Poetry

June 5 – Hymn to Thetis and Neoptolemus by Heliodorus

Of Thetis, the golden-haired, we sing.
She who from Nereus erst did spring,
The Venus of our fatherland.
To Peleus wed, at Jove’s command,
Her — of the thunderbolt of war,
Famed for his beamy spear afar,
Achilles — Greece the mother saw
Wedded to whom did Pyrrha bear,
Great Neoptolemus his heir,
Of Grecian land the boast and joy,
The destined scourge of lofty Troy.
Thou who in Delphic land dost rest,
Hero, by thee may we be blest;
Accept our strains, and oh, by thee,
May every ill averted be!
Thetis the golden-haired we sing,
She who from Peleus erst did spring.

From The Greek romances of Heliodorus, Longus, and Achilles Tatius : comprising the Ethiopics: or, Adventures of Theagenes and Chariclea ; The pastoral amours of Daphnis and Chloe; and The loves of Clitopho and Leucippe, 1889. Translation by the Rev. Rowland Smith, M.A., formerly of St. John’s College, Oxford. George Bell and Sons, York Street, Covent Garden, Publishers.

Orestes and Pyrrhus (Neoptolemus) Disputing at the Altar, by Pieter Lastman

Ταν θετιν άείδω, χρυιοεθεφα θέτιν,
Νηρέος άθανάταν εϊναλίοιο χόραν,
Ταν Διός Ιννίσίϊ ΙΙηλέϊ γημαμέναν,
ταν αλός άγλαίαν, άμετέραν Παφίην.
Α τον δουριμβνη, τον δ’ “Αρεα πτολέμω,
‘Ελλάδος άατεροπαν έςίτεχεν λαγόνων
δίον ‘Αχιλλτα, τον χλέος ούράνιον.
τω δπο Πυρ ρ α τέχεν παΐδα Νίοπτόλεμον,
περφέπολιν Τρωών, ρΊχζίπολιν Δαναών.
‘Ίληχοις ρως άμμι Νεοπτόλεμε,
“Ολβιε, Πυθιάδι νυν θονι χευβόμενε.
δε νυσο δ’ εύμενεων τάνδε Ουηπολίην,
παν δ’ άπερυχε δέος άμετέρας πολιός.
Ταν θέτιν άείδω χρυσοίΟειρο θετιν.

The Greek original from Epigrammatum anthologia Palatina cum planudeis et appendice nova epigrammatum veterum ex libris et marmoribus ductorum By Joh. F. Duebner, Hugo Grotius, Edme Cougny, Maximus Planudes

Any errors in the transcription are mine. “It’s all Greek to me…”