by Theocritus
And now she’s in her husband’s arms, and so we’ll say good-night;
But to-morrow we’ll come wi’ the dew, the dew, and take hands and bear him away
Where plashing wave the shore doth lave, and there with locks undight
And blosoms bare all shining fair will raise this shrilling lay; –
“O sweet Adonis, none but thee of the children of Gods and men
‘Twixt overworld and underworld doth pass and pass agen;
That cannot Agamemnon, nor the Lord o’ the Woeful Spleen,
Nor the first of the twice-ten children that came of the Trojan queen,
Nor Patroclus brave, nor Pyrrhus bold that home from the war did win,
Nor none o’ the kith o’ the old Lapith nor of them of Deucalion’s kin –
E’en Pelops line lacks fate so fine, and Pelasgian Argos’ pride.
ἵλαθι νῦν φίλ᾽ ῎Αδωνι, καὶ ἐς νέωτ᾽ εὐθυμήσαις.
καὶ νῦν ἦνθες ῎Αδωνι, καὶ ὅκκ᾽ ἀφίκῃ, φίλος ἡξεῖς.
Γοργώ
Πραξινόα, τὸ χρῆμα σοφώτερον ἁ θήλεια. 145
ὀλβία ὅσσα ἴσατι, πανολβία ὡς γλυκὺ φωνεῖ.
ὥρα ὅμως κεἰς οἶκον. ἀνάριστος Διοκλείδας.
χὡνὴρ ὄξος ἅπαν, πεινᾶντι δὲ μηδὲ ποτένθῃς.
χαῖρε ῎Αδων ἀγαπητέ: καὶ ἐς χαίροντας ἀφίκευ.
[143] Adonis sweet, Adonis dear, be gracious for another year;
Thou’rt welcome to thine own alwáy, and welcome we’ll both cry to-day and next Adonis-tide.”
GORGO
O Praxinoa! what clever things we women are! I do envy her knowing all that, and still more having such a lovely voice. But I must be getting back. It’s Diocleidas’ dinner-time, and that man’s all pepper; I wouldn’t advise anyone to come near him even, when he’s kept waiting for his food. Goodbye, Adonis darling; and I only trust you may find us all thriving when you come next year.
IDYLL XVI. Χάριτες ἢ Ἱέρων
IDYLL XVI. THE CHARITES
The traditional name of this poem, The Charites or Graces, may have been really the title Theocritus had given to the whole volume of a small collection of poems, for which this poem was now written as a special dedication. In it he bewails the indifference of a money-loving age, and asks for the patronage of Hiero, then general-in-chief, afterwards king, of Syracuse, even as Simonides had the patronage – not of the first Hiero, as he would have said had this Hiero then been king, but – of the great lords of Thessaly.
αἰεὶ τοῦτο Διὸς κούραις μέλει, αἰὲν ἀοιδοῖς,
ὑμνεῖν ἀθανάτους, ὑμνεῖν ἀγαθῶν κλέα ἀνδρῶν.
Μοῦσαι μὲν θεαὶ ἐντί, θεοὺς θεαὶ ἀείδοντι:
ἄμμες δὲ βροτοὶ οἵδε, βροτοὺς βροτοὶ ἀείδωμεν.
[1] ’Tis ever the care of Zeus’ daughters and ever of the poets to magnify the Immortal Gods and eke to magnify the achievements of great men. But the Muses are Gods, and being Gods do sing of Gods, while as for us we are men, and being men let us sing of men.
τίς γὰρ τῶν ὁπόσοι γλαυκὰν ναίουσιν ὑπ᾽ ἀῶ 5
ἡμετέρας Χάριτας πετάσας ὑποδέξεται οἴκῳ
ἀσπασίως, οὐδ᾽ αὖθις ἀδωρήτους ἀποπέμψει;
αἱ δὲ σκυζόμεναι γυμνοῖς ποσὶν οἴκαδ᾽ ἴασι,
πολλά με τωθάζοισαι, ὅ τ᾽ ἀλιθίαν ὁδὸν ἦνθον,
ὀκνηραὶ δὲ πάλιν κενεᾶς ἐν πυθμένι χηλοῦ 10
ψυχροῖς ἐν γονάτεσσι κάρη μίμνοντι βαλοῖσαι,
ἔνθ᾽ αἰεί σφισιν ἕδρα, ἐπὴν ἄπρηκτοι ἵκωνται.
τίς τῶν νῦν τοιόσδε; τίς εὖ εἰπόντα φιλήσει;
οὐκ οἶδ᾽: οὐ γὰρ ἔτ᾽ ἄνδρες ἐπ᾽ ἔργμασιν ὡς πάρος ἐσθλοῖς
αἰνεῖσθαι σπεύδοντι, νενίκηνται δ᾽ ὑπὸ κερδέων. 15
πᾶς δ᾽ ὑπὸ κόλπῳ χεῖρας ἔχων πόθεν οἴσεται ἀθρεῖ
ἄργυρον, οὐδέ κεν ἰὸν ἀποτρίψας τινὶ δοίη,
ἀλλ᾽ εὐθὺς μυθεῖται: ‘ἀπωτέρω ἢ γόνυ κνάμα:
αὐτῷ μοί τι γένοιτο: θεοὶ τιμῶσιν ἀοιδούς.
τίς δέ κεν ἄλλου ἀκούσαι; ἅλις πάντεσσιν ῞Ομηρος. 20
οὗτος ἀοιδῶν λῷστος, ὃς ἐξ ἐμεῦ οἴσεται οὐδέν.’
[5] Now who of all that dwell beneath the gray dawn, say who, will open his door to receive my pretty Graces gladly, and not rather send them away empty-handed, so that they get them home frowning and barefoot, there to fleer at me for sending them a fool’s errand, there to shrink once again into the bottom of an empty press, and sinking their heads upon their chill knees to abide where they ever lodge when they return unsuccessful from abroad? Who, I say, in this present world will let them in, and who in the present days will love one that hath spoke him well? I cannot tell. The praise once sought for noble acts is sought no more; pelf reigns conqueror of every heart; and every man looks hand in pocket where he may get him silver; nay, he would not give another so much as the off-scrapings of the rust of it, but straightway cries “Charity begins at home. What comes thereout for me? ’Tis the Gods that honour poets. Who would hear yet another? Homer is enough for all. Him rank I best of poets, who of me shall get nothing.”
δαιμόνιοι, τί δὲ κέρδος ὁ μυρίος ἔνδοθι χρυσὸς
κείμενος; οὐχ ἅδε πλούτου φρονέουσιν ὄνασις,
ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ψυχᾷ, τὸ δὲ καί τινι δοῦναι ἀοιδῶν:
πολλοὺς δ᾽ εὖ ἔρξαι παῶν, πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ ἄλλων 25
ἀνθρώπων, αἰεὶ δὲ θεοῖς ἐπιβώμια ῥέζειν,
μηδὲ ξεινοδόκον κακὸν ἔμμεναι, ἀλλὰ τραπέζῃ
μειλίξαντ᾽ ἀποπέμψαι, ἐπὴν ἐθέλωντι νέεσθαι,
Μουσάων δὲ μάλιστα τίειν ἱεροὺς ὑποφήτας,
ὄφρα καὶ εἰν ᾿Αίδαο κεκρυμμένος ἐσθλὸς ἀκούσῃς, 30
μηδ᾽ ἀκλεὴς μύρηαι ἐπὶ ψυχροῦ ᾿Αχέροντος,
ὡσεί τις μακέλᾳ τετυλωμένος ἔνδοθι χεῖρας
ἀχὴν ἐκ πατέρων πενίην ἀκτήμονα κλαίων.
[22] Poor simple fools! what profits it a man that he have thousands of gold laid by? To the wise the enjoyment of riches is not that, but rather to give first somewhat to his own soul, and then something, methinks, to one of the poets; to wit, it is first to do much good as well to other men as to his kinsfolk, to make offering of sacrifice unceasingly upon the altars of the Gods, and, like on hospitably minded, to send his guests, when go they will, kindly entreated away; and secondly and more than all, it is to bestow honour upon the holy interpreters of the Muses, that so you may rather be well spoken of even when you lie hid in Death, than, like some horny-handed delving son of a poor father bewailing his empty penury, make your moan beside chill Acheron’s brink without either name or fame.
πολλοὶ ἐν ᾿Αντιόχοιο δόμοις καὶ ἄνακτος ᾿Αλεύα
ἁρμαλιὴν ἔμμηνον ἐμετρήσαντο πενέσται: 35
<
br /> πολλοὶ δὲ Σκοπάδῃσιν ἐλαυνόμενοι ποτὶ σακοὺς
μόσχοι σὺν κεραῇσιν ἐμυκήσαντο βόεσσι,
μυρία δ᾽ ἀμπεδίον Κραννώνιον ἐνδιάασκον
ποιμένες ἔκκριτα μῆλα φιλοξείνοισι Κρεώνδαις:
ἀλλ᾽ οὔ σφιν τῶν ἦδος, ἐπεὶ γλυκὺν ἐξεκένωσαν 40
θυμὸν ἐς εὐρεῖαν σχεδίαν στυγνοῦ ᾿Αχέροντος,
ἄμναστοι δὲ τὰ πολλὰ καὶ ὄλβια τῆνα λιπόντες
δειλοῖς ἐν νεκύεσσι μακροὺς αἰῶνας ἔκειντο,
εἰ μὴ κεῖνος ἀοιδὸς ὁ Κήιος αἰόλα φωνέων
βάρβιτον ἐς πολύχορδον ἐν ἀνδράσι θῆκ᾽ ὀνομαστοὺς
ὁπλοτέροις, τιμᾶς δὲ καὶ ὠκέες ἔλλαχον ἵπποι,
οἵ σφισιν ἐξ ἱερῶν στεφανηφόροι ἦλθον ἀγώνων.
[34] Many indeed were the bondmen earned their monthly meed in the houses of Antiochus and King Aleuas, many the calves that went lowing with the horned kine home to the byres of the Scopads, and ten thousand were the fine sheep that the shepherds of he plain of Crannon watched all night for the hospitable Creondae; but once all the sweet wine of their life was in the great cup, once they were embarked in the barge of the old man loathsome, the joyance and pleasure of those things was theirs no more: and though they left behind them all that great and noble wealth, they had lain among the vile dead long ages unremembered, had not the great Ceian cried sweet varied lays to the strings and famoused them in posterity, and had not the coursers that came home to them victorious out of the Games achieved the honour and glory which called the poet to this task.
τίς δ᾽ ἂν ἀριστῆας Λυκίων ποτέ, τίς κομόωντας
Πριαμίδας ἢ θῆλυν ἀπὸ χροιᾶς Κύκνον ἔγνω,
εἰ μὴ φυλόπιδας προτέρων ὕμνησαν ἀοιδοί; 50
οὐδ᾽ ᾿Οδυσεὺς ἑκατόν τε καὶ εἴκοσι μῆνας ἀλαθεὶς
πάντας ἐπ᾽ ἀνθρώπους, ᾿Αίδαν τ᾽ εἰς ἔσχατον ἐλθὼν
ζωός, καὶ σπήλυγγα φυγὼν ὀλοοῖο Κύκλωπος,
δηναιὸν κλέος ἔσχεν, ἐσιγάθη δ᾽ ἂν ὑφορβὸς
Εὔμαιος, καὶ βουσὶ Φιλοίτιος ἀμφ᾽ ἀγελαίαις 55
ἔργον ἔχων, αὐτός τε περίσπλαγχνος Λαέρτης,
εἰ μή σφεας ὤνασαν ᾿Ιάονος ἀνδρὸς ἀοιδαί.
[48] Then too the lords of the old Lycians, then the long-haired children of Priam or that Cycnus that was wan as a woman, – say who had known aught of them, had not poets hymned the battle-cries of an elder day? Moreover Odysseus had wandered his hundred months and twenty through all the world, come to uttermost Hades alive, and gone safe from out the cave of the fell Cyclops, and then had never enjoyed the long and lasting glory of it all; and as well great-heart Laertes himself as Eumaeus the hog-ward and Philoetius the keeper of herded kine, all alike had been under silence had it not profited them of the lays of a man of Ionia.
᾿Εκ Μοισᾶν ἀγαθὸν κλέος ἔρχεται ἀνθρώποισι,
χρήματα δὲ ζώοντες ἀμαλδύνουσι θανόντων.
ἀλλ᾽ ἶσος γὰρ ὁ μόχθος ἐπ᾽ ᾀόνι κύματα μετρεῖν, 60
ὅσσ᾽ ἄνεμος χέρσονδε μετὰ γλαυκᾶς ἁλὸς ὠθεῖ,
ἢ ὕδατι νίζειν θολερὰν διαειδέι πλίνθον,
καὶ φιλοκερδείᾳ βεβλαμμένον ἄνδρα παρελθεῖν.
χαιρέτω ὃς τοιοῦτος, ἀνάριθμος δέ οἱ εἰη
ἄργυρος, αἰεὶ δὲ πλεόνων ἔχοι ἵμερος αὐτόν. 65
αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ τιμήν τε καὶ ἀνθρώπων φιλότητα
πολλῶν ἡμιόνων τε καὶ ἵππων πρόσθεν ἑλοίμαν.
[58] Yes; good fame men may get of the Muses, but riches be wasted of their posterity after they are dead. But seeing one may as well strive to wash clean in clear water a sun-dried brick, as well stand on the beach and number the waves driven shore-ward of the wind from the blue sea, as seek to win by words one whose heart is wounded with the love of gain, I bid all such a very good day, and wish them silver beyond counting and long life to their craving for more. For myself, I would rather the esteem and friendship of my fellow-men than hundreds of mules and horses.
δίζημαι δ᾽, ὅτινι θνατῶν κεχαρισμένος ἔνθω
σὺν Μοίσαις: χαλεπαὶ γὰρ ὁδοὶ τελέθουσιν ἀοιδοῖς
κουράων ἀπάνευθε Διὸς μέγα βουλεύοντος. 70
οὔπω μῆνας ἄγων ἔκαμ᾽ οὐρανὸς οὐδ᾽ ἐνιαυτούς:
πολλοὶ κινήσουσιν ἔτι τροχὸν ἅρματος ἵπποι:
ἔσσεται οὗτος ἀνήρ, ὃς ἐμεῦ κεχρήσετ᾽ ἀοιδοῦ,
ῥέξας ἢ ᾿Αχιλεὺς ὅσσον μέγας ἢ βαρὺς Αἴας
ἐν πεδίῳ Σιμόεντος, ὅθι Φρυγὸς ἠρίον ῎Ιλου. 75
[68] And so now I am on my way to seek to whom in all the world I with the Muses may come and be welcome; – with the Muses, for ’tis ill travelling for your poet if he have not with him the Daughters of the Great Counsellor. Not yet are the heavens wearied of bringing round the months nor the years; many the horses yet will roll the wheel of the day; and I shall yet find the man who therefore shall need me for his poet because he shall have done as doughtily as ever did great Achilles or dread Aias by the grave of Phrygian Ilus in Simoeis vale.
ἤδη νῦν Φοίνικες ὑπ᾽ ἠελίῳ δύνοντι
οἰκεῦντες Λιβύας ἄκρον σφυρὸν ἐρρίγασιν.
ἤδη βαστάζουσι Συρακόσιοι μέσα δοῦρα
ἀχθόμενοι σακέεσσι βραχίονας ἰτεΐνοισιν:
ἐν δ᾽ αὐτοῖς ῾Ιέρων προτέροις ἴσος ἡρώεσσι 80
ζώννυται, ἵππειαι δὲ κόρυν σκεπάουσιν ἔθειραι.
αἰ γὰρ Ζεῦ κύδιστε πάτερ καὶ πότνι᾽ ᾿Αθάνα
κούρη θ᾽, ἣ σὺν ματρὶ πολυκλήρων ᾿Εφυραίων
εἴληχας μέγα ἄστυ παρ᾽ ὕδασι Λυσιμελείας,
ἐχθροὺς ἐκ νάσοιο κακὰ πέμψειεν ἀνάγκα 85
Σαρδόνιον κατὰ κῦμα, φίλων μόρον ἀγγέλλοντας
τέκνοις ἠδ᾽ ἀλόχοισιν, ἀριθμητοὺς ἀπὸ πολλῶν:
ἄστεά τε προτέροισι πάλιν ναίοιτο πολίταις,
δυσμενέων ὅσα χεῖρες ἐλωβήσαντο κατάκρας:
ἀγροὺς δ᾽ ἐργάζοιντο τεθαλότας: αἱ δ᾽ ἀνάριθμοι 90
μήλων χιλιάδες βοτάνᾳ διαπιανθεῖσαι
ἀμπεδίον βληχοῖντο, βόες δ᾽ ἀγελαδὸν ἐς αὖλιν
ἐρχόμεναι σκνιφαῖον ἐπισπεύδοιεν ὁδίταν:
νειοὶ δ᾽ ἐκπονέοιντο ποτὶ σπόρον, ἁνίκα τέττιξ
ποιμένας ἐνδίους πεφυλαγμένος ἔνδοθι δένδρων 95
ἀχεῖ ἐν ἀκρεμόνεσσιν: ἀράχνια δ᾽ εἰς ὅπλ᾽ ἀράχναι
λεπτὰ διαστήσαιντο, βοᾶς δ᾽ ἔτι μηδ᾽ ὄνομ᾽ εἴη.
ὑψηλὸν δ᾽ ῾Ιέρωνι κλέος φορέοιεν ἀοιδοὶ
καὶ πόντου Σκυθικοῖο πέραν καὶ ὅθι πλατὺ τεῖχος
ἀσφάλτῳ δήσασα Σεμίραμις ἐμβασίλευεν. 100
εἷς μὲν ἐγώ, πολλοὺς δὲ Διὸς φιλέοντι καὶ ἄλλους
θυγατέρες, τοῖς πᾶσι μέλοι Σικελὰν ᾿Αρέθοισαν
ὑμνεῖν σὺν λαοῖσι καὶ αἰχμητὰν ῾Ιέρωνα.
[76] For lo! the Phoenician dweller in the foot of Lilybè in the west shudders already and shakes; the Syracusan hath already his spear by the middle of the wicker targe upon his warm; and there like one of the olden heroes stands Hiero girding his loins among his men, a horse-hair plume waving on his crest. And I would to thee, renowned Father, and to thee, Lady Athena, I would to thee, Maiden who with thy Mother dost possess by Lysimeleia’s side the great city of the rich Ephyreans, I would that evil necessities may clear our island of hostile folk and send them down the Sardinian wave with tidings of death to wives and children, a remnant easy to number of a mighty host; and I pray that all the towns the hands of enemies have laid so utterly waste, may be inhabited again of their ancient peoples, and their fields laboured and made to bring forth abundantly, their lowlands filled with the bleating of fat flocks in their tens of thousands, and the twilight traveller warned to hasten his steps to the home-going of innumerable herds; and I pray likewise that against the time when the cricket is fain to sing high in the twigs over head because of the noontide-resting shepherds, against that time, the time of sowing, none of the fallows be left unturned of the plough, and as for the weapons of war, may spiders weave over them their slender webs, and of the war-cry the very name be forgot. And the glory of Hiero, that may poets waft high both over the Scythian main and eke where Semiramis reigned within that broad wall she made with mortar of pitch; and of these poets I am one, one of the many beloved by the daughters of Zeus, which are concerned all of them to magnify Sicilian Arethuse with her people and her mighty man of war.
