“Some animals are called Ephemera and they take their name from the length of their life. For they are born in wine and when the container is opened they fly out, they see the light, and they die. Therefore, nature has granted that they come into life but it has also rescued them from the evils in life, since they neither experience any suffering of their own and they know nothing of others’ misfortunes.”
mild-minded and gentle…[..]..
On their own family they set […]
but while god allotted [him] countless gifts,
he never forgot his own country
Hermas…..[this] marble copy
Of the best man Olympos.
I sing of him and the fame of his ancestors
Who once [at] the founding of Troizen
Made the city noble and revered in glory.
I myself stand showing this memory.
Causing pain to their enemies, but dear to their friends
By the vote…..of the people.
Traveler, stay near this monument for a while
And learn the truth. Know that in this grave
Is one famed as the son of Athenion.
Call him by his imperishable name, Mneseas.
Understand the tales he used to delight in clearly:
He worked through the sacred facts of the universe
And the burning path of the stars through
The upper sky as well as the art of surveying
With geometry. He learned well the eternal
Tablet of Homer whose layers contain
The wandering offspring of Laertes and
The heavy rage. He gained great renown
By learning all these things truly.
He left behind him a son at the right age with skill
And a spouse. He saw the sun for a full forty years
And then went under the earth, missed by his fellow citizens.”
A man fresh from some handsome win
In a time of plenty,
Takes flight, hope-propelled,
On wings of manly accomplishment.
He’s intent on more than riches.
Men’s joy swells fast, and fast it falls to earth
Disturbed by an adverse pronouncement.
Beings for a day. What is anyone?
What is someone not? A shadow’s dreaming,
That’s man. Yet, when the light of Zeus issues,
Men shine radiant and life is kind.
If mortals’ noble mind previously found anything in an art
I claim that you have gazed upon everything in your polished thoughts,
Evaluating the wise judgment of doctors and selecting
The best from books with your soul’s eye,
Then you, Argaios have offered the rejuvenating delight
Of Bacchus’ wine that wards off limb-breaking labors.
Thanks to these things, the lovely glory of your craft will never die,
And will become brighter than the stars in the sky.”
“This is the stone is the memorial for Euthudamas, stranger
Who once was first in sea-girt Ithaka
In both counsel and hands for war. To his child Timeas
He left his possessions and undying glory.”
“The fame of the excellence of those who have past shines bright–
Their countless victories of unconquered spear remains through their deeds.
No false report of myths pours over them, but instead the cast of
Recognizable bronze. Pantaleon son of Agemos.
This gift from Sosander, which was dedicated for Pantaleon,
Commander of the lovely footrace of the youths
God, for this is right, amplify them, bestow a
Name upon the man and kind ends to his life.”
Apparently there was also a tradition that has Aphrodite pulling a Zeus-Amphitryon trick with Paris and Menelaos.
Nikias of Mallos, BNJ 60 F 2a [=Schol. V ad Od. 23.218]
“Priam’s child Alexander left Asia and went to Sparta with the plan of abducting Helen while he was a guest there. But she, because of her noble and husband-loving character, was refusing him and saying that she would honor her marriage with the law and thought more of Menelaos. Because Paris was ineffective, the story is that Aphrodite devised this kind of a trick: she exchanged the appearance of Alexander for Menelaos’ character to persuade Helen in this way. For, because she believed that this was truly Menelaos, she was not reluctant to leave with him. After she went to the ship before him, he took her inside and left. This story is told in Nikias of Mallos’ first book”
This kind of doubling and uncertainty about identity is certainly at home in any discussion of Euripides’ Helen (well, at least the first third where no one knows who anybody is). But it is also apt for the Odyssey where Odysseus cryptically insists (16.204):
IG I³ 1179, c. 432 BCE, Dedicatory Inscription in the Athenian Agora
These Athenians died at Poteidaia
Immortal me de[ath…
To indicate excellence…..
Along with the strength of their ancestor…..
When they died they earned as a monument victory in war.
The sky welcomed their souls, while their bodies took this land.
And they perished around the gates of Poteidaia.
Some of their enemies have a tomb as their share, but those who fled
Made their wall the most trusted hope for their lives.
The city and the people of Erekhtheus long for those
Who died among the front lines at Poteidaia,
These children of the Athenians–they set their lives on the balance,
Earned their excellence, and brought glory to their country.”
Milet VI,2 732 [= GVI I (1955) 33] Dedicatory Inscription in Miletus for those fallen in battle against Megara
This is a monument of those who died–it confers excellence upon them
Those who died brought glory to their country.
A monument is yoked with deeds throughout Greece
And an eternal memory lives on for those who have died.
“You mustn’t harm anyone–but if you are to blame
This story warns that you will suffer the same.
The story goes that a fox invited a stork to dine
And offered her a thin soup on a marble table
Which the hungry story had no way to taste.
So the stork invited the fox to eat in turn
And served him a narrow jar stuff with food
And slipped her beak in to torture her guest
With hunger while she satisfied herself.
While the fox lapped at the jar’s neck in vain,
The bird–as we have heard–said to him, please
Everyone should suffer their own example in peace.”
Nulli nocendum; si quis vero laeserit,
multandum simili iure fabella admonet.
Ad cenam vulpes dicitur ciconiam
prior invitasse, et liquidam in patulo marmore
posuisse sorbitionem, quam nullo modo
gustare esuriens potuerit ciconia.
quae vulpem cum revocasset, intrito cibo
plenam lagonam posuit; huic rostrum inserens
satiatur ipsa et torquet convivam fame,
quae cum lagonae collum frustra lamberet,
peregrinam sic locutam volucrem accepimus:
“Sua quisque exempla debet aequo animo pati.”
Author: Colley, Thomas, fl. 1780-1783, printmaker. Title: The fox and stork / T. Colley fecet [sic]. Published: [London] : Pubd. by W. Humphrey Jany. 14, 1783, No. 227 Strand, [14 Jan. 1783].
“It is right for the dead to have a memorial like a temple to the gods,
One the kings set out for a life to be a wonder to see.
Friend, Posis, her son, made this for wonderful Ariste,
A memorial shared by the entire family–
She was gentle, gentle-minded, prudent, the best glory
Of the Antheadai, and lovely too. But jealous Hades
Separated her from her husband and heroic children,
As she alone followed in the footsteps of the good.
She earned fame for her wisdom, both in her old age
And when she was young too thanks to her concern
For the honors of the Antheadeai and she was a mother unlike no other
But truly she was worth everything and gave birth with/at Arakos*
To the lovely child Pantainis and a gentle son Posis.
While Hades might hold her body there,
Time will never let mortal praise decompose
Instead, god grants immortal honors to the noble dead.
They descended from the famous founders, the Antheadai–
Their ancestor was the father of the noblest Pindaros.
Diomedes married Ariste the daughter of Androsthenes,
Although she has perished, her name will never be unseemly.”**
