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LOVE, WORSHIP AND DEATH

Some renderings from the Greek Anthology

BY

SIR RENNELL RODD


AUTHOR OF

'BALLADS OF THE FLEET'

'THE VIOLET CROWN,' ETC.



LONDON

EDWARD ARNOLD

1916




INTRODUCTION


Among the many diverse forms of expression in which the Greek genius has
been revealed to us, that which is preserved in the lyrics of the
anthology most typically reflects the familiar life of men, the thought
and feeling of every day in the lost ancient world. These little flowers
of song reveal, as does no other phase of that great literature, a
personal outlook on life, kindly, direct and simple, the tenderness
which characterised family relations, the reciprocal affection of master
and slave, sympathy with the domestic animals, a generous sense of the
obligations of friendship, a gentle piety and a close intimacy with the
nature gods, of whose presence, malignant or benign, the Greek was ever
sensitively conscious. For these reasons they still make so vivid an
appeal to us after a long silence of many centuries. To myself who have
lived for some years in that enchanted world of Greece, and have sailed
from island to island of its haunted seas, the shores have seemed still
quick with the voices of those gracious presences who gave exquisite
form to their thoughts on life and death, their sense of awe and beauty
and love. There indeed poetry seems the appropriate expression of the
environment, and there even still to-day, more than anywhere else in the
world, the correlation of our life with nature may be felt
instinctively; the human soul seems nearest to the soul of the world.

The poems, of which some renderings are here offered to those who cannot
read the originals, cover a period of about a thousand years, broken by
one interval during which the lesser lyre is silent. The poets of the
_elegy_ and the _melos_ appear in due succession after those of the
_epic_ and, significant perhaps of the transition, there are found in
the first great period of the lyric the names of two women, Sappho of
<DW26>s, acknowledged by the unanimous voice of antiquity, which is
confirmed by the quality of a few remaining fragments, to be among the
greatest poets of all times, and Corinna of Tanagra, who contended with
Pindar and rivalled Sappho's mastery. The canon of Alexandria does not
include among the nine greater lyrists the name of Erinna of Rhodes, who
died too young, in the maiden glory of her youth and fame. The earlier
poets of the _melos_ were for the most part natives of

                    'the sprinkled isles,
     Lily on lily that overlace the sea.'

Theirs is the age of the austerer mood, when the clean-cut marble
outlines of a great language matured in its noblest expression. Then a
century of song is followed by the period of the dramatists during which
the lyric muse is almost silent, in an age of political and intellectual
intensity.

A new epoch of lyrical revival is inaugurated by the advent of
Alexander, and the wide extension of Hellenic culture to more distant
areas of the Mediterranean. Then follows the long succession of poets
who may generally be classified as of the school of Alexandria. Among
them are three other women singers of high renown, Anyte of Tegea,
Nossis of Locri in southern Italy, and Moero of Byzantium. The later
writers of this period had lost the graver purity of the first lyric
outburst, but they had gained by a wider range of sympathy and a closer
touch with nature. This group may be said to close with Meleager, who
was born in Syria and educated at Tyre, whose contact with the eastern
world explains a certain suggestive and exotic fascination in his poetry
which is not strictly Greek. The Alexandrian is followed by the Roman
period, and the Roman by the Byzantine, in which the spirit of the muse
of Hellas expires reluctantly in an atmosphere of bureaucratic and
religious pedantry.

These few words of introduction should suffice, since the development of
the lyric poetry of Greece and the characteristics of its successive
exponents have been made familiar to English readers in the admirable
work of my friend J.W. Mackail. A reference to his _Select Epigrams from
the Greek Anthology_ suggests one plea of justification for the present
little collection of renderings, since the greater number of them have
been by him translated incomparably well into prose.

Of the quality of verse translation there are many tests: the closeness
with which the intention and atmosphere of the original has been
maintained; the absence of extraneous additions; the omission of no
essential feature, and the interpretation, by such equivalent as most
adequately corresponds, of individualities of style and assonances of
language. But not the least essential justification of poetical
translation is that the version should constitute a poem on its own
account, worthy to stand by itself on its own merits if the reader were
unaware that it was a translation. It is to this test especially that
renderings in verse too often fail to conform. I have discarded not a
few because they seemed too obviously to bear the forced expression
which the effort to interpret is apt to induce. Of those that remain
some at least I hope approach the desired standard, failing to achieve
which they would undoubtedly be better expressed in simple prose. And
yet there is a value in rendering rhythm by rhythm where it is possible,
and if any success has been attained, such translations probably convey
more of the spirit of the original, which meant verse, with all which
that implies, and not prose.

The arrangement in this little volume is approximately chronological in
sequence. This should serve to illustrate the severe and restrained
simplicity of the earlier writers as contrasted with the more complex
and conscious thought, and the more elaborate expression of later
centuries when the horizons of Hellenism had been vastly extended.

The interpretation of these lyrics has been my sole and grateful
distraction during a period of ceaseless work and intense anxiety in the
tragic years of 1914 and 1915.

R.R.




INDEX OF AUTHORS


MIMNERMUS--CARPE DIEM

SAPPHO--
  I. A BITTER WORD
  II. THE BELOVED PRESENCE
  III. HESPER
  IV. OUT OF REACH

ANACREONTICA--
  I. LOVE'S CHALLENGE
  II. BACCHANAL
  III. HER PORTRAIT
  IV. METAMORPHOSIS
  V. APOLOGIA

UNKNOWN--ANACREON'S GRAVE

SIMONIDES--
  I. ON THE SPARTANS
  II. ON THE ATHENIANS

PLATO--
  I. A GRAVE IN PERSIA
  II. STARWORSHIP
  III. THE UNSET STAR
  IV. LAIS

PERSES--A RUSTIC SHRINE

ANYTE OF TEGEA--
  I. A SHRINE BY THE SEA
  II. THE GOD OF THE CROSS-ROADS

ADDAEUS--THE ANCIENT OX

ASCLEPIADES--THE PRAISE OF LOVE

MICIAS--A WAYSIDE FOUNTAIN

CALLIMACHUS--CAST UP BY THE SEA

NOSSIS--
  I. ROSES OF CYPRIS
  II. RINTHO'S GRAVE

LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM--
  I. ERINNA
  II. THE FOUNTAIN HEAD

DIONYSUS--THE ROSE OF YOUTH

DAMAGETUS--THEANO

ARCHIAS--
  I. THE HARBOUR GOD
  II. A GRAVE BY THE SEA

MELEAGER--
  I. LOVE'S QUIVER
  II. THE CUP
  III. ZENOPHILE
  IV. LOVE AND DEATH
  V. LOVE'S MALICE
  VI. ASCLEPIAS
  VII. HELIODORA
  VIII. THE WREATH
  IX. LIBATION
  X. THE GRAVE OF HELIODORA
  XI. HIS EPITAPH

CRINAGORAS--ROSES IN WINTER

JULIUS POLYAENUS--
  AN EXILE'S PRAYER

ANTIPATER OF THESSALONICA--
  A GRAVE AT OSTIA

UNKNOWN--
  FRIENDSHIP'S EPITAPH

UNKNOWN--
  THE COUNSEL OF PAN
  BENITIER
  THE END OF THE COMEDY

STRATO--THE KISS

AMMIANUS--THE LORD OF LANDS

ALPHEUS--MYCENAE

MACEDONIUS--THE THRESHOLD

NOTES



     MIMNERMUS

     7TH CENTURY B.C.



     CARPE DIEM


     Hold fast thine youth, dear soul of mine, new lives will come to birth,
     And I that shall have passed away be one with the brown earth.




     SAPPHO

     7TH AND 6TH CENTURY B.C.



     I

     A BITTER WORD


     Dying thou shalt lie in nothingness, nor after
     Love shall abide here nor memory of thee;
     For thou hast no portion in the roses of Pieria;
     But even in the nether world obscurely shalt thou wander
     Flitting hither thither with the phantoms of the dead.


     Note 1



     II

     THE BELOVED PRESENCE


     Blest as the Gods are esteem I him who alway
     Sits face to face with thee and watching thee forgoes not
     The voice that is music and the smile that is seduction,
                 Smile that my heart knows
     Fluttered in its chambers. For lo, when I behold thee
     Forthwith my voice fails, my tongue is tied in silence,
     Flame of fire goes through me, my ears are full of murmur,
                 Blinded I see naught:
     Sweat breaketh forth on me, and all my being trembles,
     Paler am I grown than the pallor of the dry grass,
     Death seemeth almost to have laid his hand upon me.--
                      Then I dare all things.


     Note 2



     III

     HESPER


     Thou, Hesper, bringest homeward all
       That radiant dawn sped far and wide:
     The sheep to fold, the goat to stall,
       The children to their mother's side.



     IV

     OUT OF REACH


     Like the apple that ripens rosy at the end of a branch on high,
       At the utmost end of the utmost bough,
       Which those that gather forgot till now.
     Nay, did not forget, but only they never might come thereby.




     ANACREONTICA

     ANACREON, 6TH CENTURY B.C.



     I

     LOVE'S CHALLENGE


     Love smote me with his jacinth wand and challenged me to race,
     And wore me down with running till the sweat poured off my face,
     Through breaks of tangled woodland, by chasms sheer to scale,
     Until my heart was in my lips and at the point to fail.
     Then as I felt his tender wings brush lightly round my head,
     ''Tis proven that thou lackest the strength to love,' he said.


     Note 3



     II

     BACCHANAL


     When Bacchus hath possessed me my cares are lulled in wine,
     And all the wealth of Croesus is not more his than mine:
     I crown my head with ivy, I lift my voice to sing,
     And in my exultation seem lord of every thing.
     So let the warrior don his arms, give me my cup instead,
     If I must lie my length on earth, why better drunk than dead.



     III

     HER PORTRAIT


     Master of all the craftsmen,
       Prince of the Rhodian art,
     Interpret, master craftsman,
       Each detail I impart,
     And draw as were she present
       The mistress of my heart.

     First you must match those masses
       Of darkly clustered hair,
     And if such skill be in your wax
       The scent that harbours there;
     And where the flowing tresses cast
       A warm-toned shadow, trace
     A forehead white as ivory,
       The oval of her face.
     Her brows you must not quite divide
       Nor wholly join, there lies
     A subtle link between them
       Above the dark-lashed eyes.
     And you must borrow flame of fire
       To give her glance its due,
     As tender as Cithera's
       And as Athena's blue.
     For cheek and nostril rose-leaves
       And milk you shall enlist,
     And shape her lips like Peitho's
       Inviting to be kissed.
     Let all the Graces stay their flight
       And gather round to deck
     The outline of her tender chin,
       The marble of her neck.
     And for the rest--bedrape her
       In robe of purple hue,
     With here and there to give it life
       The flesh tint peeping through.
     Now hold thy hand,--for I can see
       The face and form I seek,
     And surely in a moment's space
       I think your wax will speak.


     Note 4



     IV

     METAMORPHOSIS


     If she who, born to Tantalus,
       As Niobe we know,
     Was turned to stone among the hills
       Of Phrygia long ago;
     If Proene by such magic change
       Was made a bird that flies,
     Let me become the mirror
       That holds my lady's eyes!
     Or let me be the water
       In which your beauty bathes,
     Or the dress which clinging closely
       Your gracious presence swathes;
     Or change me to the perfume
       You sprinkle on your skin,
     Or let me be the pearl-drop
       That hangs beneath your chin;
     And if not these the girdle
       You bind below your breast;
     Or be at least the sandal
       Your little foot hath pressed.



     V

     APOLOGIA


     The brown earth drinks from heaven, and from the earth the tree,
     The sea drinks down the vapour, and the sun drinks up the sea,
     The moon drinks in the sunlight; now therefore, comrades, say
     What fault have you to find in me if I would drink as they?




     AUTHOR UNKNOWN



     ANACREON'S GRAVE


     You that pass this place of graves
       Pause and spill a cup for me,
     For I hold Anacreon's ashes,
       And would drink as once would he.




     SIMONIDES

     556-467 B.C.



     _THE PLATAEAN EPITAPHS_



     I

     ON THE SPARTANS


     These who with fame eternal their own dear land endowed
     Took on them as a mantle the shade of death's dark cloud;
     Yet dying thus they died not, on whom is glory shed
     By virtue which exalts them above all other dead.



     II

     ON THE ATHENIANS


     If to die nobly be the meed that lures the noblest mind,
     Then unto us of all men in this was fortune kind.
     For Greece we marched, that freedom's arm should ever round her fold;
     We died, but gained for guerdon renown  that grows not old.




     PLATO

     429-347 B.C.



     I

     A GRAVE IN PERSIA


     Far from our own AEgean shore
       And the surges booming deep,
     Here where Ecbatana's great plain
       Lies broad, we exiles sleep.
     Farewell, Eretria the renowned,
       Where once we used to dwell;
     Farewell, our neighbour Athens;
       Beloved sea, farewell!


     Note 5



     II

     STARWORSHIP


     Thou gazest starward, star of mine, whose heaven I fain would be,
     That all my myriad starry eyes might only gaze on thee.



     III

     THE UNSET STAR


     Star that didst on the living at dawn thy lustre shed,
     Now as the star of evening thou shinest with the dead!



     IV

     LAIS


     I that through the land of Hellas
       Laughed in triumph and disdain,
     Lais, of whose open porches
       All the love-struck youth were fain,
     Bring the mirror once I gazed in,
       Cyprian, at thy shrine to vow,
     Since I see not there what once was,
       And I would not what is now.




     PERSES

     4TH CENTURY B.C.



     A RUSTIC SHRINE


     I am the god of the little things,
       In whom you will surely find,
     If you call upon me in season,
       A little god who is kind.
     You must not ask of me great things,
       But what is in my control,
     I, Tychon, god of the humble,
       May grant to a simple soul.


     Note 6




     ANYTE OF TEGEA

     4TH CENTURY B.C.



     I

     A SHRINE BY THE SEA


     This is the Cyprian's holy ground,
       Who ever loves to stand
     Where she can watch the shining seas
       Beyond the utmost land;
     That sailors on their voyages
       May prosper by her aid,
     Whose radiant effigy the deep
       Beholding is afraid.



     II

     THE GOD OF THE CROSS-ROADS


     I, Hermes, by the grey sea-shore,
       Set where the three roads meet,
     Outside the wind-swept garden,
       Give rest to weary feet;
     The waters of my fountain
       Are clear, and cool, and sweet.




     ADDAEUS

     4TH CENTURY B.C.



     THE ANCIENT OX


     The ox of Alcon was not led to the slaughter when at length
     Age and the weary furrow had sapped his olden strength.
     His faithful work was honoured, and in the deep grass now
     He strays and lows contentment, enfranchised from the plough.




     ASCLEPIADES

     3RD CENTURY B.C.



     THE PRAISE OF LOVE


     Sweet is the snow in summer thirst to drink, and sweet the day
     When sailors see spring's garland bloom and winter pass away.
     But the sweetest