Poets From Greece

"Ἐπεὶ κακὸν ἄνδρα δίκαιον ἔμμεναι, εἰ μείζω γε δίκην ἀδικώτερος ἕξει."

"οἷ γ᾽ αὐτῷ κακὰ τεύχει ἀνὴρ ἄλλῳ κακὰ τεύχων ἡ δὲ κακὴ βουλὴ τῷ βουλεύσαντι κακίστη."

"Ὄφρ᾽ ἀποτείσῃ δῆμος ἀτασθαλίας βασιλέων, οἳ λυγρὰ νοεῦντες ἄλλῃ παρκλίνωσι δίκας σκολιῶς ἐνέποντες."

"Ἐγγὺς γὰρ ἐν ἀνθρώποισιν ἐόντες ἀθάνατοι φράζονται, ὅσοι σκολιῇσι δίκῃσιν ἀλλήλους τρίβουσι θεῶν ὄπιν οὐκ ἀλέγοντες."

"Often an entire city has suffered because of an evil man."

"Οἳ δὲ δίκας ξείνοισι καὶ ἐνδήμοισι διδοῦσιν ἰθείας καὶ μή τι παρεκβαίνουσι δικαίου, τοῖσι τέθηλε πόλις, λαοὶ δ᾽ ἀνθεῦσιν ἐν αὐτῇ."

"Παθὼν δέ τε νήπιος ἔγνω."

"Ἄφρων δ᾽, ὅς κ᾽ ἐθέλῃ πρὸς κρείσσονας ἀντιφερίζειν· νίκης τε στέρεται πρός τ᾽ αἴσχεσιν ἄλγεα πάσχει."

"They died, as if o'ercome by sleep."

"Χρύσεον μὲν πρώτιστα γένος μερόπων ἀνθρώπων ἀθάνατοι ποίησαν Ὀλύμπια δώματ᾽ ἔχοντες. οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ Κρόνου ἦσαν, ὅτ᾽ οὐρανῷ ἐμβασίλευεν· ὥστε θεοὶ δ᾽ ἔζωον ἀκηδέα θυμὸν ἔχοντες, νόσφιν ἄτερ τε πόνων καὶ ὀιζύος· οὐδέ τι δειλὸν γῆρας ἐπῆν."

"For full indeed is earth of woes, and full the sea; and in the day as well as night diseases unbidden haunt mankind, silently bearing ills to men, for all-wise Zeus hath taken from them their voice. So utterly impossible is it to escape the will of Zeus."

"Αλλα δὲ μυρία λυγρὰ κατ᾽ ἀνθρώπους ἀλάληται· πλείη μὲν γὰρ γαῖα κακῶν, πλείη δὲ θάλασσα."

"Αἶψα γὰρ ἐν κακότητι βροτοὶ καταγηράσκουσιν."

"Nήπιοι, οὐδὲ ἴσασιν ὅσῳ πλέον ἥμισυ παντός."

"Καὶ κεραμεὺς κεραμεῖ κοτέει καὶ τέκτονι τέκτων, καὶ πτωχὸς πτωχῷ φθονέει καὶ ἀοιδὸς ἀοιδῷ."

"ζηλοῖ δέ τε γείτονα γείτων εἰς ἄφενος σπεύδοντ᾽· ἀγαθὴ δ᾽ Ἔρις ἥδε βροτοῖσιν."

"There was not after all a single kind of strife, but on earth there are two kinds: one of them a man might praise when he recognized her, but the other is blameworthy."

"From whose eyelids also as they gazed dropped love."

"Ἔνθα δὲ Νυκτὸς παῖδες ἐρεμνῆς οἰκί᾽ ἔχουσιν, Ὕπνος καὶ Θάνατος, δεινοὶ θεοί"

"Night, having Sleep, the brother of Death."

"Ὣς οὐκ ἔστι Διὸς κλέψαι νόον οὐδὲ παρελθεῖν."

"Ὅς κε γάμον φεύγων καὶ μέρμερα ἔργα γυναικῶν μὴ γῆμαι ἐθέλῃ, ὀλοὸν δ᾽ ἐπὶ γῆρας ἵκοιτο χήτεϊ γηροκόμοιο."

"Ἠδ᾽ Ἔρος, ὃς κάλλιστος ἐν ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσι, λυσιμελής, πάντων δὲ θεῶν πάντων τ᾽ ἀνθρώπων δάμναται ἐν στήθεσσι νόον καὶ ἐπίφρονα βουλήν."

"On the tongue of such an one they shed a honeyed dew, and from his lips drop gentle words."

"We know how to speak many falsehoods which resemble real things, but we know, when we will, how to speak true things."

"Γαστέρες οἶον."

"He is the best of all who thinks for himself in all things. He, too, is good who takes advice from a wiser (person). But he who neither thinks for himself, nor lays to heart another's wisdom, this is a useless man.’"

"The Works and Days expressed the present. The new poetry expresses the person in the present, the particular individual and how he is different from others. And celebrates the difference. And as it does so, we can trace a progressive filling out and stretching of the earlier preconscious hypostases into the mind space of consciousness."

""What was at the beginning?" Gigon said of Hesiod, "is the question of history precisely at the point where it turns into philosophy... The question Hesiod poses is no longer about the historical past, but about the beginning of what exists, the question of philosophical origins..." But "history" is wholly out of place here. Hesiod is foreshadowing the step from mythos to logos, and that step was not mediated by history. It bypassed history altogether. It moved from the timelessness of myth to the timelessness of metaphysics."

"The gods have placed sweat as the price of all things."

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly disrespectful and impatient of restraint."

"And she conceived and bore to Zeus, who delights in the thunderbolt, two sons, Magnes and Macedon, rejoicing in horses, who dwell round about Pieria and Olympus."

"Ἄλλοτε μητρυιὴ πέλει ἡμέρη, ἄλλοτε μήτηρ."

"Φήμη γάρ τε κακὴ πέλεται, κούφη μὲν ἀεῖραι ῥεῖα μάλ᾽, ἀργαλέη δὲ φέρειν, χαλεπὴ δ᾽ ἀποθέσθαι. φήμη δ᾽ οὔ τις πάμπαν ἀπόλλυται, ἥν τινα πολλοὶ λαοὶ φημίξωσι· θεός νύ τίς ἐστι καὶ αὐτή."

"Γλώσσης τοι θησαυρὸς ἐν ἀνθρώποισιν ἄριστος φειδωλῆς."

"Of course I am downcast and tremble with pity for my state when old age and wrinkles cover me,when Eros flies about and I pursue the glorious young. Pick up your lyreand sing to us of her who wears violets on her breasts. Sing especially of her who is wandering."

"But thou shalt ever lie dead, nor shall there be any remembrance of thee then or thereafter, for thou hast not of the roses of Pieria; but thou shalt wander obscure even in the house of Hades, flitting among the shadowy dead."

"A handsome man guards his image a while; a good man will one day take on beauty."

"I loved you, Atthis, once, long, long ago... You seemed to me a small, ungainly child."

"Eros has shaken my mind, wind sweeping down the mountain on oaks."

"The stars hide away their shining form around the lovely moon when in all her fullness she shines (over all) the earth."

"Look at him, just like a god, that man sitting across from you, whoever he is, listening to your close, sweet voice, your irresistible laughter And O yes, it sets my heart racing— one glance at you and I can't get any words out, my voice cracks, a thin flame runs under my skin, my eyes go blind, my ears ring, a cold sweat pours down my body, I tremble all over, turn paler than grass."

"Some say cavalry and others claim infantry or a fleet of long oars is the supreme sight on the black earth. I say it isthe one you love. And easily proved. Didn't Helen, who far surpassed all mortals in beauty, desert the best of men, her king,and sail off to Troy and forget her daughter and her dear parents? Merely Aphrodite's gaze made her readily bend and led her farfrom her path. These tales remind me now of Anaktoria who isn't here, yet I for onewould rather see her warm supple step and the sparkle in her face than watch all the chariots in Lydia and foot soldiers armored in glittering bronze."

"Immortal Aphrodite of the shimmering throne, daughter of Zeus, weaver of wiles, I pray thee crush not my spirit with anguish and distress, O Queen. But come hither if ever before thou didst hear my voice afar, and hearken, and leaving the golden house of thy father, camest with chariot yoked, and swift birds drew thee, their swift pinions fluttering over the dark earth, from heaven through mid-space. Quickly they arrived; and thou blessed one with immortal countenance smiling didst ask: What now is befallen me and why now I call and what I in my heart’s madness, most desire. What fair one now wouldst thou draw to love thee? Who wrongs thee Sappho? For even if she flies she shall soon follow and if she rejects gifts, shall soon offer them and if she loves not shall soon love, however reluctant. Come I pray thee now and release me from cruel cares, and let my heart accomplish all that it desires, and be thou my ally."

"Come hither from Crete to this holy temple, where is your graceful grove of apple-trees, and altars smoking with frankincense. In it cool water sounds through apple-boughs; all the place is shadowed with roses, and from the quivering leaves sleep comes down. In it a meadow blossoms with spring flowers, where horses pasture, and there the breezes breathe sweetly....There, Cyprian, take chaplets and pour softly in gold cups nectar mingled with our feasting."

"Stanley Lombardo, Sappho: Poems and Fragments (Hackett Publishing, 2002)"

"Anne Carson, If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002)"

"David A. Campbell, Greek Lyric, vol. 1: Sappho and Alcaeus, LCL 142 (1982)"

"Suzy Q. Groden, The Poems of Sappho (Bobbs-Merrill Co, 1966)"

"Willis Barnstone, Sappho: Lyrics in the Original Greek with Translations (New York: Anchor, 1965; 2nd ed., New York UP)"