Complete Works of Theocritus

by Theocritus

  ἔσται δὴ τοῦτ᾽ ἆμαρ, ὁπηνίκα νεβρὸν ἐν εὐνᾷ

  καρχαρόδων σίνεσθαι ἰδὼν λύκος οὐκ ἐθελήσει.

  ἀλλὰ γύναι πῦρ μέν τοι ὑπὸ σποδῷ εὔτυκον ἔστω,

  κάγκανα δ᾽ ἀσπαλάθου ξύλ᾽ ἑτοιμάσατ᾽ ἢ παλιούρου

  ἢ βάτου ἢ ἀνέμῳ δεδονημένον αὖον ἄχερδον: 90

  καῖε δὲ τώδ᾽ ἀγρίαισιν ἐπὶ σχίζαισι δράκοντε

  νυκτὶ μέσᾳ, ὅκα παῖδα κανεῖν τεὸν ἤθελον αὐτοί.

  ἦρι δὲ συλλέξασα κόνιν πυρὸς ἀμφιπόλων τις

  ῥιψάτω εὖ μάλα πᾶσαν ὑπὲρ ποταμοῖο φέρουσα

  ῥωγάδας ἐς πέτρας ὑπερούριον, ἂψ δὲ νέεσθαι 95

  ἄστρεπτος: καθαρῷ δὲ πυρώσατε δῶμα θεείῳ

  πρᾶτον, ἔπειτα δ᾽ ἅλεσσι μεμιγμένον, ὡς νενόμισται,

  θαλλῷ ἐπιρραίνειν ἐστεμμένῳ ἀβλαβὲς ὕδωρ:

  Ζηνὶ δ᾽ ἐπιρρέξαι καθυπερτέρῳ ἄρσενα χοῖρον,

  δυσμενέων αἰεὶ καθυπέρτεροι ὡς τελέθοιτε.’ 100

  [64] The cocks at third crow were carolling the break of day, when he that never lied, the seer Teiresias, was called of Alcmena and all the strange thing told him. And she bade him give answer how it should turn out, and said “Even though the gods devise us ill, I pray you hide it not from me in pity; for not even thus may man escape what the spindle o Fate drives upon him. But enough, son of Eueres; verily I teach the wise.” At that he made the queen this answer: “Be of good cheer, O seed of Perseus, thou mother of noblest offspring; be of good cheer and lay up in thy heart the best hope of that which is to come. For I swear to you by the dear sweet light that is so long gone from my eyes, many the Achaean women that as they card the soft wool about their knees at even, shall sing hereafter of the name of Alcmena, and the dames of Argos shall do her honour of worship. So mighty a man shall in this your son rise to the star-laden heavens, to wit a Hero broad of breast, that shall surpass all flesh, be they man or be they beast. And ’tis decreed that having accomplished labours twelve, albeit all his mortal part shall fall to a pyre of Trachis, he shall go to dwell with Zeus, and shall be called in his marriage a son of the Immortals, even of them who despatched those venomous beasts of the earth to make an end of him in his cradle. But now, my lady, let there be fire ready for thee beneath the embers, and prepare ye dry sticks of bramble, brier, or thorn, or else of the wind-fallen twigs of the wild pear-tree; and with that fuel of wild wood consume thou this pair of serpents at midnight, even at the hour they chose themselves for to slay thy son. And betimes in the morning let one of thy handmaids gather up the dust of the fire and take it to the river-cliff, and cast it, every whit and very carefully, out upon the river to be beyond your borders; and on her homeward way look she never behind her: next, for the cleansing of your house, first burn ye therein sulphur pure, and then sprinkle about it with a wool-wound branch innocent water mingled, as the custom is, with salt: and for an end offer ye a boar pig to Zeus pre-eminent, that so ye may ever remain pre-eminent above your enemies.”

  φᾶ, καὶ ἐρωήσας ἐλεφάντινον ᾤχετο δίφρον

  Τειρεσίας πολλοῖσι βαρύς περ ἐὼν ἐνιαυτοῖς.

  [101] So spake Teiresias, and despite the weight of his many years, pushed back the ivory chair and was gone.

  ῾Ηρακλέης δ᾽ ὑπὸ ματρὶ νέον φυτὸν ὣς ἐν ἀλωᾷ

  ἐτρέφετ᾽ ᾿Αργείου κεκλημένος ᾿Αμφιτρύωνος.

  γράμματα μὲν τὸν παῖδα γέρων Λίνος ἐξεδίδαξεν, 105

  υἱὸς ᾿Απόλλωνος μελεδωνεὺς ἄγρυπνος ἥρως,

  τόξον δ᾽ ἐντανύσαι καὶ ἐπίσκοπον εἶναι ὀϊστῶν

  Εὔρυτος ἐκ πατέρων μεγάλαις ἀφνειὸς ἀρούραις.

  αὐτὰρ ἀοιδὸν ἔθηκε καὶ ἄμφω χεῖρας ἔπλασσε

  πυξίνᾳ ἐν φόρμιγγι Φιλαμμονίδας εὔμολπος. 110

  ὅσσα δ᾽ ἀπὸ σκελέων ἑδροστρόφοι ᾿Αργόθεν ἄνδρες

  ἀλλάλους σφάλλοντι παλαίσμασιν, ὅσσά τε πύκται

  δεινοὶ ἐν ἱμάντεσσιν, ἅ τ᾽ ἐς γαῖαν προπεσόντες

  πάμμαχοι ἐξεύροντο σοφίσματα σύμφορα τέχνᾳ,

  πάντ᾽ ἔμαθ᾽ ῾Ερμείαο διδασκόμενος παρὰ παιδὶ 115

  ῾Αρπαλύκῳ Φανοτῆι, τὸν οὐδ᾽ ἂν τηλόθι λεύσσων

  θαρσαλέως τις ἔμεινεν ἀεθλεύοντ᾽ ἐν ἀγῶνι:

  τοῖον ἐπισκύνιον βλοσυρῷ ἐπέκειτο προσώπῳ.

  [103] And Heracles, called now the son of Amphitryon of Argos, waxed under his mother’s eye like sapling set in a vineyard. Letters learned he of a sleepless guardian, a Hero, son of Apollo, aged Linus; and to bend a bow and shoot arrows at the mark, of one that was born to wealth of great domains, Eurytus; and he that made of him a singer and shaped his hand to the box-wood lyre, was Eumolpus, the son of Philammon. Aye, and all the tricks and falls both of the cross-buttockers of Argos, and of boxers skilly with the hand-strap, and eke all the cunning inventions of the catch-as-catch-can men that roll upon the ground, all these learnt he at the feet of a son of Hermes, Harpalycus of Phanotè, who no man could abide confidently in the ring even so much as to look upon him from aloof, so dread and horrible was the frown that sat on his grim visage.

  ἵππους δ᾽ ἐξελάσασθαι ὑφ᾽ ἅρματι, καὶ περὶ νύσσαν

  ἀσφαλέως κάμπτοντα τροχῷ σύριγγα φυλάξαι, 120

  ᾿Αμφιτρύων ὃν παῖδα φίλα φρονέων ἐδίδαξεν

  αὐτός, ἐπεὶ μάλα πολλὰ θοῶν ἐξήρατ᾽ ἀγώνων

  ῎Αργει ἐν ἱπποβότῳ κειμήλια, καί οἱ ἀαγεῖς

  δίφροι, ἐφ᾽ ὧν ἐπέβαινε, χρόνῳ διέλυσαν ἱμάντας.

  δούρατι δὲ προβολαίῳ ὑπ᾽ ἀσπίδι ὦμον ἔχοντα 125

  ἀνδρὸς ὀρέξασθαι ξιφέων τ᾽ ἀνέχεσθαι ἀμυχμόν,

  κοσμῆσαί τε φάλαγγα λόχον τ᾽ ἀναμετρήσασθαι

  δυσμενέων ἐπιόντα καὶ ἱππήεσσι κελεῦσαι

  Κάστωρ ῾Ιππαλίδας δέδαεν, φυγὰς ῎Αργεος ἐνθών,

  ὁππόκα κλᾶρον ἅπαντα καὶ οἰνόπεδον μέγα Τυδεὺς

  ναῖε παρ᾽ ᾿Αδρήστοιο λαβὼν ἱππήλατον ῎Αργος.

  Κάστορι δ᾽ οὔτις ὁμοῖος ἐν ἡμιθέοις πολεμιστὴς

  ἄλλος ἔην πρὶν γῆρας ἀποτρῖψαι νεότητα.

  [119] But to drive horses in a chariot and guide the nave of his wheel safely about the turnpost, that did Amphitryon in all kindness teach his son himself; for he had carried off a multitude of precious things from swift races in the Argive grazing-land of steeds, and Time alone had loosed the harness from his chariots, seeing he kept them ever unbroken. And how to abide the cut and thrust of the sword or to lunge lance in rest and shield swung over back, how to marshal a company, measure an advancing squadron of the foe, or give the word to a troo
p of horse – all such lore had he of horseman Castor, when he came an outlaw from Argos, where Tydeus had received the land of horsemen from Adrastus and held all Castor’s estate and his great vineyard. And till such time as age had worn away his youth, Castor had no equal in war among all the demigods.

  Ωδε μὲν ῾Ηρακλῆα φίλα παιδεύσατο μάτηρ.

  εὐνὰ δ᾽ ἦς τῷ παιδὶ τετυγμένα ἀγχόθι πατρὸς 135

  δέρμα λεόντειον μάλα οἱ κεχαρισμένον αὐτῷ,

  δεῖπνον δὲ κρέα τ᾽ ὀπτὰ καὶ ἐν κανέῳ μέγας ἄρτος

  Δωρικός: ἀσφαλέως κε φυτοσκάφον ἄνδρα κορέσσαι.

  αὐτὰρ ἐπ᾽ ἄματι τυννὸν ἄνευ πυρὸς αἴνυτο δόρπον.

  εἵματα δ᾽ οὐκ ἀσκητὰ μέσας ὑπὲρ ἕννυτο κνάμας. 140

  [134] While Heracles’ dear mother thus ordered his upbringing, the lad’s bed was made him hard by his father’s, and a lion-skin it was and gave him great delight; for meals, his breakfast was roast flesh, and in his basket he carried a great Dorian loaf such as might surely satisfy a delving man, but after the day’s work he would make his upper sparely and without fire; and for his clothing he wore plain and simple attire that fell but a little below the knee...

  IDYLL XXV. Ἡρακλῆς Λεοντοφόνος

  IDYLL XXV. HOW HERACLES SLEW THE LION

  This Epic poem comprises three distinct parts, one of which still bears its separate title. It is not really a fragment, but pretends by a literary convention to be three “books” taken from an Odyssey, or rather Heracleia, in little. The first part, which bears the traditional stage-direction Heracles to the Husbandman, is concerned first with a description of the great farm of Augeias or Augeas, king of the Epeians of Elis – the same whose stables Heracles at another time cleaned out – put into the mouth of a garrulous old ploughman of whom Heracles has asked where he can find the king; then the old man undertakes to show the mysterious stranger the way, and as they draw near the homestead they have a Homeric meeting with the barking dogs. The second part bears the title The Visitation. In it we are told how the enormous herd of cattle given by the Sun to his child Aegeas returned in the evening from pasture, how the king and his son Phyleus took Heracles to see the busy scene in the farmyard, and how Heracles encountered the finest bull in the whole herd. In the third part, which has not traditional title, Heracles, accompanied by the king’s son, is on his way to the town, and their conversation leads to Heracles’ telling how he slew the Nemean lion. It has been doubted whether the poem is by Theocritus.

  τὸν δ᾽ ὁ γέρων προσέειπε φυτῶν ἐπίουρος ἀροτρεὺς

  παυσάμενος ἔργοιο, τό οἱ μετὰ χερσὶν ἔκειτο:

  ‘῎Εκ τοι ξεῖνε πρόφρων μυθήσομαι ὅσσ᾽ ἐρεείνεις,

  ῾Ερμέω ἁζόμενος δεινὴν ὄπιν εἰνοδίοιο:

  τὸν γάρ φασι μέγιστον ἐπουρανίων κεχολῶσθαι, 5

  εἴ κεν ὁδοῦ ζαχρεῖον ἀνήνηταί τις ὁδίτην.

  [1] And the old ploughman that was set over the kine ceased from the work he had in hand, and answered him, saying: “Sir, I will gladly tell you all you ask of me. Trust me, I hold the vengeance of Hermes o’ the Ways in mickle awe and dread; for they say he be the wrathfullest god in heaven an you deny a traveller guidance that hath true need of it.

  ποῖμναι μὲν βασιλῆος εὔτριχες Αὐγείαο

  οὐ πᾶσαι βόσκονται ἴαν βόσιν οὐδ᾽ ἕνα χῶρον:

  ἀλλ᾽ αἱ μέν ῥα νάοντος ἐπ᾽ ὄχθαις ἀμφ᾽ ᾿Ελισοῦντος,

  αἱ δ᾽ ἱερὸν θείοιο παρὰ ῥόον ᾿Αλφειοῖο, 10

  αἱ δ᾽ ἐπὶ Βουπρασίου πολυβότρυος, αἱ δὲ καὶ ὧδε.

  χωρὶς δὴ σηκοί σφι τετυγμένοι εἰσὶν ἑκάσταις.

  αὐτὰρ βουκολίοισι περιπλήθουσί περ ἔμπης

  πάντεσσιν νομοὶ ὧδε τεθηλότες αἰὲν ἔασι,

  Μηνίου ἀμμέγα τῖφος, ἐπεὶ πολυειδέα ποίην 15

  λειμῶνες θαλέθουσιν ὑπόδροσοι εἰαμεναί τε

  εἰς ἅλις, ἥ ῥα βόεσσι μένος κεραῇσιν ἀέξει.

  αὖλις δέ σφισιν ἥδε τεῆς ἐπὶ δεξιὰ χειρὸς

  φαίνεται εὖ μάλα πᾶσα πέρην ποταμοῖο ῥέοντος,

  κείνῃ, ὅθι πλατάνιστοι ἐπηεταναὶ πεφύασι 20

  χλωρή τ᾽ ἀγριέλαιος, ᾿Απόλλωνος νομίοιο

  ἱερὸν ἁγνόν, ξεῖνε, τελειοτάτοιο θεοῖο.

  εὐθὺς δὲ σταθμοὶ περιμήκεες ἀγροιώταις

  δέδμηνθ᾽, οἳ βασιλῆι πολὺν καὶ ἀθέσφατον ὄλβον

  ῥυόμεθ᾽ ἐνδυκέως, τριπόλοις σπόρον ἐν νειοῖσιν 25

  ἔσθ᾽ ὅτε βάλλοντες καὶ τετραπόλοισιν ὁμοίως.

  [7] King Augeas’ fleecy flocks, good Sir, feed not all of one pasture nor all upon one spot, but some of them be tended along Heilisson, others beside divine Alpheüs’ sacred stream, others again by the fair vineyards of Buprasium, and yet others, look you, hereabout; and each flock hath his several fold builded. But the herds, mark you, for all their exceeding number, find all of them their fodder sprouting ever around this great mere of river Menius; for your watery leas and fenny flats furnish honey-sweet grass in plenty, and that is it which swells the strength of the horned kine. Their steading is all one, and ’tis there upon your right hand beyond where the river goes running again; there where the outspreading platens and the fresh green wild-olive, Sir, make a right pure and holy sanctuary of one that is graciousest of all gods, Apollo o’ the Pastures. Hard by that spot there are builded rare and roomy quarters for us swains that keep close watch over the king’s so much and so marvellous prosperity; aye, we often turn the same fallows for the sowing three and four times in the year.

  οὔρους μὴν ἴσασι φυτοσκάφοι οἱ πολύεργοι,

  ἐς ληνοὺς δ᾽ ἱκνεῦνται, ἐπὴν θέρος ὥριον ἔλθῃ.

  πᾶν γὰρ δὴ πεδίον τόδ᾽ ἐπίφρονος Αὐγείαο,

  πυροφόροι τε γύαι καὶ ἀλωαὶ δενδρήεσσαι, 30

  μέχρις ἐπ᾽ ἐσχατιὰς πολυπίδακος ἀκρωρείης,

  ἃς ἡμεῖς ἔργοισιν ἐποιχόμεθα πρόπαν ἦμαρ,

  ἣ δίκη οἰκήων, οἷσιν βίος ἔπλετ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἀγροῦ.

  [27] And as for the skirts of this domain, they are the familiar place of the busy vine-planters, who come hither to the vintage-home when the summer draweth to its end. Yea, the whole plain belongeth unto sapient Augeas, alike fat wheatfield and bosky vineyard, until thou come to the uplands of Acroreia and all his fountains; and in this plain we go to and fro about our labour all the day long as behoveth bondsmen whose life is upon the glebe.

  ἀλλὰ σύ πέρ μοι ἔνισπε, τό τοι καὶ κέρδιον αὐτῷ

  ἔσσεται, οὗτινος ὧδε κεχρημένος εἰλήλουθας, 35

  ἠὲ σύγ᾽ Αὐγείην ἢ καὶ δμώων τινὰ κείνου

  δίζεαι, οἵ οἱ ἔασιν. ἐγὼ δέ κέ τοι σάφα εἰδὼς

  ἀτρεκέως εἴποιμ᾽, ἐπεὶ οὐ σέγε φημὶ
κακῶν ἒξ

  ἔμμεναι οὐδὲ κακοῖσιν ἐοικότα φύμεναι αὐτόν,

  οἷόν τοι μέγα εἶδος ἐπιπρέπει. ἦ ῥά νυ παῖδες 40

  ἀθανάτων τοιοίδε μετὰ θνητοῖσιν ἔασι.’

  [34] But now pray tell me you, Sir, – as ‘faith, it shall be to your profit – what it is hath brought you hither. Is your suit of Augeas himself, or of one of the bondsmen that serve him? I may tell you, even I, all you be fain to know, seeing none, I trow, can be of ill seeming or come of ill stock that makes so fine a figure of a man as you. Marry, the children of the Immortals are of such sort among mortal men.”

  τὸν δ᾽ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη Διὸς ἄλκιμος υἱός.

  ‘ναὶ γέρον Αὐγείην ἐθέλοιμί κεν ἀρχὸν ᾿Επειῶν

  εἰσιδέειν: τοῦ γάρ με καὶ ἤγαγεν ἐνθάδε χρειώ.

  εἰ δ᾽ ὁ μὲν ἂρ κατὰ ἄστυ μένει παρὰ οἷσι πολίταις

  δήμου κηδόμενος, διὰ δὲ κρίνουσι θέμιστας,

  δμώων δή τινα πρέσβυ σύ μοι φράσον ἡγεμονεύσας,

  ὅστις ἐπ᾽ ἀγρῶν τῶνδε γεραίτερος αἰσυμνήτης,

  ᾧ κε τὸ μὲν εἴποιμι, τὸ δ᾽ ἐκ φαμένοιο πυθοίμην.

  ἄλλου δ᾽ ἄλλον ἔθηκε θεὸς ἐπιδευέα φωτῶν.’ 50

  [42] To this the stalwart child of Zeus answered, saying: “Yea verily, gaffer, I would look upon Augeas king of the Epeians; that which brings me hither is need of him. And so, if so be that caring for his people he abideth with them at the town to give judgment there, pray, father, carry me to one of the bondsmen that is elder and set in authority over these estates, unto whom I may tell what my suit is and have my answer of him. For ’tis god’s will that one man have need of another.”

  τὸν δ᾽ ὁ γέρων ἐξαῦτις ἀμείβετο δῖος ἀροτρεύς: