ΕΥΔΟΞΑ ΑΓΝΩΣΤΑ ΚΑΤΑΓΕΛΑΣΤΑ
Anacreonta 10
“What do you want me to do with you,
What’s left, chatty bird?
Should I grab your light wings
And take my scissors to them?
Or should I take out your tongue
Like that Tereus?
Why do you steal Bathyllus
From my sweet dreams
With your good-morning songs?”
τί σοι θέλεις ποιήσω,
τί σοι, λάλη χελιδόν;
τὰ ταρσά σευ τὰ κοῦφα
θέλεις λαβὼν ψαλίξω;
ἢ μᾶλλον ἔνδοθέν σευ
τὴν γλῶσσαν, ὡς ὁ Τηρεὺς
ἐκεῖνος, ἐκθερίξω;
τί μευ καλῶν ὀνείρων
ὑπορθρίαισι φωναῖς
ἀφήρπασας Βάθυλλον;
Folk Songs, LCL fr. 848 (=Athen. 8. 360b–d)
“The swallow has come, has come,
Bringing us the best weather
The most wonderful time of the year,
White on its stomach and
White on its back–
Why don’t you toss out
From your well-stocked house
A cup of wine,
And a basket of cheese and wheat?
That bird won’t decline
A bit of flatbread either.
Should we leave or take something?
If you’re going to give us something, great!
If not, we won’t leave you alone.
We will steal your door
Or maybe your threshold or
Your wife who is sitting indoors.
She’s small. We’ll carry her easily.
Would you give us something? Could you give us something big?
Open up, open the door to the swallow.
We aren’t old men, but little kids.”
ἦλθ᾿ ἦλθε χελιδὼν
καλὰς ὥρας ἄγουσα
καὶ καλοὺς ἐνιαυτούς,
ἐπὶ γαστέρα λευκά
κἀπὶ νῶτα μέλαινα.
παλάθαν οὐ προκυκλεῖς
ἐκ πίονος οἴκου
οἴνου τε δέπαστρον
τυροῦ τε κάνυστρον
καὶ πυρῶν; ἁ χελιδών
καὶ λεκιθίταν οὐκ ἀπωθεῖται.
πότερ᾿ ἀπίωμες ἢ λαβώμεθα;
εἰ μέν τι δώσεις· εἰ δὲ μή, οὐκ ἐάσομες·
ἢ τὰν θύραν φέρωμες;ἢ τὸ ὑπέρθυρον
ἢ τὰν γυναῖκα τὰν ἔσω καθημέναν·
μικρὰ μέν ἐστι, ῥᾳδίως νιν οἴσομες.
ἂν δή τι φέρῃς, μέγα δή τι φέροις·
ἄνοιγ᾿ ἄνοιγε τὰν θύραν χελιδόνι·
οὐ γὰρ γέροντές ἐσμεν, ἀλλὰ παιδία.
Anacreonta 10
“What do you want me to do with you,
What’s left, chatty bird?
Should I grab your light wings
And take my scissors to them?
Or should I take out your tongue
Like that Tereus?
Why do you steal Bathyllus
From my sweet dreams
With your good-morning songs?”
τί σοι θέλεις ποιήσω,
τί σοι, λάλη χελιδόν;
τὰ ταρσά σευ τὰ κοῦφα
θέλεις λαβὼν ψαλίξω;
ἢ μᾶλλον ἔνδοθέν σευ
τὴν γλῶσσαν, ὡς ὁ Τηρεὺς
ἐκεῖνος, ἐκθερίξω;
τί μευ καλῶν ὀνείρων
ὑπορθρίαισι φωναῖς
ἀφήρπασας Βάθυλλον;
Aelian, on Animals 1.29
“An owl is a clever creature who is really like witches. It captures its hunters whenever it is caught. So they carry it around like a pet, or, by Zeus, a special charm on their shoulders. At night it guards over them and uses its call like an incantation to release a complex, comforting spell. This attracts birds to come near it. During the day too it tempts birds with a different kind of bait to fool them. It changes its facial expressions as you look and the birds are enchanted and stay frozen with horror while watching, filled with fear by these changes of shape.”
Not one, but two poems by Martial playing with Catullus’ bird!
Martial, Epigrams 1.7
“The Dove, my Stella’s pet, I can say–
even though Verona is listening
Beats Catullus’ Sparrow, Maximus.
My Stella is as much better than your Catullus
As a dove is better than a sparrow.”
Stellae delicium mei Columba,
Verona licet audiente dicam,
vicit, Maxime, Passerem Catulli.
tanto Stella meus tuo Catullo
quanto passere maior est columba.
Martial, Epigrams 14.7
“Aulus, an unmentionable crime has happened to by girl.
She has lost her toy and her pet–
Tender Catullus’ girlfriend, Lesbia
Didn’t cry as much when she lost her sparrow’s kiss
As when my Stella sang in sorrow when her dark dove
Took flight in Elysium.
My light isn’t taken with games and those minor loves
And such losses never move my lover’s heart.
She’s lost a lad who counted up six years times two
With a little cock not quite 18 inches long”
Accidit infandum nostrae scelus, Aule, puellae;
amisit lusus deliciasque suas:
non quales teneri ploravit amica Catulli,
Lesbia, nequitiis passeris orba sui,
vel Stellae cantata meo quas flevit Ianthis,
cuius in Elysio nigra columba volat:
lux mea non capitur nugis nec amoribus istis,
nec dominae pectus talia damna movent:
bis senos puerum numerantem perdidit annos,
mentula cui nondum sesquipedalis erat.
A few months ago I saw a discussion about the origin of the ostrich burying its head in the sand trope. There are misdirections here and there, but some see it reflected in Pliny
Pliny the Elder, Natural History 10
“The nature of birds comes next. The largest—and also nearly of the class of wild beasts—is the ostrich of Ethiopia or Africa. They exceed a seated horseman in height and surpass them in speed. They have wings only for help in running. But are not for flight and do not rise from the earth. The ostrich’s talons, used as weapons, are similar to a deer’s hooves: they are split in two and are useful for picking up the rocks they throw with their feet at anyone who pursues them. They have a marvelous capacity for digesting whatever they swallow, but an equal amount of stupidity for believing that they they have completely hidden themselves when they put their neck in bushes, regardless of the great height of their bodies.
Ostrich eggs are amazing because of their size: some use them as bowls and use their feathers too for decorating the crests and helmets of armor.”
Sequitur natura avium, quarum grandissimi et paene bestiarum generis struthocameli Africi vel Aethiopici altitudinem equitis insidentis equo excedunt, celeritatem vincunt, ad hoc demum datis pinnis ut currentem adiuvent: cetero non sunt volucres nec a terra attolluntur.1 ungulae iis cervinis similes quibus dimicant, bisulcae et conprehendendis lapidibus utiles quos in fuga contra 2sequentes ingerunt pedibus. concoquendi sine dilectu devorata mira natura, sed non minus stoliditas in tanta reliqui corporis altitudine cum colla frutice occultaverint latere sese existimantium. praemira ex iis ova propter amplitudinem quibusdam habita pro vasis, conosque bellicos et galeas adornantes pinnae.
A few months ago I saw a discussion about the origin of the ostrich burying its head in the sand trope. There are misdirections here and there, but some see it reflected in Pliny
Pliny the Elder, Natural History 10
“The nature of birds comes next. The largest—and also nearly of the class of wild beasts—is the ostrich of Ethiopia or Africa. They exceed a seated horseman in height and surpass them in speed. They have wings only for help in running. But are not for flight and do not rise from the earth. The ostrich’s talons, used as weapons, are similar to a deer’s hooves: they are split in two and are useful for picking up the rocks they throw with their feet at anyone who pursues them. They have a marvelous capacity for digesting whatever they swallow, but an equal amount of stupidity for believing that they they have completely hidden themselves when they put their neck in bushes, regardless of the great height of their bodies.
Ostrich eggs are amazing because of their size: some use them as bowls and use their feathers too for decorating the crests and helmets of armor.”
Sequitur natura avium, quarum grandissimi et paene bestiarum generis struthocameli Africi vel Aethiopici altitudinem equitis insidentis equo excedunt, celeritatem vincunt, ad hoc demum datis pinnis ut currentem adiuvent: cetero non sunt volucres nec a terra attolluntur.1 ungulae iis cervinis similes quibus dimicant, bisulcae et conprehendendis lapidibus utiles quos in fuga contra 2sequentes ingerunt pedibus. concoquendi sine dilectu devorata mira natura, sed non minus stoliditas in tanta reliqui corporis altitudine cum colla frutice occultaverint latere sese existimantium. praemira ex iis ova propter amplitudinem quibusdam habita pro vasis, conosque bellicos et galeas adornantes pinnae.
When the Scythians address Darius, they threaten “unless you become birds and fly into the sky or turn into mice and crawl under the earth or become frogs and leap into the marshes, you won’t get home again because you’ll be struck down by our arrows” =
ἢν μὴ ὄρνιθες γενόμενοι ἀναπτῆσθε ἐς τὸν οὐρανόν, ὦ Πέρσαι, ἢ μύες γενόμενοι κατὰ τῆς γῆς καταδύητε, ἢ βάτραχοι γενόμενοι ἐς τὰς λίμνας ἐσπηδήσητε, οὐκ ἀπονοστήσετε ὀπίσω ὑπὸ τῶνδε τῶν τοξευμάτων βαλλόμενοι.