“I’ve done what I came here to do.”
-Tina Turner, 2013 interview with Oprah Winfrey
Bacchylides.3.85-92
To the wise person I say wise things:
The deep heavens are undefiled;
The waters of the sea are not moldering;
And gold is happiness!
But it is not in the nature of things
For gray old age to let a person revive
Her vibrant youth. And yet—
The luster of a mortal’s greatest hits
Does not fade with her body.
On the contrary, the Muse sustains it.
φρονέοντι συνετὰ γαρύω: βαθὺς μὲν
αἰθὴρ ἀμίαντος: ὕδωρ δὲ πόντου
οὐ σάπεται: εὐφροσύνα δ᾽ ὁ χρυσός:
ἀνδρὶ δ᾽ οὐ θέμις, πολιὸν παρέντα
γῆρας, θάλειαν αὖτις ἀγκομίσσαι
ἥβαν. ἀρετᾶς γε μὲν οὐ μινύθει
βροτῶν ἅμα σώματι φέγγος, ἀλλὰ
Μοῦσά νιν τρέφει.
Larry Benn has a B.A. in English Literature from Harvard College, an M.Phil in English Literature from Oxford University, and a J.D. from Yale Law School. Making amends for a working life misspent in finance, he’s now a hobbyist in ancient languages and blogs at featsofgreek.blogspot.com.
