Will Our Story Shine?

“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.

Black and white photograph of Tina Turner on stage singing in the 1970s
Tina Turner, 1939-2023

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.

The Outstanding Virtue

Bacchylides 14. 1-18.

It’s best when men receive a good allotment from god.
But heavy fate comes, destroying the good man
And, when set right, even making the bad man shine bright.
There are different honors for different men.

Men’s virtues are countless,
But one stands out from them all:
That a man manages what comes with a just heart.

The lyre’s voice and the clear-sounding choruses
Are not meet for grief-sowing battles,
And neither is the clang of clashing bronze for celebrations.
No, for everything men do there’s a time that’s best.
When a man’s at his best, a god is guiding him too.

εὖ μὲν εἱμάρθαι παρὰ δαίμονος ἀν-
θρώποις ἄριστον:
συμφορὰ δ᾽ ἐσθλόν τ᾽ ἀμαλδύ-
νει βαρύτλατος μολοῦσα
κἀἰ τὸν κακὸν ὑψιφανῆ τεύ-
χει κατορθωθεῖσα: τιμὰν
δ᾽ ἄλλος ἀλλοίαν ἔχει:
μυρίαι δ᾽ ἀνδρῶν ἀρεταί, μία δ᾽ ἐκ
πασᾶν πρόκειται,
ὃς τὰ πὰρ χειρὸς κυβερνᾶ-
ται δικαίαισι φρένεσσιν.
οὔτ᾽ ἐν βαρυπενθέσιν ἁρμό-
ζει μάχαις φόρμιγγος ὀμφὰ
καὶ λιγυκλαγγεῖς χοροί,
οὔτ᾽ ἐν θαλίαις καναχὰ
χαλκόκτυπος: ἀλλ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ἑκάστῳ
καιρὸς ἀνδρῶν ἔργματι κάλ-
λιστος: εὖ ἔρδοντα δὲ καὶ θεὸς ὀρθοῖ.

Picture of street sign that originally said "Men Working" but has graffiti added to it saying" on healing".
A street sign in Brooklyn.

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.

Praise for the Runner

Pindar. Olympian Ode 13.24-34.

Olympia’s most-high, wide-ruling one,
May you, father Zeus, for all time
Hold nothing against my words,
And while you keep this people safe from harm,
Pilot the winds of Xenephon’s fortunes.

Accept from him this ritual praise
For the garlands he brings from Pisa’s plains:
He won the pentathlon and stadion race.
No mortal man has done that before.

Two parsley wreaths also crowned him
When he appeared at the Isthmian festival.
And in Nemea it was no different.

ὕπατʼ εὐρὺ ἀνάσσων
Ὀλυμπίας, ἀφθόνητος ἔπεσσιν
γένοιο χρόνον ἅπαντα, Ζεῦ πάτερ,
καὶ τόνδε λαὸν ἀβλαβῆ νέμων
Ξενοφῶντος εὔθυνε δαίμονος οὖρον·

δέξαι τέ οἱ στεφάνων ἐγκώμιον τεθμόν, τὸν ἄγει πεδίων ἐκ Πίσας,
πεντάθλῳ ἅμα σταδίου νικῶν δρόμον· ἀντεβόλησεν
τῶν ἀνὴρ θνατὸς οὔπω τις πρότερον.

δύο δʼ αὐτὸν ἔρεψαν
πλόκοι σελίνων ἐν Ἰσθμιάδεσσιν
φανέντα· Νέμεά τʼ οὐκ ἀντιξοεῖ.

screenshot of a map of a marathon run in Brooklyn
The translator ran the Brooklyn ½ Marathonon Saturday in 1:35. He received no garlands.

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.

Sappho, Mother & Daughter

Sappho Fr. 98A

My mother me
It was stylish in her day
To pin back your hair
With a purple headband.
That was the style.
But if a woman’s hair
Was more fair than fire
She fastened it with garlands
Made of blooming flowers.

Sappho Fr. 132

I have a lovely daughter
Who looks like golden flowers.
The beloved girl is Kleis.
I would not her
For all of Lydia . . .

Fr. 98A
.

. ] . θος· ἀ γάρ με γέννα[τ

σ]φ̣ᾶς ἐπ’ ἀλικίας μέγ[αν
κ]όσμον, αἴ τις ἔχη φόβα⟨ι⟩ς̣[
π̣ορφύρ̣ῳ κατελιξαμέ[να πλόκῳ,

ἔ̣μμεναι μά̣λα τοῦτο δ̣[ή·
ἀ̣λλ’ ἀ ξανθοτέραις ἔχη[
τ̣αὶς κόμαις δάϊδος προ[

σ]τεφάνοισιν ἐπαρτία[ις
ἀ̣νθέων ἐριθαλέων·

Fr. 132

ἔστι μοι κάλα πάις χρυσίοισιν ἀνθέμοισιν
ἐμφέρην ἔχοισα μόρφαν Κλέις ἀγαπάτα,
ἀντὶ τᾶς ἔγωὐδὲ Λυδίαν παῖσαν οὐδ’ ἐράνναν . . .

Stylized oil painting of a mother and daughter, somewhat abstract. One woman looks out at the viewer, the other turns to look at her
Max Beckmann. Mother and Daughter.
1946. Art Gallery of New South Wales.

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.

What’s on Your Mind, Catullus?

Catullus, Carm. 51

That man seems to me to be a god.
That man, if it can be said, seems to transcend the gods—
The one who sits across from you, constantly
Watches you and hears

Your sweet laugh.
It snatches away all sense from unhappy me:
For once I have looked at you, Lesbia . . .

[I have] a tongue, but it is stiff;
A slight flame glides down beneath my skin;
My ears ring with their own din;
And the lights of my eyes are obscured by a twinned night.

Leisure, Catullus, is trouble for you:
You revel in leisure and have done too much.
Leisure in earlier times destroyed kings
And magnificent cities alike.

Ille mi par esse deo videtur,
ille, si fas est, superare divos,
qui sedens adversus identidem te
spectat et audit

dulce ridentem, misero quod omnes
eripit sensus mihi: nam simul te,
Lesbia, aspexi, nihil est super mi . . .

lingua sed torpet, tenuis sub artus
flamma demanat, sonitu suopte
tintinant aures, gemina teguntur
lumina nocte.

otium, Catulle, tibi molestum est:
otio exsultas nimiumque gestis:
otium et reges prius et beatas
perdidit urbes.

Back and white photo of people in 50s formal wear dancing
Garry Winogrand. El Morocco. 1955.
Museum of Modern Art. New York.

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.

Blaming Odysseus

Why did Agamemnon set aside right and agree to the sacrifice of his daughter?

Aeschylus. Agamemnon. 224-227.

Chorus:
He let himself become
the sacrificer of his daughter
for a war to help avenge a woman,
and as the first rite in launching the ships.

ἔτλα δ οὖν θυτὴρ γενέ-
σθαι θυγατρός, γυναικοποί-
νων πολέμων ἀρωγὰν
καὶ προτέλεια ναῶν.

Jean Racine (1639-1699), in his adaptation of Iphigenia at Aulis, placed the blame for Agamemnon’s moral waywardness squarely on Odysseus. In other words, Odysseus made him do it:

Racine. Iphigenia.

Agamemnon to attendant (70-78):

I wanted to disband the army.
Odysseus seemed to support my wishes;
He let that first rush of words go unchecked.
But soon he marshaled his cruel techniques:
He conjured for me honor and country;
All the people, the kings, who obey my commands;
The Asian empire promised to Greece;
And how, sacrificing the state for my daughter,
A fameless king, I’d grow old in my household.

Je voulais sur-le-champ congédier l’armée.
Ulysse en apparence approuvant mes discours,
De ce premier torrent laissa passer le cours.
Mais bientôt rappelant sa cruelle industrie,
Il me représenta l’honneur et la patrie,
Tout ce peuple, ces rois à mes ordres soumis,
Et l’empire d’Asie à la Grèce promis.
De quel front immolant tout l’État à ma fille,
Roi sans gloire, j’irais vieillir dans ma famille!

Odysseus to Agamemnon (285-296):

Think! You owe your daughter to Greece:
You’ve promised her to us, and on that promise,
Calchas, whom the Greeks consult daily,
Has foretold the return of unfailing winds.
If what comes contradicts his predictions,
Do you think Calchas will stay silent?
That you can blunt his accusations?
That Greeks will say the gods lied, and not blame you?
Deprived of their sacrifice, who knows what Greeks,
Rightly angry, in their view, might do?
Beware of forcing an enraged people,
My lord, to choose between you and the gods.

Songez-y: Vous devez votre fille à la Grèce:
Vous nous l’avez promise; et, sur cette promesse,
Calchas, par tous les Grecs consulté chaque jour,
Leur a prédit des vents l’infaillible retour.
À ses prédictions si l’effet est contraire,
Pensez-vous que Calchas continue à se taire;
Que ses plaintes, qu’en vain vous voudrez apaiser,
Laissent mentir les Dieux, sans vous en accuser?
Et qui sait ce qu’aux Grecs, frustrés de leur victime,
Peut permettre un courroux qu’ils croiront légitime?
Gardez-vous de réduire un peuple furieux,
Seigneur, à prononcer entre vous, et les Dieux.

Roland Barthes characterizes Racine’s representation of Odysseus this way:

Roland Barthes. On Racine (Editions du Seuil. 1963.105).

“He possesses the traits of what Votaire calls with admiration ‘the great politician’: the sense of collective interest, the objective appreciation of facts and their consequences, the lack of self respect; and he shrouds all his pragmatism in windbag rhetoric and continual blackmail styled as high morals [honor and country].”

“Il possède les traits de ce que Voltaire appelait avec admiration le grand politique: le sens de l’intérêt collectif, l’appréciation objective des faits et de leurs conséquences, l’absence d’amour-propre, enveloppant tout ce pragmatisme d’une rhétorique phraseuse et d’un chantage continu à la grande morale.”

black and white photograph of a line drawing or etching of the philosopher and poet Jean Racine.

19th-century portrait of Racine.

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.

The Tale of the Lion Cub

Aeschylus, Agamemnon 717-736

Chorus:
“A man raised a lion cub in his house. The cub was motherless but needed the teat. When young, it was gentle; it liked children a lot; and it charmed the old folks. The cub was often in the man’s arms, a normal thing for a baby of nursing age. It would set its bright eyes on the man’s hand and beg for its belly’s necessities.

In time, however, the animal exhibited its parents’ character. That is to say, in return for the household’s kindness, it prepared a feast no one had asked for by slaughtering the sheep with frenzy. The house was splattered with blood. The destruction was enormous and violent. A god is to blame for a minister of Disaster having been raised in the house.”

ἔθρεψεν δὲ λέοντος ἶ-
νιν δόμοις ἀγάλακτον οὕ-
τως ἀνὴρ φιλόμαστον,
ἐν βιότου προτελείοις
ἅμερον, εὐφιλόπαιδα,
καὶ γεραροῖς ἐπίχαρτον.
πολέα δ ἔσκ ἐν ἀγκάλαις
νεοτρόφου τέκνου δίκαν,
φαιδρωπὸς ποτὶ χεῖρα σαί-
νων τε γαστρὸς ἀνάγκαις.

χρονισθεὶς δʼ ἀπέδειξεν ἦ-
θος τὸ πρὸς τοκέων: χάριν
γὰρ τροφεῦσιν ἀμείβων
μηλοφόνοισι σὺν ἄταις
δαῖτ ἀκέλευστος ἔτευξεν:
αἵματι δʼ οἶκος ἐφύρθη,
ἄμαχον ἄλγος οἰκέταις,
μέγα σίνος πολύκτονον:
ἐκ θεοῦ δʼ ἱερεύς τις Ἄ-
τας δόμοις προσεθρέφθη.

color photograph of a boxer sparring with an adult tiger
Just a boxer in his undies playing with
his tiger.

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.

Justice & Real Estate

Aeschylus, Agamemnon, 763-781

Chorus:
Old wrong has a way of begetting new wrong
In the lives of bad people.
It happens unexpectedly,
Whenever the day marked for the birth comes.
Old wrong then begets a god
Indomitable and unyielding;
black Calamity for houses,
Profane in her audacity.
She is the image of her parents.

In contrast, Justice shines
In smoke-choked homes
and honors the upright man.
Gold-daubed mansions, unclean hands within,
These she quits, eyes averted, for pious houses.
She does not honor wealth’s tinsel might with praise.
She brings all things to their conclusion.

φιλεῖ δὲ τίκτειν ὕβρις
μὲν παλαιὰ νεά-
ζουσαν ἐν κακοῖς βροτῶν
ὕβριν τότ ἢ τόθ, ὅτε τὸ κύ-
ριον μόλῃ φάος τόκου,
δαίμονά τε τὰν ἄμαχον ἀπόλεμον,
ἀνίερον θράσος μελαί-
νας μελάθροισιν Ἄτας,
εἰδομέναν τοκεῦσιν.

Δίκα δὲ λάμπει μὲν ἐν
δυσκάπνοις δώμασιν,
τὸν δʼ ἐναίσιμον τίει.
τὰ χρυσόπαστα δʼ ἔδεθλα σὺν
πίνῳ χερῶν παλιντρόποις
ὄμμασι λιποῦσ ὅσια προσέβα
του δύναμιν οὐ σέβουσα πλού-
του παράσημον αἴνῳ:
πᾶν δʼ ἐπὶ τέρμα νωμᾷ.

color photograph of oil painting. a ramshackle old house at twilight, in mostly yellows and browns
Vincent van Gogh. The Cottage.
Oil on Canvas. 1885.
Van Gogh Museum. Amsterdam.

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.

Horses to Die For

Odysseus and Diomedes have learned that King Rhesus, bivouacking with his Thracian contingent, has with him some especially large and handsome horses. The warriors want them:

Homer. Iliad.10.469-493.

“The two advanced through battle arms and black blood,
and pushing on, quickly reached the Thracian force.
The men, spent, were asleep on the ground. Their war gear,
so fine, lay beside them, neatly arranged
in three rows. Each man’s yoked horses stood by him.
Rhesus slept among his men, hard by his fast horses.
They were tied to the chariot’s upper rim.

Odysseus saw him first and pointed:
‘Diomedes, that’s him! And those are the horses
the guy we killed, Dolon, told us about!
Come on! Unleash your awesome force!
Don’t stand here armored for nothing. Untie the horses.
Better still, you kill the men. I’ll deal with the horses.’

He said this. Bright-eyed Athena then inspired Diomedes
with fury: left and right he killed. Awful moans came
from men struck by his sword. The earth flowed red with blood.

Just as a lion coming upon untended flocks
(whether goats or sheep) bears evil in his pounce,
Tydeus’s son coursed through the Thracian force
until he’d killed twelve.

As for artful Odysseus–
whenever Tydeus’s son struck a man with his sword,
Odysseus would drag him aside by the leg,
thinking: this is how the horses with handsome manes
will pass through with ease, their hearts not trembling
trampling on bodies. They aren’t used to that yet.”

τὼ δὲ βάτην προτέρω διά τʼ ἔντεα καὶ μέλαν αἷμα,
αἶψα δʼ ἐπὶ Θρῃκῶν ἀνδρῶν τέλος ἷξον ἰόντες.
οἳ δʼ εὗδον καμάτῳ ἀδηκότες, ἔντεα δέ σφιν
καλὰ παρʼ αὐτοῖσι χθονὶ κέκλιτο εὖ κατὰ κόσμον
τριστοιχί· παρὰ δέ σφιν ἑκάστῳ δίζυγες ἵπποι.
Ῥῆσος δʼ ἐν μέσῳ εὗδε, παρʼ αὐτῷ δʼ ὠκέες ἵπποι
ἐξ ἐπιδιφριάδος πυμάτης ἱμᾶσι δέδεντο.
τὸν δʼ Ὀδυσεὺς προπάροιθεν ἰδὼν Διομήδεϊ δεῖξεν·
οὗτός τοι Διόμηδες ἀνήρ, οὗτοι δέ τοι ἵπποι,
οὓς νῶϊν πίφαυσκε Δόλων ὃν ἐπέφνομεν ἡμεῖς.
ἀλλʼ ἄγε δὴ πρόφερε κρατερὸν μένος· οὐδέ τί σε χρὴ
ἑστάμεναι μέλεον σὺν τεύχεσιν, ἀλλὰ λύʼ ἵππους·
ἠὲ σύ γʼ ἄνδρας ἔναιρε, μελήσουσιν δʼ ἐμοὶ ἵπποι.
ὣς φάτο, τῷ δʼ ἔμπνευσε μένος γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη,
κτεῖνε δʼ ἐπιστροφάδην· τῶν δὲ στόνος ὄρνυτʼ ἀεικὴς
ἄορι θεινομένων, ἐρυθαίνετο δʼ αἵματι γαῖα.
ὡς δὲ λέων μήλοισιν ἀσημάντοισιν ἐπελθὼν
αἴγεσιν ἢ ὀΐεσσι κακὰ φρονέων ἐνορούσῃ,
ὣς μὲν Θρήϊκας ἄνδρας ἐπῴχετο Τυδέος υἱὸς
ὄφρα δυώδεκʼ ἔπεφνεν· ἀτὰρ πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεὺς
ὅν τινα Τυδεΐδης ἄορι πλήξειε παραστὰς
τὸν δʼ Ὀδυσεὺς μετόπισθε λαβὼν ποδὸς ἐξερύσασκε,
τὰ φρονέων κατὰ θυμὸν ὅπως καλλίτριχες ἵπποι
ῥεῖα διέλθοιεν μηδὲ τρομεοίατο θυμῷ
νεκροῖς ἀμβαίνοντες· ἀήθεσσον γὰρ ἔτʼ αὐτῶν.

black and white photograph of a horse lying on the ground with trees in the background
Alexander Gardner.
Dead Horse of a Confederate Colonel.
1862.

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.

Beware of Spring Flowers!

Homeric, Hymn to Demeter. 8-21.

The narcissus was Gaia’s trap for the blooming girl,
Zeus’s wish and a favor for Hades, Host of All.
Stunning, shining flower: awe at the sight of it,
for immortal gods and mortal men alike.
From one root one hundred blooms sprang up!
Sweetest fragrance! The whole wide sky above
and all the earth laughed, the briny sea swell too.

The girl was amazed; flung out her hands
to pluck the lovely charm. But earth with its wide ways
ripped open the Nysian plain. Lord Host of All,
son of many-named Cronos, sprang out with deathless steeds.
He snatched the struggling girl, and on his golden car
dragged her off wailing. With piercing voice she cried out,
called to her father, Cronos’s son, the most high and best.

νάρκισσόν θʼ, ὃν φῦσε δόλον καλυκώπιδι κούρῃ
Γαῖα Διὸς βουλῇσι χαριζομένη Πολυδέκτῃ,
θαυμαστὸν γανόωντα· σέβας τό γε πᾶσιν ἰδέσθαι
ἀθανάτοις τε θεοῖς ἠδὲ θνητοῖς ἀνθρώποις·
τοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ ῥίζης ἑκατὸν κάρα ἐξεπεφύκει·
κὦζʼ ἥδιστʼ ὀδμή, πᾶς τʼ οὐρανὸς εὐρὺς ὕπερθεν
γαῖά τε πᾶσʼ ἐγελάσσε καὶ ἁλμυρὸν οἶδμα θαλάσσης.
ἣ δʼ ἄρα θαμβήσασʼ ὠρέξατο χερσὶν ἅμʼ ἄμφω
καλὸν ἄθυρμα λαβεῖν· χάνε δὲ χθὼν εὐρυάγυια
Νύσιον ἂμ πεδίον, τῇ ὄρουσεν ἄναξ Πολυδέγμων
ἵπποις ἀθανάτοισι, Κρόνου πολυώνυμος υἱός.
ἁρπάξας δʼ ἀέκουσαν ἐπὶ χρυσέοισιν ὄχοισιν
ἦγʼ ὀλοφυρομένην· ἰάχησε δʼ ἄρʼ ὄρθια φωνῇ,
κεκλομένη πατέρα Κρονίδην ὕπατον καὶ ἄριστον.

Color photograph from an urban park. Flowering grasses and flowering trees
In ambiguous light Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. Could be mistaken for the Nysian plain.

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.