II.
Epitaph of Cleita, Nurse of Medeius.
The babe Medeius to his Thracian nurse
This stone--inscribed _To Cleita_--reared in the midhighway.
Her modest virtues oft shall men rehearse;
Who doubts it? is not 'Cleita's worth' a proverb to this day?
XIX.
To Archilochus.
Pause, and scan well Archilochus, the bard of elder days,
By east and west
Alike's confest
The mighty lyrist's praise.
Delian Apollo loved him well, and well the sister-choir:
His songs were fraught
With subtle thought,
And matchless was his lyre.
XX.
Under a Statue of Peisander,
WHO WROTE THE LABOURS OF HERACLES.
He whom ye gaze on was the first
That in quaint song the deeds rehearsed
Of him whose arm was swift to smite,
Who dared the lion to the fight:
That tale, so strange, so manifold,
Peisander of Cameirus told.
For this good work, thou may'st be sure,
His country placed him here,
In solid brass that shall endure
Through many a month and year.
XXI.
Epitaph of Hipponax.
Behold Hipponax' burialplace,
A true bard's grave.
Approach it not, if you're a base
And base-born knave.
But if your sires were honest men
And unblamed you,
Sit down thereon serenely then,
And eke sleep too.
* * * * *
Tuneful Hipponax rests him here.
Let no base rascal venture near.
Ye who rank high in birth and mind
Sit down--and sleep, if so inclined.
XXII.
On his own Book.
Not my namesake of Chios, but I, who belong
To the Syracuse burghers, have sung you my song.
I'm Praxagoras' son by Philinna the fair,
And I never asked praise that was owing elsewhere.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Theocritus, by Theocritus
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THEOCRITUS ***
***** This file should be named 11533.txt or 11533.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.net/1/1/5/3/11533/
Produced by Ted Garvin, Garrett Alley and PG Distributed Proofreaders
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can cop
|