572 B.C.
                            ANAKREON

                           by Anakreon



                    Translated and Annotated 
                       by Willis Barnstone



        Copyright(C) 1962, 1967, 1988 by Willis Barnstone
şiElectronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R)
DAK Upgraded Edition, Copyright 2000, DAK Industries 2000, Inc(R)şI

{ARTEMIS
                Artemis


     On my knees I speak to you,
     Artemis, hunter of deer,
     blond child of Zeus and queen
     of roaming beasts. From pools
     of the river Lethaios you gaze
     across a city of brave men.
     Serenity. You are a shepherd
     of no flock of savage citizens.


{DICE
                  Dice


     The dice of love are
     shouting a madness.


{VISION_LOVE
             The Vision of Love


     On easy wings I glide to Olympos where
     I seek my master Eros,
     but he no longer lets me run down warm women
     as in my doghood days:
     he sees my graying beard and passes me by,
     while I stand transfixed
     in the wind made by his wings of quivering gold.


{OLD_LOVER
              On an Old Lover


     Eros, the blond god of lovers,
     strikes me with a purple ball
     and asks me to play with a girl
       wearing colorful sandals;

     but the girl is from beautiful
     Lesbos, and scorns my white hair,
     and turning her back runs gaping
       behind another girl.

{ON_A_VIRGIN
                On a Virgin


     My Thracian foal, why do you glare with disdain
     and then shun me absolutely as if I knew
                nothing of this art?
     I tell you I could bridle you with tight straps,
     seize the reins and gallop you around the posts
                of the pleasant course.
     But you prefer to graze on the calm meadow,
     or frisk and gambol gayly- having no manly
                rider to break you in.


{PREPARATIONS
            Preparations for Love


     Bring out water and wine and an armful
     of flowers.
     I want the proper setting
     when I spar a few rounds with love.


{KNOCKOUT
                Knockout


     Eros, the blacksmith of love,
     smashed me with a giant hammer
     and doused me in the cold river.


{PLUNGE
               The Plunge


     Lord! I clamber up the white cliff
     and dive into the steaming wave,
                  O dead drunk with love.


{CONSERVATIVE_LOVER
           On A Conservative Lover


     I love and yet do not love.
     I am mad yet not quite mad.


{DEFINITION_WHORE
           Definition of a Whore


     Given-to-all and
                     celebrated by the masses,
     a carrier-of-peoples
                         and an apple orchard 
                  of mad haunches.


{STREETWALKERS
             On Streetwalkers


     Although we call these women loose,
     they tighten their thighs around thighs.


{FORTUNES_ARTEMON
            On the Fortunes of Artemon


     Once he went about in filthy clothes and waspy
       hair,
     with wooden rings on his ears, and wore around
       his ribs
     an unwashed hairy oxhide from an old miserable
       shield.
     Our con-man pimped a living from bakery girls
       and whores,
     and got his neck bound to a whipping block where
       the leather
     made raw meat of his back- and best, he rode the
       wheel
     so that hairs could be torm from his beard and scalp.

     But now the good Artemon rides like a generous
       lord
     in an excellent coach or litter; he wears gold
       earrings
     and carries a special ivory parasol like a grand
       lady.


{CHARIOTEER
                   Charioteer


     O sweet boy like a girl,
     I see you though you will not look my way.
     You are unaware that you handle the reins
         of my soul.


{DRINKING_PARTIES
            On Drinking Parties *001


     I do not like the man who sits by his bowl
                    and sobs about the sad wars,
     but the rake who loves to rave about fine feats
                    in the arts and art of love.


{WAY_HEART
             A Way to the Heart


                               Come swiftly
     and rub aromatic myrrh on her breasts:
     the hollow cave around her heart.


{ORIGIN_MULES
        On the Origin of Mules or Half-Asses


     The Mysians were first in perfecting the art
     of coupling mare-hopping donkeys with horses.


{EFFEMINACY
                    Of Effemincy


     In the morning they were joined in marriage,
     though later in the same chamber
     the groom could not join with his wife.


{DECEMBER
                 December


     We go through Poseidon's month.
     Ponderous clouds sag with water
     and furious storms break out
     collapsing the rain earthward.


{HOPLITE
                On A Hoplite


     Here, the tomb of Timokritos, a hero in the wars.
     It is the coward whom Ares spares- not the brave.


{GUARDIAN ANGEL
             On a Guardian Angel


     Now I hang in Athene's gleaming temple.
     It was I who brought Python safely home
                     from the dreadful wars:
     I, his shield.


{VACILLATION
                Vacillation


     The bird flashes back and forth
     between the black leaves of laurel trees
     and the greenness of the olive grove.


{SOLDIER_AGATHON
              On the Soldier Agathon


     All members of this village have come to weep
     at your funeral pyre, O courageous Agathon,
     who died for Abdera:

     for in the chaos of the horrible battlefield,
     blood-loving Ares never before slaughtered
     a more fearless youth.


{KLEINORIDES_SEA
            On kleinorides, Lost as Sea *002


     You too, Kleinorides, were lost loving your country
     as you confronted the wintry blast of the south
       wind.
     In the spring season of your life you died unwed;
     the seawaves washed away your graceful adoles-
       cence.


{ENCOUNTER
                     Encounter


     I looked at her and took off
     like a frightened cuckoo bird.


{CANDOR
                      Candor


                                     Personally,
     I hate those who are furtive and touchy, morose
     in their ways. I have learned that you, Megistes,
     are of the innocent; of the childlike ones.


{ON_DEATH
                     On Death


     My temples are white, my head largely bald.
     Graceful youth has departed from my face,
     and my teeth are loose teeth of an old man.
              I have few years left of sweet life.

     Therefore I tremble and fear the underworld,
     for the lightless chasm of death is dreadful
     and the descent appalling: once cast down
              into Hell, there is no return.


{PREPARATION
                    Preperation


     Let us hang garlands of celery
                 across our foreheads,
     and call a festival to Dionysos.


                       THE END


{FOOTNOTES
                      Footnotes

*001 Attributed to Semonides by Bergk.
*002 Also ascribed to Leonidas of Tarentum.