Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology Part 34

XLVII FIRST FRIENDSHIP AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Ah blessed one, dearest companion of the immortal Muses, fare thou well even in the house of Hades, Callimachus.

XLVIII STREWINGS FOR GRAVES AUTHOR UNKNOWN

May flowers grow thick on thy newly-built tomb, not the dry bramble, not the evil weed, but violets and margerain and wet narcissus, Vibius, and around thee may all be roses.

XLIX DIMITTE MORTUOS PAULUS SILENTIARIUS

My name--Why this?--and my country--And to what end this?--and I am of ill.u.s.trious race--Yea, if thou hadst been of the obscurest?--Having lived n.o.bly I left life--If ign.o.bly?--and I lie here now--Who art thou that sayest this, and to whom?

L MORS IMMORTALIS AUTHOR UNKNOWN

I died, but I await thee; and thou too shalt await some one else: one Death receives all mortals alike.

LI THE LIGHT OF THE DEAD PLATO

Morning Star that once didst shine among the living, now deceased thou shinest the Evening Star among the dead.

CHAPTER XII

LIFE

I THE JOY OF YOUTH RUFINUS

Let us bathe, Prodice, and garland ourselves, and drain unmixed wine, lifting larger cups; little is our life of gladness, then old age will stop the rest, and death is the end.

II THE USE OF LIFE NICARCHUS

Must I not die? what matters it to me whether I depart to Hades gouty or fleet of foot? for many will carry me; let me become lame, for hardly on their account need I ever cease from revelling.

III VAIN RICHES ANTIPHANES

Thou reckonest, poor wretch; but advancing time breeds white old age even as it does interest; and neither having drunk, nor bound a flower on thy brows, nor ever known myrrh nor a delicate darling, thou shalt be dead, leaving thy great treasury in its wealth, out of those many coins carrying with thee but the one.

IV MINIMUM CREDULA POSTERO PALLADAS

All human must pay the debt of death, nor is there any mortal who knows whether he shall be alive to-morrow; learning this clearly, O man, make thee merry, keeping the wine-G.o.d close by thee for oblivion of death, and take thy pleasure with the Paphian while thou drawest thy ephemeral life; but all else give to Fortune's control.

V DONEC HODIE AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Drink and be merry; for what is to-morrow or what the future? no man knows. Run not, labour not; as thou canst, give, share, consume, be mortal-minded; to be alive and not to be alive are no way at all apart. All life is such, only the turn of the scale; if thou art beforehand, it is thine; and if thou diest, all is another's, and thou hast nothing.

VI REQUIESCE ANIMA MIMNERMUS

Be young, dear my soul: soon will others be men, and I being dead shall be dark earth.

VII ONE EVENT MARCUS ARGENTARIUS

Five feet shalt thou possess as thou liest dead, nor shalt see the pleasant things of life nor the beams of the sun; then joyfully lift and drain the unmixed cup of wine, O Cincius, holding a lovely wife in thine arms; and if philosophy say that thy mind is immortal, know that Cleanthes and Zeno went down to deep Hades.

VIII THE Pa.s.sING OF YOUTH APOLLONIDES

Thou slumberest, O comrade; but the cup itself cries to thee, "Awake; do not make thy pleasure in the rehearsal of death." Spare not, Diodorus, slipping greedily into wine, drink deep, even to the tottering of the knee. Time shall be when we shall not drink, long and long; nay come, make haste; prudence already lays her hand on our temples.

IX THE HIGHWAY TO DEATH ANTIPATER OF SIDON

Men skilled in the stars call me brief-fated; I am, but I care not, O Seleucus. There is one descent for all to Hades; and if ours comes quicker, the sooner shall we look on Minos. Let us drink; for surely wine is a horse for the high-road, when foot-pa.s.sengers take a by-path to Death.

X BEFORE THE DELUGE STRATO

Drink now and love, Damocrates, since not for ever shall we drink nor for ever hold fast our delight; let us crown our heads with garlands and perfume ourselves, before others bring these offerings to our graves. Now rather let my bones drink wine inside me; when they are dead, let Deucalion's deluge sweep them away.

XI FLEETING DAWN ASCLEPIADES

Let us drink an unmixed draught of wine; dawn is an hand-breadth; are we waiting to see the bed-time lamp once again? Let us drink merrily; after no long time yet, O luckless one, we shall sleep through the long night.

XII OUTRE-TOMBE JULIa.n.u.s AEGYPTUS

Often I sang this, and even out of the grave will I cry it: "Drink, before you put on this raiment of dust."

XIII EARTH TO EARTH ZONAS

Give me the sweet cup wrought of the earth from which I was born, and under which I shall lie dead.

XIV THE COFFIN-MAKER AUTHOR UNKNOWN