Michael A. Tueller
Sea and Land: Dividing Sepulchral Epigram
Greek Literary Epigram
University College, London, September 2013
1. Carmina Epigraphica Graeca 487 (Piraeus, beginning of the 4th C. BCE)
πάντων ἀνθρώπων νόμος ἐ|στὶ κοινὸς τὸ ἀποθανε ͂ν. ⁚ |
Death is the common law of all humans. Here
ἐνθάδε κεῖται Θεοίτης παῖς | Τελέσωνος Τεγεάτας Τεγε|άτο ⁝ lies Theoetes of Tegea, son of Teleso of Tegea
καὶ μητρὸς Νικαρέτης | χρηστῆς γε γυνακός. ⁚
and of his mother, Nicarete, an excellent
χαίρε|τε οἱ παρι⟨ό⟩ντες, ἐγὼ δέ γε τἀ|μὰ φυ⟨λά⟩ττω.
woman. Passersby, farewell! As for me, I guard
what’s mine.
2. [Plato], AP 7.259
Εὐβοίης γένος ἐσμὲν Ἐρετρικόν, ἄγχι δὲ Σούσων
κείμεθα· φεῦ, γαίης ὅσσον ἀφ᾽ ἡμετέρης.
We are originally Eretrians from Euboea, but we lie near
Susa. Oh! how far we are from our land!
3. Hegesippus, AP 7.446
Ἑρμιονεὺς ὁ ξεῖνος, ἐν ἀλλοδαπῶν δὲ τέθαπται,
Ζωΐλος, Ἀργείαν γαῖαν ἐφεσσάμενος,
ἃν ἐπί οἱ βαθύκολπος ἀμάσατο δάκρυσι νύμφα
λειβομένα παῖδές τ᾽ εἰς χρόα κειράμενοι.
Zoïlus, the stranger from Hermione, lies buried among
foreigners, wrapped in Argive earth, heaped upon him
by his weeping deep-bosomed wife and his children
with hair cut close.
4. Posidippus 94 A-B
ναυηγόν με θανόντα καὶ ἔκλαυσεν καὶ ἔθαψ̣εν
Λεώφαντος σπουδῆι, καὐτὸς ἐπειγόμενος
ὡς ἂν ἐπὶ ξείνης καὶ ὁδοιπόρος· ἀλλ’ ἀποδοῦναι
Λεωφάντ̣ωι μεγάλην μικκὸς ἐγὼ χά̣ριτα.
Leophantus bewailed and buried me, a dead shipwreck
victim, in haste, though he too is pressed on like a
wayfarer in a foreign land. But I am (too) small to
return great thanks to Leophantus.
5. Callimachus, AP 7.271
ὤφελε μηδ᾽ ἐγένοντο θοαὶ νέες· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἡμεῖς
παῖδα Διοκλείδεω Σώπολιν ἐστένομεν·
νῦν δ᾽ ὁ μὲν εἰν ἁλί που φέρεται νέκυς, ἀντὶ δ᾽ ἐκείνου
οὔνομα καὶ κενεὸν σῆμα παρερχόμεθα.
6. Posidippus, AP 7.267
ναυτίλοι, ἐγγὺς ἁλὸς τί με θάπτετε; πολλὸν ἄνευθε
χῶσαι ναυηγοῦ τλήμονα τύμβον ἔδει.
φρίσσω κύματος ἦχον, ἐμὸν μόρον. ἀλλὰ καὶ οὕτως
χαίρετε, Νικήτην οἵτινες οἰκτίσατε.
7. Diocles of Carystus, AP 7.393
μή με κόνι κρύψητε· τί γὰρ; πάλι μηδ᾽ ἐπὶ ταύτης
ᾐόνος οὐκ ὀνοτὴν γαῖαν ἐμοὶ τίθετε.
μαίνεται εἴς με θάλασσα καὶ ἐν χέρσοισί με δειλὸν
εὑρίσκει ῥαχίαις· οἶδέ με κἠν Ἀΐδῃ.
χέρσον ἐπεκβαίνειν ⟨εἰ⟩ ἐμεῦ χάριν ὕδατι θυμός, 5
ἀρκεῖ μοι σταθερῇ μιμνέμεν ὡς ἄταφος.
8. Bianor, AP 7.388
ἰχθύσι καὶ ποταμῷ Κλειτώνυμον ἐχθρὸς ὅμιλος
ὦσεν, ὅτ᾽ εἰς ἄκρην ἦλθε τυραννοφόνος.
ἀλλὰ Δίκα μιν ἔθαψεν· ἀποσπασθεῖσα γὰρ ὄχθη
πᾶν δέμας ἐς κορυφὴν ἐκ ποδὸς ἐκτέρισεν·
κεῖται δ᾽ οὐχ ὑδάτεσσι διάβροχος· αἰδομένα δὲ
Γᾶ κεύθει τὸν ἑᾶς ὅρμον ἐλευθερίης.
If only there were no swift ships! Then we would not
be mourning Sopolis, son of Dioclides. But now his
corpse is adrift somewhere on the brine, and instead
of the man himself we pass by his name and an
empty tomb.
Sailors, why are you burying me near the sea? One
should pile the tomb of a long-suffering shipwreck
victim far away. I shiver at the sound of waves, my
doom: but, even so, farewell, you who took pity on
Nicetes.
Don’t hide me in the dust; why bother? Don’t put the
blameless earth of this shore on me again. The sea rages
against me; even on surf-beaten land it finds my
wretched self; it knows me even in Hades. If it is the
water’s desire to mount the dry land for my sake, I am
content to remain on the firm land unburied.
The hostile crowd consigned Clitonymus to the fish and
the river, when he came to the citadel intent on
tyrannicide. But Justice buried him; the bank collapsed
and interred his whole body, from foot to head. Now he
5 lies unsoaked by the water; Earth, out of respect, hid the
harbor of her freedom.
Page 1 of 5
Michael A. Tueller
Sea and Land: Dividing Sepulchral Epigram
Greek Literary Epigram
University College, London, September 2013
9. Bianor, AP 9.278
λάρνακα πατρῴων ἔτι λείψανα κοιμίζουσαν
νεκρῶν χειμάρρῳ παῖς ἴδε συρομένην·
καί μιν ἄχος τόλμης ἐπλήσατο, χεῦμα δ᾽ ἀναιδὲς
εἰσέθορεν, πικρὴν δ᾽ ἦλθ᾽ ἐπὶ συμμαχίην.
ὀστέα μὲν γὰρ ἔσωσεν ἀφ᾽ ὕδατος, ἀντὶ δὲ τούτων 5
αὐτὸς ὑπὸ βλοσυροῦ χεύματος ἐφθάνετο.
A boy saw a coffin, still holding his dead parents’
remains, swept away by a torrent. His grief filled him
with daring, and he leapt into the pitiless stream; but
bitter was the assistance he brought: he saved their
bones from the water, but in their place he was
overcome by the rough stream.
10. Antiphilus of Byzantium, AP 9.222
ἀνέρα θήρ, χερσαῖον ὁ πόντιος, ἄπνοον ἔμπνους,
ἀράμενος λοφιῆς ὑγρὸν ὕπερθε νέκυν
εἰς ψαμάθους ἐκόμισσα· τί δὲ πλέον; ἐξ ἁλὸς εἰς γῆν
νηξάμενος φόρτου μισθὸν ἔχω θάνατον·
δαίμονα δ᾽ ἀλλήλων ἠμείψαμεν· ἡ μὲν ἐκείνου
5
χθὼν ἐμέ, τὸν δ᾽ ἀπὸ γῆς ἔκτανε τοὐμὸν ὕδωρ.
Beast lifting man, sea-creature lifting land-creature,
alive lifting dead, I carried a wet corpse on my back
to the sands. And what good did it do? After swimming
from the sea to the land, I have obtained death as the
reward for my transport. We swapped fates: his land
killed me, and my water killed the one from earth.
11. Antiphilus of Byzantium, AP 9.14
αἰγιαλοῦ τενάγεσσιν ὑποπλώοντα λαθραίῃ
εἰρεσίῃ Φαίδων εἴσιδε πουλυπόδην·
μάρψας δ᾽ ὠκὺς ἔριψεν ἐπὶ χθόνα, πρὶν περὶ χεῖρας
πλέξασθαι βρύγδην ὀκτατόνους ἕλικας·
δισκευθεὶς δ᾽ ἐπὶ θάμνον ἐς οἰκία δειλὰ λαγωοῦ
5
εἰληδὸν ταχινοῦ πτωκὸς ἔδησε πόδας·
εἷλε δ᾽ ἁλούς· σὺ δ᾽ ἄελπτον ἔχεις γέρας ἀμφοτέρωθεν
ἄγρης χερσαίης, πρέσβυ, καὶ εἰναλίης.
Phaedo saw an octopus floating beneath the surface
in the shallows by the shore, secretly paddling. He
seized it swiftly and threw it onto the land, before it
could entwine its eightfold coils tightly around his
hands. It whirled onto a bush, into the cowering
home of a hare, and fettered the feet of the swift
timorous creature in its coils. The captive captured;
old man, you have an unexpected gift from the fields
of both the dry land and the briny sea.
12. Julian of Egypt, AP 9.398
ὁλκὰς ὕδωρ προφυγοῦσα πολυφλοίσβοιο θαλάσσης
ἐν χθονὸς ἀγκοίναις ὤλετο μητριάσιν·
ἱσταμένην γὰρ πυρσὸς ἐπέφλεγε· καιομένη δὲ
δυσμενέων ὑδάτων συμμαχίην ἐκάλει.
A ship that had escaped the water of the loud-roaring
sea perished in the mothering bends of earth: a fire
burned it up where it stood, and in flames it called
upon the assistance of the hostile waters.
13. Leonidas of Tarentum, AP 7.506
κἠν γῇ κἠν πόντῳ κεκρύμμεθα· τοῦτο περισσὸν
ἐκ Μοιρέων Θάρσυς Χαρμίδου ἠνυσάμην.
ἦ γὰρ ἐπ᾽ ἀγκύρης ἔνοχον βάρος εἰς ἅλα δύνων
Ἰόνιόν θ᾽ ὑγρὸν κῦμα κατερχόμενος
4
τὴν μὲν ἔσωσ᾽, αὐτὸς δὲ μετάτροπος ἐκ βυθοῦ ἔρρων,
ἤδη καὶ ναύταις χεῖρας ὀρεγνύμενος,
ἐβρώθην· τοῖόν μοι ἐπ᾽ ἄγριον εὖ μέγα κῆτος
ἦλθεν, ἀπέβροξεν δ᾽ ἄχρις ἐπ᾽ ὀμφαλίου.
χἤμισυ μὲν ναῦται, ψυχρὸν βάρος, ἐξ ἁλὸς ἡμῶν
ἤρανθ᾽, ἥμισυ δὲ πρίστις ἀπεκλάσατο·
10
ᾐόνι δ᾽ ἐν ταύτῃ κακὰ λείψανα Θάρσυος, ὦνερ,
ἔκρυψαν· πάτρην δ᾽ οὐ πάλιν ἱκόμεθα.
I am hidden both in land and in sea: this is the extreme
fate that I, Tharsys son of Charmides, met. Diving into
the briny deep after a fouled anchor, I descended into
the wet Ionian swells. The anchor I freed, but I, as I
turned and left the depths, even as I was already
reaching my arms out to the sailors, I was gobbled up:
such a great savage whale came after me, and gulped
me down up to the navel. Half of me, cold and heavy,
the sailors pulled from the sea, and half the spouterfish severed. On this beach, O man, they hid the
miserable remains of Tharsys; I did not return to my
homeland.
14. Antipater (of Thessalonica, probably), AP 7.288
οὐδετέρης ὅλος εἰμὶ θανὼν νέκυς, ἀλλὰ θάλασσα
I am a dead body not wholly of either place, but sea
καὶ χθὼν τὴν ἀπ᾽ ἐμεῦ μοῖραν ἔχουσιν ἴσην.
and earth have an equal share of me. Fish ate my flesh
σάρκα γὰρ ἐν πόντῳ φάγον ἰχθύες, ὀστέα δ᾽ αὖτε
in the sea, but my bones are tossed up on this cold
βέβρασται ψυχρῇ τῇδε παρ᾽ ἠϊόνι.
beach.
Page 2 of 5
Michael A. Tueller
Sea and Land: Dividing Sepulchral Epigram
Greek Literary Epigram
University College, London, September 2013
15. Hegesippus, AP 7.276
ἐξ ἁλὸς ἡμίβρωτον ἀνηνέγκαντο σαγηνεῖς
ἄνδρα, πολύκλαυτον ναυτιλίης σκύβαλον·
κέρδεα δ᾽ οὐκ ἐδίωξαν ἃ μὴ θέμις, ἀλλὰ σὺν αὐτοῖς
ἰχθύσι τῇδ᾽ ὀλίγῃ θῆκαν ὑπὸ ψαμάθῳ.
ὦ χθών, τὸν ναυηγὸν ἔχεις ὅλον· ἀντὶ δὲ λοιπῆς 5
σαρκὸς τοὺς σαρκῶν γευσαμένους ἐπέχεις.
16. Leonidas of Tarentum, AP 7.504
Πάρμις ὁ Καλλιγνώτου ἐπακταῖος καλαμευτής,
ἄκρος καὶ κίχλης καὶ σκάρου ἰχθυβολεὺς
καὶ λάβρου πέρκης δελεάρπαγος ὅσσα τε κοίλας
σήραγγας πέτρας τ᾽ ἐμβυθίους νέμεται,
ἄγρης ἐκ πρωτῆς ποτ᾽ ἰουλίδα πετρήεσσαν
δακνάζων ὀλοὴν ἐξ ἁλὸς ἀράμενος
ἔφθιτ᾽· ὀλισθηρὴ γὰρ ὑπὲκ χερὸς ἀΐξασα
ᾤχετ᾽ ἐπὶ στεινὸν παλλομένη φάρυγα.
χὠ μὲν μηρίνθων καὶ δούνακος ἀγκίστρων τε
ἐγγὺς ἀπὸ πνοιὴν ἧκε κυλινδόμενος,
νήματ᾽ ἀναπλήσας ἐπιμοίρια· τοῦ δὲ θανόντος
Γρίπων ὁ γριπεὺς τοῦτον ἔχωσε τάφον.
Net-fishermen drew up from the brine a half-eaten
man, the much-lamented residue of a voyage. They did
not seek a profit that would not be decent, but placed
him, along with the fish themselves, under this little
sand. O Earth, you hold the shipwrecked man—all of
him: in place of the rest of his flesh, you have a hold on
those that nibbled his flesh.
Parmis son of Callignotus, who plies his rod along
the shore, a top-notch angler for wrasse, parrotwrasse, the bait-snatching fighting perch, and all
the fish that feed among the hollow overhangs
5 and deep rocks, once drew out of the sea a deadly
rock-dwelling rainbow wrasse in his first catch of
the day, and bit it—and perished. The slippery fish
squirmed out of his hand and leapt into his
narrow throat. He expelled his last breath as he
10 rolled beside his lines, pole, and hooks, reaching
the end of his fated thread; and Fischer the fisher
piled this tomb on the dead man.
17. Carmina Epigraphica Graeca 545 (Athens, c. 350 BCE)
ὀστέα μὲν καὶ σάρκας | ἔ{ι}χει χθὼν παῖδα τὸν ἥ|δύν, The earth holds the sweet child, both bones and flesh;
ψυχὴ δὲ εὐσεβέων | οἴχεται εἰς θάλαμον. |
but his soul departs into the chamber of the blessed.
εἰ δὲ ὄνομα ζητεῖς, Θεογείτ|ων Θυμόχου παῖς
If you seek a name, I who lie here in famous Athens
Θηβα|ῖος γενεὰν κε ͂μα⟨ι⟩ κλειν|αῖς ἐν Ἀθήνα|ις.
am Theogeiton, son of Thymochus, a Theban by race.
18. Cometas, AP 15.40.6–9 (9th C. CE)
ἀλλ᾽ ἄνεω μὲν ἔκειτο μεμυκὼς χείλεα σιγῇ
σῶμά τε πυθόμενος καὶ ὀστέα καὶ χρόα καλόν,
ψυχὴ δ᾽ ἐκ ῥεθέων πταμένη ἄιδόσδε κατῆλθεν,
ἄρρητον δὲ φίλοισι γόον καὶ πένθος ἔθηκεν....
But he lay quietly, lips sealed in silence, his body, bones,
and fine skin decomposing, while his soul flew from his
limbs and went down to Hades, giving unspeakable
lament and sorrow to his friends....
19. Plato, Phaedo 115d–116a
ὑμεῖς δὲ ἦ μὴν μὴ παραμενεῖν ἐγγυήσασθε
ἐπειδὰν ἀποθάνω, ἀλλὰ οἰχήσεσθαι ἀπιόντα, ἵνα
Κρίτων ῥᾷον φέρῃ, καὶ μὴ ὁρῶν μου τὸ σῶμα ἢ
καόμενον ἢ κατορυττόμενον ἀγανακτῇ ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ
“You must be guarantors that I will not stay here when I
die, but will go away, so that Crito will take it more easily,
and not become upset for me when he sees my body
being burned or buried, thinking that I am suffering
Page 3 of 5
Michael A. Tueller
Sea and Land: Dividing Sepulchral Epigram
Greek Literary Epigram
University College, London, September 2013
ὡς δεινὰ πάσχοντος, μηδὲ λέγῃ ἐν τῇ ταφῇ ὡς ἢ
προτίθεται Σωκράτη ἢ ἐκφέρει ἢ κατορύττει. εὖ
γὰρ ἴσθι, ἦ δ᾽ ὅς, ὦ ἄριστε Κρίτων, τὸ μὴ καλῶς
λέγειν οὐ μόνον εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο πλημμελές, ἀλλὰ
καὶ κακόν τι ἐμποιεῖ ταῖς ψυχαῖς. ἀλλὰ θαρρεῖν τε
χρὴ καὶ φάναι τοὐμὸν σῶμα θάπτειν, καὶ θάπτειν
οὕτως ὅπως ἄν σοι φίλον ᾖ καὶ μάλιστα ἡγῇ
νόμιμον εἶναι.
20. Anonymous, AP 7.61
γαῖα μὲν ἐν κόλποις κρύπτει τόδε σῶμα Πλάτωνος,
ψυχὴ δ᾽ ἀθάνατον τάξιν ἔχει μακάρων
υἱοῦ Ἀρίστωνος· τόν τις καὶ τηλόθι ναίων
τιμᾷ ἀνὴρ ἀγαθὸς θεῖον ἰδόντα βίον.
terrible things, or say, at the burial, that he is laying out
Socrates, or bearing him to the grave, or burying him.
Know well,” he said, “most excellent Crito, that improper
speech not only destroys its own harmony, but also
instills evil into the soul. You must take heart, and say
that you bury my body, and bury it in such a way as is
dear to you and you consider most compliant with
custom.”
Earth hides the body of Plato here in its bosom, but
the soul of Aristo’s son has an immortal place among
the blessed; every good man, even one who dwells far
off, honors him for having seen the divine life.
21. Carmina Epigraphica Graeca 611 (Attica, 4th C.? BCE)
[σ]ῶμα μὲν ἐν κόλποισι κατὰ χθὼν ἥδε καλ[ύπτει] |
This earth covers in its bosom the body of Timo[Τι]μ̣οκλεί ̯ας, τὴν σὴν δὲ ἀρετὴν οὐθεὶς [φθ]ίσε̣ι α̣[ίων]· | cleia, but no age will diminish your virtue; your
[ἀθά]νατος μνήμη σωφρ[ο]σύνης ἕνε[κ]α.
memory is immortal, because of your prudence.
22. Pinytus, AP 7.16 (1st C. CE?)
ὀστέα μὲν καὶ κωφὸν ἔχει τάφος οὔνομα Σαπφοῦς· The grave holds the bones and the mute name of
αἱ δὲ σοφαὶ κείνης ῥήσιες ἀθάνατοι.
Sappho; but her poetic speech is immortal.
23. Carmina Epigraphica Graeca 98 (Athens, 5th C. BCE)
σάρκας μὲν πῦρ | ὄμματ᾽ ἀφείλετο τῆι ̣|⟨δ⟩ε Ὀνησο̄ς, Fire deprived our eyes of Oneso’s flesh here, but this
ὀστέα δ᾽ ἀν|θεμόες χῶρος ὅδ᾽ ἀνφ⟨ὶς ἔχ⟩ει.
flowery spot embraces her bones.
24. Diogenes Laertius, AP 7.87
σῶμα μὲν ἦρε Σόλωνος ἐν ἀλλοδαπῇ Κύπριον πῦρ,
ὀστὰ δ᾽ ἔχει Σαλαμίς, ὧν κόνις ἀστάχυες·
ψυχὴν δ᾽ ἄξονες εὐθὺς ἐς οὐρανὸν ἤγαγον· εὖ γὰρ
θῆκε νόμους, ἀστοῖς ἄχθεα κουφότατα.
25. Philip of Thessalonica, AP 7.362
ἐνθάδε τὴν ἱερὴν κεφαλὴν σορὸς ἥδε κέκευθεν
Ἀετίου χρηστοῦ, ῥήτορος εὐπρεπέος.
ἦλθεν δ᾽ εἰς Ἀΐδαο δέμας, ψυχὴ δ᾽ ἐς Ὄλυμπον·
.................................
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ἀθάνατον δὲ
οὔτε λόγος ποιεῖν οὔτε θεὸς δύναται.
In a foreign land a Cyprian fire consumed Solon’s body,
but Salamis holds his bones, and their dust becomes
grain; but his axones carry his soul to heaven, for he
established good laws, lightening the burdens on the
Athenians.
This mound here conceals the sacred head of excellent
Aëtius, a distinguished orator. His body went to Hades,
and his soul to Olympus;
...
but neither speech nor a god can make him immortal.
26. Philip of Thessalonica, AP 7.383
ᾐόνιον τόδε σῶμα βροτοῦ παντλήμονος ἄθρει
Look at this body of an utterly wretched man scattered
σπαρτόν, ἁλιρραγέων ἐκχύμενον σκοπέλων·
on the beach, the jetsam of the surf-beaten headland.
τῇ μὲν ἐρημοκόμης κεῖται καὶ χῆρος ὀδόντων
Here lies his head, hairless, deprived of teeth, there are
κόρση, τῇ δὲ χερῶν πενταφυεῖς ὄνυχες
the five fingers of his hands, and his ribs, peeled of their
πλευρά τε σαρκολιπῆ, ταρσοὶ δ᾽ ἑτέρωθεν ἄμοιροι 5 flesh, his feet, both with no tendons, and the
νεύρων καὶ κώλων ἔκλυτος ἁρμονίη.
demolished frame of his limbs. This congeries was once
οὗτος ὁ πουλυμερὴς εἷς ἦν ποτε. φεῦ μακαριστοί, a single man. Oh! most blessed are all who do not look
ὅσσοι ἀπ᾽ ὠδίνων οὐκ ἴδον ἠέλιον.
on the sun after their birth-pangs!
Page 4 of 5
Michael A. Tueller
Sea and Land: Dividing Sepulchral Epigram
Greek Literary Epigram
University College, London, September 2013
27. Callimachus, AP 12.73
ἥμισύ μευ ψυχῆς ἔτι τὸ πνέον, ἥμισυ δ᾽ οὐκ οἶδ᾽
Half my soul is still breathing, but half I don’t know
εἴτ᾽ Ἔρος εἴτ᾽ Ἀΐδης ἥρπασε· πλὴν ἀφανές.
whether Love or Hades has snatched it away—just that
ἦ ῥά τιν᾽ ἐς παίδων πάλιν ᾤχετο. καὶ μὲν ἀπεῖπον it’s gone. Has it gone back to one of the boys? I often
πολλάκι· “τὴν δρῆστιν μὴ ὑποδέχεσθε, νέοι.” warned them: “don’t adopt the runaway, young men.”
Θεύτιμον δίφησον· ἐκεῖσε γὰρ ἡ λιθόλευστος
5 Look for Theutimus! That soul of mine, a love-plague in
κείνη καὶ δύσερως οἶδ᾽ ὅτι που στρέφεται.
need of stoning, goes about there somewhere, I know it.
28. Gregory of Nazianzus, AP 8.121
ἦν δυὰς ἦν ἱερή, ψυχὴ μία, σώματα δισσά,
πάντα κασιγνήτω, αἷμα, κλέος, σοφίην,
υἱέες Ἀμφιλόχου, Εὐφήμιος Ἀμφίλοχός τε,
πᾶσιν Καππαδόκαις ἀστέρες ἐκφανέες.
4
δεινὸν δ᾽ ἀμφοτέρους Φθόνος ἔδρακε· τὸν μὲν ἄμερσε
ζωῆς, τὸν δ᾽ ἔλιπεν ἥμισυν Ἀμφίλοχον.
29. Paulus Silentiarius, AP 5.272
μαζοὺς χερσὶν ἔχω, στόματι στόμα, καὶ περὶ δειρὴν
ἄσχετα λυσσώων βόσκομαι ἀργυφέην.
οὔπω δ᾽ ἀφρογένειαν ὅλην ἕλον· ἀλλ᾽ ἔτι κάμνω
παρθένον ἀμφιέπων λέκτρον ἀναινομένην.
ἥμισυ γὰρ Παφίῃ, τὸ δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἥμισυ δῶκεν Ἀθήνῃ· 5
αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ μέσσος τήκομαι ἀμφοτέρων.
They were a sacred pair, one soul, two bodies,
brothers in every way—in blood, renown, and
wisdom—sons of Amphilochus, Euphemius and and
Amphilochus, brilliant stars to all the Cappadocians.
But Envy cast his terrible eye on both: one he deprived of life, and left the other a half-Amphilochus.
I hold her breasts in my hands, her lips to my lips, and
feed in unrestrained fury round her silvery neck. I have
not yet had sex with her, but still I try, stalking a girl
who refuses me her bed. Half of herself she has given to
the Paphian goddess, and half to Athena. I, however,
waste away between the two.
30. Philip of Thessalonica, AP 9.56
Ἕβρου Θρηϊκίου κρυμῷ πεπεδημένον ὕδωρ
A boy, as he walked on the water of the Thracian
νήπιος ἐμβαίνων οὐκ ἔφυγεν θάνατον·
Hebrus, encased in ice, did not escape death. The river
ἐς ποταμὸν δ᾽ ἤδη λαγαρούμενον ἴχνος ὀλισθὼν
was already thawing, and his foot slipped in; the ice
κρυμῷ τοὺς ἁπαλοὺς αὐχένας ἀμφεκάρη.
sliced through his tender neck. The rest of his body was
καὶ τὸ μὲν ἐξεσύρη λοιπὸν δέμας, ἡ δὲ μένουσα 5 carried away, and the head, which remained, required
ὄψις ἀναγκαίην εἶχε τάφου πρόφασιν.
burial. Unfortunate is the woman whose child was split
δύσμορος, ἧς ὠδῖνα διείλατο πῦρ τε καὶ ὕδωρ·
between fire and water; though he seems to belong to
ἀμφοτέρων δὲ δοκῶν οὐδενός ἐστιν ὅλως.
both, he belongs wholly to neither.
31. Honestus, AP 9.292
παίδων ὃν μὲν ἔκαιεν Ἀρίστιον, ὃν δ᾽ ἐσάκουσε
ναυηγόν· δισσὸν δ᾽ ἄλγος ἔτηξε μίαν.
αἰαῖ, μητέρα Μοῖρα διείλετο, τὴν ἴσα τέκνα
καὶ πυρὶ καὶ πικρῷ νειμαμένην ὕδατι.
Aristion was lighting the pyre of one of her children, when
she heard that the other was shipwrecked; the double grief
dissolved the one woman. Oh! Fate split the mother who
apportioned her children equally to fire and bitter water.
32. Agathias Scholasticus, AP 7.204
οὐκέτι που, τλῆμον σκοπέλων μετανάστρια πέρδιξ,
πλεκτὸς λεπταλέαις οἶκος ἔχει σε λύγοις,
οὐδ᾽ ὑπὸ μαρμαρυγῇ θαλερώπιδος Ἠριγενείης
ἄκρα παραιθύσσεις θαλπομένων πτερύγων.
σὴν κεφαλὴν αἴλουρος ἀπέθρισε· τἆλλα δὲ πάντα
ἥρπασα, καὶ φθονερὴν οὐκ ἐκόρεσσε γένυν.
νῦν δέ σε μὴ κούφη κρύπτοι κόνις, ἀλλὰ βαρεῖα,
μὴ τὸ τεὸν κείνη λείψανον ἐξερύσῃ.
33. Anonymous, AP 1.50
ψυχὴν αὐτὸς ἔτευξε, δέμας μόρφωσεν ὁ αὐτός·
Λάζαρον ἐκ νεκύων ἐς φάος αὐτὸς ἄγει.
Poor partridge, fugitive from the cliffs! No longer, I
suppose, does your woven home hold you in its
slender withes, nor do you flutter your wing-tips
under the gleam of warm-eyed Dawn the early-riser
5 to keep them warm. A cat cut off your head—but I
snatched away all the rest; it did not glut its greedy
jaws. Now may the dust not hide you lightly, but
heavily, lest she drag off what’s left of you.
The same one made the soul and formed the body; he
brings back Lazarus from the dead into the light.
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