Sunday, August 07, 2016
A Matter of Life and Death
Amphis, fragment 8 (tr. S. Douglas Olson):
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Drink! Have fun! Life's mortal, and our time on earth's limited;Is this the fragment behind Tony Harrison's quatrain "after Amphis"?
whereas death's immortal, once you're dead.
πῖνε, παῖζε· θνητὸς ὁ βίος, ὀλίγος οὑπὶ γῇ χρόνος·
ἀθάνατος ὁ θάνατός ἐστιν, ἂν ἅπαξ τις ἀποθάνῃ.
One glass and no refill
is life for men,
so keep on pouring till
Death says when.