ANACREON'S GRAVE
ANTIPATER OF SIDON (First Century B.C.)
O stranger who passeth by the humble tomb of Anacreon, if thou hast had
aught of good from my books, pour libation on my ashes, pour libation of
the jocund grape, that my bones may rejoice, wetted with wine; so I, who
was ever deep in the wine-steeped revels of Dionysus, I who was bred
among drinking-tunes, shall not even when dead endure without Bacchus
this place to which the generation of mortals must come.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
REST AT NOON
MELEAGER (First Century B.C.)
Voiceful cricket, drunken with drops of dew, thou playest thy rustic
music that murmurs in the solitude, and perched on the leaf edges
shrillest thy lyre-tune with serrated legs and swart skin. But, my dear,
utter a new song for the tree-nymphs' delight, and make thy harp-notes
echo to Pan's, that escaping Love I may seek out sleep at noon, here,
lying under the shady plane.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
"IN THE SPRING A YOUNG MAN'S FANCY"
MELEAGER
Now the white iris blossoms, and the rain-loving narcissus,
And now again the lily, the mountain-roaming, blows.
Now too, the flower of lovers, the crown of all the springtime,
Zenophila the winsome, doth blossom with the rose.
O meadows, wherefore vainly in your radiant garlands laugh ye?
Since fairer is the maiden than any flower that grows!
Translation of Alma Strettell.
MELEAGER'S OWN EPITAPH
MELEAGER
Tread softly, O stranger; for here an old man sleeps among the holy
dead, lulled in the slumber due to all; Meleager son of Eucrates, who
united Love of the sweet tears and the Muses with the joyous Graces;
whom god-begotten Tyre brought to manhood, and the sacred land of
Gadara, but lovely Cos nursed in old age among the Meropes. But if thou
art a Syrian, say "Salam," and if a Phoenician, "Naidios," and if a
Greek, "Hail": they are the same.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
EPILOGUE
PHILODEMUS (60 B.C.)
I was in love once; who has not been? I have reveled; who is uninitiated
in revels? Nay, I was mad; at whose prompting but a god's? Let them go;
for now the silver hair is fast replacing the black, a messenger of
wisdom that comes with age. We too played when the time of playing was;
and now that it is no longer, we will turn to worthier thoughts.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
DOCTOR AND DIVINITY
NICARCHUS
Marcus the doctor called yesterday on the marble Zeus; though marble,
and though Zeus, his funeral is to-day.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
LOVE'S IMMORTALITY
STRATO (First Century A.D.)
Who may know if a loved one passes the prime, while ever with him and
never left alone? Who may not satisfy to-day who satisfied yesterday?
and if he satisfy, what should befall him not to satisfy to-morrow?
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
AS THE FLOWERS OF THE FIELD
STRATO
If thou boast in thy beauty, know that the rose too blooms, but quickly
being withered, is cast on the dunghill; for blossom and beauty have the
same time allotted to them, and both together envious time withers away.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
SUMMER SAILING
ANTIPHILUS (First Century A.D.)
Mine be a mattress on the poop, and the awnings over it, sounding with
the blows of the spray, and the fire forcing its way out of the
hearthstones, and a pot upon them with empty turmoil of bubbles; and let
me see the boy dressing the meat, and my table be a ship's plank covered
with a cloth; and a game of pitch-and-toss, and the boatswain's whistle:
the other day I had such fortune, for I love common life.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
THE GREAT MYSTERIES
CRINAGORAS (First Century A.D.)
Though thy life be fixed in one seat, and thou sailest not the sea nor
treadest the roads on dry land, yet by all means go to Attica, that thou
mayest see those great nights of the worship of Demeter; whereby thou
shalt possess thy soul without care among the living, and lighter when
thou must go to the place that awaiteth all.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
TO PRIAPUS OF THE SHORE
MAECIUS (Roman period)
Priapus of the sea-shore, the trawlers lay before thee these gifts by
the grace of thine aid from the promontory, having imprisoned a tunny
shoal in their nets of spun hemp in the green sea entrances: a beechen
cup, and a rude stool of heath, and a glass cup holding wine, that thou
mayest rest thy foot, weary and cramped with dancing, while thou chasest
away the dry thirst.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
THE COMMON LOT
AMMIANUS (Second Century A.D.)
Though thou pass beyond thy landmarks even to the pillars of Heracles,
the share of earth that is equal to all men awaits thee, and thou shalt
lie even as Irus, having nothing more than thine obelus moldering into a
land that at last is not thine.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
"TO-MORROW, AND TO-MORROW"
MACEDONIUS (Third Century A.D.)
"To-morrow I will look on thee,"--but that never comes for us, while the
accustomed putting-off ever grows and grows. This is all thy grace to my
longing; and to others thou bearest other gifts, despising my faithful
service. "I will see thee at evening." And what is the evening of a
woman's life?--old age, full of a million wrinkles.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
THE PALACE GARDEN
ARABIUS (527-567 A.D.)
I am filled with waters, and gardens, and groves, and vineyards, and the
joyousness of the bordering sea; and fisherman and farmer from different
sides stretch forth to me the pleasant gifts of sea and land: and them
who abide in me, either a bird singing or the sweet cry of the ferrymen
lulls to rest.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
THE YOUNG WIFE
JULIANUS AEGYPTIUS (532 A.D.)
In season the bride-chamber held thee, out of season the grave took
thee, O Anastasia, flower of the blithe Graces; for thee a father, for
thee a husband pours bitter tears; for thee haply even the ferryman of
the dead weeps; for not a whole year didst thou accomplish beside thine
husband, but at sixteen years old, alas! the tomb holds thee.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
A NAMELESS GRAVE
PAULUS SILENTIARIUS
My name, my country, what are they to thee?
What, whether proud or bare my pedigree?
Perhaps I far surpassed all other men;
Perhaps I fell below them all. What then?
Suffice it, stranger, that thou seest a tomb.
Thou knowest its use. It hides--no matter whom.
Translation of William Cowper.
RESIGNATION
JOANNES BARBUCALLUS (Sixth Century A.D.)
Gazing upon my husband as my last thread was spun, I praised the gods
of death, and I praised the gods of marriage,--those, that I left my
husband alive, and these, that he was even such an one; but may he
remain, a father for our children.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
THE HOUSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS
MACEDONIUS (Sixth Century A.D.)
Righteousness has raised this house from the first foundation even to
the lofty roof; for Macedonius fashioned not his wealth by heaping up
from the possessions of others with plundering sword, nor has any poor
man here wept over his vain and profitless toil, being robbed of his
most just hire; and as rest from labor is kept inviolate by the just
man, so let the works of pious mortals endure.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
LOVE'S FERRIAGE
AGATHIAS (527-565 A.D.)
Since she was watched and could not kiss me closely,
Divine Rhodanthe cast her maiden zone
From off her waist, and holding it thus loosely
By the one end, she put a kiss thereon;
Then I--Love's stream as through a channel taking--
My lips upon the other end did press
And drew the kisses in, while ceaseless making,
Thus from afar, reply to her caress.
So the sweet girdle did beguile our pain,
Being a ferry for our kisses twain.
Translation of Alma Strettell.
[The following are undetermined in date.]
ON A FOWLER
ISIDORUS
With reeds and bird-lime from the desert air
Eumelus gathered free though scanty fare.
No lordly patron's hand he deign'd to kiss,
Nor luxury knew, save liberty, nor bliss.
Thrice thirty years he lived, and to his heirs
His reeds bequeathed, his bird-lime, and his snares.
Translation of William Cowper.
YOUTH AND RICHES
ANONYMOUS
I was young, but poor; now in old age I am rich: alas, alone of all men
pitiable in both, who then could enjoy when I had nothing, and now have
when I cannot enjoy.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
THE SINGING REED
ANONYMOUS
I the reed was a useless plant; for out of me grow not figs, nor apple,
nor grape cluster: but man consecrated me a daughter of Helicon,
piercing my delicate lips and making me the channel of a narrow stream;
and thenceforth whenever I sip black drink, like one inspired I speak
all words with this voiceless mouth.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
FIRST LOVE AGAIN REMEMBERED
ANONYMOUS
While yet the grapes were green thou didst refuse me;
When they were ripe, didst proudly pass me by:
But do not grudge me still a single cluster,
Now that the grapes are withering and dry.
Translation of Alma Strettell.
SLAVE AND PHILOSOPHER
ANONYMOUS
I Epictetus was a slave while here,
Deformed in body, and like Irus poor,
Yet to the gods immortal I was dear.
Translation of Lilla Cabot Perry, by permission of the
American Publishers' Corporation.
GOOD-BY TO CHILDHOOD
ANONYMOUS
Her tambourines and pretty ball, and the net that confined her hair, and
her dolls and dolls' dresses, Timareta dedicates before her marriage to
Artemis of Limnae,--a maiden to a maiden, as is fit; do thou, daughter of
Leto, laying thine hand over the girl Timareta, preserve her purely in
her purity.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
WISHING
ANONYMOUS
It's oh! to be a wild wind, when my lady's in the sun:
She'd just unbind her neckerchief, and take me breathing in.
It's oh! to be a red rose, just a faintly blushing one,
So she'd pull me with her hand, and to her snowy breast I'd win.
Translation of William M. Hardinge.
HOPE AND EXPERIENCE
ANONYMOUS
Whoso has married once and seeks a second wedding, is a shipwrecked man
who sails twice through a difficult gulf.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
THE SERVICE OF GOD
ANONYMOUS
Me, Chelidon, priestess of Zeus, who knew well in old age how to make
offering on the altars of the immortals, happy in my children, free from
grief, the tomb holds; for with no shadow in their eyes the gods saw my
piety.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
THE PURE IN HEART
ANONYMOUS
He who enters the incense-filled temple must be holy; and holiness is to
have a pure mind.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
THE WATER OF PURITY
ANONYMOUS
Hallowed in soul, O stranger, come even into the precinct of a pure god,
touching thyself with the virgin water: for the good a few drops are
set; but a wicked man the whole ocean cannot wash in its waters.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
ROSE AND THORN
ANONYMOUS
The rose is at her prime a little while; which once past, thou wilt find
when thou seekest, no rose, but a thorn.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
A LIFE'S WANDERING
ANONYMOUS
Know ye the flowery fields of the Cappadocian nation? Thence I was born
of good parents: since I left them I have wandered to the sunset and the
dawn; my name was Glaphyrus, and like my mind. I lived out my sixtieth
year in perfect freedom; I know both the favor of fortune and the
bitterness of life.
Translation of J.W. Mackail.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_.
2. Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest
paragraph break. Also the footnotes have been moved to the end of the
paragraph/poem in which they are referred.
3. Some selections for Richard Watson Gilder are different from those
mentioned in the Table of Contents.
4. The frontispiece "The Alexander Romance" and the photogravure "The
Bride's Toilet" mentioned in the "Full-Page Illustrations" list are
missing.
5. The words Coeli, Phoenician, Phoenicians, Phoebus, coenaeque, Soeur
and POENITENTIUM use "oe" ligature in the original.
6. The original text includes Greek characters. For this etext version
these letters have been replaced with transliterations.
7. Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies
in spelling, punctuation, hyphenation, and ligature usage have been
retained.