Thursday, June 05, 2014
A Poet in His Cups
Theognis 1129-1132 (tr. M.L. West):
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I'll drink my fill, ignore soul-grinding povertyThe first line, or a variant thereof, appears on a fragmentary Greek vase in Copenhagen's National Museum (inv. 13365) attributed to the Kleophrades Painter. See Henry R. Immerwahr, "Inscriptions on the Anacreon Krater in Copenhagen," American Journal of Archaeology 69.2 (April, 1965) 152-154 (at 153-154). For photographs of the vase and bibliography see http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/72FC7EC8-8C3B-4FCF-A7E3-6F959E6269B3.
and hateful fellows that speak ill of me;
but I lament my lovely youth that's running out,
and weep at the approach of grim old age.
ἐμπίομαι· πενίης θυμοφθόρου οὐ μελεδαίνω,
οὐδ᾽ ἀνδρῶν ἐχθρῶν οἵ με λέγουσι κακῶς.
ἀλλ᾽ ἥβην ἐρατὴν ὀλοφύρομαι, ἥ μ᾽ ἐπιλείπει,
κλαίω δ᾽ ἀργαλέον γῆρας ἐπερχόμενον.
