No More Learning

Ere this he has gorged the bellies of sea monsters. But on the land they raised me his lying tomb. What wonder! since "Cretans are liars," and even Zeus has a tomb there. *

* He refers to some verses of Callimachus in his Hymn to Zeus (v. 8). "Cretans are always liars" was a proverb found also in the verse quoted by St. Paul (Titus, i. 12).

[276] HEGESIPPUS { H 7 } G

The fishermen brought up from the sea in their net a half-eaten man, a most mournful relic of some sea-voyage. They sought not for unholy gain, but him and the fishes too they buried under this light coat of sand. You have, O land, the whole of the shipwrecked man, but instead of the rest of his flesh you have the fishes who fed on it.

[277]

Callimachus (59)

[278]

Archias →

[279] Anonymous { F 53 } G

Cease to paint ever on this tomb oars and the beaks of ships over my cold ashes. The tomb is a shipwrecked man's. Why would you remind him who is under earth of his disfigurement by the waves.

[280] ISIDORUS OF AEGAE { Ph 2 } G

This hummock is a tomb ; you there ! hold in your oxen and pull up the ploughshare, for you are disturbing ashes. On such earth shed no seed of corn, but tears.

[281] HERACLIDES { Ph 1 } G

Hands off, hands off, labourer ! and cut not through this earth of the tomb. This clod is soaked with tears, and from earth thus soaked no bearded ear shall spring.

[282]

Theodoridas →

[283]

Leonidas →

[284]

Asclepiades →

[285] GLAUCUS OF NICOPOLIS { H 2 } G

Not this earth or this light stone that rests thereon is the tomb of Erasippus, but all this sea whereon you look. For he perished along with his ship, and his bones are rotting somewhere, but where only the gulls can tell.

[286]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[287]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[288]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[289]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[290] STATYLLIUS FLACCUS { Ph 3 } G

The shipwrecked mariner had escaped the whirlwind and the fury of the deadly sea, and as he was lying on the Libyan sand not far from the beach, deep in his last sleep, naked and exhausted by the unhappy wreck, a baneful viper slew him. Why did he struggle with the waves in vain, escaping then the fate that was his lot on the land ?

[291] XENOCRITUS OF RHODES { F 1 } G

The salt sea still drips from your locks, Lysidice, unhappy girl, shipwrecked and drowned. When the sea began to be disturbed, fearing its violence, you fell from the hollow ship. The tomb proclaims your name and that of your land, Cyme, but your bones are wave-washed on the cold beach. A bitter sorrow it was to your father Aristomachus, who, escorting you to your marriage, brought there neither his daughter nor her corpse.

[293] ISIDORUS OF AEGAE { Ph 3 } G

No tempest, no stormy setting of a constellation overwhelmed Nicophemus in the waters of the Libyan Sea. But alas, unhappy man ! stayed by a calm he was burnt up by thirst. This too was the work of the winds. Ah, what a curse are they to sailors, whether they blow or be silent !

[294] TULLIUS LAUREAS { Ph 2 } G

Gryneus, the old man who got his living by his sea-worn boat, busying himself with lines and hooks, the sea, roused to fury by a terrible southerly gale, swamped and washed up in the morning on the beach, his hands eaten off. Who would say that they had no sense, the fish who ate just those parts of him by which they used to perish ?

[295]

Leonidas →

[297] POLYSTRATUS { H 2 } G

Lucius * has smitten sore the great Achaean Acrocorinth, the star of Hellas, and the twin parallel shores of the Isthmus. One heap of stones covers the bones of those slain in the rout; and the sons of Aeneas left unwept and unhallowed by funeral rites the Achaeans who burnt the house of Priam.

* Mummius, who sacked Corinth 146 B. C.

[298] Anonymous { H 49 } G

Woe is me ! this is the worst of all, when men weep for a bride or bridegroom dead ; but worse when it is for both, as for Eupolis and good Lycaeniŏn, whose chamber falling in on the first night extinguished their wedlock. There is no other mourning to equal this by which you, Nicis, bewailed your son, and you, Theodicus, your daughter.

[299] NICOMACHUS { H 1 } G

This (why say I "this ? ") is that Plataea which a sudden earthquake tumbled down utterly: only a little remnant was left, and we, the dead, lie here with our beloved city laid on us for a monument.

[300]

Simonides →

[301]

Simonides →

[302]

Simonides →

[303]

Antipater_of_Sidon →

[304] PISANDER OF RHODES { F 1 } G

The man's name was Hippaemon, the horse's Podargus, the dog's Lethargus, and the serving-man's Babes, a Thessalian, from Crete, of Magnesian race, the son of Haemon. He perished fighting in the front ranks. *

* A real epitaph, it seems to me, very naively expressed. Much fun was made of it in antiquity, as the complicated description of the "état civil" of Hippaemon was maliciously interpreted as comprising the "état civil" of the animals - see the comments of D. L. Page on this epigram ( Google Books ).

[305] ADDAEUS OF MITYLENE { Ph 11 } G

The fisherman, Diotimus, whose boat, one and the same, was his faithful bearer at sea and on land the abode of his penury, fell into the sleep from which there is no awakening, and rowing himself, came to relentless Hades in his own ship ; for the boat that had supported the old man in life paid him its last service in death too by being the wood for his pyre.

[306] Anonymous { F 28 } G

I was Abrotonŏn, a Thracian woman ; but I say that I bare for Greece her great Themistocles.

[312] ASINIUS QUADRATUS { F 1 } G

On those slain by Sulla

They who took up arms against the Romans lie exhibiting the tokens of their valour. Not one died wounded in the back, but all alike perished by a secret treacherous death.

[314] PTOLEMAEUS { F 2 } G

314 - 320 are all on Timon the Misanthrope

Learn not whence I am nor my name; know only that I wish those who pass my monument to die.

[315] ZENODOTUS (or RHIANUS? ) { H 3 } G

Dry earth, grow a prickly thorn to twine all round me, or the wild branches of a twisting bramble, that not even a bird in spring may rest its light foot on me, but that I may repose in peace and solitude. For I, the misanthrope, Timon, who was not even beloved by my countrymen, am no genuine dead man even in Hades. *

* I cannot be regarded as a real citizen of Hades, being the enemy of my fellow ghosts.

[316]

Leonidas →

[317]

Callimachus (5)

[318]

Callimachus (4)

[320] HEGESIPPUS { H 8 } G

All around the tomb are sharp thorns and stakes ; you will hurt your feet if you go near. I, Timon the misanthrope, dwell in it. But pass on - wish me all evil if you like, only pass on.

[321] Anonymous { F 47 } G

Dear Earth, receive old Amyntichus in your bosom, mindful of all his toil for you. Many an evergreen olive he planted in you and with the vines of Bacchus he decked you ; he caused you to abound in corn, and guiding the water in channels he made you rich in pot-herbs and fruit. Therefore lie gently on his grey temples and clothe yourself with many flowers in spring.

[323] Anonymous { F 50 } G

One tomb holds two brothers, for both were born and died on the same day.

[324] Anonymous { F 27 } G

Beneath this stone I lie, the celebrated woman who loosed my girdle to one man alone.

[329] Anonymous { F 51 } G

I am Myrtas who quaffed many a generous cup of unwatered wine beside the holy vats of Dionysus, and no light layer of earth covers me, but a wine-jar, the token of my merrymaking, rests on me, a pleasant tomb.

[336] Anonymous { F 49 } G

Worn by age and poverty, no one stretching out his hand to relieve my misery, on my tottering legs I went slowly to my grave, scarce able to reach the end of my wretched life. In my case the law of death was reversed, for I did not die first to be then buried, but I died after my burial.

[344a]

Simonides →

[344b]

Callimachus →

[345] AESCHRION OF SAMOS { H 1 } G

I Philaenis, celebrated among men, have been laid to rest here, by extreme old age. You silly sailor, as you round the cape, make no sport and mockery of me ; insult me not. For by Zeus I swear and the Infernal Lords I was not lascivious with men or a public woman ; but Polycrates the Athenian, a trickster in speech and an evil tongue, wrote whatever he wrote ; for I know not what it was. *

* A certain obscene book was attributed to Philaenis. The author of this poem is unidentified in the manuscripts, but it is attributed to Aeschrion by Athenaeus (8. 335c).

[347]

Simonides →

[348]

Simonides →

[350] Anonymous { F 52 } G

Ask not, sea-farer, whose tomb I am, but yourself chance upon a kinder sea.

[351]

Dioscorides →

[352]

Meleager →

[353]

Antipater_of_Sidon →

[354] GAETULICUS { F 7 } G

This is the tomb of Medea's children, whom her burning jealousy made the victims of Glauce's wedding. To them the Corinthian land ever sends peace-offerings, propitiating their mother's implacable soul.

[355] DAMAGETUS { H 8 } G

Bid good Praxiteles "hail," you passers-by, that cheering and honouring word. He was well gifted by the Muses and a jolly after-dinner companion. Hail, Praxiteles of Andros !

[356] Anonymous { F 29 } G

On one who was killed by a robber and then buried by him

You robbed me of my life, and then you give me a tomb. But you hide me, you don't bury me. May you have the benefit of such a tomb yourself!

epigrams 362-748 →

Attalus' home page | 21. 08. 17 | Any comments?

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Greek Anthology: Book 7
THE SEPULCHRAL EPIGRAMS : 362-748

Translations of most of the epigrams are already available elsewhere, as indicated by the links. The translations of the remaining epigrams are taken from the edition by W. R. Paton (1916-18), but have been modified to remove some of the archaic language. Click on G to go to the Greek text of each epigram.


← epigrams 1-356

[362]

Philippus →

[364]

Marcus_Argentarius →

[365] ZONAS OF SARDIS (also called DIODORUS) { Ph 4 } G

Dark Charon, who through the water of this reedy lake row the boat of the dead to Hades . . . reach out your hand from the mounting-ladder to the son of Cinyras as he embarks, and receive him ; for the boy cannot walk steadily in his sandals, * and he fears to set his bare feet on the sand of the beach.

* The meaning is that he died at an age when he had not yet begun to wear sandals, so these were his first pair.

[366] ANTISTIUS { Ph 2 } G

To you, Menestratus, the mouth of the Aous was fatal ; to you, Menander, the tempest of the Carpathian Sea ; and you, Dionysius, perished at sea in the Sicilian Strait. Alas, what grief to Hellas ! the best of all her winners in the games gone.

[367]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[368] ERYCIUS { Ph 6 } G

I am a woman of Athens, for that is my birthplace, but the destroying sword of the Italians long ago took me captive at Athens and made me a citizen of Rome, and now that I am dead island Cyzicus * covers my bones. Hail you three lands, you who nourished me, you to whom my lot took me afterwards and you who finally received me in your bosom.

* It is said that the city of Cyzicus originally stood on an island, which was later connected to the mainland.

[369]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[370] DIODORUS { Ph 15 } G

Menander of Athens, the son of Diopeithes, the friend of Bacchus and the Muses, rests beneath me, or at least the little dust he shed in the funeral fire. But if you seek Menander himself you shall find him in the abode of Zeus or in the Islands of the Blest.

[371]

Crinagoras →

[372] LOLLIUS BASSUS { Ph 3 } G

Earth of Tarentum, keep gently this body of a good man. How false are the guardian divinities of mortal men ! Atymnius, coming from Thebes, * got no further, but settled under your soil. He left an orphan son, whom his death deprived, as it were, of his eyes. Lie not heavy upon the stranger.

* A place in Italy not far from Tarentum.

[373] THALLUS OF MILETUS { Ph 4 } G

Two shining lights, Miletus, sprung from you, the Italian earth does cover, dead each ere his prime. You have put on mourning instead of garlands, and you see, alas, their remains hidden in a little urn. Alack, thrice unhappy country ! Whence and when shall you have again two such stars to boast of, shedding their light on Greece ?

[374]

Marcus_Argentarius →

[375]

Antiphilus →

[376]

Crinagoras →

[377] ERYCIUS { Ph 13 } G

Even though he lies under earth, still pour pitch on foul-mouthed Parthenius, because he vomited on the Muses those floods of bile, and the filth of his repulsive elegies. So far gone was he in madness that he called the Odyssey mud and the Iliad a bramble. Therefore he is bound by the dark Furies in the middle of Cocytus, with a dog-collar that chokes him round his neck. *

* This epigram is generally assumed to refer to Parthenius of Nicaea, although Parthenius is not known to have been abusive towards Homer.

[378]

Apollonides →

[379]

Antiphilus →

[380]

Crinagoras →

[381] ETRUSCUS OF MESSENE { Ph 1 } G

The same boat, a double task exacted of it, carried Hierocleides to his living and into Hades. It fed him by his fishing, and it burnt him dead, travelling with him to the catch and travelling with him to Hades. Indeed the fisherman was very well off, as he sailed the seas in his own ship and raced to Hades by means of his own ship.

[382]

Philippus →

[383]

Philippus →

[384]

Marcus_Argentarius →

[385]

Philippus →

[386] BASSUS LOLLIUS { Ph 4 } G

Here am I, Niobe, as many times a stone {sic} as I was a mother ; so unhappy was I that the milk in my breast grew hard. Great wealth for Hades was the number of my children - to Hades for whom I brought them forth. Oh relics of that great pyre !

[387]

Bianor →

[388]

Bianor →

[389]

Apollonides →

[390]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[391] BASSUS LOLLIUS { Ph 5 } G

You janitors of the dead, block all the roads of Hades, and be bolted, you entrance doors. I myself, Hades, order it. Germanicus belongs to the stars, not to me ; Acheron has no room for so great a ship. *

* By Germanicus we should understand Tiberius' nephew. The connection between the two couplets is not obvious, and something seems to be missing.

[392] HERACLIDES OF SINOPE { Ph 2 } G

The gale and great waves and the tempestuous rising of Arcturus * and the darkness and the evil swell of the Aegean, all these dashed my ship to pieces, and the mast broken in three plunged me in the depths together with my cargo. Weep on the shore, parents, for your shipwrecked Tlesimenes, erecting a cenotaph.

* In the middle of September.

[393] DIOCLES OF CARYSTUS { Ph 1 } G

Cover me not with dust again. What avails it ? Nor continue to put on me the guiltless earth of this strand. The sea is furious with me and discovers me, wretched man, even on the surf-beaten land : even in Hades it knows me. If it is the will of the waves to mount on the land for my sake, I (? ) prefer to remain on the firm land thus unburied.

[394]

Philippus →

[395]

Marcus_Argentarius →

[396]

Bianor →

[397] ERYCIUS OF THESSALY { Ph 8 } G

This is not the tomb of poor Satyrus; Satyrus sleeps not, as they tell, under the ashes of this pyre. But perchance you have heard of a sea somewhere, the bitter sea that beats on the shore near Mycale where the wild-goats feed, and in that eddying and desert water yet I lie, reproaching furious Boreas.

[398]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[399]

Antiphilus →

[400] SERAPION OF ALEXANDRIA { Ph 1 } G

This bone is that of some man who laboured much. Either you were a merchant or a fisher in the blind, uncertain sea. Tell to mortals that eagerly pursuing other hopes we all rest at the end in the haven of such a hope.

[401]

Crinagoras →

[402]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[403]

Marcus_Argentarius →

[404] ZONAS OF SARDIS { Ph 5 } G

On your head I will heap the cold shingle of the beach, shedding it on your cold corpse. For never did your mother wail over your tomb or see the sea-battered body of her shipwrecked son. But the desert and inhospitable strand of the Aegean shore received you. So take this little portion of sand, stranger, and many a tear ; for fated was the journey on which you set out to trade.

[405]

Philippus →

[406]

Theodoridas →

[407]

Dioscorides →

[408]

Leonidas →

[409]

Antipater_of_Sidon →

[410]

Dioscorides →

[411]

Dioscorides →

[412]

Alcaeus →

[413]

Antipater_of_Sidon →

[414] NOSSIS { H 10 } G

Laugh frankly as you pass by and speak a kind word over me. I am the Syracusan Rhinthon, one of the lesser nightingales of the Muses ; but from my tragic burlesques I plucked for myself a special wreath of ivy.

[415]

Callimachus (37)

[416] Anonymous { F 45 } G

I hold, stranger, Meleager, son of Eucrates, who mixed the sweet-spoken Graces with Love and the Muses.

[417]

Meleager →

[418]

Meleager →

[419]

Meleager →

[420] DIOTIMUS OF ATHENS { H 3 } G

You Hopes of men, light goddesses - for never, were ye not so, had Hades, who brings our strength to naught, covered Lesbon, once as blest as the Great King - yes, you Hopes and you Loves too, lightest of all deities, farewell ! And you, the flutes he once breathed in, must lie dumb and unheard ; for Acheron knows no troops of musicians.

[421]

Meleager →

[422]

Leonidas →

[423]

Antipater_of_Sidon →

[424]

Antipater_of_Sidon →

[425]

Antipater_of_Sidon →

[426]

Antipater_of_Sidon →

[427]

Antipater_of_Sidon →

[428]

Meleager →

[429]

Alcaeus →

[430]

Dioscorides →

[431]

Simonides →

[432] DAMAGETUS { H 3 } G

Spartans, the tomb holds your martial Gyllis who fell for Thyrea. He killed three Argives, and exclaimed, "Let me die having wrought a deed worthy of Sparta. "

[433] TYMNES { H 6 } G

His Spartan mother slew the Spartan Demetrius for transgressing the law. Bringing her sharp sword to the guard, she said, gnashing her teeth, like a Laconian woman as she was : "Perish, craven whelp, evil piece, to Hell with you ! He who is not worthy of Sparta is not my son. "

[434]

Dioscorides →

[435] NICANDER { H 1 } G

We the six sons of Iphicratides, Eupylidas, Eraton, Chaeris, Lycus, Agis, and Alexon fell before the wall of Messene, and our seventh brother Gylippus having burnt our bodies came home with a heavy load of ashes, a great glory to Sparta, but a great grief to Alexippa our mother. One glorious shroud wrapped us all.

[436] HEGEMON { H 1 } G

Some stranger passing gravely by the tomb might say, "Here a thousand Spartans halted by their valour the advance of eighty myriads of Persians, and died without turning their backs. That is Dorian discipline. "

[437] PHAENNUS { H 1 } G

Leonidas, bravest of men, you could not endure to return to the Eurotas when sore pressed by the war, but in Thermopylae resisting the Persians you fell, reverencing the usage of your fathers.

[438] DAMAGETUS { H 5 } G

In your first youth you perished too, Machatas, grimly facing the Aetolians in the portion of your fathers. It is hard to find a brave Achaean who has survived till his hairs are grey.

[439]

Theodoridas →

[440]

Leonidas →

[441] ARCHILOCHUS { F 3 } G

Great earth, you have beneath you the tall pillars of Naxos, Megatimus and Aristophon.

[442]

Simonides →

[443]

Simonides →

[444] THEAETETUS { H 5 } G

The secretly creeping flames, on a winter night, when all were heavy with wine, consumed the great house of Antagoras. Free men and slaves together, eighty in all, perished on this fatal pyre. Their kinsmen could not separate their bones, but one common urn, one common funeral was theirs, and one tomb was erected over them. Yet readily can Hades distinguish each of them in the ashes.

[445] PERSES OF THEBES { H 5 } G

We lie, stranger, in the rough woodland, Mantiades and Eustratus of Dyme, the sons of Echellus, rustic wood-cutters as our fathers were ; and to shew our calling the woodman's axes stand on our tomb.

[446] HEGESIPPUS { H 4 } G

The stranger is Zoïlus of Hermione, but he lies buried in a foreign land, clothed in this Argive earth, which his deep-bosomed wife, her cheeks bedewed with tears, and his children, their hair close cut, heaped on him.

[447]

Callimachus (13)

[448]

Leonidas →

[449]

Leonidas →

[450]

Dioscorides →

[451]

Callimachus (11)

[452]

Leonidas →

[453]

Callimachus (21)

[454]

Callimachus →

[455]

Leonidas →

[456]

Dioscorides →

[457] ARISTON { H 2 } G

The tippler Ampelis, already supporting her tottering old age on a guiding staff, was secretly abstracting from the vat the newly pressed juice of Bacchus, and about to fill a cup of Cyclopean size, but before she could draw it out her feeble hand failed her and the old woman, like a ship submerged by the waves, disappeared in the sea of wine. Euterpe erected this stone monument on her tomb near the pressing-floor of the vineyard.

[458]

Callimachus (51)

[459]

Callimachus (18)

[460]

Callimachus (28)

[461]

Meleager →

[462] DIONYSIUS { H 4 } G

Satyra with child and near her time has been taken by Hades. The earth of Sidon covers her, and Tyre her country bewails her.

[463]

Leonidas →

[464]

Antipater_of_Sidon →

[465] HERACLEITUS { H 1 } G

The earth is newly dug and on the faces of the tomb-stone wave the half-withered garlands of leaves. Let us decipher the letters, wayfarer, and learn whose smooth bones the stone says it covers. " Stranger, I am Aretemias, my country Cnidus. I was the wife of Euphron and I did not escape travail, but bringing forth twins, I left one child to guide my husband's steps in his old age, and I took the other with me to remind me of him. "

[466]

Leonidas →

[467]

Antipater_of_Sidon →

[468]

Meleager →

[469] CHAEREMON { H 1 } G

Athenagores begot Eubulus, excelled by all in fate, excelling all in good report.

[470]

Meleager →

[471]

Callimachus (25)

[472]

Leonidas →

[472b]

Leonidas →

[473] ARISTODICUS { H 1 } G

Demo and Methymna when they heard that Euphron, the frenzied devotee at the triennial festivals of Hera, was dead, refused to live longer, and made of their long knitted girdles nooses for their necks to hang themselves.

[474] Anonymous { H 46 } G

This single tomb holds all Nicander's children ; the dawn of one day made an end of the holy offspring of Lysidice.

[475] DIOTIMUS { H 5 } G

Scyllis the daughter of Polyaenus went to her father-in-law's, lamenting, as she entered the wide gates, the death of her bridegroom, Euagoras the son of Hegemachus, who dwelt there. She came not back, poor widowed girl, to her father's house, but within three months she perished, her spirit wasted by deadly melancholy. This tearful memorial of their love stands on the tomb of both beside the smooth high-way.

[476]

Meleager →

[477] TYMNES { H 2 } G

Let not this, Philaenis, weigh on your heart, that the earth in which it was your fate to lie is not beside the Nile, but that you are laid in this tomb at Eleutherna. From no matter where the road is the same to Hades.

[478]

Leonidas →

[479]

Theodoridas →

[480]

Leonidas →

[481] PHILETAS OF SAMOS { H 2 } G

The grave-stone heavy with grief says "Death has carried away short-lived little Theodota," and the little one says again to her father, " Theodotus, cease to grieve ; mortals are often unfortunate. "

[482] Anonymous { H 48 } G

Not yet had your hair been cut, Cleodicus, nor had the moon yet driven her chariot for thrice twelve periods across the heaven, when Nicasis your mother and your father Pericleitus, on the brink of your lamented tomb, poor child, wailed much over your coffin. In unknown Acheron, Cleodicus, shall you bloom in a youth that never, never may return here.

[483] Anonymous { H 47 } G

Hades, inexorable and unbending, why have you robbed baby Callaeschron of life ? In the house of Persephone the boy shall be her plaything, but at home he leaves bitter suffering.

[484]

Dioscorides →

[485]

Dioscorides →

[486]

Anyte →

[487] PERSES OF MACEDONIA { H 6 } G

You died before your marriage, Philaeniŏn, nor did your mother Pythias conduct you to the chamber of the bridegroom who awaited your prime : but wretchedly tearing her cheeks, she laid you in this tomb at the age of fourteen.

[488]

Mnasalcas →

[489] SAPPHO { F 2 } G

This is the dust of Timas, whom, dead before her marriage, the dark chamber of Persephone received. When she died, all her girl companions with newly sharpened steel shore their lovely locks.

[490]

Anyte →

[491]

Mnasalcas →

[492]

Anyte →

[493]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[494] Anonymous { H 51 } G

In the sea, Nereus, died Sodamus the Cretan who loved your nets and was at home on these your waters. He excelled all men in his skill as a fisher, but the sea in a storm makes no distinction between fishermen and others.
[495]

Alcaeus →

[496]

Simonides →

[497] DAMAGETUS { H 9 } G

Thymodes too, * weeping for his unexpected sorrow, once built this empty tomb for his son Lycus ; for not even does he lie under foreign earth, but some Bithynian strand, some island of the Black Sea holds him. There he lies, without funeral, showing his bare bones on the inhospitable shore.

* Because there were other similar tombs close by.

[498]

Antipater_of_Sidon →

[499] THEAETETUS { H 4 } G

You sailors on the sea, Ariston of Cyrene prays you all by Zeus the Protector of strangers to tell his father Menon that he lost his life in the Aegean sea, and lies by the rocks of Icaria.

[500]

Asclepiades →

[501] PERSES { H 4 } G

The wintry blasts of the east wind cast you out naked, Phillis, on the surf-beaten shore beside a spur of Lesbos rich in wine, and you lie on the sea-bathed foot of the lofty cliff.

[502] NICAENETUS { H 2 } G

I am the tomb, traveller, of Bito, and if leaving Torone you come to Amphipolis, tell Nicagoras that the Strymonian wind at the setting of the Kids was the death of his only son.

[503]

Leonidas →

[504]

Leonidas →

[505] SAPPHO { F 3 } G

His father, Meniscus, placed on Pelagon's tomb a weel and oar, a memorial of the indigent life he led.

[506]

Leonidas →

[507a]

Simonides →

[507b]

Simonides →

[508]

Simonides →

[509]

Simonides →

[510]

Simonides →

[511]

Simonides →

[512]

Simonides →

[513]

Simonides →

[514]

Simonides →

[515]

Simonides →

[516]

Simonides →

[517]

Callimachus (22)

[518]

Callimachus (24)

[519]

Callimachus (16)

[520]

Callimachus (12)

[521]

Callimachus (14)

[522]

Callimachus (17)

[523]

Callimachus (61)

[524]

Callimachus (15)

[525]

Callimachus (23)

[526] NICANDER OF COLOPHON { H 2 } G

O father Zeus, did you ever see a braver man than Othryadas, who would not return alone from Thyrea to Sparta his country, but transfixed himself with his sword after having inscribed the trophy to mark the subjection of the Argives. *

* cp. epigrams 430 & 431.

[527]

Theodoridas →

[528]

Theodoridas →

[529]

Theodoridas →

[530]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[531]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[532] ISIDORUS OF AEGAE { Ph 4 } G

I am Eteocles whom the hopes of the sea drew from husbandry and made a merchant in place of what I was by nature. I was travelling on the surface of the Tyrrhenian Sea, but with my ship I sank headlong into its depths in a sudden fierce squall. It is not then the same wind that blows on the threshing-floor and fills the sails.

[533] DIONYSIUS OF ANDROS { F 1 } G

It is no great marvel that I slipped when soaked by Zeus * and Bacchus. It was two to one, and gods against a mortal.

* i. e. rain.

[534] AUTOMEDON OF AETOLIA { Ph 12 } G

Man, spare your life, and go not to sea in ill season. Even as it is, man's life is not long. Unhappy Cleonicus, you were hastening to reach bright Thasos, trading from Coele Syria - trading, O Cleonicus ; but on your voyage at the very setting of the Pleiads, * with the Pleiads you did set.

* Beginning of November.

[535]

Meleager →

[536]

Alcaeus →

[537] PHANIAS { H 8 } G

No monument for his father, but in mournful memory of his lamented son did Lysis build this empty mound of earth, burying but his name, since the remains of unhappy Mantitheus never came into his parents' hands.

[538]

Anyte →

[539] PERSES { H 9 } G

Heedless, Theotimus, of the coming evil setting of rainy Arcturus * did you set out on your perilous voyage, which carried you and your companions, racing over the Aegean in the many-oared galley, to Hades. Alas for Aristodice and Eupolis, your parents, who mourn you, embracing your empty tomb.

* In November.

[540] DAMAGETES { H 7 } G

By Zeus, the Protector of strangers, we adjure you, Sir, tell our father Charinus, in Aeolian Thebes, that Menis and Polynicus are no more ; and say this, that though we perished at the hands of the Thracians, we do not lament our treacherous murder, but his old age left in bereavement ill to bear.

[541] DAMAGETES { H 6 } G

Standing in the forefront of the battle, Chaeronidas, you spoke thus, "Zeus, grant me death or victory," on that night when by Achaean Taphros, * the foe made you meet him in stubborn battle strife : verily Elis sings of you above all men for your valour, who shed then your warm blood on the foreign earth.

* The scene of a battle in which the Spartans defeated the Messenians, but this epigram must refer to some later combat on the same spot.

[542] FLACCUS { Ph 4 } G

The tender boy, slipping, broke the ice of the Hebrus frozen by the winter cold, and as he was carried away by the current, a sharp fragment of the Bistonian river breaking away cut through his neck. Part of him was carried away by the flood, but his mother laid in the tomb all that was left to her above the ice, his head alone. And, wailing, she cried, "My child, my child, part of you the pyre has buried and part the cruel water. " *

* cp. Bk. 9, No. 56.

[543] Anonymous { F 54 } G

One should pray to be spared sea-voyages altogether, Theogenes, since you, too, made your grave in the Libyan Sea, when that tired close-packed flock of countless cranes descended like a cloud on your loaded ship. *

* Pliny (N. H. x. 13) tells of ships being similarly sunk by flocks of quails alighting on them at night.

[544] Anonymous { F 24 } G

Tell, stranger, if ever you come to Phthia, the land of vines, and to the ancient city of Thaumacia that, mounting once through the lonely woodland of Malea, you saw this tomb of Derxias the son of Lampon, whom once, as he hastened on his way to glorious Sparta, the bandits slew by treachery and not in open fight.

[545] HEGESIPPUS { H 5 } G

They say that Hermes leads the just from the pyre to Rhadamanthus by the right-hand path, the path by which Aristonous, the not unwept son of Chaerestratus, descended to the house of Hades, the gatherer of peoples.

[546] Anonymous { F 46 } G

Ariston had his sling, a weapon procuring him a scanty living, with which he was wont to shoot the winged geese, stealing softly upon them so as to elude them as they fed with sidelong-glancing eyes. Now he is in Hades and the sling noiseless and idle with no hand to whirl it, and the game fly over his tomb.

[547] LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA { F 9 } G

547-550 are Isopsepha, like Book 6, 321-329

Bianor engraved the stone, not for his mother or father, as had been their meet fate, but for his unmarried daughter, and he groaned as he led the bride of twelve years not to Hymenaeus but to Hades.

[548] LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA { F 10 } G

"Who is the Argive Daemon on the tomb? Is he a brother of Dicaeoteles ? " {Echo} " A brother of Dicaeoteles. " " Did Echo speak the last words, or is it true that this is the man ? " {Echo} " This is the man. "

[549] LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA { F 11 } G

Niobe, a rock in Sipylus, still sobs and wails, mourning for the death of twice seven children, and never during the ages shall she cease from her plaint. Why did she speak the boastful words that robbed her of her life and her children ?

[550] LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA { F 12 } G

Antheus, who escaped the threats of sea-green Trito, escaped not the terrible Phthian wolf. For by the stream of Peneus he perished. Unfortunate ! to whom the Nymphs were more treacherous than the Nereids. *

* cp. No. 289.

[554]

Philippus →

[622]

Antiphilus →

[623] AEMILIANUS { Ph 1 } G

Suck, poor child, at the breast whereat your mother will never more suckle you ; drain the last drops from the dead. She has already rendered up her spirit, pierced by the sword, but a mother's love can cherish her child even in death. *

* This probably refers to a picture by Aristeides of Thebes.

[624] DIODORUS { Ph 5 } G

Begone, dreaded Ionian Sea, pitiless water, ferrier of men to blackest Hades, you who have engulfed so many. Who, with the fate of the unfortunates before his eyes, shall tell all your crimes, ill-starred sea ? You have swallowed in your surges Aegeus and Labeo, with their short-lived companions and their whole ship.

[625]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[626] Anonymous { Ph 1 } G

(Not Sepulchral)

You furthest Nasamonian wilds of Libya, no longer, your expanse vexed by the hordes of wild beasts of the continent, shall you ring in echo, even beyond the sands of the Nomads, to the voice of lions roaring in the desert, since Caesar the son has trapped the countless tribe and brought it face to face with his fighters. * Now the heights once full of the lairs of prowling beasts are pasturage for the cattle of men.

* i. e. the bestiarii in the circus.

[627] DIODORUS { Ph 6 } G

Leaving your bridal-chamber half prepared, your wedding close at hand, you have gone, young man, down the baneful road of Hades; and sorely have you afflicted Thyniŏn of Astacus, who most piteously of all lamented for you, dead in your prime, weeping for the evil fate of her Hipparchus, seeing you completed only twenty-four years.

[628]

Crinagoras →

[629]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[630]

Antiphilus →

[631]

Apollonides →

[632] DIODORUS { Ph 7 } G

A little child in Diodorus' house fell from a little ladder, but falling head first broke the vertebra of its neck, to break which is fatal. But when it saw its revered master running up, it at once stretched out its baby arms to him. Earth, never lie heavy on the bones of the little slave child, but be kind to two-year-old Corax.

[633]

Crinagoras →

[634]

Antiphilus →

[635]

Antiphilus →

[636]

Crinagoras →

[637]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[638]

Crinagoras →

[639]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[640]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[641]

Antiphilus →

[642]

Apollonides →

[643]

Crinagoras →

[644]

Bianor →

[645]

Crinagoras →

[646]

Anyte →

[647]

Simonides →

[648]

Leonidas →

[649]

Anyte →

[650] PHALAECUS { H 5 } G

Avoid busying you with the sea, and put your mind to the plough that the oxen draw, if it is any joy for you to see the end of a long life. For on land there is length of days, but on the sea it is not easy to find a man with grey hair.

[651] EUPHORION { H 2 } G

Craggy Elaeus doth not cover those your bones, nor this stone that speaks in blue letters. They are broken by the Icarian sea on the shingly beach of Doliche * and lofty Dracanon, and I, this empty mound of earth, am heaped up here in the thirsty herbage of the Dryopes for the sake of old friendship with Polymedes.

* Another name of the island Icaria.

[652]

Leonidas →

[653] PANCRATES { H 3 } G

At the setting of the Hyades the fierce south-west wind rose and destroyed Epierides in the Aegean Sea, himself, his ship and crew ; and for him his father in tears made this empty tomb.

[654]

Leonidas →

[655]

Leonidas →

[656]

Leonidas →

[657]

Leonidas →

[658]

Leonidas →

[659]

Theocritus (VII)

[660]

Leonidas →

[661]

Leonidas →

[662]

Leonidas →

[663]

Leonidas →

[664]

Theocritus (XXI)

[665]

Leonidas →

[666]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[668] LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA { F 13 } G

Not even if smiling calm were to smooth the waves for me, and gently rippling Zephyr were to blow, shall you see me take ship; for I dread the perils I encountered formerly battling with the winds.

[669] PLATO { F 1 } G

You look on the stars, my Star. * Would I were heaven, to look on you with many eyes.

* Aster {"Star"} is said to have been the name of a youth whom Plato admired.

[670] PLATO { F 2 } G

Of old among the living you shone the Star of morn ; now you shine in death the Star of eve.

[671]

Bianor →

[674] ADRIANUS { F 2 } G

This is the tomb of Archilochus, whom the Muse, out of kindness to Homer, * guided to furious iambics.

* i. e. otherwise he would have excelled Homer in epic verse.

[675] LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA { F 14 } G

Tremble not in loosing your cable from the tomb of the shipwrecked man. While I was perishing another was travelling unhurt. *

* Imitated from No. 282.

[677]

Simonides →

[692]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[693]

Apollonides →

[694] ADAEUS { Ph 6 } G

{Not Sepulchral}

If you pass by the shrine of the hero (his name is Philopragmon) * that is at the cross-roads outside Potidaea, tell him on what task you travel, and he at once will help you to find a means of accomplishing it.

* The name meant "busybody. "

[696]

Archias →

[699] Anonymous { Ph 2 } G

Icaria, memorial of the disastrous journey of Icarus flying through the newly-trodden air, would he too had never seen you, would that Triton had never sent you up above the expanse of the Aegean Sea. For you have no sheltered anchorage, either on the northern side nor where the sea breaks on you from the south. A curse on you, inhospitable foe of mariners ! May I voyage as far from you as from loathly Hell.

[700] DIODORUS GRAMMATICUS { Ph 9 } G

Know, you stone palace of the Night that hides me, and you, flood of Cocytus, where wailing is loud, it was not my husband, as they say, who, contemplating another marriage, slew me. Why should Rufinus have that evil name for no reason? But the fatal Destinies brought me here. Paula of Tarentum is not the only woman who has died before her time.

[701] DIODORUS GRAMMATICUS { Ph 10 } G

His dear city set up this inscription by the beautiful waters of Ascania * to the strong man Achaeus. Nicaea wept for him, and his father Diomedes erected to him this tall and glittering stone monument, lamenting ; for it would have been more fitting for his son to pay him these honours when he died himself.

* A lake near Nicaea.

[702]

Apollonides →

[703] MYRINUS { Ph 3 } G

{Not Sepulchral}

Thyrsis the villager who feeds the Nymphs' flocks, Thyrsis whose piping is equal to Pan's, sleeps under the shady pine tree having drunk wine at midday, and Love takes his crook and keeps the flock himself. You Nymphs ! you Nymphs ! awake the shepherd who fears no wolf, lest Love become the prey of wild beasts.

[705]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[707]

Dioscorides →

[708]

Dioscorides →

[709] ALEXANDER { H 1 } G

Ancient Sardis, home of my fathers, had I been reared in you I would have been a kernos-bearer or eunuch, wearing ornaments of gold and beating pretty tambourines; but now my name is Alcman, and I am a citizen of Sparta of the many tripods, and have learnt to know the Heliconian Muses who made me greater than the tyrants Dascyles and Gyges. *

* Kings of Lydia.

[710] ERINNA { H 1 } G

You columns and my Sirens, * and you, mournful pitcher that hold the little ash of death, bid them who pass by my tomb hail, whether they be citizens or from another town ; and tell this, too, that I was buried here a bride, and that my father called me Baucis, and that my country was Tenos, that they may know. Say, likewise, that my friend and companion Erinna engraved these lines on my tomb.

* Figures of Sirens that stood on the tomb.

[711]

Antipater_of_Sidon →

[712] ERINNA { H 2 } G

I am the tomb of Baucis the bride, and as you pass the much bewept pillar, say to Hades who dwells below "Hades, thou art envious. " To you the fair letters you see on the stone will tell the most cruel fate of Bauco, how her bridegroom's father lighted her pyre with those very torches that had burnt while they sang the marriage hymn. And you, Hymenaeus, changed the tuneful song of wedding to the dismal voice of lamentation.

[713]

Antipater_of_Sidon →

[714] Anonymous { H 52 } G

I sing of Rhegium, that at the point of the shoal-water coast of Italy tastes ever of the Sicilian sea, because under the leafy poplar she laid Ibycus the lover of the lyre, the lover of boys, who had tasted many pleasures ; and over his tomb she shed in abundance ivy and white reeds.

[715]

Leonidas →

[716] DIONYSIUS OF RHODES { H 2 } G

Too early and missed by all us who dwell in the city of Ialysus, have you sunk, Phaenocritus, into the sea of oblivion, after plucking for a brief time the flowers of wisdom ; and round your tomb the very owls that never shed tears lamented. No singer shall ever sing as you did to future generations as long as men walk upon their feet.

[717] Anonymous { H 50 } G

You Naiads, and you cool pastures, tell the bees that start for their spring journeys that old Lysippus perished lying in ambush for the fleet-footed hares on a winter night. No longer does he take joy in tending the swarms, and the dells where feed the flocks miss much their neighbour of the hill. (? )

[718] NOSSIS { H 11 } G

Stranger, if you sail to Mytilene, the city of lovely dances which kindled (? ) Sappho, the flower of the Graces, say that the Locrian land bore one dear to the Muses and equal to her and that her name was Nossis. Go ! *

* Unfortunately this version of the epigram is quite uncertain, as it involves considerable departures from the MS text, itself unintelligible.

[719]

Leonidas →

[720] CHAEREMON { H 2 } G

Cleuas, the son of Etymocles, who wielded the spear for Thyreae, you died allotting to yourself the disputed land.

[721] CHAEREMON { H 3 } G

We from Sparta engaged the Argives equal in number and in arms, Thyreae being the prize of the spear, and both abandoning without seeking for pretexts our hope of return home, we leave the birds to tell of our death.

[722]

Theodoridas →

[723] Anonymous { H 53 } G

{Not Sepulchral}

Lacedaemon, formerly unconquered and uninvaded, you see the Olenian * smoke on the banks of Eurotas. No shade of trees have you left; the birds nest on the ground and the wolves hear not the bleating of sheep.

* Achaean. This refers to the invasion of Lacedaemonia by the Achaeans in B. C. 189.

[724]

Anyte →

[725]

Callimachus (62)

[726]

Leonidas →

[727] THEAETETUS { H 3 } G

Phileas seemed inferior to none in the gifts of his mind ; let him who envies him go and cry himself to death. * It is nothing but empty pleasure that a man has in fame, for in Hades Thersites is as highly honoured as Minos.

* A form of imprecation.

[728]

Callimachus (41)

[729] TYMNES { H 3 } G

The omens were evil when fair Tritonis was brought to bed, for otherwise she would not have perished, unhappy girl, just after the child was born. With her this one babe brought down to Hades so much happiness, and it did not even live beyond the tenth dawn.

[730] PERSES { H 7 } G

Unhappy Mnasylla, why does it stand on your tomb, this picture of your daughter Neotima whom you lament, her whose life was taken from her by the pangs of labour ? She lies in her dear mother's arms, as if a heavy cloud had gathered on her eyelids and, alas, not far away her father Aristoteles rests his head on his right hand. * O most miserable pair, not even in death have you forgotten your grief.

* An attitude of mourning.

[731]

Leonidas →

[732]

Theodoridas →

[733] DIOTIMUS { H 6 } G

We two old women Anaxo and Cleno the twin daughters of Epicrates were ever together; Cleno was in life the priestess of the Graces and Anaxo served Demeter. We wanted nine days to complete our eightieth year . . . We loved our husbands and children, and we, the old women, won gentle death before them.

[734] Anonymous { F 55 } G

This corrupt epigram seems to be partly in Doric and is evidently a dialogue. Lines 1 and 2 are quite unintelligible. It ends thus : -

O old man, may your blessed children too reach the road of grey age.

[735] DAMAGETUS { H 10 } G

Phocaea, glorious city, these were the last words Theano spoke as she descended into the vast night : "Alas unhappy that I am, Apellichus ! What sea, my husband, are you crossing in your swift ship ? But by me death stands close, and would I could die holding your dear hand in mine. "

[736]

Leonidas →

[737] Anonymous { H 45 } G

Here I thrice unfortunate was slain by an armed robber, and here I lie bewailed by none.

[738]

Theodoridas →

[739] PHAEDIMUS { H 4 } G

I mourn for Polyanthus, O passer by, whom his wife Aristagora laid in the tomb, her newly wedded lord, receiving his ashes and dust (in the stormy Aegean near Sciathus he had perished) after the fishermen in the early morn had towed his corpse into the harbour of Torone.

[740]

Leonidas →

[741]

Crinagoras →

[742]

Apollonides →

[743]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[745]

Antipater_of_Sidon →

[748]

Antipater_of_Sidon →

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Greek Anthology: Book 9
THE DECLAMATORY EPIGRAMS : 1-312


This selection from Book 9 of the Greek Anthology contains all the epigrams written before the middle of the first century A. D. , as listed in three editions:
(H) A. S. F. Gow & D. L. Page, "The Greek Anthology: Hellenistic Epigrams"
(Ph) A. S. F. Gow & D. L. Page, "The Greek Anthology: The Garland of Philip and Some Contemporary Epigrams"
(F) D. L. Page, "Further Greek Epigrams"
The labels in green are the numbers assigned to the epigrams in one of these editions. The labels in red are their numbers within the Anthology.

Translations of most of the epigrams are already available elsewhere, as indicated by the links. The translations of the remaining epigrams are taken from the edition by W. R. Paton (1916-18), but have been modified to remove some of the archaic language. Click on G to go to the Greek text of each epigram.


[1] POLYAENUS OF SARDIS { Ph 1 } G

A cruel viper struck the nursing udder of a doe which had newly calved as it hung down full of milk. Her fawn sucked the teat contaminated by poison, and from the fatal wound imbibed bitter milk charged with venom ill to cure. Death was transferred from mother to child, and at once by pitiless fate the breast bereft the young one of the gift of life that it owed to the womb.

[2] TIBERIUS ILLUSTRIUS { F 1 } G

A viper, the most murderous of noxious beasts, injected her venom into the udder, swollen with milk, of a doe that had just calved, and the kid, sucking its mother's poisoned milk, drank up her death.

[3]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[4] CYLLENIUS { F 1 } G

I, the wild pear-tree of the thicket, a denizen of the wilderness where the wild beasts feed, once bearing plenty of bastard fruit, have had foreign shoots grafted on me, and flourish now no longer wild, but loaded with a crop that is not my natural one. Gardener, I am deeply grateful for your pains, owing it to you that I now am enrolled in the tribe of noble fruit-trees.

[7] JULIUS POLYAENUS { Ph 1 } G

Zeus, who rulest the holy land of Corcyra, though your ears be ever full of the fears of suppliants or the thanks of those whose prayers you have heard, yet hearken to me, too, and grant me by a true promise that this be the end of my exile, and that I may dwell in my native land, my long labours over.

[8] JULIUS POLYAENUS { Ph 2 } G

Hope ever makes the period of our days steal away, and the last dawn surprises us with many projects unaccomplished.

[9] JULIUS POLYAENUS { Ph 3 } G

Often when I have prayed to you, Zeus, you have granted me the welcome gift of fair weather till the end of my voyage. Give it me on this voyage, too ; save me and bear me to the haven where toil ends. The delight of life is in our home and country, and superfluous cares make life not life but vexation.

[10]

Antipater_of_Thessalonica →

[11]

Philippus →

[12] LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA { F 15 } G

The blind beggar supported the lame one on his feet, and gained in return the help of the other's eyes. Thus the two incomplete beings fitted into each other to form one complete being, each supplying what the other lacked.

[13] PLATO THE YOUNGER { F 1 } G

A blind man carried a lame man on his back, lending him his feet and borrowing from him his eyes.

[13b]

Antiphilus →

[14]

Antiphilus →

[15] Anonymous { F 4 } G

Probably on a Picture of Love

You who seek to set fire itself ablaze, who desire to light your lovely lamp at night, take you light here from my soul, for that which is afire within me sends forth fierce flames.

[16]

Meleager →

[17] GERMANICUS CAESAR { F 1 } G

Once a hare from the mountain height leapt into the sea in her effort to escape from a dog's cruel fangs. But not even thus did she escape her fate ; for at once a sea-dog seized her and bereft her of life. Out of the fire, as the saying is, you fell into the flame.