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Hellenika
Greek text courtesy of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nineweaving, who scanned it. (I am not sure whether it will display properly on a browser not configured for the font, but since it's Unicode, a quick trip to Perseus may help. If not, there's always the scanned PDF!) Bracketed text courtesy of Martin West's conjectures. Apologies for non-Greek punctuation in a few instances, because this is one hundred percent cut-and-paste, and there's bizarrely no such thing as a raised dot on Perseus. Translation courtesy of me.* Inaccuracies, the same.
ὔμμες πεδὰ Μοίσαν ἰ]οκ[ό]λπων κάλα δῶρα, παῖδες,
σπουδάσδετε καὶ τὰ]ν φιλάοιδον λιγύρον χελύνναν:
ἔμοι δ' ἄπαλον πρίν] ποτ' [ἔ]οντα χρόα γῆρας ἤδη
ἐπέλλαβε, λεῦκαι δ' ἐγ]ένοντο τρίχες ἐκ μελαίναν:
βάρυς δέ μ' ὀ [θ]ῦμος πεπόηται, γόνα δ' [ο]ὐ φέροισι,
τὰ δή ποτα λαίψηρ' ἔον ὄρχησθ' ἴσα νεβρίοισι.
τὰ <μὲν> στεναχίσδω θαμέως: ἀλλὰ τί κεν ποείην;
ἀγήραον ἄνθρωπον ἔοντ' οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι.
καὶ γάρ π[ο]τα Τίθωνον ἔφαντο βροδόπαχυν αὔων
ἔρωι φ . . αθεισαν βάμεν' εἰς ἔσχατα γᾶς φέροισα[ν,
ἔοντα [κ]άλον καὶ νέον, ἀλλ' αὖτον ὔμως ἔμαρψε
χρόνωι πόλιον γῆρας, ἔχοντ' ἀθανάταν ἄκοιτιν.
About the violet-lapped** Muses' beautiful gifts, children,
and the clear music-loving tortoiseshell, be serious:
but my skin that once was tender, old age has already
seized, and my hair has gone white from dark:
and my heart has turned heavy, and my knees would not bear me,
that once were dancers light as fawns.
I sigh over these things often: but what can I do?
It's impossible for a person not to grow old.***
An example: they say that rose-armed Eos, [. . . . . .]
with desire, once carried Tithonos off to the ends of the earth,
young and beautiful as he was, but in time grey age
caught up with him, who had an immortal wife.
*Very literal, or such to the best of my abilities at the moment. Go readpoliphilo for poetry.
**Or "violet-breasted," in the sense of bosom, since κόλπος can mean both; any hollow, any fold.
***More literally, "it's impossible for a person to be never-aging." As differentiated from "ageless"—what never grows, as it never dies; rather than someone who may reach maturity, but never old age, never decay.nineweaving has suggested "unwithering" for ἀγήραος, and I'll buy it.
nineweaving, who scanned it. (I am not sure whether it will display properly on a browser not configured for the font, but since it's Unicode, a quick trip to Perseus may help. If not, there's always the scanned PDF!) Bracketed text courtesy of Martin West's conjectures. Apologies for non-Greek punctuation in a few instances, because this is one hundred percent cut-and-paste, and there's bizarrely no such thing as a raised dot on Perseus. Translation courtesy of me.* Inaccuracies, the same.ὔμμες πεδὰ Μοίσαν ἰ]οκ[ό]λπων κάλα δῶρα, παῖδες,
σπουδάσδετε καὶ τὰ]ν φιλάοιδον λιγύρον χελύνναν:
ἔμοι δ' ἄπαλον πρίν] ποτ' [ἔ]οντα χρόα γῆρας ἤδη
ἐπέλλαβε, λεῦκαι δ' ἐγ]ένοντο τρίχες ἐκ μελαίναν:
βάρυς δέ μ' ὀ [θ]ῦμος πεπόηται, γόνα δ' [ο]ὐ φέροισι,
τὰ δή ποτα λαίψηρ' ἔον ὄρχησθ' ἴσα νεβρίοισι.
τὰ <μὲν> στεναχίσδω θαμέως: ἀλλὰ τί κεν ποείην;
ἀγήραον ἄνθρωπον ἔοντ' οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι.
καὶ γάρ π[ο]τα Τίθωνον ἔφαντο βροδόπαχυν αὔων
ἔρωι φ . . αθεισαν βάμεν' εἰς ἔσχατα γᾶς φέροισα[ν,
ἔοντα [κ]άλον καὶ νέον, ἀλλ' αὖτον ὔμως ἔμαρψε
χρόνωι πόλιον γῆρας, ἔχοντ' ἀθανάταν ἄκοιτιν.
About the violet-lapped** Muses' beautiful gifts, children,
and the clear music-loving tortoiseshell, be serious:
but my skin that once was tender, old age has already
seized, and my hair has gone white from dark:
and my heart has turned heavy, and my knees would not bear me,
that once were dancers light as fawns.
I sigh over these things often: but what can I do?
It's impossible for a person not to grow old.***
An example: they say that rose-armed Eos, [. . . . . .]
with desire, once carried Tithonos off to the ends of the earth,
young and beautiful as he was, but in time grey age
caught up with him, who had an immortal wife.
*Very literal, or such to the best of my abilities at the moment. Go read
poliphilo for poetry.**Or "violet-breasted," in the sense of bosom, since κόλπος can mean both; any hollow, any fold.
***More literally, "it's impossible for a person to be never-aging." As differentiated from "ageless"—what never grows, as it never dies; rather than someone who may reach maturity, but never old age, never decay.
nineweaving has suggested "unwithering" for ἀγήραος, and I'll buy it.
Re: hm..
πάρθενοι δ[
παννυχίσδοι[σ]αι [
σὰν ἀείδοισ[ι]ν φ[ιλότατα καὶ νύμ-
φας ἰοκόλπω.
the maidens . . .
celebrating all night long . . .
would sing of the love of you and (your)
violet-[whatevered] bride.
In the translation I own, it's done as "violet-sashed," as though it were a synonym for ἰόζωνος. I'm not very comfortable with that, because a κόλπος and a ζώνη are not the same thing; but if it's "violet-folded," as in her clothing? In Sappho 44, when Hektor brings his bride Andromache onboard for the voyage back to Troy, she comes with "much golden jewelry, and scented purple clothing, and intricate ornaments, and countless silver cups, and ivory," but I am not sure if that's related to the wedding feast or simply her dowry.
I think there's an attestation for ἰοκόλπος in Alkaios as well, but I don't have a text of him to hand.
Re: hm..
Ιόζωνος would not mean the same as ιόκολπος (sorry,I don't know how to put the accents), but I do prefer the violet-folded interpretation, since we have all the other references for the bride's purple, or violet garment. Which still wouldn't eliminate the possibility of a violet fragrance being used by the maidens (and presumably put between or over their breasts)
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---L.
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