Thursday, August 25, 2011
Distractions
Greek Anthology 9.161 (Marcus Argentarius, tr. W.R. Paton, with Paton's note):
Jean Jacques Henner, La Liseuse
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As I was turning over the pages of a volume of Hesiod, I suddenly saw Pyrrhe approaching. Throwing the book on the ground I exclaimed: "Why should I be bothered by your works,2 old Hesiod?"Arthur William Ryder, Original Poems, together with Translations from the Sanskrit (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1939), p. 67 (this poem is a translation from the Sanskrit):
2There is a play on the title Works and Days of one of Hesiod's poems.
Ἡσιόδου ποτὲ βίβλον ἐμαῖς ὑπὸ χερσὶν ἑλίσσων
Πύρρην ἐξαπίνης εἶδον ἐπερχομένην·
βίβλον δὲ ῥίψας ἐπὶ γῆν χερί, τοῦτ᾽ ἐβόησα:
"ἔργα τί μοι παρέχεις, ὦ γέρον Ἡσίοδε;"
How long may subtle logic play its part
In science and theology and art?
So long as no young fawn-eyed maiden's glance
Shall find its way to the logician's heart.
