Complete Works of Theocritus
Page 74
πέξαιντ᾽ αὐτοένει, Θευγένιδός γ᾽ ἔνεκ᾽ ἐυσφύρω:
οὕτως ἀνυσίεργος, φιλέει δ᾽ ὅσσα σαόφρονες.
οὐ γὰρ εἰς ἀκίρας οὐδ᾽ ἐς ἀέργω κεν ἐβολλόμαν 15
ὀπάσσαι σε δόμοις ἀμμετέρας ἔσσαν ἀπὺ χθόνος.
καὶ γάρ τοι πάτρις, ἃν ὡξ ᾿Εφύρας κτίσσέ ποτ᾽ ᾿Αρχίας
νάσω Τρινακρίας μύελον, ἄνδρων δοκίμων πόλιν.
[1] Distaff, friend of them that weave and spin, gift of the Grey-eyed Huswife above to all good huswives here below, come away, come away to Neleus’ town so bright and fair, where the Cyprian’s precinct lies fresh and green among the tall soft reeds; for ’tis thither bound I ask of Zeus fair passage, with intent both to glad my eyes with the sight and my heart with the love of a dear good child of the Ladies o’ the Voice of Delight, by name Nicias, and to give you, my pretty offspring of laboured ivory, into the hands of the goodwife of the same, to be her helpmate in the making of much wool into clothes, whether the coats of men or those translucent robes the women do wear. For the fleecy mothers o’ flocks might well get them shorn afield twice in one year for aught Mistress Pretty-toes would care, so busy a little body is she and enamoured of all that delighteth the discreet. Trust me, I would never have given a fellow-countryman it is, seeing you hail from the town of old Archias founded out of Ephyra, the sap and savour of the Isle o’ Three Capes, the birthplace of good men and true.
νῦν μὰν οἶκον ἔχοισ᾽ ἄνερος, ὃς πόλλ᾽ ἐδάη σόφα
ἀθρώποισι νόσοις φάρμακα λύγραις ἀπαλαλκέμεν, 20
οἰκήσεις κατὰ Μίλλατον ἐράνναν πεδ᾽ ᾿Ιαόνων,
ὡς εὐαλάκατος Θεύγενις ἐν δαμότισιν πέλῃ,
καί οἱ μνᾶστιν ἄει τῶ φιλαοίδω παρέχῃς ξένω.
κῆνο γάρ τις ἔρει τὤπος ἴδων σ᾽: ἦ μεγάλα χάρις
δώρῳ σὺν ὀλίγῳ: πάντα δὲ τίματα τὰ πὰρ φίλων. 25
[19] But now you are to lodge at a wiseacre’s deep-learned in the lore of such spells as defend us of the flesh from woeful ills; now you are to dwell among an Ionian people in Miletus the delectable, to the end that Theugenis’ neighbours may be jealous of her and her distaff, and so you may serve always to mind her of her friend the lover of song. For at the sight of you it shall be said, “Great love goes here with a little gift, and all is precious that comes of a friend.”
IDYLL XXIX. Εἰδύλλιον Ἐρῶντος
IDYLL XXIX. THE FIRST LOVE-POEM
These two poems are inspired, like XII, by a passionate friendship. The first line of No. 1 contains a quotation from Alcaeus, and in both poems metre and dialect point to him or Sappho as the model. The metre in the one case is the fourteen-syllable Sapphic Pentameter, and in the other the Greater Asclepiad. As in XII. There is much here that is reminiscent to us of some of the Elizabethan love-poetry.
οἶνος ὦ φίλε παῖ λέγεται καὶ ἀλάθεα:
κἄμμε χρὴ μεθύοντας ἀλαθέας ἔμμεναι.
κἤγω μὲν τὰ φρενῶν ἐρέω κέατ᾽ ἐν μυχῷ.
οὐκ ὄλας φιλέειν μ᾽ ἐθέλησθ᾽ ἀπὸ καρδίας.
γινώσκω: τὸ γὰρ ἅμισυ τᾶς ζοΐας ἔχω 5
ζὰ τὰν σὰν ἰδέαν, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν ἀπώλετο.
χὥτα μὲν σὺ θέλῃς, μακάρεσσιν ἴσαν ἄγω
ἁμέραν: ὅτα δ᾽ οὐκ ἐθέλῃς τύ, μάλ᾽ ἐν σκότῳ.
πῶς ταῦτ᾽ ἄρμενα, τὸν φιλέοντ᾽ ἀνίαις δίδων;
ἀλλ᾽ εἴ μοί τι πίθοιο νέος προγενεστέρῳ, 10
τῷ κε λώιον αὔτος ἔχων ἔμ᾽ ἐπαινέσαις,
ποίησαι καλίαν μίαν εἰν ἑνὶ δενδρίῳ,
ὅππῃ μηδὲν ἀπίξεται ἄγριον ὄρπετον.
νῦν δὲ τῶδε μὲν ἄματος ἄλλον ἔχης κλάδον,
ἄλλον δ᾽ αὔριον, ἐξ ἑτέρω δ᾽ ἕτερον μάτης: 15
καἰ μέν σευ τὸ κάλον τις ἴδων ῥέθος αἰνέσαι,
τῷ δ᾽ εὔθυς πλέον ἢ τριέτης ἐγένευ φίλος,
τὸν πρῶτον δὲ φιλεῦντα τρίταιον ἐθήκαο.
ἄνδρων τῶν ὑπερανορέων δοκίμοις πνέειν.
φίλη δ᾽, ἇς κ᾽ ἔτ᾽ ἔῃς, τὸν ὕμοιον ἔχην ἄει. 20
αἰ γὰρ ὧδε πόῃς, ἄγαθος μὲν ἀκούσεαι
ἐξ ἄστων: ὁ δέ τοί κ᾽ ῎Ερος οὐ χαλέπως ἔχοι,
ὃς ἄνδρων φρένας εὐμαρέως ὑποδάμναται,
κἤμε μάλθακον ἐξ ἐπόησε σιδαρίω.
[1] In sack, out sooth goes the saying, lad, and now that you and I are a-drinking we must fain be men of truth. I for one will tell what doth lie in my mind’s hold, and it is that you will not that I should love you with my whole heart. I know it; for such is the power of your beauty that there’s but half a living left me to love you withal, seeing my day is spent like as a god’s or in very darkness according as you do choose. What righteousness is here, to deliver one that loves you over unto woe? Trust me, if you ‘ld only hearken to your elder ’twould be profit unto you and thanks unto me. Listen then: one tree should hold one nest, and that where no noisome beast may come at it; but you, you do possess one bough to-day and another to-morrow, seeking ever from this unto that; and if one but see and praise your fair face, straightway are you more than a three years’ friend to him, and as for him that first loved you, in three days, lad, you reckon him of those men whose very manhood you seem to disdain. Choose rather to be friends with the same body so long as you shall live; for if so you do, you will have both honour of the world and kindness of that Love who doth so easily vanquish the mind of man and hath melted in me a hart of very iron.
ἀλλὰ πὲρ ἀπάλω στύματός σε πεδέρχομαι 25
ὀμνάσθην, ὅτι πέρυσιν ἦσθα νεώτερος,
χὥτι γηραλέοι πέλομες πρὶν ἀποπτύσαι
καὶ ῥύσοι, νεότατα δ᾽ ἔχην παλινάγρετον
οὐκ ἔστι: πτέρυγας γὰρ ἐπομμαδίαις φόρη,
κἄμμες βαρδύτεροι τὰ ποτήμενα συλλάβην. 30
ταῦτα χρὴ νοέοντα πέλην ποτιμώτερον,
καί μοι τὠραμένῳ συνέραν ἀδόλως σέθεν,
ὅπως, ἁνίκα τὰν γένυν ἀνδρεΐαν ἔχῃς,
ἀλλάλοισι πελώμεθ᾽ ᾿Αχιλλέϊοι φίλοι.
αἰ δὲ ταῦτα φέρην ἀνέμοισιν ἐπιτρόπῃς, 35
ἐν θύμῳ δὲ λέγῃς ‘τί με δαιμόνι᾽ ἐνόχλης;’
νῦν μὲν κἠπὶ τὰ χρύσεα μᾶλ᾽ ἔνεκεν σέθεν
βαίην καὶ φύλακον νεκύων πεδὰ Κέρβερον,
τότα δ᾽ οὐδὲ καλεῦντος ἐπ᾽ αὐλεΐαις θύραις
προμόλοιμί κε παυσάμενος χαλέπω πόθω. 40
[25] O by those soft lips I beseech you remember that you were younger a year agone, and as we men wax old and wrinkled sooner than one may spit, so there’s no re-taking of Youth once she be fled, seeing she hath wings to her should
ers, and for us ’tis ill catching winged beasts. Come then, think on these things and be the kinder for’t, and give love for love where true loving is; and so when Time shall bring thee a beard we’ll be Achilles and his friend. But if so be you cast me these words to the winds, and say, and say in your heart, “Peace, man; begone,” then, for all I would go now for your sake and get the Golden Apples to fetch you the Watch-dog o’ the Dead, I would not come forth, no, not if you should stand at my very door and call me, for the pain of my woodness would be overpast.
IDYLL XXX. Παιδικά
IDYLL XXX. THE SECOND LOVE-POEM
῎Ωιαι τῶ χαλεπῶ καἰνομόρω τῶδε νοσήματος:
τετορταῖος ἔχει, παιδὸς ἔρως, μῆνά με δεύτερον,
μᾶκος μὲν μετρίω γ᾽, ἀλλ᾽ ὁπόσον τῶ πέδα περρέχε
τᾶς γᾶς τοῦτο χάρις: ταῖς δὲ παραύαις γλυκὺ μειδίαι.
καὶ νῦν μὲν τὸ κακὸν ταῖς μὲν ἔχει, ταῖσι δέ μ᾽ οὐκέτι, 5
τάχα δ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὅσον ὕπνω ᾿πιτύχην ἔσσετ᾽ ἐρωία:
ἐχθὲς γὰρ παριὼν ἔδρακε λέπτ᾽ ἄμμε δι᾽ ὀφρύγων
αἰδεσθεὶς ποτίδην ἀντίος, ἠρεύθετο δὲ χρόα.
ἔμεθεν δὲ πλέον τᾶς κραδίας ὥ᾽ ρος ἐδράξατο,
εἰς οἶκον δ᾽ ἀπέβαν ἕλκος ἔχων καὶ τὸ κέαρ δακών. 10
πολλὰ δ᾽ εἰσκαλέσας θυμὸν ἐμαυτοῦ διελεξάμαν:
τί δὴ ταῦτα ποίης; ἀλοσύνας τί ἔσχατον ἔσσεται;
λεύκας οὐκετ᾽ ἴσησθ᾽ ὅττι φορῇς ἐν κροτάφοις τρίχας;
ὧρά τοι φρονέειν μὴ οὔτι νέος τὰν ἰδέαν πέλῃ.
πάντ᾽ ἔρδης ἅπερ οἱ τῶν ἐτέων ἄρτι γεγευμένοι. 15
καὶ μὰν ἄλλο δε λάθει: τόδ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἦς λώιον, ἔμμεναι
ξέννον τῶν χαλεπῶν παιδὸς ἐράννω παράπαν πόθων
τῷ μὲν γὰρ βίος ἕρπει προγόνοις ἶσ᾽ ἐλάφω θοᾶς,
χαλάσει δ᾽ ἑτέρᾳ ποντοπόρην αὔριον ἄρμενα.
οὐδ᾽ αὐτῷ γλυκερᾶς ἄνθεμον ἅβας πεδ᾽ ὐμαλίκων 20
μένει: τῷ δ᾽ ὁ πόθος καὶ τὸν ἔσω μυελὸν ἐσθίει
ὀμμιμνασκομένῳ: πολλὰ δ᾽ ὄρη νυκτὸς ἐνύπνια,
παύσασθαι δ᾽ ἐνιαυτὸς χαλεπᾶς οὐκ ἰκανὸς νόσω.
[1] Aye me, the pain and the grief of it! I have been sick of Love’s quartan now a month and more. He’s not so fair, I own, but all the ground his pretty foot covers is grace, and the smile of his face is very sweetness. ’Tis true the ague takes me now but day on day off, but soon there’ll be no respite, no not for a wink of sleep. When we met yesterday he gave me a sidelong glance, afeared to look me in the face, and blushed crimson; at that, Love gripped my reins still the more, till I gat me wounded and heartsore home, there to arraign my soul at bar and hold with myself this parlance: “What wast after, doing so? whither away this fond folly? know’st thou not there’s three gray hairs on thy brow? Be wise in time, or one that is no youth in’s looks shall play new-taster o’ the years. Other toys thou forgettest; ‘twere better, sure, at thy time o’ life to know no more such loves as this. For whom Life carries swift and easy as hoof doth hind, and might endure to cross and cross the sea every day’s morrow that is, can he and the flower o’ sweet Youth abide ever of one date? How much less he that hath yearnful remembrance gnawing at his heart’s core, and dreams often o’ nights and taketh whole years to cure his lovesickness!”
ταῦτα χἅτερα πολλὰ προτ᾽ ἐμὸν θυμὸν ἐμεμψάμαν.
ὁ δὲ τοῦτ᾽ ἔφατ᾽: ὄττις δοκίμοι τὸν δολομάχανον 25
νικάσειν ῎Ερον, οὗτος δοκίμοι τοὶς ὑπὲρ ἄμμεων
εὑρεῖν βραϊδίως ἀστέρας ὁπποσσάκιν ἐννέα.
καὶ νῦν, εἴτ᾽ ἐθέλω, χρή με μακρὸν σχόντα τὸν ἄμφενα
ἕλκειν τὸν ζυγόν, εἴτ᾽ οὐκ ἐθέλω: ταῦτα γὰρ ὦγαθὲ
βούλεται θέος, ὃς καὶ Διὸς ἔσφαλε μέγαν νόον 30
καὔτας Κυπρογενήας: ἔμε μάν, φύλλον ἐπάμερον,
σμίκρας δεύμενον αὔρας ὀνέμων ᾇ κε θέλῃ φόρη.
[24] Such lesson and more read I unto my soul, and thus she answered me again: “Whoso thinketh to outvie yon cozening Love, as soon might he think to tell how-many-times-nine stars be i’ th’ skies above us; and so I too, willy-nilly, must fain stretch my neck beneath the yoke and pull, seeing such, my lord, is the will of a god that hath betrayed ev’n the mickle mind of Zeus, and beguiled ev’n the Cyprus-born, and catcheth up and carrieth whither-soever he list (as well he may) a poor mortal leaf like me that needs a puff of air to lift it.”
INSCRIPTIONS. Ἐπιγράμματα
These little poems are all, with the exception of IV, actual inscriptions, and would seem to have been collected from works of art upon which they were inscribed. XII and XXIII are in all probability by other hands, and there is some doubt of the genuineness of SSIV; but the rest are not only ascribed to Theocritus in the best manuscripts, but are fully worthy of him.
INSCRIPTION I. A Pal vi.336
I. [AN INSCRIPTION FOR A PICTURE]
τὰ ῥόδα τὰ δροσόεντα καὶ ἁ κατάπυκνος ἐκείνα
ἕρπυλλος κεῖται ταῖς ῾Ελικωνιάσι,
ταὶ δὲ μελάμφυλλοι δάφναι τὶν Πύθιε Παιάν,
δελφὶς ἐπεὶ πέτρα τοῦτό τοι ἀγλάισε.
βωμὸν δ᾽ αἱμαξεῖ κεραὸς τράγος οὗτος ὁ μαλός, 5
τερμίνθου τρώγων ἔσχατον ἀκρεμόνα.
Those dewy roses and that thick bushy thyme are an offering to the Ladies of Helicon, and since ’tis the Delphian Rock hath made it honoured, the dark-leaved bay, Pythian Healer, is for thee; and yon horny white he-goat that crops the outmost sprays of the terebinth-tree is to be the blood-offering upon the altar.
INSCRIPTION II. A Pal vi.177
II. [FOR A PICTURE]
Δάφνις ὁ λευκόχρως, ὁ καλᾷ σύριγγι μελίσδων
βουκολικοὺς ὕμνους, ἄνθετο Πανὶ τάδε,
τοὺς τρητοὺς δόνακας, τὸ λαγωβόλον, ὀξὺν ἄκοντα,
νεβρίδα, τὰν πήραν, ᾇ ποκ᾽ ἐμαλοφόρει.
These stopped reeds, this hurl-bat, this sharp javelin, this fawnskin, and this wallet he used to carry apples in, are an offering unto Pan from the fair-skinned Daphnis, who piped the music o’ the country upon this pretty flute.
INSCRIPTION III. A Pal ix.338
III. [FOR A PICTURE]
εὕδεις φυλλοστρῶτι πέδῳ Δάφνι σῶμα κεκμακὸς
ἀμπαύων: στάλικες δ᾽ ἀρτιπαγεῖς ἀν᾽ ὄρη.
ἀγρεύει δέ τυ Πὰν καὶ ὁ τὸν κροκόεντα Πρίηπος
κισσὸν ἐφ᾽ ἱμερτῷ κρατὶ καθαπτόμενος,
ἄντρον ἔσω στείχοντες ὁμόρροθοι. ἀλλὰ τὺ φεῦγε, 5
φεῦγε μεθεὶς ὕπν�
�υ κῶμα καταγρόμενον.
You sleep there upon the leaf-strown earth, good Daphnis, and rest your weary frame, while your netting-stakes are left planted on the hillside. But Pan is after you, and Priapus also, with the yellow ivy about his jolly head; they are going side by side into your cave. Quick then, put off the lethargy that is shed of sleep, and up with you and away.
INSCRIPTION IV. A Pal ix.437
IV. [A LOVE-POEM IN THE FORM OF A WAYSIDE INSCRIPTION]
τήναν τὰν λαύραν τάς τε δρύας αἰπόλε κάμψας
σύκινον εὑρήσεις ἀρτιγλυφὲς ξόανον,
τρισκελὲς αὐτόφλοιον ἀνούατον, ἀλλὰ φάλητι
παιδογόνῳ δυνατὸν Κύπριδος ἔργα τελεῖν.
σακός οἱ ἱερὸς περιδέδρομεν, ἀέναον δὲ 5
ῥεῖθρον ἀπὸ σπιλάδων πάντοσε τηλεθάει
δάφναις καὶ μύρτοισι καὶ εὐώδει κυπαρίσσῳ.
ἔνθα πέριξ κέχυται βοτρυόπαις ἕλικι
ἄμπελος, εἰαρινοὶ δὲ λιγυφθόγγοισιν ἀοιδαῖς
κόσσυφοι ἀχεῦσιν ποικιλότραυλα μέλη. 10
ξουθαὶ δ᾽ ἀδονίδες μινυρίσμασιν ἀνταχεῦσι
μέλπουσαι στόμασιν τὰν μελίγαρυν ὄπα.
ἕζεο δὴ τηνεῖ καὶ τῷ χαρίεντι Πριήπῳ
εὔχε᾽ ἀποστέρξαι τοὺς Δάφνιδός με πόθους,
κεὐθὺς ἐπιρρέξειν χίμαρον καλόν. ἢν δ᾽ ἀνανεύσῃ, 15
τοῦδε τυχὼν ἐθέλω τρισσὰ θύη τελέσαι:
ῥέξω γὰρ δαμάλαν, λάσιον τράγον, ἄρνα τὸν ἴσχω
σακίταν. ἀίοι δ᾽ εὐμενέως ὁ θεός.