a frenzy, the god did rend so cruelly the heart within him.
῾Ηρακλέην δ᾽ ἥρωες ἐκερτόμεον λιποναύταν,
οὕνεκεν ἠρώησε τριακοντάζυγον ᾿Αργώ,
πεζᾷ δ᾽ ἐς Κόλχους τε καὶ ἄξενον ἵκετο Φᾶσιν. 75
[73] Thus came fairest Hylas to be numbered of the Blest, and the heroes to gird at Heracles for a deserter because he wandered and left the good ship of the thirty thwarts. Nevertheless he made the inhospitable land of th
e Colchians afoot.
IDYLL XIV. Κυνίσκας Ἔρως ἢ Θυώνιχος.
IDYLL XIV. THE LOVE OF CYNISCA
The Love of Cynisca is a dialogue of common life. The scene is neither Egypt nor Sicily, perhaps Cos. The characters, middle-aged men, one of whom has been crossed in love, meet in the road, and in the ensuing conversation the lover tells the story of his quarrel with Cynisca, and ends with expressing his intention of going for a soldier abroad. His friend suggest that he should enlist in the army of Ptolemy, and gives that monarch a flattering testimonial, which betrays the hand of the rising poet who seeks for recognition at court.
AESCHINAS
Αἰσχίνης
χαίρειν πολλὰ τὸν ἄνδρα Θυώνιχον.
Θυώνιχος
ἀλλὰ τὺ ταὐτά,
Αἰσχίνα.
Αἰσχίνης
ὡς χρόνιος.
Θυώνιχος
χρόνιος; τί δέ τοι τὸ μέλημα;
Αἰσχίνης
πράσσομες οὐχ ὡς λῷστα Θυώνιχε.
Θυώνιχος
ταῦτ᾽ ἄρα λεπτός,
χὡ μύσταξ πολὺς οὗτος, ἀυσταλέοι δὲ κίκιννοι.
τοιοῦτος πρώαν τις ἀφίκετο Πυθαγορικτάς,
ὠχρὸς κἀνυπόδητος: ᾿Αθηναῖος δ᾽ ἔφατ᾽ ἦμεν.
ἤρατο μὰν καὶ τῆνος, ἐμὶν δοκεῖ, ὀπτῶ ἀλεύρω.
Αἰσχίνης
παίσδεις ὦγάθ᾽ ἔχων: ἐμὲ δ᾽ ἁ χαρίεσσα Κυνίσκα
ὑβρίσδει: λασῶ δὲ μανείς ποκα, θρὶξ ἀνὰ μέσσον.
Θυώνιχος
τοιοῦτος μὲν ἀεὶ τὺ φίλ᾽ Αἰσχίνα, ἁσυχᾷ ὀξύς, 10
πάντ᾽ ἐθέλων κατὰ καιρόν: ὅμως δ᾽ εἶπον, τί τὸ καινόν.
[1] A very good day to master Thyonichus.
THYONICHUS
To Aeschinas the same.
