Warm Heart, Calm Thoughts: Yay Wine!

August 23, 2022August 23, 2022 ~ sententiaeantiquae ~ 3 Comments

Anacreonta 50

“Whenever I drink wine
My heart gets warm

And begins to sing the Muses.

Whenever I drink wine,
My worries and anxious plans
Are tossed to the winds
That assault the sea.

Whenever I drink wine,
That playful Bacchus
Makes me happier with drink,
Surrounding me with flowery breezes.

Whenever I drink wine,
I weave blossoms into crowns,
Drop them on my head
And sing aloud of life’s peace.

Whenever I drink wine,
I douse my body with perfume
And sing all about Kypris
Holding a girl in my arms.

Whenever I drink wine,
I unfold my mind in the cups
And delight in the partying boys.”

ὅτ᾿ ἐγὼ πίω τὸν οἶνον,
τότε μὴν ἦτορ ἰανθὲν
. . . . . . . . .
λιγαίνειν ἄρχεται Μούσας.

ὅτ᾿ ἐγὼ πίω τὸν οἶνον,
ἀπορίπτονται μέριμναι
πολυφρόντιδές τε βουλαὶ
ἐς ἁλικτύπους ἀήτας.

ὅτ᾿ ἐγὼ πίω τὸν οἶνον,
λυσιπαίγμων τότε Βάκχος
πολυανθέσιν μ᾿ ἐν αὔραις
δονέει μέθῃ γανώσας.

ὅτ᾿ ἐγὼ πίω τὸν οἶνον,
στεφάνους ἄνθεσι πλέξας,
ἐπιθείς τε τῷ καρήνῳ
βιότου μέλπω γαλήνην.

ὅτ᾿ ἐγὼ πίω τὸν οἶνον,
μύρῳ εὐώδεϊ τέγξας
δέμας, ἀγκάλαις δὲ κούρην
κατέχων Κύπριν ἀείδω.

ὅτ᾿ ἐγὼ πίω τὸν οἶνον,
ὑπὸ κυρτοῖς δὴ κυπέλλοις
τὸν ἐμὸν νόον ἁπλώσας
θιάσῳ τέρπομαι κούρων.

Picture of lemur next to wine jug. — Painting be Pisha Larysa French wine 2000

Two kinds of Loneliness

August 23, 2022August 23, 2022 ~ lawrencebenn ~ Leave a comment

The Good News According to Mark. 5:1-5:5.

And they came to the other side of the sea,
to the region of the Gerasenes.
And when he stepped from the boat, straight up to him,
from among the tombs, there came a man
with an impure spirit whose home was the tombs.

No one could restrain him then, even with chains.
He had been shackled and chained many times,
but he snapped the chains and crushed the shackles.
No one was strong enough to subdue him.
Night and day, among the tombs and in the hills,
he screamed and mutilated himself with stones.

Sophocles, Philoctetes 169-175, 183-186.

How I pity him.
He has no one who cares,
No eyes to face his own.
Wretched, always alone,
He’s sick with a savage sickness.
His every need a struggle.
How, how in the world does he hold out?

This man, perhaps second to no one
From an eminent house,
Has no share in common life.
He exists alone, away from others,
Among spotted or hairy beasts.
His hurt and hunger, pitiful.
Unceasing and grave, his worry.

Mark.

Καὶ ἦλθον εἰς τὸ πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης εἰς τὴν χώραν τῶν Γερασηνῶν. Καὶ ἐξελθόντος αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ πλοίου [εὐθὺς] ὑπήντησεν αὐτῷ ἐκ τῶν μνημείων ἄνθρωπος ἐν πνεύματι ἀκαθάρτῳ, ὃς τὴν κατοίκησιν εἶχεν ἐν τοῖς μνήμασιν, καὶ οὐδὲ ἁλύσει οὐκέτι οὐδεὶς ἐδύνατο αὐτὸν δῆσαι διὰ τὸ αὐτὸν πολλάκις πέδαις καὶ ἁλύσεσι δεδέσθαι καὶ διεσπάσθαι ὑπ᾽αὐτοῦ τὰς ἁλύσεις καὶ τὰς πέδας συντετρίφθαι, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἴσχυεν αὐτὸν δαμάσαι: καὶ διὰ παντὸς νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας ἐν τοῖς μνήμασιν καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν ἦν κράζων καὶ κατακόπτων ἑαυτὸν λίθοις.

Sophocles.

οἰκτίρω νιν ἔγωγ᾽, ὅπως,
μή του κηδομένου βροτῶν
μηδὲ ςύντροφον ὄμμ᾽ ἔχων,
δύστανος, μόνος ἀεί,
νοσεῖ μὲν νόσον ἀγρίαν,
ἀλύει δ᾽ ἐπὶ παντί τῳ
χρείας ἱσταμένῳ. πῶς ποτε πῶς δύσμορος ἀντέχει; . . .

οὗτος πρωτογόνων ἴσως
οἴκων οὐδενὸς ὕστερος,
πάντων ἄμμορος ἐν βίῳ
κεῖται μοῦνος ἀπ᾽ ἄλλων,
στικτῶν ἢ λασίων μετὰ
θηρῶν, ἔν τ᾽ ὀδύναις ὁμοῦ
λιμῷ τ᾽ οἰκτρός, ἀνήκεστ᾽ αμεριμνήμτα τ᾽ἔχων βάρη. . .

Semi-abstract painting of an old man playing a classical guitar — Pablo Picasso.
The Old Guitarist.
Art Institute of Chicago.

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.

Get Sh*T Ready and Drink

August 23, 2022 ~ sententiaeantiquae ~ Leave a comment

songs and thoughts well-fit to birthdays

Anacreonta 48

“When Bacchus visits,
My worries slumber:
I dream I have Elon-wealth.

I want to sing prettily,.
But I’m stretched out with an ivy crown,
And I mock everything in my heart.

Get shit ready and let me drink.
Bring me a cup, son:
It is far better for me to lie here
Drunk instead of dead.”

ὅταν ὁ Βάκχος ἔλθῃ,
εὕδουσιν αἱ μέριμναι,
δοκῶ δ᾿ ἔχειν τὰ Κροίσου.
θέλω καλῶς ἀείδειν,
κισσοστεφὴς δὲ κεῖμαι,
πατῶ δ᾿ ἅπαντα θυμῷ.

ὅπλιζ᾿, ἐγὼ δὲ πίνω.

φέρε μοι κύπελλον, ὦ παῖ·
μεθύοντα γάρ με κεῖσθαι
πολὺ κρεῖσσον ἢ θανόντα.

Anacreonta 52a

“Why do you teach me laws
And rhetoricians’ customs?
What’s the use of so many speeches
That bring no help at all?

Teach me instead
To drink Dionysus’ subtle draught.
Teach me instead
To play with golden Aphrodite.”

τί με τοὺς νόμους διδάσκεις
καὶ ῥητόρων ἀνάγκας;
τί δέ μοι λόγων τοσούτων
τῶν μηδὲν ὠφελούντων;

μᾶλλον δίδασκε πίνειν
ἁπαλὸν πῶμα Λυαίου,
μᾶλλον δίδασκε παίζειν
μετὰ χρυσῆς Ἀφροδίτης.

Anacreonta 52b

“The hair is gray on my head.
Boy, give me water, add some wine
Make my heart numb.
Soon you will cover me, no longer alive.
You want nothing when you’re dead.”

πολιαὶ στέφουσι κάραν·
δὸς ὕδωρ, βάλ᾿ οἶνον, ὦ παῖ·
τὴν ψυχήν μου κάρωσον.
βραχὺ μὴ ζῶντα καλύπτεις.
ὁ θανὼν οὐκ ἐπιθυμεῖ.

a group of revelers from the 17th century, men and women drinking. There is a dog in the front listening to a bow play the violin — Jan Steen, “A Merry Party” 1660

Longing, Not Envy in the Heart

August 22, 2022 ~ sententiaeantiquae ~ Leave a comment

Anacreonta 42

“I am aching for the dances
Of playful Dionysus–
I am in love with playing the lye
with a young man as companion.
And I just adore most of all
Crowing my head with hyacinths
To play games along with the girls.

I have no envy in my heart,
I know no biting envy at all.
I stay away from the light attacks
Of critical tongues.
And I loathe the drunken fights.

At joyous feasts
With youthful ladies,
I hope to take life easy
Dancing to songs on the lyre

ποθέω μὲν Διονύσου
φιλοπαίγμονος χορείας,
φιλέω δ᾿, ὅταν ἐφήβου
μετὰ συμπότου λυρίζω·
στεφανίσκους δ᾿ ὑακίνθων
κροτάφοισιν ἀμφιπλέξας
μετὰ παρθένων ἀθύρειν
φιλέω μάλιστα πάντων.

φθόνον οὐκ οἶδ᾿ ἐμὸν ἦτορ,
φθόνον οὐκ οἶδα δαϊκτήν.
φιλολοιδόροιο γλώττης
φεύγω βέλεμνα κοῦφα·
στυγέω μάχας παροίνους.

πολυκώμους κατὰ δαῖτας
νεοθηλέσιν ἅμα κούραις
ὑπὸ βαρβίτῳ χορεύων
βίον ἥσυχον φέροιμι.

Color photo of marble sarcophagus. The sculpture on its front has Dionysus on an animal, surrounded by other figures — Dionysus sarcophagus, Hellenistic marble sculpture; Metropolitan Museum, New York

Greek Poetry Every Day

August 21, 2022 ~ Erik ~ Leave a comment

Gilbert Murray, A History of Ancient Literature (Preface):

To read and re-read the scanty remains now left to us of the Literature of Ancient Greece, is a pleasant and not a laborious task; nor is that task greatly increased by the inclusion of the ‘Scholia’ or ancient commentaries. But modern scholarship has been prolific in the making of books; and as regards this department of my subject, I must frankly accept the verdict passed by a German critic upon a historian of vastly wider erudition than mine,and confess that I ‘stand helpless before the mass of my material.’ To be more precise, I believe that in the domain of Epic, Lyric, and Tragic Poetry, I am fairly familiar with the researches of recent years; and I have endeavoured to read the more celebrated books on Prose and Comic Poetry. Periodical literature is notoriously hard to control; but I hope that comparatively few articles of importance in the last twenty volumes of the Hermes, the Rheinisches Museum, the Philologus, and the English Classical Journals, have escaped my consideration. More than this I have but rarely attempted.

If under these circumstances I have nevertheless sat down to write a History of Greek Literature, and have even ventured to address myself to scholars as well as to the general public, my reason is that, after all, such knowledge of Greek literature as I possess has been of enormous value and interest to me; that for the last ten years at least, hardly a day has passed on which Greek poetry has not occupied a large part of my thoughts, hardly one deep or valuable emotion has come into my life which has not been either caused, or interpreted, or bettered by Greek poetry. This is doubtless part of the ordinary narrowing of the specialist, the one-sided sensitiveness in which he finds at, once his sacrifice and his reward; but it is usually, perhaps, the thing that justifies a man in writing.

What Was the Name of Odysseus’ City?

August 21, 2022 ~ sententiaeantiquae ~ 1 Comment

Plutarch Greek Questions, 301d

“Why was the Ithakans’ city named Alalkomenai? The reason is that Antikleia was raped by Sisyphus when she was a virgin and conceived Odysseus. This story is told by many. But Istros the Alexandrian reports in his Commentaries that she had been betrothed to Laertes and gave birth to Odysseus as she was being taken to him near the Alalkomeneion. For this reason, Istros reports that they called the city in Ithaka this, introducing the name as they would from a mother-city.”

πόθεν ἡ τῶν ᾽Ιθακησίων πόλις ᾽Αλαλκομεναὶ προσηγορεύθη; διὰ τὸ τὴν ᾽Αντίκλειαν ὑπὸ Σισύφου βιασθεῖσαν ἐν τῆι παρθενίαι τὸν ᾽Οδυσσέα συλλαβεῖν· ὑπὸ πλειόνων δ᾽ ἐστὶν εἰρημένον. ῎Ιστρος δὲ ὁ ᾽Αλεξανδρεὺς ἐν ῾Υπομνήμασι προσιστόρηκεν, ὅτι τῶι Λαέρτηι δοθεῖσα πρὸς γάμον καὶ ἀναγομένη περὶ τὸ ᾽Αλαλκομένειον ἐν τῆι Βοιωτίαι τὸν ᾽Οδυσσέα τέκοι· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐκεῖνος ὥσπερ μητροπόλεως ἀναφέρων τοὐνομα τὴν ἐν ᾽Ιθάκηι πόλιν οὕτω φησὶ προσαγορεύεσθαι.

For sources Odysseus as the son of Sisyphos, see Aeschylus, fr. 175; Sophocles Ajax 190; Philoktetes 416–17; Euripides Iphigena Aul 524

In the Odyssey we find what seems to be a formulaic combination of three islands near Ithaca. When Odysseus describes where he’s from, he names his home and then adds (9.23-4):

“Many islands are inhabited right near each other
Doulikhion, Samê, and forest-covered Zakunthos.”

πολλαὶ ναιετάουσι μάλα σχεδὸν ἀλλήλῃσι,
Δουλίχιόν τε Σάμη τε καὶ ὑλήεσσα Ζάκυνθος.

And earlier during his discussion with Telemachus, Odysseus hears the suitors similarly described as (16.122-125; cf. 19.130-1):

“However so many of the best men who rule among the islands,
Doulikhion, Samê, and forest-covered Zakunthos.
Alongside all the men who lord over steep Ithaka—
This many men are wooing my mother and ruining my home”

ὅσσοι γὰρ νήσοισιν ἐπικρατέουσιν ἄριστοι,
Δουλιχίῳ τε Σάμῃ τε καὶ ὑλήεντι Ζακύνθῳ,
ἠδ’ ὅσσοι κραναὴν ᾿Ιθάκην κάτα κοιρανέουσι,
τόσσοι μητέρ’ ἐμὴν μνῶνται, τρύχουσι δὲ οἶκον.

Continue reading “What Was the Name of Odysseus’ City?” →

Play, Laugh, Dance. Die.

August 21, 2022 ~ sententiaeantiquae ~ Leave a comment

Anacreonta 40

“Since I was made to journey
A mortal down life’s road
I can see how much time has passed
But not how much is left to go.

My worried thoughts, that’s enough–
Let’s have no business between us.

Before I meet my end,
I’m going to play, laugh and dance
With Luiaos, my pretty friend.”

ἐπειδὴ βροτὸς ἐτεύχθην
βιότου τρίβον ὁδεύειν,
χρόνον ἔγνων ὃν παρῆλθον,
ὃν δ᾿ ἔχω δραμεῖν οὐκ οἶδα.
† μέθετέ με, φροντίδες· †
μηδέν μοι χὔμιν ἔστω.
πρὶν ἐμὲ φθάσῃ τὸ τέλος,
παίξω, γελάσω, χορεύσω
μετὰ τοῦ καλοῦ Λυαίου.

oil painting, somewhat impressionistic. Figures in foreground working on road — Karoly Patko, “Road Construction” 1928

Better Drunk Than Dead

August 20, 2022 ~ sententiaeantiquae ~ Leave a comment

Anacreonta 48

“Bring me a cup, son.
It is much better that I lie here
drunk instead of dead.”

φέρε μοι κύπελλον, ὦ παῖ·
μεθύοντα γάρ με κεῖσθαι
πολὺ κρεῖσσον ἢ θανόντα.

Anacreonta 52b

“The hair on my head is gray.
Boy, give me water, add some wine
Make my heart numb

Soon you will cover me, no longer alive
There’s nothing the dead desire.”

Section of an illuminated manuscript. Wrtingi at top, one drunk figure on his back, another facing him holding his head — Illumination from AM 147 4to of two intoxicated 15th century Icelanders

Judging on Aspiration not Failure

August 20, 2022August 20, 2022 ~ sententiaeantiquae ~ Leave a comment

Aelius Aristedes, Reply to Plato 259-260

“Some of them certainly corrupted people while others blasphemed the gods; there were those who gave speeches which would have been better unsaid and others who produced more audacity than good sense. But it may not be the best to say that if some people use the excuse of philosophy and become scoundrels who are no better than most people or, by Zeus, even more clever at doing evil, then we should dishonor philosophy, provided that philosophy is not doing these sorts of things. Instead, we must use these things as evidence against them, that they have failed at philosophy.

In the same way, it does not make oratory worse if some people use blandishment or abuse, but we must recognize in this that they are bad at rhetoric just as the other people fail at philosophy, they all use the excuse of the noblest action to furnish themselves with the opportunity to do evil.

It would be odd if we were to judge actions of cobblers and carpenters not from their mistakes but instead from examples where they did as well as humanly possible, but we evaluate oratory not just from its greatest accomplishments, but instead according to those who do the opposite of what oratory intends.”

ὧν οἱ μὲν διέφθειραν δήπου τινάς, οἱ δ’ ἐβλασφήμησαν περὶ θεούς, οἱ δὲ λόγους ἄλλους τινὰς εἶπον, οὓς οὐκ ἄμεινον ἦν ὅλως, οἱ δὲ αὐθαδείας πλέον ἢ φρονήσεως εἰσηνέγκαντο. ἀλλὰ μὴ οὕτω βέλτιον ᾖ λέγειν, ὅτι οὐκ, εἴ τινες φιλοσοφίας προβλήματι χρώμενοι φαῦλοι καὶ μηδὲν βελτίους τῶν πολλῶν γεγόνασιν, ἢ νὴ Δία καὶ δεινότεροι κακουργεῖν, οὐ διὰ ταῦτα ἀτιμαστέον φιλοσοφίαν, ἕως ἂν φιλοσοφία μὴ τὸ τὰ τοιαῦτα ποιεῖν ᾖ, ἀλλ’ αὐτοῖς τούτοις τεκμηρίοις χρηστέον κατ’ ἐκείνων, ὅτι διημαρτήκασι φιλοσοφίας. οὐδὲ εἴ τινες, οἶμαι, κολακεύουσιν ἢ συκοφαντοῦσιν, χείρω τοῦτο ποιεῖ ῥητορικήν, ἀλλ’ ἡμαρτηκότας αὐτοὺς ῥητορικῆς ταύτῃ γε ταῦτα δεῖ δοκεῖν, ὥσπερ ἐκείνους φιλοσοφίας, ἐπὶ τῷ τοῦ καλλίστου προσχήματι τὴν τοῦ κακουργεῖν ἄδειαν ἑαυτοῖς ἐκπορίζοντας. ἄτοπον δ’ ἂν εἴη, εἰ τὰ μὲν τῶν σκυτοτόμων καὶ τῶν τεκτόνων ἔργα μὴ ἐξ ὧν ἂν διαμάρτωσι κρινοῦμεν, ἀλλ’ ἐξ ὧν ἂν ὡς δυνατὸν μάλιστα τύχωσιν, ῥητορικὴν δ’ οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἐκ τῶν κάλλιστα αὐτὴν ἀποτελεσάντων κρινοῦμεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τῶν αὐτὰ τἀναντία πραττόντων οἷς ἡ ῥητορικὴ βούλεται.