Part 17 (2/2)

Athenaeus (vii. 284 A) quotes this fragment, which probably was part of a panegyric on Berenice, the mother of Ptolemy Philadelphus.

And if any man that hath his livelihood from the salt sea, and whose nets serve him for ploughs, prays for wealth, and luck in fis.h.i.+ng, let him sacrifice, at midnight, to this G.o.ddess, the sacred fish that they call 'silver white,' for that it is brightest of sheen of all,-- then let the fisher set his nets, and he shall draw them full from the sea.

IDYL x.x.x--THE DEAD ADONIS

This idyl is usually printed with the poems of Theocritus, but almost certainly is by another hand. I have therefore ventured to imitate the metre of the original.

When Cypris saw Adonis, In death already lying With all his locks dishevelled, And cheeks turned wan and ghastly, She bade the Loves attendant To bring the boar before her.

And lo, the winged ones, fleetly They scoured through all the wild wood; The wretched boar they tracked him, And bound and doubly bound him.

One fixed on him a halter, And dragged him on, a captive, Another drave him onward, And smote him with his arrows.

But terror-struck the beast came, For much he feared Cythere.

To him spake Aphrodite, - 'Of wild beasts all the vilest, This thigh, by thee was 't wounded?

Was 't thou that smote my lover?'

To her the beast made answer - 'I swear to thee, Cythere, By thee, and by thy lover, Yea, and by these my fetters, And them that do pursue me, - Thy lord, thy lovely lover I never willed to wound him; I saw him, like a statue, And could not bide the burning, Nay, for his thigh was naked, And mad was I to kiss it, And thus my tusk it harmed him.

Take these my tusks, O Cypris, And break them, and chastise them, For wherefore should I wear them, These pa.s.sionate defences?

If this doth not suffice thee, Then cut my lips out also, Why dared they try to kiss him?'

Then Cypris had compa.s.sion; She bade the Loves attendant To loose the bonds that bound him.

From that day her he follows, And flees not to the wild wood But joins the Loves, and always He bears Love's flame unflinching.

EPIGRAMS

The Epigrams of Theocritus are, for the most part, either inscriptions for tombs or cenotaphs, or for the pedestals of statues, or (as the third epigram) are short occasional pieces. Several of them are but doubtfully ascribed to the poet of the Idyls. The Greek has little but brevity in common with the modern epigram.

I--For a rustic Altar.

These dew-drenched roses and that tufted thyme are offered to the ladies of Helicon. And the dark-leaved laurels are thine, O Pythian Paean, since the rock of Delphi bare this leaf.a.ge to thine honour.

The altar this white-horned goat shall stain with blood, this goat that browses on the tips of the terebinth boughs.

II--For a Herdsman's Offering.

Daphnis, the white-limbed Daphnis, that pipes on his fair flute the pastoral strains offered to Pan these gifts,--his pierced reed-pipes, his crook, a javelin keen, a fawn-skin, and the scrip wherein he was wont, on a time, to carry the apples of Love.

III--For a Picture.

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