The Project Gutenberg eBook of Theocritus, translated into English Verse This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: Theocritus, translated into English Verse Author: Theocritus Translator: Charles Stuart Calverley Release date: March 1, 2004 [eBook #11533] Most recently updated: October 28, 2024 Language: English Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11533 Credits: Produced by Ted Garvin, Garrett Alley and PG Distributed Proofreaders *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THEOCRITUS, TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE *** EDITORIAL READING COPY Theocritus, Idyll XVII: The Praise of Ptolemy Translated by C. S. Calverley, third edition. The complete work is selected from the source anthology; this is not a claim to reproduce the entire anthology. The original source notices and full licence follow. Source anthology (unchanged): /texts/editions/theocritus.txt —— TRANSLATION —— IDYLL XVII. The Praise of Ptolemy. With Zeus begin, sweet sisters, end with Zeus, When ye would sing the sovereign of the skies: But first among mankind rank Ptolemy; First, last, and midmost; being past compare. Those mighty ones of old, half men half gods, Wrought deeds that shine in many a subtle strain; I, no unpractised minstrel, sing but him; Divinest ears disdain not minstrelsy. But as a woodman sees green Ida rise Pine above pine, and ponders which to fell First of those myriads; even so I pause Where to begin the chapter of his praise: For thousand and ten thousand are the gifts Wherewith high heaven hath graced the kingliest king. Was not he born to compass noblest ends, Lagus' own son, so soon as he matured Schemes such as ne'er had dawned on meaner minds? Zeus doth esteem him as the blessèd gods; In the sire's courts his golden mansion stands. And near him Alexander sits and smiles, The turbaned Persian's dread; and, fronting both, Rises the stedfast adamantine seat Erst fashioned for the bull-slayer Heracles. Who there holds revels with his heavenly mates, And sees, with joy exceeding, children rise On children; for that Zeus exempts from age And death their frames who sprang from Heracles: And Ptolemy, like Alexander, claims From him; his gallant son their common sire. And when, the banquet o'er, the Strong Man wends, Cloyed with rich nectar, home unto his wife, This kinsman hath in charge his cherished shafts And bow; and that his gnarled and knotted club; And both to white-limbed Hebè's bower of bliss Convoy the bearded warrior and his arms. Then how among wise ladies--blest the pair That reared her!--peerless Berenicè shone! Dionè's sacred child, the Cyprian queen, O'er that sweet bosom passed her taper hands: And hence, 'tis said, no man loved woman e'er As Ptolemy loved her. She o'er-repaid His love; so, nothing doubting, he could leave His substance in his loyal children's care, And rest with her, fond husband with fond wife. She that loves not bears sons, but all unlike Their father: for her heart was otherwhere. O Aphroditè, matchless e'en in heaven For beauty, thou didst love her; wouldst not let Thy Berenicè cross the wailful waves: But thy hand snatched her--to the blue lake bound Else, and the dead's grim ferryman--and enshrined With thee, to share thy honours. There she sits, To mortals ever kind, and passion soft Inspires, and makes the lover's burden light. The dark-browed Argive, linked with Tydeus, bare Diomed the slayer, famed in Calydon: And deep-veiled Thetis unto Peleus gave The javelineer Achilles. Thou wast born Of Berenicè, Ptolemy by name And by descent, a warrior's warrior child. Cos from its mother's arms her babe received, Its destined nursery, on its natal day: 'Twas there Antigonè's daughter in her pangs Cried to the goddess that could bid them cease: Who soon was at her side, and lo! her limbs Forgat their anguish, and a child was born Fair, its sire's self. Cos saw, and shouted loud; Handled the babe all tenderly, and spake: "Wake, babe, to bliss: prize me, as Phoebus doth His azure-spherèd Delos: grace the hill Of Triops, and the Dorians' sister shores, As king Apollo his Rhenæa's isle." So spake the isle. An eagle high overhead Poised in the clouds screamed thrice, the prophet-bird Of Zeus, and sent by him. For awful kings All are his care, those chiefliest on whose birth He smiled: exceeding glory waits on them: Theirs is the sovereignty of land and sea. But if a myriad realms spread far and wide O'er earth, if myriad nations till the soil To which heaven's rain gives increase: yet what land Is green as low-lying Egypt, when the Nile Wells forth and piecemeal breaks the sodden glebe? Where are like cities, peopled by like men? Lo he hath seen three hundred towns arise, Three thousand, yea three myriad; and o'er all He rules, the prince of heroes, Ptolemy. Claims half Phoenicia, and half Araby, Syria and Libya, and the Æthiops murk; Sways the Pamphylian and Cilician braves, The Lycian and the Carian trained to war, And all the isles: for never fleet like his Rode upon ocean: land and sea alike And sounding rivers hail king Ptolemy. Many are his horsemen, many his targeteers, Whose burdened breast is bright with clashing steel: Light are all royal treasuries, weighed with his. For wealth from all climes travels day by day To his rich realm, a hive of prosperous peace. No foeman's tramp scares monster-peopled Nile, Waking to war her far-off villages: No armed robber from his war-ship leaps To spoil the herds of Egypt. Such a prince Sits throned in her broad plains, in whose right arm Quivers the spear, the bright-haired Ptolemy. Like a true king, he guards with might and main The wealth his sires' arm won him and his own. Nor strown all idly o'er his sumptuous halls Lie piles that seem the work of labouring ants. The holy homes of gods are rich therewith; Theirs are the firstfruits, earnest aye of more. And freely mighty kings thereof partake, Freely great cities, freely honoured friends. None entered e'er the sacred lists of song, Whose lips could breathe sweet music, but he gained Fair guerdon at the hand of Ptolemy. And Ptolemy do music's votaries hymn For his good gifts--hath man a fairer lot Than to have earned much fame among mankind? The Atridæ's name abides, while all the wealth Won from the sack of Priam's stately home A mist closed o'er it, to be seen no more. Ptolemy, he only, treads a path whose dust Burns with the footprints of his ancestors, And overlays those footprints with his own. He raised rich shrines to mother and to sire, There reared their forms in ivory and gold, Passing in beauty, to befriend mankind. Thighs of fat oxen oftentimes he burns On crimsoning altars, as the months roll on, Ay he and his staunch wife. No fairer bride E'er clasped her lord in royal palaces: And her heart's love her brother-husband won. In such blest union joined the immortal pair Whom queenly Rhea bore, and heaven obeys: One couch the maiden of the rainbow decks With myrrh-dipt hands for Hera and for Zeus. Now farewell, prince! I rank thee aye with gods: And read this lesson to the afterdays, Mayhap they'll prize it: 'Honour is of Zeus.' *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THEOCRITUS, TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE *** Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be renamed. Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use of the Project Gutenberg trademark. 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