#poseidippos

[poem-today]

Moonlight - Brief poems by Edward Storer

Edward Storer (1880–1944) was an English writer, translator, and poet who was born in Alnwick, a market town in Northumberland, on 25 July 1880 to Frances Anne Egan and James John Robson Storer. Initially he studied law and qualified as a solicitor. In 1907 he was on the Roll of the Law Society of England and Wales. However, he practised law only for two years as his main interest in poetry soon…

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[somepoorsod]

The Epigram That Doesn't Want You To Read It

(I love this satire of the usual, chatty, pseudo-epigrams of the Alexandrian poets).

Why are you standing next to me? Why don't you let me sleep? Asking who I was, and from where, and what country I was born in? Get going, march on past my marker! I'm Menoitios, Philarkhos' son, Kretan. We don't waste words where I'm from.

(Poseidippos in the Milan Papyrus (fr. 102 Angiò/Cuypers/Acosta-Hughes/Kosmetatou); my translation)

τί πρὸϲ ἔμ’ ὧδ’ ἔϲτητε; τί μ’ οὐκ ἠάϲατ’ ἰαύειν, εἰρόμενοι τίϲ ἐγὼ καὶ πόθεν ἢ ποδαπόϲ; ϲτείχε‹τέ› μου παρὰ ϲῆμα· Μενοίτιόϲ εἰμι Φιλάρχω __ Κρήϲ, ὀλιγορρήμων ὡϲ ἂν ἐπὶ ξενίηϲ.

[somepoorsod]

Arsinoe, to you I dedicate this linen headband, through which the winds pass. With it, beloved, you wanted to wipe away the glistening sweat in my sweet dream, pausing in your busy work: thus you, Philadelphos, appeared to me with a sharp spear in one hand, my mistress, and holding a hollow shield in your left. You asked me for this white band; I, the maiden Hegeso of the Makedonians, give it.

Poseidippos  in the Milan Papyrus (fr. 36 Angiò/Cuypers/Acosta-Hughes/Kosmetatou); my translation)

Ἀρϲινόη, ϲοὶ τοῦτο διὰ ϲτολίδων ἀνεμοῦϲθαι βύϲϲινον ἄγκειται βρέγμ’ ἀπὸ Ναυκράτιοϲ, ὧι ϲύ, φίλη, κατ’ ὄνειρον ὀμόρξαϲθαι γλυκὺν ἱδρῶ ἤθελεϲ, ὀτρηρῶν παυϲαμένη καμάτων· ὣϲ ἐφάνη‹ϲ›, Φιλάδελφε, καὶ ἐν χερὶ δούρατοϲ αἰχμήν, πότνα, καὶ ἐν πήχει κοῖλον ἔχουϲα ϲάκοϲ· ἡ δὲ ϲοὶ αἰτηθεῖϲα τὸ λευ‹χ›έανον κανόνιϲμα __ παρθένοϲ Ἡγηϲὼ θῆκε γένοϲ Μακέ̣[τη

[tamsoj]

Poseidippos, from The Greek Anthology and Other Ancient Greek Epigrams

[hikergraham]

ᾗ ποτε τὸν χαρίεντα περιστέλλουσα Χάραξον σύγχρους ὀρθρινῶν ἥψαο κισσυβίων.

You used to love a beautiful Charaxus, blush against his skin, stay up ‘til dawn drinking.

[tombeleurre]

Toi Qui es-tu? – Kairos, le maître du monde. – Pourquoi marches-tu sur la pointe des pieds ? – sans cesse je cours. – Pourquoi as-tu des talonnières à chaque pied ? – je vole comme le vent. – Pourquoi tiens-tu de la main droite un rasoir ? – pour montrer aux hommes que moi, Kairos, je suis plus aigu et plus rapide que tout tranchant. – Pourquoi ta chevelure est-elle ramenée par devant ? – Pour qu’on la saisisse quand on me rencontre, par Zeus. – mais pourquoi es-tu chauve par derrière ? – afin que, une fois que mes pieds ailés m’ont emporté, nul ne puisse me saisir par derrière, quelque désir qu’il en ait. – Pourquoi l’artiste t’a-t-il sculpté ? – Pour vous, étranger, il m’a placé à l’entrée pour vous instruire.

Epigramme de Poseidippos (A.P., XVI, 275) - 270 av. JC env.

[somepoorsod]

Daily Classics: Ode to the Lighthouse of Alexandria

(My internet seems to be choking on its own lifeblood, so in an attempt to post before midnight and keep this series correctly Daily, I'm throwing up this bit from my buffer now, and I'll do Apollo and Daphne tomorrow).