Artfully adorned Aphrodite, deathless child of Zeus and weaver of wiles I beg you please don't hurt me, don't overcome my spirit, but come here, if ever at other moments hearing these my words from afar you listened and responded: leaving your father's house, all hitching up your chariot: lovely sparrows drew you quickly over the dark earth, whirling on fine beating wings from the heights of heaven instantly arrived - and then O my blessed goddess with a smile on your deathless face you asked me what the matter was THIS time, what I what I now most wanted to happen in my raving heart:"Whom THIS time should I persuade to lead you back again to her love? Who NOW, oh If she flees you now, she will soon pursue you; if she won't accept what you give, she'll give it; if she doesn't love you, she'll love you soon now, Come to me again, and release me from this want past bearing. All that my heart desires to happen - make it happen. And stand beside me, * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * A PRAYER FOR CHARAXOS Cypris and you Nereids, bring my brother back to me unharmed: let him sail home safely: grant that every one of his heart's desires once he makes amends for the present straying of his ways, returning to bring great gladness to his friends and ruin upon our enemies. to his sister, let him consent to do her honor, just this once, and her cruel sorrow * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * AND ONE FOR HIS MISTRESS Aphrodite, Cyprian, let her find you at your very prickliest: don't let Doricha crow about him coming a second time to * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Most beautiful of all the stars O Hesperus, bringing everything the bright dawn scattered: you bring the sheep, you bring the goat, you bring the child back to her mother. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I have a beautiful little girl: the golden flowers are no match for her loveliness, my darling Kleis - for her, I wouldn't take all Lydia or sweet [ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * that when she was a girl if you bound the locks of your hair in back, gathered there in a circlet of plaited purple, that was truly a fine adornment, but for blondes with hair yellower than a torch it is better to fasten it with fresh garlands of flowers in bloom, and more recently there were headbands decorated in Sardis, elaborately embroidered [ [ ] But for you, dearest Kleis, I have no intricate headband and nowhere that I can get one: the Mytilenean [ ] [ ] [ ] these memorials of the exile of the children of Kleanax * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * In the house of the Muses' servants grief is not right. It would not suit us. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Wealth without virtue is no harmless neighbor. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * When anger spreads inside your breast keep watch against an idly barking tongue. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * But I'm not one of those with a resentful temperament: I have a quiet heart. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I don't expect to touch the sky with my two hands. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "Sweet Mother, I can't weave my web overcome with longing for a boy because of slender Aphrodite." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * And you, my Dika, crown your lovely locks with garlands, twining shoots of anise in your tender hands, for the blessed Graces come the sooner to those adorned with flowers, and turn away from the ungarlanded. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Though it isn't easy for us to rival goddesses in the loveliness of their figures [ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * maidens [ keeping vigil all through the night till morning used to sing the song of your love and of your But wake up. March off to the your unmarried men who shared your childhood and beg their presence so that we may look on less sleep than does the * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Cretan women once danced this way on gentle feet in time around the lovely altar, softly treading the tender flowers of grass. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * O you rosy-armed Graces, hallowed Daughters of Zeus, be here! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * whether Cyprus keeps you or Paphos or Panormos * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * mountain descending. come to me from Crete to the sacred recess of this temple: here you will find a grove of apple trees to charm you, and on the altars Here ice water babbles among the apple branches and musk roses have overshadowed all the ground; here down from the leaves' bright flickering There are meadows, too, where the horses graze knee deep in flowers, yes, and the breezes blow here honey sweet and softer [ Here now you, my goddess [ } Cypris in these golden wineglasses gracefully mix nectar with the gladness of our festivities * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The moon appeared in all her fullness and so the women stood around the altar. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * He is dying, Cytherea, Adonis the delicate. What shall we do? "Beat your breasts, girls, and tear your clothes." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ] weariness overcomes the heart ] settles down ] but come now, friends, dear girls, ] for day is near. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * IN ANSWER TO ALCAEUS [ ] "I want to tell you something, and yet my shame [ ] But if you wanted good things or lovely ones and if your tongue weren't stirring up something bad eyes: you would state your case [ But stand before me, if you are my friend, and spread the grace that's in your eyes. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * And since you are my friend get yourself a younger bedmate for I can't bear to keep house together being the elder. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * As a poet of Lesbos surpasses foreigners * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Let me wish the child of the house of Polyanax a most good day. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Now to delight my women friends I'll make a beautiful song of this affair. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Surely once you too were a delicate child: come now, sing this, all of you, add your voices to our celebration and grace us with your Yes, for we are off to a wedding: you too know this art, so hurry and send away all the unmarried women, and may the gods [ For there is no pathway up great Olympos * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * There a bowl of ambrosia was mixed and ready and Hermes took the pitcher and poured wine for the gods. They all held glasses and made libations, praying all good things for the groom. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Eros arrived from heaven wrapped in a purple mantle. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * golden chickpeas grew along the shore * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Come to me now, you delicate Graces and you fairtressed Muses * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Cyprus [ The herald came [ Idaios the swift messenger [ ] "...and all the rest of Asia [ ] undying glory. Hector and his companions escort a dartingeyed woman from sacred Thebe and fair Plakia's streams, delicate Andromache, aboard their ship on the salt sea, and with her many golden bracelets and scented purple robes and intricate adornments, silver goblets past numbering and ivory." So he said. His father leapt up eagerly and word went to his friends throughout the spacious city. The sons of Ilus led out mules and harnessed them to fairwheeled carriages and all the crowd of women and girls with slender ankles climbed on board [ and Priam's daughters separately [ And all the young unmarried men led out their stallions and harnessed them to chariots, spirited [ [ (several verses missing) ] ] like the very gods ] pure [ ]toward Ilion, the clash of castanets, and girls' clear voices singing a holy song. The sound rang out and reached the sky Everywhere through the streets [ wine bowls and cups [ and myrrh and cassia and frankincense were mingling. The women who were older raised a joyful cry and all the men sang out on high, a lovely song calling on Paian, the Farshooter, skilled with the lyre, in praise of godlike Hector and Andromache. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To what shall I best liken you, dear bridegroom? Most of all to a slender sapling I liken you. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * As a sweet apple reddens on a high branch at the tip of the topmost bough: The apple-pickers missed it. No, they didn't miss it: They couldn't reach it. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * For you, O bridegroom, there was never another girl like this one. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * We will give her, her father says. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Fortunate bridegroom, now the marriage that you prayed for is accomplished, you have the girl for whom you prayed, and YOU, bride, your appearance is full of grace, your eyes are gentle and love wells on your delightful face: Aphrodite has honored you beyond all others. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Lift high the roofbeam, HYMENAEUS, lift high, you carpenters: HYMENAEUS, the groom is coming, Ares' equal, greater far than a mortal man. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The feet of the doorkeeper are seven fathoms long, his sandals are of five oxhides, ten shoemakers worked to stitch them. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * As a hyacinth in the mountains that men shepherding tread underfoot, and to the ground its flower, all purple [ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "Virginity, virginity, where have you gone and left me?" "Never again will I come to you, never again." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Farewell, O bride, farewell O honored groom, farewell * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * These are Timas's ashes: on the threshold of her marriage she died and entered Persephone's dark house instead, and all the girls who were her friends took fresh-honed iron to the long locks of their lovely hair and laid them on this grave. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Hekate, the shining gold attendant of Aphrodite * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Come to me once more, O you Muses, leaving golden [ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * For they say that Leda once found a hyacinth colored egg, all covered [ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Now Leto and Niobe were very dear companions * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ] to Phoibos the Goldenhaired whom Koio's daughter bore "By your head, I will remain a virgin always ]come, nod your head, grant me this favor." and so the gods and people, too, call her Deershooter ]and Eros never approaches her [ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The moon has set and the Pleiades; it is the middle of the night and the hours go by and I lie here alone. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Earth with her many garlands is embroidered * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * spring's messenger, the lovelyvoiced nightingale * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * When the pigeons' spirits grow cold they let their wings droop at their sides. [ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * when nightlong slumber closes their eyes * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * O Dream on your dark wings you come circling whenever sleep descends on me, sweet god, and by your power keep off the cruel memory of pain. Then hope gets hold of me that I won't share anything that the blessed gods [ for I would not be so [ these toys [ But may I have them all [ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * |