Epakouein

dionysus-wine

Ὦναξ, ᾧ δαμάλης Ἔρως
καὶ Νύμφαι κυανώπιδες
πορφυρῆ τ’ Ἀφροδίτη
συμπαίζουσιν, ἐπιστρέφεαι
δ’ ὑψηλὰς ὀρέων κορυφάς·
γουνοῦμαί σε, σὺ δ’ εὐμενὴς
ἔλθ’ ἡμίν, κεχαρισμένης
δ’ εὐχωλῆς ἐπακούειν·
Κλεοβούλῳ δ’ ἀγαθὸς γένεο
σύμβουλος, τὸν ἐμόν γ’ ἔρω-
τ’, ὦ Δεόνυσε, δέχεσθαι.
(Anacreon, fr. 357)

Lord, with whom Eros the subduer
And the dark-eyed Nymphs
And rosy-skinned Aphrodite
Play, you roam about
The lofty mountain peaks.
I beseech you, please come to us
Well-disposed, and hear
Our prayer with favor.
Become a good advisor to Cleobulus,
That he accept my love,
O Dionysus.
(tr. Thomas K. Hubbard)

Nuntiate

oranjegeknaktfotojanwijten

Furi et Aureli, comites Catulli,
sive in extremos penetrabit Indos,
litus ut longe resonante Eoa
tunditur unda,

sive in Hyrcanos Arabasve molles,
seu Sagas sagittiferosve Parthos,
sive quae septemgeminus colorat
aequora Nilus,

sive trans altas gradietur Alpes,
Caesaris visens monimenta magni,
Gallicum Rhenum, horribiles vitro ulti-
mosque Britannos,

omnia haec, quaecumque feret voluntas
caelitum, temptare simul parati,
pauca nuntiate meae puellae
non bona dicta.

cum suis vivat valeatque moechis,
quos simul complexa tenet trecentos,
nullum amans vere, sed identidem omnium
ilia rumpens;

nec meum respectet, ut ante, amorem,
qui illius culpa cecidit velut prati
ultimi flos, praetereunte postquam
tactus aratro est.

(Catullus 11)

Catullus’ comrades, wherever he goes,
whether he reaches the Indians’ realm,
where the far-resounding eastern wave
pummels the shore,
visits Hyrcani, effeminate Arabs,
Sacae, or Parthians laden with arrows,
or the fields where the floods of the sevenfold Nile
deposit their colors,
or walks across the lofty Alps,
seeing the achievements of Caesar the Great,
the Gallic Rhine, the choppy main,
the faraway Britons,
ready for any adventure, whatever
the will of heaven’s inhabitants brings,
say a few words to my girl, a few
unfriendly words.
Let her live and rejoice with her band of adulterers,
embracing three hundred at once, though truly
loving none, and never fail
to rupture their groins,
but not rely on my love as before.
It died by the guilt of that girl, as a flower
falls at the edge of a meadow when touched
by a passing plough.
(tr. David Mulroy)

Nuktōr

dreaming

Φιλεῖ δὲ τὸ δαιμόνιον τὸ μέλλον ἀνθρώποις νύκτωρ πολλάκις λαλεῖν· οὐχ ἵνα φυλάξωνται μὴ παθεῖν (οὐ γὰρ εἱμαρμένης δύνανται κρατεῖν) ἀλλ’ ἵνα κουφότερον πάσχοντες φέρωσι. τὸ μὲν γὰρ᾿ ἐξαίφνης ἀθρόον καὶ ἀπροσδόκητον ἐκπλήσσει τὴν ψυχὴν ἄφνω προσπεσὸν καὶ κατεβάπτισε, τὸ δὲ πρὸ τοῦ παθεῖν προσδοκώμενον προκατηνάλωσε κατὰ μικρὸν μελετώμενον τοῦ πάθους τὴν ἀκμήν.
(Achilles Tatius, Leukippē & Kleitophōn 1.3.2-3)

The divine power often wishes to whisper about the future to human beings in the night, not in order to protect them from a tragic event (because fate cannot be controlled), but to help them accept such an event when it occurs. For when disasters come all at once, unexpectedly, they produce a sudden shock and overwhelm us totally, but if people are prepared for them and can think about them beforehand, it dulls a little the sharp edge of pain. (tr. Georg Luck)

Sapienter

20120227-Mosaic Pompeii Vagrant_musicians_MAN_Napoli_Inv9985

Tertii verso quater orbe lustri,
quid theatrales tibi, Crispe, pompae?
quam decet canos male literatos
sera voluptas!

tene mulceri fidibus canoris?
tene cantorum modulis stupere?
tene per pictas oculo elegante
currere formas?

inter aequales, sine felle liber,
codices, veri studiosus, inter
rectius vives, sua quisque carpat
gaudia gratus.

lusibus gaudet puer otiosis,
luxus oblectat iuvenem theatri,
at seni fluxo sapienter uti
tempore restat.

(Samuel Johnson, In Theatro)

Now that the circle of your third half-decade has turned four times, what are theatrical extravaganzas to you, Crisp? How unseemly for well-read grey hairs is such a pleasure so late in life! You, beguiled by tuneful strings! You, entranced by the ditties of singers! You, running a discriminating eye over painted figures! Much better for you to live among men of your own age, detached and without rancor, searching for the truth in ancient volumes. Everyone should gratefully seize the pleasures that are proper for him. A boy enjoys carefree games, a young man is charmed by the lavishness of the theater; but it remains for an old man to use his time wisely as it passes. (tr. Niall Rudd)

Noctivagum

Forest-At-Night-21

Auxerat hora metus, iam se vertentis Olympi
ut faciem raptosque simul montesque locosque
ex oculis circumque graves videre tenebras.
ipsa quies rerum mundique silentia terrent
astraque et effusis stellatus crinibus aether;
ac velut ignota captus regione viarum
noctivagum qui carpit iter non aure quiescit,
non oculis, noctisque metus niger auget utrimque
campus et occurrens umbris maioribus arbor,
haud aliter trepidare viri.
(Valerius Flaccus, Arg. 2.38-47a)

Their fear deepened with the night as they beheld the face of the heavens turning and the mountains and all places rapt from view and all around thick darkness. The very stillness of Nature, the silent constellations in the heavens, the firmament starred with streaming meteors filled them with fear. And as a traveller by night overtaken in some unknown spot upon the road keeps ear and eye alert, while the darkening landscape to left and right and trees looming up with shadows strangely huge do but make heavier the terrors of night, even so the heroes quailed. (tr. John Henry Mozley)

Uxor

badbreath

“Sed tua morosane uxor, quaeso, est?”—”va, rogas?”
“qui tandem?”—”taedet mentionis, quae mihi,
ubi domum adveni, adsedi, extemplo savium
dat ieiuna anima.”—”nil peccat de savio:
ut devomas volt, quod foris potaveris.”
(Caecilius Statius, Plocium 158-162 Ribbeck)

“But, tell me, is your wife bad-tempered?”
“Well, what a question!”
“Well, how then?”
“It upsets me just talking about it!
Whenever I come home and sit beside her, the first thing she does
Is give me a kiss with that awful breath of hers.”
“She makes no mistake with that kiss—
She wants you to vomit up what you’ve been drinking outside.”
(tr. Matthew Dillon & Lynda Garland)

Gēras

William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Le guêpier, 1892
William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Le guêpier (1892)

Τίς δὲ βίος, τί δὲ τερπνὸν ἄτερ χρυσέης Ἀφροδίτης;
τεθναίην, ὅτε μοι μηκέτι ταῦτα μέλοι,
κρυπταδίη φιλότης καὶ μείλιχα δῶρα καὶ εὐνή,
οἷ’ ἥβης ἄνθεα γίγνεται ἁρπαλέα
ἀνδράσιν ἠδὲ γυναιξίν· ἐπεὶ δ’ ὀδυνηρὸν ἐπέλθῃ
γῆρας, ὅ τ’ αἰσχρὸν ὁμῶς καὶ κακὸν ἄνδρα τιθεῖ,
αἰεί μιν φρένας ἀμφὶ κακαὶ τείρουσι μέριμναι,
οὐδ’ αὐγὰς προσορέων τέρπεται ἠελίου,
ἀλλ’ ἐχθρὸς μὲν παισίν, ἀτίμαστος δὲ γυναιξίν·
οὕτως ἀργαλέον γῆρας ἔθηκε θεός.
(Mimnermus, fr. 1)

What’s life, what’s joy, without love’s heavenly gold?
I hope I die when I no longer care
for secret closeness, tender favours, bed,
which are the rapturous flowers that grace youth’s prime
for men and women. But when painful age
comes on, that makes a man loathsome and vile,
malignant troubles ever vex his heart;
seeing the sunlight gives him joy no more.
He is abhorred by boys, by women scorned;
so hard a thing God made old age to be.
(tr. Martin Litchfield West)

Muthos

Lirica-a-danca-da-lingua-2

Ψευδὴς καὶ ὁ περὶ τοῦ Ὀρφέως μῦθος, ὅτι κιθαρίζοντι αὐτῷ ἐφείπετο τετράποδα καὶ ἑρπετὰ καὶ ὄρνεα καὶ δένδρα. δοκεῖ δέ μοι ταῦτα εἶναι. Βάκχαι μανεῖσαι πρόβατα διέσπασαν ἐν τῇ Πιερίᾳ, πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλα βιαίως εἰργάζοντο τρεπόμεναί τε εἰς τὸ ὄρος διέτριβον ἐκεῖ τὰς ἡμέρας. ὡς δὲ ἔμειναν, οἱ πολῖται, δεδιότες περὶ τῶν γυναικῶν καὶ θυγατέρων, μεταμπεμψάμενοι τὸν Ὀρφέα μηχανήσασθαι ἐδέοντο, ὃν τρόπον καταγάγοι ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄρους αὐτάς. ὁ δὲ θυσάμενος τῷ Διονύσῳ ὄργια κατάγει αὐτὰς βακχευούσας κιθαρίζων. αἱ δὲ νάρθηκας τότε πρῶτον ἔχουσαι κατέβαινον ἐκ τοῦ ὄρους καὶ κλῶνας δένδρων παντοδαπῶν· τοῖς δὲ ἀνθρώποις τότε θεασαμένοις τὰ ξύλα θαυμαστὰ ἐφαίνετο, καὶ ἔφασαν “Ὀρφεὺς κιθαρίζων ἄγει ἐκ τοῦ ὄρους καὶ τὴν ὕλην.” καὶ ἐκ τούτου ὁ μῦθος ἐπλάσθη.
(Palaephatus, Peri Apistōn 33)

Also fake is the myth about Orpheus—that four-footed animals, snakes, birds and trees followed him as he played his lyre. Here is what I think happened: in Pieria frenzied female worshippers of Dionysus were tearing apart the bodies of sheep and goats and performing many other violent acts; they turned to the mountains to spend their days there. When they failed to return to their homes, the townspeople, fearing for the safety of their wives and daughters, summoned Orpheus and asked him to devise a plan to get the women down from the mountain. Orpheus performed appropriate sacrificial rites to the god Dionysus and then by playing his lyre led the frenzied Bacchants down from the mountain. But as the women descended they held in their hands for the first time in Bacchic worship stalks of fennel and branches of various kinds of trees*. To the men who watched on that occasion the pieces of wood seemed wondrous. So they said: “By playing his lyre Orpheus is bringing the very forest down from the mountain.” And from this the myth was created.

* The reference is to the thyrsos, the sacred wand twined with ivy and topped with a pine-cone, which was carried in Dionysiac worship and which is here apparently used for the first time. For the motif compare Birnam wood.

(tr. Jacob Stern, with his note)

Kēdea

John William Waterhouse, Pandora, 1896
John William Waterhouse, Pandora (1896)

Αὐτίκα δ’ ἐκ γαίης πλάσσε κλυτὸς Ἀμφιγυήεις
παρθένῳ αἰδοίῃ ἴκελον Κρονίδεω διὰ βουλάς·
ζῶσε δὲ καὶ κόσμησε θεὰ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη·
ἀμφὶ δέ οἱ Χάριτές τε θεαὶ καὶ πότνια Πειθὼ
ὅρμους χρυσείους ἔθεσαν χροΐ, ἀμφὶ δὲ τήν γε
Ὧραι καλλίκομοι στέφον ἄνθεσιν εἰαρινοῖσιν·
πάντα δέ οἱ χροῒ κόσμον ἐφήρμοσε Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη.
ἐν δ’ ἄρα οἱ στήθεσσι διάκτορος Ἀργειφόντης
ψεύδεά θ’ αἱμυλίους τε λόγους καὶ ἐπίκλοπον ἦθος
τεῦξε Διὸς βουλῇσι βαρυκτύπου· ἐν δ’ ἄρα φωνὴν
θῆκε θεῶν κῆρυξ, ὀνόμηνε δὲ τήνδε γυναῖκα
Πανδώρην, ὅτι πάντες Ὀλύμπια δώματ’ ἔχοντες
δῶρον ἐδώρησαν, πῆμ’ ἀνδράσιν ἀλφηστῇσιν.
αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δόλον αἰπὺν ἀμήχανον ἐξετέλεσσεν,
εἰς Ἐπιμηθέα πέμπε πατὴρ κλυτὸν Ἀργειφόντην
δῶρον ἄγοντα, θεῶν ταχὺν ἄγγελον· οὐδ’ Ἐπιμηθεὺς
ἐφράσαθ’, ὥς οἱ ἔειπε Προμηθεὺς μή ποτε δῶρον
δέξασθαι πὰρ Ζηνὸς Ὀλυμπίου, ἀλλ’ ἀποπέμπειν
ἐξοπίσω, μή πού τι κακὸν θνητοῖσι γένηται.
αὐτὰρ ὁ δεξάμενος, ὅτε δὴ κακὸν εἶχ’, ἐνόησεν.
πρὶν μὲν γὰρ ζώεσκον ἐπὶ χθονὶ φῦλ’ ἀνθρώπων
νόσφιν ἄτερ τε κακῶν καὶ ἄτερ χαλεποῖο πόνοιο
νούσων τ’ ἀργαλέων, αἵ τ’ ἀνδράσι κῆρας ἔδωκαν.
ἀλλὰ γυνὴ χείρεσσι πίθου μέγα πῶμ’ ἀφελοῦσα
ἐσκέδασ’· ἀνθρώποισι δ’ ἐμήσατο κήδεα λυγρά.
μούνη δ’ αὐτόθι Ἐλπὶς ἐν ἀρρήκτοισι δόμοισιν
ἔνδον ἔμιμνε πίθου ὑπὸ χείλεσιν, οὐδὲ θύραζε
ἐξέπτη· πρόσθεν γὰρ ἐπέλλαβε πῶμα πίθοιο
αἰγιόχου βουλῇσι Διὸς νεφεληγερέταο.
ἄλλα δὲ μυρία λυγρὰ κατ’ ἀνθρώπους ἀλάληται·
πλείη μὲν γὰρ γαῖα κακῶν, πλείη δὲ θάλασσα·
νοῦσοι δ’ ἀνθρώποισιν ἐφ’ ἡμέρῃ, αἱ δ’ ἐπὶ νυκτὶ
αὐτόματοι φοιτῶσι κακὰ θνητοῖσι φέρουσαι
σιγῇ, ἐπεὶ φωνὴν ἐξείλετο μητίετα Ζεύς.
οὕτως οὔ τί πῃ ἔστι Διὸς νόον ἐξαλέασθαι.
(Hesiod, Erga kai Hēmerai 70-105)

At once the renowned Ambidexter moulded from earth the likeness of a modest maiden by Kronos’ son’s design, and the pale-eyed goddess Athene dressed and adorned her. The Graces and the lady Temptation put necklaces of gold about her body, and the lovely-haired spirits of ripeness garlanded her about with spring flowers. Pallas Athene arranged all the adornments on her body. In her breast the Go-Between, the dog-killer*, fashioned lies and wily pretences and a knavish nature by deep-thundering Zeus’s design; and he put in a voice, did the herald of the gods, and he named this woman Pandora, Allgift, because all the dwellers on Olympus made her a gift—a calamity for men who live by bread. When he had completed the precipitous, unmanageable trap, the father sent the renowned dog-killer* to Epimetheus taking the gift, swift messenger of the gods. Epimetheus gave no thought to what Prometheus had told him, never to accept a gift from Olympian Zeus but to send it back lest some afflication befall mortals: he accepted, and had the bane before he realized it. For formerly, the tribes of men on earth lived remote from ills, without harsh toil and the grievous sicknesses that are deadly to men. But the woman unstopped the jar and let it all out, and brought grim cares upon mankind. Only Hope remained there** inside in her secure dwelling, under the lip of the jar, and did not fly out, because the woman put the lid back in time by the providence of Zeus the cloud-gatherer who bears the aegis. But for the rest, countless troubles roam among men: full of ills is the earth, and full the sea. Sicknesses visit men by day, and others by night, uninvited, bringing ill to mortals, silently, because Zeus the resourceful deprived them of voice. Thus there is no way to evade the purpose of Zeus.

* Hermes was the patron of thieves, who sometimes find it expedient to eliminate watch-dogs.
** Hesiod has not given his jar a consistent symbolic meaning. He means that hope remains among men as the one antidote to suffering.

(tr. Martin Litchfield West, with his notes)

Subulam

Angelico,_san_romulado_dalla_pala_di_san_marco,_Minneapolis

Inde vero progrediens, non longe ab Appennino monte in loco qui dicitur Aquabella manere constituit. illic sane dum saeculares quidam cum discipulis eius habitationum tecta construerent, Romualdus autem, quia iam prae senectute laborare non poterat, et solus hospitium custodiret, presbyter quidam intolerabilem dolorem in dentibus sentiens, opus aedificii invitus reliquit, et postulata a fratribus licentia redire domum miserabiliter eiulans coepit. cumque per Romualdum transitum reversionis haberet, interrogatus cur abscederet, mox casum suae passionis innotuit. huic Romualdus hianti locum ubi patiebatur digito tetigit, dicens: “Ignitam”, inquit, “subulam, ne labrum laedat, in calamum mitte et hic pone: sic dolor aufugiet.” vix presbyter unius iugeris spatio ultra progressus est, et confestim omni dolore deposito, ad opus quod reliquerat, sanus et incolumis repedavit, claris nimirum vocibus exclamans, et dicens: “gratias tibi agimus, omnipotens Deus, qui regionem nostram splendore tanti sideris illustrare dignatus es. vere angelus Dei, vere propheta sanctus et lux magna occulta mundo in finibus nostris apparuit.” haec et alia multa in Dei laude vociferans, vix a beati viri discipulis tacere compulsus est. nam si talia verba ad Romualdi aures qualibet occasione pertingerent, gravissima cor eius indignatione ferirent.
(Petrus Damianus, Vita Sancti Romualdi 46)

And moving on from there, he decided to stay not far from Monte Appennino in a place which is called Aquabella. Now, as certain laymen were building dwelling-houses there with his disciples, but Romuald was alone looking after the guest-house because he was already unable to work on account of his age, a certain priest felt an unbearable pain in the teeth, reluctantly left off the building work and, having requested permission from the brethren, began to return home, moaning miserably. And since in going back, he had to go over by Romuald, (he was) asked why he was going away (and) thereupon informed (Romuald) of the suffering that had befallen (him). (The priest) opening (his mouth), Romuald touched his finger to the place where he was suffering and said, “Put a red hot awl into a reed, so that it will not injure (your) lip, and place it here. This way the pain will go away.” The priest went on barely more than the length of one iugerum and (then), at once relieved of all pain, went back safe and sound to the work he had left, crying aloud in fact in a clear voice, “We give Thee thanks, almighty God, who has deigned to brighten our region with the brilliance of such a star. Truly an angel of God, truly a holy prophet and a great light hidden from the world has appeared in our region.” Shouting out these and many other things in God’s praise, he could scarcely be constrained by the blessed man’s disciples to be silent. For if such words should reach Romuald’s ears in any way at all, they would strike his heart with the severest vexation. (tr. Colin Ralph Phipps)