by Theocritus
When you turn the corner of yonder lain, sweet Goatherd, where the oak-trees are, you’ll find a new-carved effigy of fig-wood, without legs or ears and the bark still upon it, but nevertheless an able servant of the Cyprian. There’s a brave little sacrificial close runs round it, and a never-ceasing freshet that springs from the rocks there is greened all about with bays and myrtles and fragrant cypress, among which the mother o’ grapes doth spread and twine, and in spring the blackbirds cry their lisping medleys of clear-toned song, and the babbling nightingales cry them back their warblings with the honey voice that sings from their tuneful throats. Thither go, and sit you down and pray that pretty fellow to make cease my love of Daphnis, and I’ll straightway offer him a fat young goat; but should he say me nay, then I’ll make him three sacrifices if he’ll win me his love, a heifer, a shaggy buck-goat, and a pet lamb I am rearing; and may the god hear and heed your prayer.
INSCRIPTION V. A Pal ix.433
V. [AN INSCRIPTION FOR A PICTURE]
λῇς ποτὶ τᾶν Νυμφᾶν διδύμοις αὐλοῖσιν ἀεῖσαι
ἁδύ τί μοι; κἠγὼ πακτίδ᾽ ἀειράμενος
ἀρξεῦμαί τι κρέκειν, ὁ δὲ βουκόλος ἄμμιγα θελξεῖ
Δάφνις, κηροδέτῳ πνεύματι μελπόμενος.
ἐγγὺς δὲ στάντες λασίας δρυὸς ἄντρου ὄπισθεν 5
Πᾶνα τὸν αἰγιβάταν ὀρφανίσωμες ὕπνου.
‘Fore the Nymphs I pray you play me some sweet thing upon the double pipe, and I will take my viol and strike up likewise, and neatherd Daphnis shall join with us and make charming music with the notes of his wax-bound breath; and so standing beside the shaggy oak behind the cave, let’s rob you goat-foot Pan of his slumber.
INSCRIPTION VI. A Pal ix.432
VI. [FOR A PICTURE]
%%̂̓Α δειλαῖε τὺ Θύρσι, τί τὸ πλέον, εἰ καταταξεῖς
δάκρυσι διγλήνους ὦπας ὀδυρόμενος;
οἴχεται ἁ χίμαρος, τὸ καλὸν τέκος, οἴχετ᾽ ἐς ῞Αιδαν:
τραχὺς γὰρ χαλαῖς ἀμφεπίαξε λύκος.
αἱ δὲ κύνες κλαγγεῦντι: τί τὸ πλέον, ἁνίκα τήνας 5
ὀστίον οὐδὲ τέφρα λείπεται οἰχομένας;
Well-a-day, you poor Thyrsis! what boots it if you cry your two eyes out of their sockets? Your kid’s gone, the pretty babe, dead and gone, all crushed in the talons of the great rough wolf. True, the gods are baying him; but to what end, when there’s neither ash nor bone of the poor dead left?
INSCRIPTION VII. A Pal vii.659
VII. [FOR THE GRAVE OF A YOUNG FATHER]
νήπιον υἱὸν ἔλειπες, ἐν ἁλικίᾳ δὲ καὶ αὐτός,
Εὐρύμεδον τύμβου τοῦδε θανὼν ἔτυχες.
σοὶ μὲν ἕδρα θείοισι μετ᾽ ἀνδράσι: τὸν δὲ πολῖται
τιμασεῦντι, πατρὸς μνώμενοι ὡς ἀγαθοῦ.
Here you are, Eurymedon, come in your prime to the grave; but you left a little son behind you, and though your dwelling henceforth is with the great o’ the earth, you may trust your countrymen to honour the child for the sake of the father.
INSCRIPTION VIII. A Pal vi.337
VIII. [FOR NICIAS’ NEW STATUE OF ASCLEPIUS]
%%̂̓Ηλθε καὶ ἐς Μίλητον ὁ τοῦ Παιήονος υἱός,
ἰητῆρι νόσων ἀνδρὶ συνοισόμενος
Νικίᾳ, ὅς μιν ἐπ᾽ ἦμαρ ἀεὶ θυέεσσιν ἱκνεῖται,
καὶ τόδ᾽ ἀπ᾽ εὐώδους γλύψατ᾽ ἄγαλμα κέδρου,
᾿Ηετίωνι χάριν γλαφυρᾶς χερὸς ἄκρον ὑποστὰς 5
μισθόν: ὁ δ᾽ εἰς ἔργον πᾶσαν ἀφῆκε τέχνην.
The Great Healer’s son is come to Miletus now, to live with his fellow-crafsman Nicias, who both maketh sacrifice before him every day, and hath now made carve this statue of fragrant cedar-wood; he promised Eëtion a round price for the finished cunning of his hand, and Eëtion hath put forth all his art to the making of the work.
INSCRIPTION IX. A Pal vii.660
IX. [FOR THE GRAVE OF A LANDED GENTLEMAN]
ξεῖνε, Συρακόσιός τοι ἀνὴρ τόδ᾽ ἐφίεται ῎Ορθων:
χειμερίας μεθύων μηδαμὰ νυκτὸς ἴοις.
καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ τοιοῦτον ἔχω πότμον: ἀντὶ δὲ πολλᾶς
πατρίδος ὀθνείαν κεῖμαι ἐφεσσάμενος.
This, good Stranger, is the behest of Orthon of Syracuse: Go you never abroad drunk of a stormy night; for that was my fate to do, and so it is I lie here, and there’s weighed me out a foreign country in exchange for much native-land.
INSCRIPTION X. A Pal vi.338
X. [FOR AN ALTAR WITH A FRIEZE OF THE MUSES]
῾Υμῖν τοῦτο θεαὶ κεχαρισμένον ἐννέα πάσαις
τὤγαλμα Ξενοκλῆς θῆκε τὸ μαρμάρινον,
μουσικός: οὐχ ἑτέρως τις ἐρεῖ. σοφίῃ δ᾽ ἐπὶ τῇδε
αἶνον ἔχων Μουσέων οὐκ ἐπιλανθάνεται.
This carved work of marble, sweet Goddesses, is set up for the nine of you by the true musician – as all must name him – Xenocles, who having much credit of his art forgets not the Muses whose it is.
INSCRIPTION XI. A Pal vii.661
XI. [FORTE GRAVE OF A STROLLING PHYSIOGNOMIST]
Εὐσθένεος τὸ μνῆμα: φυσιγνώμων ὁ σοφιστής,
δεινὸς ἀπ᾽ ὀφθαλμοῦ καὶ τὸ νόημα μαθεῖν.
εὖ μιν ἔθαψαν ἑταῖροι ἐπὶ ξείνης ξένον ὄντα:
χὑμνοθέτης αὐτοῖς δαιμονίως φίλος ἦν.
πάντων ὧν ἐπέοικεν ἔχειν τεθνεὼς ὁ σοφιστὴς 5
καίπερ ἄκικυς ἐὼν εἶχ᾽ ἄρα κηδεμόνας.
Here lies Strong-i’-th’-arm the great physiognomist, the man who could read the mind by the eye. And so, for all he is a stranger in a strange land, he has had friends to give him decent burial, and the dirge-writer has been kindness itself. The dead philosopher has all he could have wished; and thus, weakling wight though he be, there is after all somebody that cares for him.
INSCRIPTION XII. A Pal vi.339
XII. [FOR A PRIZE TRIPOD]
Δημομέλης ὁ χορηγός, ὁ τὸν τρίποδ᾽ ὦ Διόνυσε
καὶ σὲ τὸν ἥδιστον θεῶν μακάρων ἀναθείς,
μέτριος ἦν ἐν πᾶσι, χορῷ δ᾽ ἐκτήσατο νίκην
ἀνδρῶν, καὶ τὸ καλὸν καὶ τὸ προσῆκον ὁρῶν.
Choir-master Demomeles, who set up this tripod and this effigy, Dionysus, of the sweetest god in heaven, had always been a decent fellow, and he won the victory with his men’s-chorus because he knew beauty and seemliness when he saw them.
INSCRIPTION XIII. A Pal vi.340
XIII. [FOR A COAN LADY’S NEW STATUE OF APHRODITE]
῾Η Κύπρις οὐ πάνδημος. ἱλάσκεο τὴν θεὸν εἰπὼν
οὐρανίην, ἁγνῆς ἄνθεμα Χρυσογόνης
οἴκῳ ἐν ᾿Αμφικλέους, ᾧ καὶ τέκνα καὶ βίον εἶχε
ξυνόν. ἀεὶ δέ σφιν λώιον εἰς ἔτος ἦν
ἐκ σέθεν ἀρχομένοις ὦ πότνια: κηδόμενοι γὰρ 5
ἀθανάτων αὐτοὶ πλεῖον ἔχουσι βροτοί.
This is not the People’s Cyprian, but pray when you propitiate this goddess do so by the name of Heavenly; for this is the offering of a chaste woman, to wit of Chrysogonè, in the house of Amphicles, whose children and whose life she shared; so that beginning, Great Lady, with worship of thee, they ever increased their happiness with the years. For any that have care for the Immortals are the better off for it themselves.
INSCRIPTION XIV. A Pal ix.435
XIV. [FOR THE TABLE OF A BARBARIAN MONEY-CHANGER]
᾿Αστοῖς καὶ ξείνοισιν ἴσον νέμει ἥδε τράπεζα:
θεὶς ἀνελοῦ ψήφου πρὸς λόγον ἐρχομένης.
ἄλλός τις πρόφασιν λεγέτω: τὰ δ᾽ ὀθνεῖα Κάικος
χρήματα καὶ νυκτὸς βουλομένοις ἀριθμεῖ.
This table makes no distinction of native and foreigner. You pay in and you receive out in strict accordance with the lie of the counters. If you want shifts and shuffles go elsewhere. Caïcus pays out deposits even after dark.
INSCRIPTION XV. A Pal vii.658
XV. [FOR THE GRAVE OF A BRAVE MAN]
γνώσομαι, εἴ τι νέμεις ἀγαθοῖς πλέον, ἢ καὶ ὁ δειλὸς
ἐκ σέθεν ὡσαύτως ἶσον ὁδοιπόρ᾽ ἔχει.
‘χαιρέτω οὗτος ὁ τύμβος” ἐρεῖς “ἐπεὶ Εὐρυμέδοντος
κεῖται τῆς ἱερῆς κοῦφος ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς.’
I shall know, master Wayfarer, whether you prefer the valiant or esteem him even as the craven; for you will say: “Blest be this tomb for lying so light above the sacred head of Eurymedon.”
INSCRIPTION XVI. A Pal vii.662
XVI. [FOR THE GRAVE OF TWO LITTLE CHILDREN]
῾Η παῖς ᾤχετ᾽ ἄωρος ἐν ἑβδόμῳ ἥδ᾽ ἐνιαυτῷ
εἰς ᾿Αίδην πολλοῖς ἡλικίης προτέρη,
δειλαίη, ποθέουσα τὸν εἰκοσάμηνον ἀδελφόν,
νήπιον ἀστόργου γευσάμενον θανάτου.
αἰαῖ ἐλεινὰ παθοῦσα Περιστερί, ὡς ἐν ἑτοίμῳ 5
ἀνθρώποις δαίμων θῆκε τὰ λυγρότατα.
This little maid was taken untimely, seven years old and her life before her, and ’twas for grief, the poor child, that her brother of twenty months should have tasted, pretty babe, the unkindness of Death; O Peristerè, the pity of it! how near to man and ready hath god set what is woefullest!
INSCRIPTION XVII. A Pal ix.599
XVII. [FOR A STATUE OF ANACREON OF TEOS]
θᾶσαι τὸν ἀνδριάντα τοῦτον ὦ ξένε
σπουδᾷ, καὶ λέγ᾽ ἐπὴν ἐς οἶκον ἔνθῃς:
‘᾿Ανακρέοντος εἰκόν᾽ εἶδον ἐν Τέῳ
τῶν πρόσθ᾽ εἴ τι περισσὸν ᾠδοποιοῦ.’
προσθεὶς δὲ χὥτι τοῖς νέοισιν ἅδετο, 5
ἐρεῖς ἀτρεκέως ὅλον τὸν ἄνδρα.
Look well upon this statue, good Stranger, and when you return home say “I saw Teos a likeness of Anacreon, the very greatest of the old makers of songs”; and you will describe him to the letter if you say also “He delighted in the young.”
INSCRIPTION XVIII. A Pal ix.600
XVIII. [FOR A STATUE OF EPICHARMUS IN THE THEATRE OF SYRACUSE]
῞Α τε φωνὰ Δώριος χὡνὴρ ὁ τὰν κωμῳδίαν εὑρὼν ᾿Επίχαρμος.
ὦ Βάκχε, χάλκεόν νιν ἀντ᾽ ἀλαθινοῦ τὶν ὧδ᾽ ἀνέθηκαν
τοὶ Συρακόσσαις ἐνίδρυνται πεδωρισταὶ πόλει, οἷ᾽ ἀνδρὶ πολίτᾳ: 5
σωρὸν γὰρ εἶχε ῥημάτων μεμναμένοις τελεῖν ἐπίχειρα.
πολλὰ γὰρ πὸτ τὰν ζόαν τοῖς πᾶσιν εἶπε χρήσιμα. μεγάλα χάρις αὐτῷ.
The speech is the Dorian, and the theme the inventor of comedy, Epicharmus. They that have their habitation in the most mighty city of Syracuse have set him up here, as became fellow-townsmen, unto thee, good Bacchus, in bronze in the stead of the flesh; and thus have remembered to pay him his wages for the great heap of words he hath builded. For many are the things he hath told their children profitable unto life. He hath their hearty thanks.
INSCRIPTION XIX. A Pal xiii.3
XIX. [A NEW INSCRIPTION FOR THE GRAVE OF HIPPONAX]
῾Ο μουσοποιὸς ἐνθάδ᾽ ῾Ιππῶναξ κεῖται.
εἰ μὲν πονηρός, μὴ ποτέρχευ τῷ τύμβῳ:
εἰ δ᾽ ἐσσὶ κρήγυός τε καὶ παρὰ χρηστῶν,
θαρσέων καθίζευ, κἢν θέλῃς ἀπόβριξον.
Here lies the bard Hipponax. If you are a rascal, go not nigh his tomb; but if you are a true man of good stock, sit you down and welcome, and if you choose to drop off to sleep you shall.
INSCRIPTION XX. A Pal vii.663
XX. [AN INSCRIPTION FOR THE GRAVE OF A NURSE]
῾Ο μικκὸς τόδ᾽ ἔτευξε τᾷ Θραΐσσᾳ
Μήδειος τὸ μνᾶμ᾽ ἐπὶ τᾷ ὁδῷ κἠπέγραψε Κλείτας.
ἑξεῖ τὰν χάριν ἁ γυνὰ ἀντὶ τήνων,
ὧν τὸν κοῦρον ἔθρεψε. τί μάν; ἔτι χρησίμα καλεῖται.
This memorial the little Medeius hath builded by the wayside to his Thracian nurse, and written her name upon it, “Cleita.” She hath her reward for the child’s good upbringing, and what is it? to be called “a good servant” evermore.
INSCRIPTION XXI. A Pal vii.664
XXI. [FOR THE STATUE OF ARCHILOCHUS]
᾿Αρχίλοχον καὶ στᾶθι καὶ εἴσιδε τὸν πάλαι ποιητὰν
τὸν τῶν ἰάμβων, οὗ τὸ μυρίον κλέος
διῆλθε κἠπὶ νύκτα καὶ πρὸς ἀῶ.
ἦ ῥά νιν αἱ Μοῖσαι καὶ ὁ Δάλιος ἠγάπευν ᾿Απόλλων,
ὡς ἐμμελής τ᾽ ἔγεντο κἠπιδέξιος 5
ἔπεά τε ποιεῖν πρὸς λύραν τ᾽ ἀείδειν.
Stand and look at Archilochus, the old maker of iambic verse, whose infinite renown hath spread both to utmost east and furthest west. Sure the Muses and Delian Apollo liked him well, such taste and skill had he to bring both to the framing of the words and to the setting of them to the lyre.
INSCRIPTION XXII. A Pal ix.598
XXII. [FOR A STATUE OF PEISANDER AT CAMIRUS]
τὸν τοῦ Ζανὸς ὅδ᾽ ὗμιν υἱὸν ὡνὴρ
τὸν λεοντομάχαν, τὸν ὀξύχειρα,
πρᾶτος τῶν ἐπάνωθε μουσοποιῶν
Πείσανδρος συνέγραψεν ὡκ Καμίρου
χὥσους ἐξεπόνασεν εἶπ᾽ ἀέθλους. 5
τοῦτον δ᾽ αὐτὸν ὁ δᾶμος, ὡς σάφ᾽ εἰδῇς,
ἔστασ᾽ ἐνθάδε χάλκεον ποιήσας
πολλοῖς μησὶν ὄπισθε κἠνιαυτοῖς.
This is Peisander of Camirus, the bard of old time who first wrote you of the lion-fighting quick-o’-th’-hand son of Zeus and told of all the labours he wrought. That you may know this for certain, the people have made this likeness in bronze and set it here after many months and many years.
INSCRIPTION XXIII. ἐκ τῆς Βερενίκης Athenaeus vii. 284.
XXIII. [FOR THE GRAVE OF ONE GLAUCE]
Καἴ τι�
� ἀνὴρ αἰτεῖται ἐπαγροσύνην τε καὶ ὄλβον,
ἐξ ἁλὸς ᾧ ζωή, τὰ δὲ δίκτυα κείνῳ ἄροτρα,
σφάζων ἀκρόνυχος ταύτῃ θεῷ ἱερὸν ἰχθύν,
ὃν λεῦκον καλέουσιν, ὁ γὰρ φιερώτατος ἄλλων,
καί κε λίνα στήσαιτο καὶ ἐξερύσαιτο θαλάσσης 5
ἔμπλεα.
The writing will say what the tomb is and who lies beneath it: “I am the grave of one that was called Glaucè.”
The Biographies
Zeus’ sacrificial altar, built by Hiëro II in Syracuse, Theocritus’ native city
THE LIFE OF THEOCRITUS by J. M. Edmonds
Loeb Classical Library, 1912
THE external evidence for the life of Theocritus is scanty enough. Beyond a brief statement in Suidas, a casual phrase in Choeroboscus, the epigram ‘Άλλος ó Χίος, and a comment upon a passage of Ovid, we have only a few short and not always consistent notes in the commentaries which are contained in the manuscripts. His poems tell us plainly that he was a native of Syracuse, and was familiar also with the districts of Croton and Thurii in Italy, with the island of Cos, with Miletus, and with Alexandria, and that he wrote certain of his works about the twelfth year of Ptolemy Philadelphus. The inscriptions he composed for the statues of Gods and poets connect him, or at least his fame, also with Teos, Paros, Ephesus, and Camirus. The rest — and that means much of the following account — is conjecture.
