Steven D. Smith
Hofstra University
Steven.D.Smith@hofstra.edu
Greek Literary Epigram
University College London
11-13 September 2013
Reading The Imperial Garden at Hieron:
Ideologies of Ekphrasis in the Cycle of Agathias
1. AP 9.820 Anonymous, εἰς εἴσοδον τῆς Ἡρίας
Τοῦτον Ἰουστινιανὸς ἀγακλέα δείµατο χῶρον
ὕδατι καὶ γαίῃ κάλλος ἐπικρεµάσας.
Justinian built this glorious place, overlaying
water and earth with beauty.
2. AP 9.821 Anonymous, εἰς τὸ αὐτό
Κοίρανοι, ὑµετέρην ἀρετὴν κάρτος τε καὶ ἔργα
αὐδήσει χρόνος αἰέν, ἕως πόλος ἀστέρας ἕλκῃ.
Rulers, time will ever proclaim your virtue,
power, and deeds, so long as the pole draws the
stars.
3. AP 9.663 Paul the Silentiary, εἰς κῆπον παράλιον
Πόντος ὑποκλύζει χθονὸς ἕδρανα, πλωτὰ δὲ χέρσου
νῶτα θαλασσαίοις ἄλσεσι τηλεθάει.
Ὡς σοφὸς ὅστις ἔµιξε βυθὸν χθονί, φύκια κήποις,
Νηϊάδων προχοαῖς χεύµατα Νηρεΐδων.
The sea washes from below the seats of the
earth, and the navigable back of dry land
abounds in the sea’s groves. How clever the
one who mingled the depth of the sea with the
earth, seaweed with gardens, with the Naiads’
outpourings the streams of the Nereids.
4. AP 9.664 Paul the Silentiary, εἰς τὸ αὐτό
Ἐνθάδ’ ἐριδµαίνουσι τίνος πλέον ἔπλετο χῶρος,
Νύµφαι Νηιάδες, Νηρεΐς, Ἁδρυάδες·
ταῖς δὲ θεµιστεύει µεσάτη Χάρις οὐδὲ δικάζειν
οἶδεν, ἐπεὶ ξυνὴν τέρψιν ὁ χῶρος ἔχει.
Here Nymphs compete over whose place it is
more: Naiads, Nereids, Hadryads. And Charis
as mediator declares for them what is lawful,
but she does not now how to rule, since the
place possesses delight to which they all
contribute.
5. AP 9.665 Agathias, εἰς τὸ αὐτό
Εἶξον ἐµοί, Δάφνης ἱερὸν κλέτας, ἔκτοθι πόντου
κείµενον, ἀγραύλου κάλλος ἐρηµοσύνης.
Ἐνθάδε γὰρ Νύµφαι δενδρίτιδες αἵ τ’ ἐνὶ πόντῳ
Νηρεΐδες ξυνὴν θέντο συνηλυσίην·
ἀµφ’ ἐµὲ γὰρ µάρναντο· δίκασσε δὲ Κυανοχαίτης
καί µε παρ’ ἀµφοτέραις µέσσον ἔθηκεν ὅρον.
Yield to me, sacred hillside of Daphne, situated
far from the sea, a beauty of rustic solitude. For
here Nymphs of the trees and the Nereids in the
sea have placed their shared assembly. For they
contend over me. And the Dark Haired One has
ruled and has placed me as a middle boundary
for both sides.
6. AP 9.667 Arabius Scholasticus, εἰς προάστειον
Ὕδασι καὶ κήποισι καὶ ἄλσεσι καὶ Διονύσῳ
καὶ πόντου πλήθω γείτονος εὐφροσύνῃ.
Τερπνὰ δέ µοι γαίης τε καὶ ἐξ ἁλὸς ἄλλοθεν ἄλλος
καὶ γριπεὺς ὀρέγει δῶρα καὶ ἀγρονόµος.
Τοὺς δ’ ἐν ἐµοὶ µίµνοντας ἢ ὀρνίθων τις ἀείδων
ἢ γλυκὺ πορθµήων φθέγµα παρηγορέει.
In waters and gardens and groves and Dionysus
and in the neighboring sea’s good cheer I
abound. And both the fisherman and the farmer
proffer gifts delightful to me, from the sea and
the earth respectively. And those passing time
in me either one of the birds singing or the
sweet voice of the ferrymen consoles.
7. AP 4.4.71-74 Agathias (from the verse preface to
the Cycle)
ἀλλὰ πάλιν µετ’ ἐκεῖνα παλαίτερα τεῦχος ἀγείρει
ὅσσαπερ ἢ γραφίδεσσι χαράξαµεν ἤ τινι χώρῳ,
εἴτε καὶ εὐποίητον ἐπὶ βρέτας, εἴτε καὶ ἄλλης
τέχνης ἐργοπόνοιο πολυσπερέεσσιν ἀέθλοις.
But again after those older things a volume
collects whatever things we inscribed either on
paintings or in some place, whether upon some
well-made statue, or for the widely strewn
prizes of another labor intensive craft.
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