Translations of most of the
epigrams
are already available elsewhere, as indicated by the links.
Greek Anthology
[376] TIBERIUS ILLUSTRIS { F 8 } G
Why, foolish carpenter, do you make of me, the pine-tree that am the victim of the winds, a ship to travel over the seas, and do not dread the omen ? Boreas persecuted me on land ; so how shall I escape the winds at sea ?
[387] GERMANICUS (or THE EMPEROR HADRIAN) { F 3 } G
Hector of the race of Ares, if you hear wherever you are under ground, hail ! and pause for a little from your sighs for your country. Ilium is inhabited, and is a famous city containing men inferior to you, but still lovers of war, while the Myrmidons have perished. Stand by his side and tell Achilles that all Thessaly is subject to the sons of Aeneas. *
* Troy was restored by Julius Caesar and Augustus.
(388, 389)
Under the above a soldier {some say Trajan) wrote :
They are bold, for they look not on the face of my helmet. *
When the Emperor praised this and wrote "Reveal who you are," he replied :
I am a soldier of cuirassed Ares and also a servant of Heliconian Apollo, chosen among the first men-at-arms.
* Homer, Il. xvi. 70. Achilles is the speaker.
[390] MENECRATES OF SMYRNA { H 1 } G
A mother who had laid on the pyre her third child after losing the others too, reviling insatiate Death, on giving birth to a fourth sorrow, would not wait to nourish uncertain hope, but threw the child alive in the fire. "I will not rear it," she said. "What profits it ? My breasts, you are toiling for Hades. With less trouble I shall gain mourning. "
[391] DIOTIMUS { H 8 } G
This son of Poseidon and the son of Zeus trained their youthful limbs for stubborn wrestling bouts. The contest is no brazen one for a caldron, but for which shall gain death or life. Antaeus has got the fall, and it was fit that Heracles, the son of Zeus, should win. Wrestling is Argive, not Libyan. *
* Antaeus was Libyan.
[402] HADRIAN (? ) { F 4 } G
On Pompeius Magnus
In what sore need of a tomb stood he who possessed abundant temples !
[403] MACCIUS { Ph 10 } G
To Dionysus
Enter the vat yourself, my lord, and tread leaping swiftly ; lead the labour of the night. Make naked your proud feet, and give strength to the dance your servant, girding yourself up above your active knees ; and guide, O blessed one, the sweet-voiced wine into the empty casks. So shall you receive cakes and a shaggy goat.
[404]
Antiphilus →
[405] DIODORUS { Ph 8 } G
May holy Adrasteia preserve you, and Nemesis, the maiden who treads in our track, she who has cheated many. I fear for your body's lovely form, O youth ; for your mental gifts and the strength of your divine courage, for your learning and your prudent counsel. Such we are told, Drusus, * are the children of the blessed immortals.
* Probably Drusus the son of Germanicus and brother of Nero.
[406] ANTIGONUS OF CARYSTUS { Ph 1 } G
On a figure of a Frog placed in a crater
I am a frog, now no longer croaking continually, placed under the shower of wine from the silver spout. I lie in the water, whose friend I am, but no enemy to Bacchus, and I am washed by the drops of both. Too late in life I went revelling to Dionysus. Alas for those who drink water: they are mad but with a temperate madness ! *
* Antigonus suggests that he, too, like the frog, had learnt wisdom and become a better poet since he had become a wine-drinker.
[407]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[408]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[409] ANTIPHANES { Ph 6 } G
If there be one who does not take delight in the strains of the flute and the sweet sound of harp-playing, or in nectar-like wine, oldest of the old, or in torches, revels, garlands, and scent, but who takes a frugal supper and stores up with greedy hands the fruits of stealthy-footed usury, to me he is dead, and I pass by the . . . corpse, who hoards for the throats of others.
[410] TULLIUS SABINUS { Ph 1 } G
A mouse once, greedy for every kind of food and not even shy of the mouse-trap, but one who won booty even from death, gnawed through Phoebus' melodious lyre-string. The strained chord springing up to the bridge of the lyre, throttled the mouse. We wonder at the bow's good aim ; but Phoebus uses his lyre, too, as a weapon wherewith to aim well at his enemies.
[411] MACCIUS { Ph 3 } G
Cornelius is changed all of a sudden, and is no longer pleased with our simple literary life, but depends on light hope. We are not the same as before to him, but the hope on which he hangs is another. Let us give in, my heart ; we are thrown ; seek not to resist; it is a silver fall * that has laid us on the ground.
* i. e. avarice.
[412]
Philodemus →
[413]
Antiphilus →
[414] GEMINUS { Ph 3 } G
I am the paliurus, a thorny shrub used as a fence. Who shall say I am unproductive when I protect the fruitful crops ?
[415]
Antiphilus →
[416]
Philippus →
[417]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[418]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[419]
Crinagoras →
[420]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[421]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[422]
Apollonides →
[423]
Bianor →
[424] DURIS OF ELAEA { H 1 } G
Clouds of the heavens, whence drank you bitter waters, and in league with unbroken night deluged all ? This is not Libya, these countless dwellings and the wealth of many prosperous years, but unhappy Ephesus. * Whither, then, were the eyes of the Saving deities turned ? Alas for the most besung of all Ionian cities ! All, like rolling waves, has been swept to sea by the floods.
* The destruction of old Ephesus by flood took place in the reign of Lysimachus, circ. 290 B. C.
[428]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[429]
Crinagoras →
[430]
Crinagoras →
[432]
Theocritus (VI)
[433]
Theocritus (V)
[435]
Theocritus (XIV)
[437]
Theocritus (IV)
[438]
Philippus →
[439]
Crinagoras →
[488] TRYPHO { F 1 } G
Terpes, * harping beautifully at the Carneian feast of tabernacles, died . . . among the Lacedaemonians, not wounded by a sword or a missile, but by a fig on the lips. Alas ! Death is never at a loss for occasions.
* A citharode. Someone threw a fig into his mouth as he was singing, and this killed him.
[496] ATHENAEUS { F 1 } G
Hail ! you who are learned in the Stoic lore, you whose holy pages contain the very best of doctrines, that virtue is the soul's only good. This is the only doctrine that saves the lives and cities of men. But indulgence of the flesh, an end dear to others, is only approved by one of all Mnemosyne's daughters. *
* i. e. Erato.
[506] PLATO { F 13 } G
Some say the Muses are nine, but how carelessly ! Look at the tenth, Sappho from Lesbos.
[507]
Callimachus (29)
[513]
Crinagoras →
[515] Anonymous { F 14 } G
The Graces are three, and you are one born for these three, that the Graces may have a Grace. *
* cp. 5. 146 (Callim:Epigr_52).
[516]
Crinagoras →
[517]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[518]
Alcaeus →
[519]
Alcaeus →
[520] Anonymous { H 60 } G
On Alcaeus (probably by his enemy King Philip)
This is the tomb of Alcaeus who was killed by the broad-leaved daughter of earth, the radish, punisher of adulterers.
[526] ALPHEIUS OF MYTILENE { Ph 3 } G
Shut, O god, the tireless gates of great Olympus ; keep, O Zeus, the holy castle of heaven. Already sea and earth are subdued by the Roman arms, but the path to heaven is still untrodden. *
* Imitated from No. 518.
[541]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[542]
Crinagoras →
[543]
Philippus →
[544] ADDAEUS { Ph 9 } G
On a Figure of Galene cut by Tryphon *
Tryphon coaxed me, the Indian beryl, to be Galene, the goddess of Calm, and with his soft hands let down my hair. Look at my lips smoothing the liquid sea, and my breasts with which I charm the windless waves. Did the envious stone but consent, you would soon see me swimming, as I am longing to do.
* A famous gem-carver, some of whose work we possess.
[545]
Crinagoras →
[546]
Antiphilus →
[548]
Bianor →
[549]
Antiphilus →
[550]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[551]
Antiphilus →
[552]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[553]
Philippus →
[554]
Marcus_Argentarius →
[555]
Crinagoras →
[556] ZONAS { Ph 8 } G
Pan is the Speaker
Nereids, Nymphs of the shore, you saw Daphnis yesterday, when he washed off the dust that lay like down on his skin ; when, burnt by the dog star, he rushed into your waters, the apples of his cheeks faintly reddened. Tell me, was he beautiful ? Or am I a goat, not only lame in my legs but in my heart too ?
[557]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[558] ERYCIUS { Ph 3 } G
Cleson's billy-goat through the livelong night kept the she-goats awake with his snorting and jumping, for he had caught from afar the scent of a goat-slaying wolf that was approaching the fold built on the cliff. At length the dogs awakened from their bed, frightened away the huge beast, and sleep closed the eyes of the goats.
[559]
Crinagoras →
[560]
Crinagoras →
[561]
Philippus →
[562]
Crinagoras →
[563]
Leonidas →
[564] NICIAS { H 6 } G
O bee, that reveal the presence of many-coloured spring in her delightful bloom ; yellow bee, revelling in the prime of the flowers ; fly to the sweetly-scented field and busy thyself with your work, that your waxen chambers may be filled.
[565]
Callimachus (9)
[566]
Callimachus (10)
[567]
Antipater_of_Sidon →
[568]
Dioscorides →
[570]
Philodemus →
[571] Anonymous { F 36b } G
On the Nine Lyric Poets
Pindar screamed * loud from Thebes, the Muse of Simonides breathed delight with her sweet-strained voice, Stesichorus and Ibycus shine, Alcman was sweet, and Bacchylides' lips uttered dainty song, Persuasion attended on Anacreon, Lesbian Alcaeus sings varied strains on the Aeolian . . . But Sappho was not the ninth among men, but is tenth in the list of the lovely Muses.
* He is compared to an eagle as elsewhere.
[572]
Lucillius →
[573]
Lucillius →
[574]
Lucillius →
[575]
Philippus →
[576]
Nicarchus →
[577] PTOLEMAEUS { F 1 } G
I know that I am mortal, a creature of a day ; but when I search into the multitudinous revolving spirals of the stars my feet no longer rest on the earth, but, standing by Zeus himself, I take my fill of ambrosia, the food of the gods.
[588]
Alcaeus →
[598]
Theocritus (22)
[599]
Theocritus (17)
[600]
Theocritus (18)
[601] Anonymous { F 83 } G
This passing fair statue did Aeximenes erect to Aphrodite, the protectress of all navigation. Hail, sovereign Cypris ! and if you give gain and welcome wealth you shall learn that a ship is most ready to go shares. *
* i. e. Aphrodite will get her share.
[602] EUENUS OF ATHENS { Ph 4 } G
I who once supplicated Cypris with my maiden hands and, waving torches, prayed for marriage, after I had loosed my nuptial dress in the bridal chamber, suddenly saw spring from my thighs the marks of manhood. Now I am called a bridegroom instead of a bride, and crown the altars of Ares and Heracles instead of those of Aphrodite. Thebes once told of Teiresias, and now Chalcis greets in a chlamys her who formerly wore the snood.
[603]
Antipater_of_Sidon →
[604] NOSSIS { H 7 } G
This is the picture of Thaumareta. Well did the painter render the bearing and the beauty of the gentle-eyed lady ! your little house-dog would fawn upon you if it saw you here, thinking that it looked on the mistress of its home.
[605] NOSSIS { H 6 } G
Callo had her portrait made exactly like herself, and hung the picture in the house of fair-haired Aphrodite. How gentle she looks standing there ! Look how fresh is the bloom of her charm ! All hail to her ! for there is no fault in her life.
[684] Anonymous { F 81 } G
On the Fountain on the Island Taphos *
I am the fountain Nycheia, daughter of Ocean and Tethys, for so the Teleboae named me. I pour forth a bath for the Nymphs and health for mortals. It was Pterelas, the son of Ares, who placed me here.
* One of the Echinades islands at the mouth of the Adriatic.
[700]
Simonides →
[706]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[707] TULLIUS GEMINUS { Ph 4 } G
I am reckoned among rivers, but rival the sea in volume, Strymon, the fresh-water sea of Thrace. I am both a deep stream and a field yielding crops through my water, for water-chestnuts sweeter than the fruits of Demeter rise from me. * The depths, too, are productive in Thrace, and we deem, Nile, that the bearer of the crop is superior to its feeder.
* The inhabitants made a kind of sweet bread from the seeds of this plant (trapa natans) ; it is still used in some places for the purpose, and has, in fact, been introduced as a food-plant into American rivers.
[708]
Philippus →
[709]
Philippus →
[715] ANACREON (? ) { F 17 } G
715-742 are all on Myron's celebrated Statue of a Heifer. It stood originally in the Agora at Athens, but was transferred to the Temple of Peace at Rome.
Herdsman, pasture your herd far from here, lest taking Myron's heifer to be alive you drive it off with the rest.
[716] ANACREON (? ) { F 18 } G
Myron pretended this heifer to be the work of his hands, but it was never formed in the mould, but turned into bronze owing to old age.
[717] EUENUS { Ph 8 } G
Either a complete hide of bronze clothes here a real cow, or the bronze has a soul inside it.
[718] EUENUS { Ph 9 } G
Perhaps Myron himself will say this : "I did not mould this heifer, but its image. "
[719]
Leonidas →
[720]
Antipater_of_Sidon →
[721]
Antipater_of_Sidon →
[721a]
Antipater_of_Sidon →
[722]
Antipater_of_Sidon →
[723]
Antipater_of_Sidon →
[724]
Antipater_of_Sidon →
[728]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[730] DEMETRIUS OF BITHYNIA { F 1 } G
If a calf sees me, it will low ; a bull will mount me, and the herdsman drive me to the herd.
[732]
Marcus_Argentarius →
[740] GEMINUS { Ph 5 } G
It is the base to which it is attached that keeps back the heifer, and if freed from this it will run off to the herd. For the bronze lows. See how much alive the artist made it. If you yoke a fellow to it, perhaps it will plough.
[742]
Philippus →
[743]
Theodoridas →
[744]
Leonidas →
[745]
Anyte →
[746] KING POLEMON { Ph 1 } G
On a Ring
This little jasper stone has a seal of seven cows looking like one, * and all looking at us as if alive. Perhaps the cows would have run away, but now the little herd is confined in the golden pen.
* If not corrupt, it must mean that they were represented one standing behind the other, only the heads of six showing.
[747] PLATO { F 4 } G
The little jasper stone is carved with five cows all looking alive as they feed. Perhaps they would run away, but now the little herd is confined in the golden pen.
[748] PLATO THE YOUNGER { F 2 } G
On Dionysus carved on an Amethyst
The stone is amethyst, * but I am the toper Dionysus. Either let it teach me to be sober, or learn itself to get drunk.
* i. e. "against drunkenness. "
[749] OENOMAUS { F 1 } G
On Love carved on a Bowl
Why Love on the bowl ? It is enough for the heart to be set on fire by wine. Add not fire to fire.
[750]
Archias →
[751] PLATO THE YOUNGER { F 3 } G
The stone is Hyacinthus, * and on it are Apollo and Daphne. Of which was Apollo rather the lover ?
* Jacinth.
[752]
Asclepiades →
[756] AEMILIANUS { Ph 3 } G
{A Silenus speaks}
As far as it depends on your art, Praxiteles, the stone could wax wanton. Let me loose and I will join in the revel again. It is not that my old age is feeble, but the fettering stone grudges the Sileni their sport.
[757]
Simonides →
[758]
Simonides →
[774] GLAUCUS OF ATHENS { Ph 1 } G
The Bacchante is of Parian marble, but the sculptor gave life to the stone, and she springs up as if in Bacchic fury. Scopas, your god-creating art has produced a great marvel, a Thyad, the frenzied slayer of goats.
[775] GLAUCUS OF ATHENS { Ph 2 } G
The Bacchante has made the son of Cronus a Satyr, and he rushes to the frenzied dance as if he were in Bacchic fury. *
* Zeus disguised himself as a Satyr in order to possess Antiope at the Bacchic revels.
[776] DIODORUS { Ph 18 } G
The colour and the beauty is worthy of Zeuxis ; but Satyreius painted me on a little crystal and gave the pretty miniature to Arsinoē. I am the queen's own image, and no whit inferior to a large picture.
[777]
Philippus →
[778]
Philippus →
[786] Anonymous { F 69 } G
The inhabitants erected to the god this beautiful altar, placing it here as a sign to mark the boundary of Leuce and Pteleus. The arbiter of the division is the king of the immortals himself, Cronus' son. *
* From Demosth. vii. 39. The places are in the Thracian Chersonese.
[790]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[791]
Apollonides →
[792]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[823] PLATO { F 16 } G
Let the cliff clothed in greenery of the Dryads keep silence, and the fountains that fall from the rock, and the confused bleating of the ewes newly lambed ; for Pan himself plays on his sweet-toned pipe, running his pliant lips over the joined reeds, and around with their fresh feet they have started the dance, the Nymphs, Hydriads, and Hamadryads.
[824] ERYCIUS { Ph 4 } G
Hunters, who come to this peak where dwells mountain Pan, good luck to you in the chase, whether you go on your way trusting in nets or in the steel, or whether you are fowlers relying on your hidden limed reeds. Let each of you call on me. I have skill to bring success to trap, spear, nets, and reeds.
[826] PLATO { F 22b } G
On a Satyr standing by a Well and Love Asleep
A cunning master wrought me, the Satyr, son of Bacchus, divinely inspiring the monolith with breath. I am the playmate of the Nymphs, and instead of purple wine I now pour forth pleasant water. Guide your steps here in silence, lest you disturb the boy lapped in soft sleep.
[827] PLATO (or AMMONIUS) { F 22a } G
On the Same
I am the dear servant of horned Dionysus, and pour forth the water of the silver Naiads, soothing the young boy who rests asleep . . .
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Greek Anthology: Book 10
THE HORTATORY AND ADMONITORY EPIGRAMS
This selection from Book 10 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]
Leonidas →
[2]
Antipater_of_Sidon →
[3] Anonymous { F 90 } G
The way down to Hades is straight, whether you start from Athens or whether you betake yourself there, when dead, from Meroē. Let it not vex you to die far from your country. One fair wind to Hades blows from all lands. *
* Probably an epitaph on an Athenian who died at Meroe.
[4]
Marcus_Argentarius →
[5] THYILLUS { F 3 } G
Already the swallows build their mud houses, already on the waves Zephyr is bosomed in the soft sails. Already the meadows shed flowers over their green leaves, and the rough strait closes its lips in silence. Wind up your hawsers and stow the anchors on shipboard, and give all your canvas to the sheets. This is the advice that Priapus of the harbour writes for you who sail the seas seeking merchandise.
[6] SATYRUS { F 1 } G
Already the moist breath of Zephyr, who giveth birth to the grass, falls gently on the flowery meadows. The daughters of Cecrops * call, the becalmed sea smiles, untroubled by the cold winds. Be of good heart, O sailors, loose your hawsers and spread out the delicate folds of your ships' wings. Go to trade trusting in gracious Priapus, go obedient to the harbour god.
* i. e. the swallows.
[7]
Archias →
[8]
Archias →
[9] Anonymous { F 21 } G
O fishermen, who pulled your little boat ashore here (Go, hang out your nets to dry) having had a haul of many sea-swimming gurnard (? ) and scarus, not without thrissa, * honour me with slender first-fruits of a copious catch, the little Priapus under the mastic bush, the sea-blue god, the revealer of the fish your prey, established in this grove.
* Still called so; rather like a herring and goes in shoals.
[10]
Archias →
[11] SATYRUS { F 2 } G
Whether you walk over the hills with bird-lime spread on the reeds to which the birds resort, or whether you kill hares, call on Pan. Pan shows the hound the track of velvet-paw, and Pan guides higher and higher, unbent, the jointed reedy rod. *
* There was a means of gradually lengthening the limed rod so as to reach the birds high up in the trees. I suppose it was put together like a fishing-rod.
[12] Anonymous { F 73 } G
Come and rest your limbs awhile, travellers, here under the juniper by Hermes, the guardian of the road - not a mixed crowd, but those of you whose knees ache from heavy toil and who thirst after accomphshing a long day's journey. There is a breeze and a shady seat, and the fountain under the rock will still the weariness that weighs on your limbs. Escaping the midday breath of Autumn's dog-star, honour Hermes of the wayside as is meet.
[13] SATYRUS { F 3 } G
How lovely are the laurels and the spring that gushes at their feet, while the dense grove gives shade, luxuriant, traversed by Zephyrs, a protection to wayfarers from thirst and toil and the burning sun !
[17]
Antiphilus →
[18]
Marcus_Argentarius →
[19]
Apollonides →
[20] ADDAEUS { Ph 10 } G
If you see a beauty, strike while the iron is hot. Say what you mean, grasp his testicles full-handed. But if you say "I reverence you and will be like a brother," shame will close your road to accomplishment.
[21]
Philodemus →
[22]
Bianor →
[23] AUTOMEDON { Ph 3 } G
Nicetes, * like the breeze, when a ship has little sail up, begins with gentle rhetoric, but when he blows strongly and all sails are let out, he stiffens the canvas and races across the middle of the ocean, like a ship of vast burden, till he reaches the end of his discourse in the unruffled harbour.
* i. e. the eloquence of Nicetes. He was a rhetor of the latter end of the first century A. D.
[24]
Crinagoras →
[25]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[43] Anonymous { F 91 } G
Six hours are most suitable for labour, and the four that follow, when set forth in letters, * say to men "Live. "
* The letters of the alphabet were used as figures : ΖΗΘΙ (meaning "Live") is 7, 8, 9, 10.
[100] ANTIPHANES { Ph 7 } G
Brief would be the whole span of life that we wretched men live, even if grey old age awaited us all, and briefer yet is the space of our prime. Therefore, while the season is ours, let all be in plenty, song, love, carousal. Henceforth is the winter of heavy age. You would give ten minae to be a man, but no ! such fetters shall be set on your manhood.
[101]
Bianor →
[102] BASSUS { Ph 9 } G
I would not have the fierce sea drive me in storm, nor do I welcome the dull windless calm that follows. The mean is best, and so likewise where men do their business, I welcome the sufficient measure. Love this, dear Lampis, and hate evil tempests ; there are gentle Zephyrs in life too.
[103]
Philodemus →
[105]
Simonides →
[117] PHOCYLIDES { F 1 } G
I am a genuine friend, and I know a friend to be a friend, but I turn my back on all evil-doers. I flatter no one hypocritically, but those whom I honour I love from beginning to end.
[122]
Lucillius →
[123] AESOP { F 1 } G
Life, how shall one escape you without death; for you have a myriad ills and neither to fly from them nor to bear them is easy. Sweet are your natural beauties, the earth, the sea, the stars, the orbs of the sun and moon. But all the rest is fear and pain, and if some good befall a man, an answering Nemesis succeeds it.
[124] GLYCON { F 1 } G
All is laughter, all is dust, all is nothing, for all that is comes out of unreason.
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Greek Anthology: Book 11
THE CONVIVIAL AND SATIRICAL EPIGRAMS
This selection from Book 11 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]
Nicarchus →
[4] PARMENION { Ph 12 } G
A certain man, having married a woman who is complaisant to his neighbour only, snores and feeds. That was the way to get a living easily - not to go to sea, not to dig, but to snore off one's dinner with a comfortable stomach, fattened richly at the expense of another.
[7]
Nicarchus →
[9] LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA { F 34 } G
Set not before me after supper, when I can no longer persuade my belly, udders and slices of pork. For neither to labourers after harvest is rain out of season useful, nor the Zephyr to mariners in port.
[10]
Lucillius →
[11]
Lucillius →
[12]
Alcaeus →
[17]
Philippus →
[18]
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[20]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[23]
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[24]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[25]
Apollonides →
[26]
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[27] MACEDONIUS { Ph 3 } G
Rough, sweet-scented dust of Surrentum, hail, and hail, you earth of Pollentia most honeyed and Hasta's soil thrice desired from which the triple band of Graces knead for Bacchus the clay that is akin to wine ! Hail, common possession of wealth and poverty, to the poor a necessary vessel, to the rich a more superfluous instrument of luxury ! *
* He addresses the different soils from which the clay considered most suitable for wine-jars came.
[28]
Marcus_Argentarius →
[29] AUTOMEDON { Ph 2 } G
Send and summon her ; you have everything ready. But if she comes, what will you do? Think over that, Automedon. For this thing, which before stayed unbending, but is now flabbier than a boiled carrot, has shrunk wholly into my thighs dead and gone. They will laugh at you much if you venture to put to sea without any tackle, an oarsman who no longer has his oar.
[30]
Philodemus →
[31]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[32] HONESTUS { Ph 8 } G
Bacchus, leading the revels of the Graces, instituted in thee, Sicyon, the sermons of the jolly Muse. * Indeed, very sweet are his rebukes and in laughter is his sting. A man in his cups teaches wisdom to a clever man of the town.
* i. e. the Satyric drama. See epigram 7. 707 (Dioscorides).
[33]
Philippus →
[34]
Philodemus →
[35]
Philodemus →
[36]
Philippus →
[37]
Antipater_of_Thessalonica →
[38] KING POLEMON { Ph 2 } G
On a relief representing a jar, a loaf, a crown, and a skull
This is the poor man's welcome armour against hunger - a jar and a loaf, here is a crown of dewy leaves, and this is the holy bone, outwork of a dead brain, the highest citadel of the soul. "Drink," says the sculpture, " and eat, and surround you with flowers, for like to this we suddenly become. " *
* The distich has been found engraved on a gem beneath a skull and table spread with food.
[39] MACEDONIUS OF THESSALONICA { Ph 1 } G
Yesterday a woman was drinking with me about whom an unpleasant story is current. Break the cups, slaves.
[40] ANTISTIUS { Ph 3 } G
Cleodemus, Eumenes' boy, is still small, but tiny as he is, he dances with the boys in a little company of worshippers. Look ! he has even put on the skin of a dappled fawn and he shakes the ivy on his yellow hair. Make him big, Theban King, * so that your little servant may soon lead holy dances of young men.
* i. e. Bacchus.
[41]
Philodemus →
[42]
Crinagoras →
[43] ZONAS { Ph 9 } G
Give me the sweet beaker wrought of earth, earth from which I was born, and under which I shall lie when dead.
[44]
Philodemus →
[45] HONESTUS { Ph 9 } G
Drink which we wish ourselves is ever the sweetest ; what is forced on us does outrage to the wine as well as to the drinker. The drinker will spill the wine on the earth secretly, and, if he drink it, it will often take him under the earth to the bitter water of Lethe. Farewell, you topers ; just as much as I like to drink is to me the sufficient measure of all enjoyment.
[46] AUTOMEDON OF CYZICUS { Ph 1 } G
We are men in the evening when we drink together, but when day-break comes, we get up wild beasts preying on each other.
[49] EUENUS { Ph 6 } G
The best measure of wine is neither much nor very little ; for it is the cause of either grief or madness. It pleases the wine to be the fourth, mixed with three Nymphs. * Then it is most suited for the bridal chamber too, but if it breathe too fiercely, it puts the Loves to flight and plunges us in a sleep which is neighbour to death.
* i. e. to be mixed in the proportion of one quarter to three of water.
[50] AUTOMEDON { Ph 4 } G
Blest is he first who owes naught to anyone, next he who never married, and thirdly he who is childless. But if a man be mad enough to marry, it is a blessing for him if he buries his wife at once after getting a handsome dowry. Knowing this, be wise, and leave Epicurus to enquire in vain where is the void and what are the atoms.
[53] Anonymous { F 15 } G
The rose blooms for a little season, and when that goes by you shall find, if you seek, no rose, but a briar.
[65] PARMENION { Ph 13 } G
It is difficult to choose between famine and an old woman. To hunger is terrible, but her bed is still more painful. Phillis when starving prayed to have an elderly wife, but when he slept with her he prayed for famine. Behold the inconstancy of a portionless son !
[66]
Antiphilus →
[67] MYRINUS { Ph 4 } G
The letter υ signifies four hundred, but your years are twice as much, my tender Lais, as old as a crow and Hecuba put together, grandmother of Sisyphus and sister of Deucalion. But dye your white hair and say "tata" * to everyone.
* A child's word, "papa. " cp. Mart. i. 101.
[68]
Lucillius →
[69]
Lucillius →
[70] LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA { F 35 } G
Philinus when he was young married an old woman, in his old age he married a girl of twelve, but he never knew Venus at the right season. Therefore sowing formerly in barren land he remained childless, and now has married a wife for others to enjoy and is deprived of both blessings.
[71]
Nicarchus →
[72] BASSUS OF SMYRNA { Ph 10 } G
Cytotaris with her grey temples, the garrulous old woman, who makes Nestor no longer the oldest of men, she who has looked on the light longer than a stag and has begun to reckon her second old age on her left hand, * is alive and sharp-sighted and firm on her legs like a bride, so that I wonder if something has not befallen Death.
* The fingers of the right hand were used for counting hundreds and thousands, those of the left for decades and units. The meaning then, I suppose, is that she has reached a thousand and is now counting the years of the first century of her next thousand which he calls her second old age.
[73]
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[74]
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Lucillius →
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[107]
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[108] JULIAN (? ) { F 2 } G
Conon is two cubits tall, his wife four. In bed, then, with their feet on a level, reckon where Conon's face is.
[110]
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[111]
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[112]
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[113]
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[114]
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[115]
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[123] HEDYLUS { H 11 } G
Agis neither purged Aristagoras, nor touched him, but no sooner had he come in than Aristagoras was gone. What aconite has such natural virtue ? you coffin-makers, throw chaplets and garlands on Agis.
[124]
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[131]
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[148]
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[153]
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[154]
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[155]
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[158]
Antipater of Thessalonica →
On Prophets (159-164)
[159]
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[160]
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[161]
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[162]
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[163]
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[164]
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[168] ANTIPHANES { Ph 8 } G
You reckon up your money, poor wretch ; but Time, just as it breeds interest, so, as it overtakes you, gives birth to grey old age. And so having neither drunk wine, nor bound your temples with flowers, having never known sweet ointment or a delicate little love, you shall die, leaving a great and wealthy testament, and of all your riches carrying away with you but one obol. *
* That which it was customary to put in the corpse's mouth.
[169]
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[170]
Nicarchus →
[171]
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[172]
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[185]
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[186]
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[187] LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA { F 36 } G
Simylus the lyre-player killed all his neighbours by playing the whole night, except only Origenes, whom Nature had made deaf, and therefore gave him longer life in the place of hearing.
[189]
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[190]
Lucillius →
[191]
Lucillius →
[192]
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[194]
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[195]
Dioscorides →
On Ugly People (196-204)
[196]
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[197]
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[199] LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA { F 37 } G
Hook-nosed Sosipolis does not buy fish, but gets plenty of good fare from the sea for nothing ; bringing no line and rod, but attaching a hook to his nose, he pulls out everything that swims.
[200] LEONIDAS OF ALEXANDRIA { F 38 } G
Zenogenes' house was on fire, and he was struggling in his efforts to let himself down from a window. By fixing planks together he could not reach far enough, but at length, when it struck him, he set Antimachus' nose as a ladder and escaped.
[205]
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[218] CRATES { H 1 } G
{ Translated by F. Cairns }
Choerilus falls far short of Antimachus, but on all occasions Euphorion had Choerilus in his mouth, and he subjected his poems to glosses, and he truly knew the works of Philitas; for he was indeed a follower of Homer. *
* Such is the meaning the epigram bears on its face, but several somewhat improper puns give it a different meaning, reflecting not on the style but on the morals of Euphorion.
[219]
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[224]
Antipater of Thessalonica →
[233]
Lucillius →
[234]
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[235] DEMODOCUS { F 2 } G
This, too, is by Demodocus : "The Chians are bad, not one bad and another not, but all bad except Procles, and Procles is a Chian. " *
* Demodocus of Leros lived previously to Aristotle who mentions him. There is another couplet identical with this except that the Lerians are substituted for the Chians and that the saying is attributed to Phocylides. Bentley's paraphrase, " The Germans in Greek are sadly to seek, Except only Hermann, and Hermann's a German," is well known.
[239]
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[240]
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[241]
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[242]
Nicarchus →
[243]
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[245]
Lucillius →
[246]
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[247]
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[248]
Bianor →
[249]
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[264]
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[275] APOLLONIUS (RHODIUS) { F 1 } G
Callimachus the outcast, the butt, the wooden head ! The origin is Callimachus who wrote the Origins. *
* Callimachus' chief poem ("Aetia"), of which we now possess portions, was so called. I think this distich was very probably written by Apollonius in the margin of an alphabetical dictionary in which stood kallusma: to katharma. . . . : to paignion. kalopous: ho xulinos pous. This gives it more point.
[276]
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[277]
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[279]
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[282]
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[293]
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[295]
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[315]
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[316]
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[318]
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[319] AUTOMEDON { Ph 5 } G
If you bring ten sacks of charcoal you, too, will be a citizen, and if you bring a pig, also, you will be Triptolemus himself, and to Heracleides your introducer must be given either some stalks of cabbage, or lentils, or snails. Have these with you and call yourself Erechtheus, Cecrops, Codrus, * whoever you like ; no one minds at all about it.
* Ancient Athenian heroes; he is satirizing the facility with which the Athenians granted citizenship.
[320]
Marcus_Argentarius →
[321]
Philippus →
[322] ANTIPHANES { Ph 9 } G
Idly curious race of grammarians, you who dig up by the roots the poetry of others ; unhappy book-worms that walk on thorns, defilers of the great, proud of your Erinna, * bitter and dry dogs set on by Callimachus, bane of poets, darkness to little beginners, away with you, bugs that secretly bite the eloquent.
* She was reckoned among the Alexandrian poets, and hence is mentioned here together with Callimachus.
[324] AUTOMEDON { Ph 6 } G
A. Accept, Phoebus, the supper I bring thee. B. I will accept it if someone lets me. A. Then, Son of Leto, is there something that you too do fear ? B. No one else but only Arrius, for he, that ministrant of an altar that smells not of fat, * has a more powerful claw than a robber-hawk, and once he has celebrated the procession he walks back carrying off everything. There is great virtue in Zeus' ambrosia, for I should be one of you {starving} if a god, too, could feel hunger.
* Because he carries all the meat away and never lets the altar smell of fat.
[325] AUTOMEDON { Ph 7 } G
Having supped yesterday on a leg of an old goat and the yellow stalk, ten days old, of a cabbage like hemp, I am shy of mentioning the man who invited me ; for he is short-tempered, and I am not a little afraid of his asking me again.
[326] AUTOMEDON { Ph 10 } G
Beard and rough hair on the thighs, how quickly time changes all ! Connichus, is this what you have become ? Did I not say, "Be not in all things harsh and discourteous; Beauty has its own Avenging Deities" ? So you have come into the pen, * proud youth ; we know that you wish for it now ; but then, too, you might have had sense.
* i. e. as I think, "You have become tame. " Commentators interpret, "You have become like a goat. "
[327]
Antipater of Thessalonica →
[328]
Nicarchus →
[329]
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[330]
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[331]
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[332]
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[346] AUTOMEDON { Ph 8 } G
How long, Polycarpus, sitting to feast at an empty table, * shall you live undetected on the savings of others ? I no longer see you much in the market-place, but you now turn up side streets and try to think where your feet shall carry you. You promise all, "Come, take yours to-morrow. Come and get it": but not even if you take your oath do you continue to keep faith.
