The Complete Works of
QUINTUS SMYRNAEUS
(fl. 4th century AD)
Contents
The Translation
POSTHOMERICA
The Greek Text
CONTENTS OF THE GREEK TEXT
The Delphi Classics Catalogue
© Delphi Classics 2014
Version 1
The Complete Works of
QUINTUS SMYRNAEUS
By Delphi Classics, 2014
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Complete Works of Quintus Smyrnaeus
First published in the United Kingdom in 2014 by Delphi Classics.
© Delphi Classics, 2014.
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The Translation
The Agora at Smyrna (modern day İzmir, Turkey) — Quintus’ birthplace
More ruins at Smyrna
POSTHOMERICA
Translated by Arthur Sanders Way
Very little is known of the life of Quintus of Smyrnaeus, who is traditionally placed in the latter part of the 4th century AD. Some scholars have suggested that his epic poem Posthomerica, which follows on from Homer’s narration of the Trojan War, dates from an earlier date in the 3rd or even the 2nd century, as the text reveals influences from the “Second Sophistic”, a school of Greek orators that flourished in previous centuries. According to Quintus’ own account (XII. 310), he began composing poetry in his early youth while tending sheep near Smyrna (present-day İzmir in Turkey).
The Posthomerica is composed of fourteen books and spans the period between the end of Homer’s Iliad and the conclusion of the Trojan War. The primary importance of Quintus’ epic is its status as the earliest surviving work to cover this period of the myth, since the archaic works in the Epic Cycle that he drew upon are now lost. Quintus borrows from the same cyclic poems from which Virgil also drew, in particular the Aethiopis (Coming of Memnon), as well as the Iliupersis (Destruction of Troy) of Arctinus of Miletus and the Ilias Mikra (Little Iliad) of Lesches. The Posthomerica is closely modelled on Homer in style, though, of course, Quintus is widely acknowledged to be a lesser poet than his predecessor.
The first four books, which concern the same events as the Aethiopis of Arctinus of Miletus, describe the heroic deeds and deaths of Penthesileia the Amazon, of Memnon the leader of the Ethiopians, who is slain by Achilles, and of Achilles himself and the funeral games held in his honour. Books five to twelve feature many of the events that were narrated in the lost Little Iliad of Lesches, including the contest between Aias and Odysseus for the arms of Achilles, the death of Aias, the exploits of Neoptolemus, Eurypylus and Deiphobus, the deaths of Paris and Oenone and the construction of the wooden horse. The remaining books concern events related in Arctinus’ The Sack of Troy, telling of the capture of Troy by means of the wooden horse, the sacrifice of Polyxena at the grave of Achilles, the departure of the Greeks and their dispersal by storm.
‘The Fall of Troy’ by Johann Georg Trautmann, c. 1760
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
BOOK I. HOW DIED FOR TROY THE QUEEN OF THE AMAZONS, PENTHESILEIA.
BOOK II. HOW MEMNON, SON OF THE DAWN, FOR TROY’S SAKE FELL IN THE BATTLE.
BOOK III. HOW BY THE SHAFT OF A GOD LAID LOW WAS HERO ACHILLES.
BOOK IV. HOW IN THE FUNERAL GAMES OF ACHILLES HEROES CONTENDED.
BOOK V. HOW THE ARMS OF ACHILLES WERE CAUSE OF MADNESS AND DEATH UNTO AIAS.
BOOK VI. HOW CAME FOR THE HELPING OF TROY EURYPYLUS, HERCULES’ GRANDSON.
BOOK VII. HOW THE SON OF ACHILLES WAS BROUGHT TO THE WAR FROM THE ISLE OF SCYROS.
BOOK VIII. HOW HERCULES’ GRANDSON PERISHED IN FIGHT WITH THE SON OF ACHILLES.
BOOK IX. HOW FROM HIS LONG LONE EXILE RETURNED TO THE WAR PHILOCTETES.
BOOK X. HOW PARIS WAS STRICKEN TO DEATH, AND IN VAIN SOUGHT HELP OF OENONE.
BOOK XI. HOW THE SONS OF TROY FOR THE LAST TIME. FOUGHT FROM HER WALLS AND HER TOWERS.
BOOK XII. HOW THE WOODEN HORSE WAS FASHIONED, AND BROUGHT INTO TROY BY HER PEOPLE.
BOOK XIII. HOW TROY IN THE NIGHT WAS TAKEN AND SACKED WITH FIRE AND SLAUGHTER.
BOOK XIV. HOW THE CONQUERORS SAILED FROM TROY UNTO JUDGMENT OF TEMPEST AND SHIPWRECK.
The sacrifice of Polyxena by the triumphant Greeks, as depicted on an Attic black-figure Tyrrhenian amphora, c. 570 BC
INTRODUCTION
Homer’s “Iliad” begins towards the close of the last of the ten years of the Trojan War: its incidents extend over some fifty days only, and it ends with the burial of Hector. The things which came before and after were told by other bards, who between them narrated the whole “cycle” of the events of the war, and so were called the Cyclic Poets. Of their works none have survived; but the story of what befell between Hector’s funeral and the taking of Troy is told in detail, and well told, in a poem about half as long as the “Iliad”. Some four hundred years after Christ there lived at Smyrna a poet of whom we know scarce anything, save that his first name was Quintus. He had saturated himself with the spirit of Homer, he had caught the ring of his music, and he perhaps had before him the works of those Cyclic Poets whose stars had paled before the sun.
We have practically no external evidence as to the date or place of birth of Quintus of Smyrna, or for the sources whence he drew his materials. His date is approximately settled by two passages in the poem, viz. vi. 531 sqq., in which occurs an illustration drawn from the man-and-beast fights of the amphitheatre, which were suppressed by Theodosius I. (379-395 A.D.); and xiii. 335 sqq., which contains a prophecy, the special particularity of which, it is maintained by Koechly, limits its applicability to the middle of the fourth century A.D.
His place of birth, and the precise locality, is given by himself in xii. 308-313, and confirmatory evidence is afforded by his familiarity, of which he gives numerous instances, with many natural features of the western part of Asia Minor.
With respect to his authorities, and the use he made of their writings, there has been more difference of opinion. Since his narrative covers the same ground as the “Aethiopis” (“Coming of Memnon”) and the “Iliupersis” (“Destruction of Troy”) of Arctinus (circ. 776 B.C.), and the “Little Iliad” of Lesches (circ. 700 B.C.), it has been assumed that the work of Quintus “is little more than an amplification or remodelling of the works of these two Cyclic Poets.” This, however, must needs be pure conjecture, as the only remains of these poets consist of fragments amounting to no more than a very few lines from each, and of the “summaries of contents” made by the grammarian Proclus (circ. 140 A.D.), which, again, we but get at second-hand through the “Bibliotheca” of Photius (ninth century). Now, not merely do the only descriptions of incident that are found in the fragments differ essentially from the corresponding incidents as described by Quintus, but even in the summaries, meagre as they are, we find, as German critics have shown by exhaustive investigation, serious discrepancies enough to justify us in the conclusion that, even if Quintus had the works of the Cyclic poets before him, which is far from certain, his poem was no mere remodelling of theirs, but an independent and practically original work. Not that this conclusion disposes by any means of all
difficulties. If Quintus did not follow the Cyclic poets, from what source did he draw his materials? The German critic unhesitatingly answers, “from Homer.” As regards language, versification, and general spirit, the matter is beyond controversy; but when we come to consider the incidents of the story, we find deviations from Homer even more serious than any of those from the Cyclic poets. And the strange thing is, that each of these deviations is a manifest detriment to the perfection of his poem; in each of them the writer has missed, or has rejected, a magnificent opportunity. With regard to the slaying of Achilles by the hand of Apollo only, and not by those of Apollo and Paris, he might have pleaded that Homer himself here speaks with an uncertain voice (cf. “Iliad” xv. 416-17, xxii. 355-60, and xxi. 277-78). But, in describing the fight for the body of Achilles (“Odyssey” xxiv. 36 sqq.), Homer makes Agamemnon say:
“So we grappled the livelong day, and we had not refrained us then,
But Zeus sent a hurricane, stilling the storm of the battle of men.”
Now, it is just in describing such natural phenomena, and in blending them with the turmoil of battle, that Quintus is in his element; yet for such a scene he substitutes what is, by comparison, a lame and impotent conclusion. Of that awful cry that rang over the sea heralding the coming of Thetis and the Nymphs to the death-rites of her son, and the panic with which it filled the host, Quintus is silent. Again, Homer (“Odyssey” iv. 274-89) describes how Helen came in the night with Deiphobus, and stood by the Wooden Horse, and called to each of the hidden warriors with the voice of his own wife. This thrilling scene Quintus omits, and substitutes nothing of his own. Later on, he makes Menelaus slay Deiphobus unresisting, “heavy with wine,” whereas Homer (“Odyssey” viii. 517-20) makes him offer such a magnificent resistance, that Odysseus and Menelaus together could not kill him without the help of Athena. In fact, we may say that, though there are echoes of the “Iliad” all through the poem, yet, wherever Homer has, in the “Odyssey”, given the outline-sketch of an effective scene, Quintus has uniformly neglected to develop it, has sometimes substituted something much weaker — as though he had not the “Odyssey” before him!
For this we have no satisfactory explanation to offer. He may have set his own judgment above Homer — a most unlikely hypothesis: he may have been consistently following, in the framework of his story, some original now lost to us: there may be more, and longer, lacunae in the text than any editors have ventured to indicate: but, whatever theory we adopt, it must be based on mere conjecture.
The Greek text here given is that of Koechly (1850) with many of Zimmermann’s emendations, which are acknowledged in the notes. Passages enclosed in square brackets are suggestions of Koechly for supplying the general sense of lacunae. Where he has made no such suggestion, or none that seemed to the editors to be adequate, the lacuna has been indicated by asterisks, though here too a few words have been added in the translation, sufficient to connect the sense.
A. S. WAY
BOOK I. HOW DIED FOR TROY THE QUEEN OF THE AMAZONS, PENTHESILEIA.
When godlike Hector by Peleides slain
Passed, and the pyre had ravined up his flesh,
And earth had veiled his bones, the Trojans then
Tarried in Priam’s city, sore afraid
Before the might of stout-heart Aeacus’ son:
As kine they were, that midst the copses shrink
From faring forth to meet a lion grim,
But in dense thickets terror-huddled cower;
So in their fortress shivered these to see
That mighty man. Of those already dead 10
They thought of all whose lives he reft away
As by Scamander’s outfall on he rushed,
And all that in mid-flight to that high wall
He slew, how he quelled Hector, how he haled
His corse round Troy; — yea, and of all beside
Laid low by him since that first day whereon
O’er restless seas he brought the Trojans doom.
Ay, all these they remembered, while they stayed
Thus in their town, and o’er them anguished grief
Hovered dark-winged, as though that very day 20
All Troy with shrieks were crumbling down in fire.
Then from Thermodon, from broad-sweeping streams,
Came, clothed upon with beauty of Goddesses,
Penthesileia — came athirst indeed
For groan-resounding battle, but yet more
Fleeing abhorred reproach and evil fame,
Lest they of her own folk should rail on her
Because of her own sister’s death, for whom
Ever her sorrows waxed, Hippolyte,
Whom she had struck dead with her mighty spear, 30
Not of her will— ’twas at a stag she hurled.
So came she to the far-famed land of Troy.
Yea, and her warrior spirit pricked her on,
Of murder’s dread pollution thus to cleanse
Her soul, and with such sacrifice to appease
The Awful Ones, the Erinnyes, who in wrath
For her slain sister straightway haunted her
Unseen: for ever round the sinner’s steps
They hover; none may ’scape those Goddesses.
And with her followed twelve beside, each one 40
A princess, hot for war and battle grim,
Far-famous each, yet handmaids unto her:
Penthesileia far outshone them all.
As when in the broad sky amidst the stars
The moon rides over all pre-eminent,
When through the thunderclouds the cleaving heavens
Open, when sleep the fury-breathing winds;
So peerless was she mid that charging host.
Clonie was there, Polemusa, Derinoe,
Evandre, and Antandre, and Bremusa, 50
Hippothoe, dark-eyed Harmothoe,
Alcibie, Derimacheia, Antibrote,
And Thermodosa glorying with the spear.
All these to battle fared with warrior-souled
Penthesileia: even as when descends
Dawn from Olympus’ crest of adamant,
Dawn, heart-exultant in her radiant steeds
Amidst the bright-haired Hours; and o’er them all,
How flawless-fair soever these may be,
Her splendour of beauty glows pre-eminent; 60
So peerless amid all the Amazons Unto
Troy-town Penthesileia came.
To right, to left, from all sides hurrying thronged
The Trojans, greatly marvelling, when they saw
The tireless War-god’s child, the mailed maid,
Like to the Blessed Gods; for in her face
Glowed beauty glorious and terrible.
Her smile was ravishing: beneath her brows
Her love-enkindling eyes shone like to stars,
And with the crimson rose of shamefastness 70
Bright were her cheeks, and mantled over them
Unearthly grace with battle-prowess clad.
Then joyed Troy’s folk, despite past agonies,
As when, far-gazing from a height, the hinds
Behold a rainbow spanning the wide sea,
When they be yearning for the heaven-sent shower,
When the parched fields be craving for the rain;
Then the great sky at last is overgloomed,
And men see that fair sign of coming wind
And imminent rain, and seeing, they are glad, 80
Who for their corn-fields’ plight sore sighed before;
Even so the sons of Troy when they beheld
There in their land Penthesileia dread
Afire for battle, were exceeding glad;
For when the heart is thrilled with hope of good,
All smart of evils past is wiped away:
So, after all his sighing and his pain,
Gladdened a little while was Priam’s soul.
As when a man who hath
suffered many a pang
From blinded eyes, sore longing to behold 90
The light, and, if he may not, fain would die,
Then at the last, by a cunning leech’s skill,
Or by a God’s grace, sees the dawn-rose flush,
Sees the mist rolled back from before his eyes, —
Yea, though clear vision come not as of old,
Yet, after all his anguish, joys to have
Some small relief, albeit the stings of pain
Prick sharply yet beneath his eyelids; — so
Joyed the old king to see that terrible queen —
The shadowy joy of one in anguish whelmed 100
For slain sons. Into his halls he led the Maid,
And with glad welcome honoured her, as one
Who greets a daughter to her home returned
From a far country in the twentieth year;
And set a feast before her, sumptuous
As battle-glorious kings, who have brought low
Nations of foes, array in splendour of pomp,
With hearts in pride of victory triumphing.
And gifts he gave her costly and fair to see,
And pledged him to give many more, so she 110
Would save the Trojans from the imminent doom.
And she such deeds she promised as no man
Had hoped for, even to lay Achilles low,
To smite the wide host of the Argive men,
And cast the brands red-flaming on the ships.
Ah fool! — but little knew she him, the lord
Of ashen spears, how far Achilles’ might
In warrior-wasting strife o’erpassed her own!
But when Andromache, the stately child
Of king Eetion, heard the wild queen’s vaunt, 120
Low to her own soul bitterly murmured she:
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