Sunday, August 18, 2013
Greater Love Hath No Man
Greek Anthology 7.232 (attributed to Antipater or to Anyte), tr. W.R. Paton:
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This Lydian land holds Amyntor, Philip's son, whose hands were often busied with iron war. Him no painful disease led to the house of Night, but he perished holding his round shield over his comrade.The same, tr. T.F. Higham:
Λύδιον οὖδας ἔχει τόδ᾽ Ἀμύντορα, παῖδα Φιλίππου,
πολλὰ σιδηρείης χερσὶ θιγόντα μάχης·
οὐδέ μιν ἀλγινόεσσα νόσος δόμον ἄγαγε Νυκτός,
ἀλλ᾽ ὄλετ᾽ ἀμφ᾽ ἑτάρῳ σχὼν κυκλόεσσαν ἴτυν.
Amyntor, son of Philip, liesThe same, tr. A.D. Clarke:
Entombed in Lydian land;
In battle's iron exercise
He proved his stubborn hand.
No sickness dragged the veteran here,
Where Night is journey's end;
He lived and died a targeteer,
He died to shield a friend.
Amyntor, Philip's son, in iron fightThe same, tr. Tony Harrison:
Oft tested, doth in Lydian soil abide;
No sickness brought him to the House of Night:
Holding his buckler o'er his friend, he died.
This piece of Lydian earth holds Amyntor,The same, tr. Burton Raffel:
Philip's son, hardened by battles to iron war.
No lingering disease dragged him off to his end,
killed, with his shield held high above his friend.
Amyntor, Philip's son, lies in this Lydian soil.A Latin translation by Hugo Grotius:
His hands were full of iron war.
No sickness led him into the darkness:
He died holding his shield over a wounded friend.
Tam bene qui toties pugnavit, Amyntora tellusOn holding a shield above a wounded comrade see also the Greek words ὑπερασπίζω, ὑπερασπισμός, and ὑπερασπιστής.
Lyda tegit, sobolem, clare Philippe, tuam.
Non domitus morbo, sed scuto fortiter hostem
A sociis arcens, ad loca noctis abit.