Dear Earth, receive old Amyntichus in thy bosom, mindful of all his toil for thee. Many an evergreen olive he planted in thee and with the vines of Bacchus he decked thee; he caused thee to abound in corn, and guiding the water in channels he made thee rich in pot-herbs and fruit. Therefore lie gently on his grey temples and clothe thee with many flowers in spring.
Γαῖα φίλη, τὸν πρέσβυν Ἀμύντιχον ἔνθεο κόλποις,
πολλῶν μνησαμένη τῶν ἐπὶ σοὶ καμάτων.
καὶ γὰρ ἀειπέταλόν σοι ἐνεστήριξεν ἐλαίην
πολλάκι, καὶ Βρομίου κλήμασιν ἠγλάῑσεν,
καὶ Δηοῦς ἔπλησε, καὶ ὕδατος αὔλακας ἕλκων
θῆκε μὲν εὐλάχανον, θῆκε δ᾽ ὀπωροφόρον.
ἀνθ᾽ ὧν σὺ πρηεῖα κατὰ κροτάφου πολιοῖο
κεῖσο, καὶ εἰαρινὰς ἀνθοκόμει βοτάνας.
"A peculiar anthologic maze, an amusing literary chaos, a farrago of quotations, a mere olla podrida of quaintness, a pot pourri of pleasant delites, a florilegium of elegant extracts, a tangled fardel of old-world flowers of thought, a faggot of odd fancies, quips, facetiae, loosely tied" (Holbrook Jackson, Anatomy of Bibliomania) by a "laudator temporis acti," a "praiser of time past" (Horace, Ars Poetica 173).
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Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Amyntichus
Greek Anthology 7.321 (tr. W.R. Paton):