Epigrammatists Of The Greek Anthology

"Χεῖλος Ἀνικήτεια τὸ χρύσεον εἰς ἐμὲ τέγγει· ἀλλὰ παρασχοίμην καὶ πόμα νυμφίδιον."

"α. Οὔνομά μοι. β. Τί δὲ τοῦτο; α. Πατρὶς δέ μοι. β. Ἐς τί δὲ τοῦτο; α. Κλεινοῦ δ᾽ εἰμὶ γένους. β. Εἰ γὰρ ἀφαυροτάτου; α. Ζήσας δ᾽ ἐνδόξως ἔλιπον βίον. β. Εἰ γὰρ ἀδόξως; α. Κεῖμαι δ᾽ ἐνθάδε νῦν. β. Τίς τίνι ταῦτα λέγεις;"

"Ἀνέρα λυσσητῆρι κυνὸς βεβολημένον ἰῷ ὕδασι θηρείην εἰκόνα φασὶ βλέπειν. λυσσώων τάχα πικρὸν Ἔρως ἐνέπηξεν ὀδόντα εἰς ἐμέ, καὶ μανίαις θυμὸν ἐληίσατο: σὴν γὰρ ἐμοὶ καὶ πόντος ἐπήρατον εἰκόνα φαίνει, καὶ ποταμῶν δῖναι, καὶ δέπας οἰνοχόον."

"Ἡδύ, φίλοι, μείδημα τὸ Λαΐδος: ἡδὺ κατ᾽ αὖ τῶν ἠπιοδινήτων δάκρυ χέει βλεφάρων. χθιζά μοι ἀπροφάσιστον ἐπέστενεν, ἐγκλιδὸν ὤμῳ ἡμετέρῳ κεφαλὴν δηρὸν ἐρεισαμένη: μυρομένην δ᾽ ἐφίλησα: τὰ δ᾽ ὡς δροσερῆς ἀπὸ πηγῆς δάκρυα μιγνυμένων πῖπτε κατὰ στομάτων. εἶπε δ᾽ ἀνειρομένῳ, “Τίνος εἵνεκα δάκρυα λείβεις;” “Δείδια μή με λίπῃς: ἐστὲ γὰρ ὁρκαπάται.”"

"Γυρὸν κυανέης μόλιβον σημάντορα γραμμῆς, καὶ σκληρῶν ἀκόνην τρηχαλέην καλάμων, καὶ πλατὺν ὀξυντῆρα μεσοσχιδέων δονακήων, καὶ κανόνα γραμμῆς ἰθυπόρου ταμίην, καὶ χρόνιον γλυπτοῖσι μέλαν πεφυλαγμένον ἄντροις, καὶ γλυφίδας καλάμων ἄκρα μελαινομένων Ἑρμείῃ Φιλόδημος, ἐπεὶ χρόνῳ ἐκκρεμὲς ἤδη ἦλθε κατ᾽ ὀφθαλμῶν ῥυσὸν ἐπισκύνιον. * * * Τὸν τροχόεντα μόλιβδον, ὃς ἀτραπὸν οἶδε χαράσσειν ὀρθὰ παραξύων ἰθυτενῆ κανόνα, καὶ χάλυβα σκληρὸν καλαμηφάγον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸν ἡγεμόνα γραμμῆς ἀπλανέος κανόνα, καὶ λίθον ὀκριόεντα, δόναξ ὅθι δισσὸν ὀδόντα θήγεται ἀμβλυνθεὶς ἐκ δολιχογραφίης, καὶ βυθίην Τρίτωνος ἁλιπλάγκτοιο χαμεύνην, σπόγγον, ἀκεστορίην πλαζομένης γραφίδος, καὶ κίστην πολύωπα μελανδόκον, εἰν ἑνὶ πάντα εὐγραφέος τέχνης ὄργανα ῥυομένην, Ἑρμῇ Καλλιμένης, τρομερὴν ὑπὸ γήραος ὄκνῳ χεῖρα καθαρμόζων ἐκ δολιχῶν καμάτων."

"Εὐκαπὲς ἄγκιστρον, καὶ δούρατα δουλιχόεντα, χὠρμιήν, καὶ τὰς ἰχθυδόκους σπυρίδας, καὶ τοῦτον νηκτοῖσιν ἐπ᾽ ἰχθύσι τεχνασθέντα κύρτον, ἁλιπλάγκτων εὕρεμα δικτυβόλων, τρηχύν τε τριόδοντα, Ποσειδαώνιον ἔγχος, καὶ τοὺς ἐξ ἀκάτων διχθαδίους ἐρέτας, ὁ γριπεὺς Διόφαντος ἀνάκτορι θήκατο τέχνας, ὡς θέμις, ἀρχαίας λείψανα τεχνοσύνας."

"Ποιμένες οἳ ταύτην ὄρεος ῥάχιν οἰοπολεῖτε αἶγας κεὐείρους ἐμβοτέοντες ὄις, Κλειταγόρῃ, πρὸς Γῆς, ὀλίγην χάριν, ἀλλὰ προσηνῆ τίνοιτε, χθονίης εἵνεκα Φερσεφόνης. βληχήσαιντ᾽ ὄιές μοι, ἐπ᾽ ἀξέστοιο δὲ ποιμὴν πέτρης συρίζοι πρηέα βοσκομέναις: εἴαρι δὲ πρώτῳ λειμώνιον ἄνθος ἀμέρσας χωρίτης στεφέτω τύμβον ἐμὸν στεφάνῳ, καί τις ἀπ᾽ εὐάρνοιο καταχραίνοιτο γάλακτι οἰός, ἀμολγαῖον μαστὸν ἀνασχόμενος, κρηπῖδ᾽ ὑγραίνων ἐπιτύμβιον εἰσὶ θανόντων εἰσὶν ἀμοιβαῖαι κἀν φθιμένοις χάριτες."

"Τὰν ἐκφυγοῦσαν ματρὸς ἐκ κόλπων, ἔτι ἀφρῷ τε μορμύρουσαν, εὐλεχῆ Κύπριν ἰδὼν Ἀπελλῆς, κάλλος ἱμερώτατον, οὐ γραπτόν, ἀλλ᾽ ἔμψυχον ἐξεμάξατο. εὖ μὲν γὰρ ἄκραις χερσὶν ἐκθλίβει κόμαν, εὖ δ᾽ ὀμμάτων γαληνὸς ἐκλάμπει πόθος, καὶ μαζός, ἀκμῆς ἄγγελος, κυδωνιᾷ: αὐτὰ δ᾽ Ἀθάνα καὶ Διὸς συνευνέτις φάσουσιν ‘ὦ Ζεῦ, λειπόμεσθα τῇ κρίσει.’"

"Οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ οὗτος ἔρως, εἴ τις καλὸν εἶδος ἔχουσαν βούλετ᾽ ἔχειν, φρονίμοις ὄμμασι πειθόμενος: ἀλλ᾽ ὅστις κακόμορφον ἰδών, τετορημένος ἰοῖς στέργει, μαινομένης ἐκ φρενὸς αἰθόμενος, οὗτος ἔρως, πῦρ τοῦτο: τὰ γὰρ καλὰ πάντας ὁμοίως τέρπει τοὺς κρίνειν εἶδος ἐπισταμένους."

"Ἠράσθης πλουτῶν, Σωσίκρατες: ἀλλὰ πένης ὢν οὐκέτ᾽ ἐρᾷς: λιμὸς φάρμακον οἷον ἔχει. ἡ δὲ πάρος σε καλεῦσα μύρον καὶ τερπνὸν Ἄδωνιν Μηνοφίλα, νῦν σου τοὔνομα πυνθάνεται, “τίς πόθεν εἶς ἀνδρῶν, πόθι τοι πτόλις”; ἦ μόλις ἔγνως τοῦτ᾽ ἔπος, ὡς οὐδεὶς οὐδὲν ἔχοντι φίλος."

"Ἁ φίλερως χαροποῖς Ἀσκληπιὰς οἷα γαλήνης ὄμμασι συμπείθει πάντας ἐρωτοπλοεῖν."

"Ἔγχει, καὶ πάλιν εἰπέ, πάλιν, πάλιν “Ἡλιοδώρας” εἰπέ, σὺν ἀκρήτῳ τὸ γλυκὺ μίσγ᾽ ὄνομα: καί μοι τὸν βρεχθέντα μύροις καὶ χθιζὸν ἐόντα, μναμόσυνον κείνας ἀμφιτίθει στέφανον. δακρύει φιλέραστον ἰδοὺ ῥόδον, οὕνεκα κείναν ἄλλοθι, κοὐ κόλποις ἁμετέροις ἐσορᾷ."

"Ἀχήεις τέττιξ, δροσεραῖς σταγόνεσσι μεθυσθείς, ἀγρονόμαν μέλπεις μοῦσαν ἐρημολάλον ἄκρα δ᾽ ἐφεζόμενος πετάλοις, πριονώδεσι κώλοις αἰθίοπι κλάζεις χρωτὶ μέλισμα λύρας. ἀλλά, φίλος, φθέγγου τι νέον δενδρώδεσι Νύμφαις παίγνιον, ἀντῳδὸν Πανὶ κρέκων κέλαδον, ὄφρα φυγὼν τὸν Ἔρωτα, μεσημβρινὸν ὕπνον ἀγρεύσω ἐνθάδ᾽ ὑπὸ σκιερᾷ κεκλιμένος πλατάνῳ."

"Θάεο τὸν Βρομίου κεραὸν τράγον, ὡς ἀγερώχως ὄμμα κατὰ λασιᾶν γαῦρον ἔχει γενύων,κυδιόων ὅτι οἱ θάμ᾽ ἐν οὔρεσιν ἀμφὶ παρῇδα βόστρυχον εἰς ῥοδέαν Ναῒς ἔδεκτο χέρα."

"Ἑρμᾶς τᾶιδ᾽ ἕστακα παρ᾽ ὄρχατον ἠνεμόεντα ἐν τριόδοις πολιᾶς ἐγγύθεν ἀιόνος,ἀνράσι κεκμηῶσιν ἔχων ἄμπαυσιν ὁδοῖο· ψυχρὸν δ᾽ ἀχραὲς κράνα ὑποπροχέει."

"Οὐκέτι δὴ πλωτοῖσιν ἀγαλλόμενος πελάγεσσιναὐχέν᾽ ἀναρρίψω βυσσόθεν ὀρνύμενος,οὐδὲ περὶ σκαλάμοισι νεὼς περικαλλέα χείληποιφύσσω, τἀμᾷ τερπόμενος προτομᾷ:ἀλλά με πορφυρέα πόντου νοτὶς ὦς᾽ ἐπὶ χέρσον,κεῖμαι δὲ ῥαδινὰν τάνδε παρ᾽ ἠιόνα."

"ἵζευ ἅπας ὑπὸ καλὰ δάφνας εὐθαλέα φύλλα, ὡραίου τ᾽ ἄρυσαι νάματος ἁδὺ πόμα, ὄφρα τοι ἀσθμαίνοντα πόνοις θέρεος φίλα γυῖα ἀμπαύσῃς, πνοιῇ τυπτόμενα Ζεφύρου."

"Ἡνία δή τοι παῖδες ἐνί, τράγε, φοινικόενταθέντες καὶ λασίῳ φιμὰ περὶ στόματι,ἵππια παιδεύουσι θεοῦ περὶ ναὸν ἄεθλα,ὄφρ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἐφορῇ νήπια τερπομένους."

"Νυκτερινή, δίκερως, φιλοπάννυχε, φαῖνε, Σελήνη, φαῖνε, δι᾽ εὐτρήτων βαλλομένη θυρίδων αὔγαζε χρυσέην Καλλίστιον ἐς τὰ φιλεύντων ἔργα κατοπτεύειν οὐ φθόνος ἀθανάτῃ. ὀλβίζεις καὶ τήνδε καὶ ἡμέας, οἶδα, Σελήνη: καὶ γὰρ σὴν ψυχὴν ἔφλεγεν Ἐνδυμίων."

"Nec si quid olim lusit Anacreon, delevit aetas."

"It grieves me when I see what fate Does on the best of mankind wait. Poets or lovers let them be, 'Tis neither love nor poesy Can arm against death's smallest dart The poet's head, or lover's heart. For when their life in its decline Touches th' inevitable line, All the world's mortal to 'em then, And wine is aconite to men. Nay, in death's hand the grape-stone proves Fatal as thunder is in Jove's."

"With roses crown'd, on flowers supinely laid, Anacreon [blithe] the sprightly lyre essay'd, In light fantastic measures beat the ground, Or dealt the mirth-inspiring juice around: No care, no thought, the tuneful Teian knew, But mark'd with bliss each moment as it flew."

"I see Anacreon smile and sing; His silver tresses breathe perfume, His cheek displays a second spring Of roses, taught by wine to bloom. Away, deceitful cares, away! And let me listen to his lay; While flowery dreams my soul employ; While turtle-wing'd the laughing hours, Lead hand in hand the festal powers, Lead youth and love, and harmless joy."

"I fled the headless darts of slanderous tongue."

"This tomb be thine, Anacreon; all around Let ivy wreath, let flow'rets deck the ground, And from its earth, enrich'd by such a prize, Let wells of milk and streams of wine arise: So will thine ashes yet a pleasure know, If any pleasure reach the shades below."

"Love for lineage nothing cares, Tramples wisdom under foot, Worth derides, and only looks For money."

"Persuasion's flowing well."

"To-day belongs to me, To-morrow who can tell."

"The black earth drinks, in turn The trees drink up the earth. The sea the torrents drinks, the sun the sea, And the moon drinks the sun. Why, comrades, do ye flout me, If I, too, wish to drink?"

"Cursed be he above all others Who's enslaved by love of money. Money takes the place of brothers, Money takes the place of parents, Money brings us war and slaughter."

"Nature gave horns to the bull, Hoofs gave she to the horse. To the lion cavernous jaws, And swiftness to the hare. The fish taught she to swim, The bird to cleave the air; To man she reason gave; Not yet was woman dowered. What, then, to woman gave she? The priceless gift of beauty. Stronger than any buckler, Than any spear more piercing, Who hath the gift of beauty, Nor fire nor steel shall harm her."

"Ah, cruel 'tis to love, And cruel not to love, But cruelest of all To love and love in vain."

"Whence can we the future learn? Life to mortals is obscure."

"But when an old man dances, His locks with age are grey, But he's a child in mind."

"E'en though I would not, die I must; Why stray I thus through life?"

"And last of all comes death."

"All thy verse is softer far Than the downy feathers are Of my wings, or of my arrows, Of my mother's doves or sparrows. Sweet as lovers' freshest kisses, Or their riper following blisses, Graceful, cleanly, smooth, and round, All with Venus girdle bound."

"Τίς δὲ βίος, τί δὲ τερπνὸν ἄτερ χρυσῆς Ἀφροδίτης; τεθναίην ὅτε μοι μηκέτι ταῦτα μέλοι, κρυπταδίη φιλότης καὶ μείλιχα δῶρα καὶ εὐνή, οἷ᾽ ἥβης ἄνθ εα 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 προσορῶν τέρπεται ἠελίου, ἀλλ᾽ ἐχθρὸς μὲν παισίν, ἀτίμαστος δὲ γυναιξίν, οὕτως ἄργαλέον γῆρας ἔθηκε θεός."

"Ἠέλιος μὲν γὰρ πόνον ἔλλαχεν ἤματα πάντα οὐδέ κοτ᾽ ἄμπαυσις γίγνεται οὐδεμία ἵπποισίν τε καὶ αὐτῷ, ἐπεὶ ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠὼς Ὠκεανὸν προλιποῦσ᾽ οὐρανὸν εἰσαναβῇ: τὸν μὲν γὰρ διὰ κῦμα φέρει πολυήρατος εὐνὴ κοιΐλη, Ἡφαίστου χερσὶν ἐληλαμένη χρυσοῦ τιμήεντος, ὑπόπτερος, ἄκρον ἐφ᾽ ὕδωρ εὕδονθ᾽ ἁρπαλέως χώρου ἀφ᾽ Ἑσπερίδων γαῖαν ἐς Αἰθιόπων, ἵνα οἱ θοὸν ἅρμα καὶ ἵπποι ἑστᾶσ᾽, ὄφρ᾽ Ἠὼς ἠριγένεια μόλῃ: ἐνθ᾽ ἐπεβήσεθ᾽ ἑῶν ὀχέων Ὑπερίονος υἱός."

"We are all clever enough at envying a famous man while he is yet alive, and at praising him when he is dead."

"Si, Mimnermus uti censet, sinè amore jocisque Nil est jucundum, vivas in amore jocisque."

"You promise heavens free from strife, Pure truth, and perfect change of will; But sweet, sweet is this human life, So sweet, I fain would breathe it still; Your chilly stars I can forgo, This warm kind world is all I know.You say there is no substance here, One great reality above: Back from that void I shrink in fear, And child-like hide myself in love: Show me what angels feel. Till then I cling, a mere weak man, to men.You bid me lift my mean desires From faltering lips and fitful veins To sexless souls, ideal quires, Unwearied voices, wordless strains: My mind with fonder welcome owns One dear dead friend’s remember’d tones.Forsooth the present we must give To that which cannot pass away; All beauteous things for which we live By laws of time and space decay. But Oh, the very reason why I clasp them, is because they die."

"Archilochos was both poet and mercenary. As a poet he was both satirist and lyricist. Iambic verse is his invention. He wrote the first beast fable known to us. He wrote marching songs, love lyrics of frail tenderness, elegies. But most of all he was what Meleager calls him, "a thistle with graceful leaves." There is a tradition that wasps hover around his grave. To the ancients, both Greek and Roman, he was The Satirist. We have what grammarians quote to illustrate a point of dialect or interesting use of the subjunctive; we have brief quotations by admiring critics; and we have papyrus fragments, scrap paper from the households of Alexandria, with which third-class mummies were wrapped and stuffed. All else is lost. Horace and Catullus, like all cultivated readers, had Archilochos complete in their libraries. Even in the tattered version we have of Archilochos … the extraordinary form of his mind is discernible. Not all poets can be so broken and still compel attention. Archilochos kept his "two services" in an unlikely harmony. Ares did not complain that this ash-spear fighter wrote poems, and the Muses have heard everything and did not mind that their horsetail-helmeted servant sometimes spoke with the vocabulary of a paratrooper sergeant, though the high-minded Spartans banned Archilochos's poems for their mockery of uncritical bravery. And the people of his native Paros made it clear, when they honored him with a monument, that they thought him a great poet in spite of his nettle tongue."

"Summa in hoc vis elocutionis, cum validae tum breves vibrantesque sententiae, plurimum sanguinis atque nervorum, adeo ut videatur quibusdam quod quoquam minor est materiae esse, non ingeni vitium."

""Old women should not seek to be perfumed" (Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, first ebook edition, 2014)"

"There is a line among the fragments of the Greek poet Archilochus which says: "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing." Scholars have differed about the correct interpretation of these dark words, which may mean no more than that the fox, for all his cunning, is defeated by the hedgehog's one defence. But, taken figuratively, the words can be made to yield a sense in which they mark one of the deepest differences which divide writers and thinkers, and, it may be, human beings in general. For there exists a great chasm between those, on one side, who relate everything to a single, universal, organizing principle in terms of which alone all that they are and say has significance — and, on the other side, those who pursue many ends, often unrelated and even contradictory... Their thought is scattered or diffused, moving on many levels, seizing upon the essence of a vast variety of experiences and objects for what they are in themselves, without, consciously or unconsciously, seeking to fit them into, or exclude them from any one unchanging, all-embracing, sometimes self-contradictory and incomplete, at times fanatical, unitary inner vision. The first kind of intellectual and artistic personality belongs to the hedgehogs, the second to the foxes; and without insisting on a rigid classification, we may, without too much fear of contradiction, say that, in this sense, Dante belongs to the first category, Shakespeare to the second."

": Quotations for Martial Artists : Hundreds of Inspirational Quotes to Motivate and Enlighten the Modern Warrior (2003) edited by John D. Moore"

"I have a high art; I hurt with cruelty those who would damage me."

"ὦ Ζεῦ͵ πάτερ Ζεῦ͵ σὸν μὲν οὐρανοῦ κράτος͵ σὺ δ΄ ἔργ΄ ἐπ΄ ἀνθρώπων ὁρᾶις λεωργὰ καὶ θεμιστά͵ σοὶ δὲ θηρίων ὕβρις τε καὶ δίκη μέλει."

"I have a high art: I hurt with cruelty those who wound me."