fcaem wmBit^^i !iS!fflSifflQiSi^^l£iSi^.J2S2ia^^ iiHiiiMiiiiiiisrtiitetsffiiiMffliiiikl BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE ; SAGE ENDOWMENT- FUND THE GIFT OF Henrg W. Sage 1891 .AJMi-:^.! x. / ?/M^.L PA 3861.A2"l9of""^ '-'""'y The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026463657 THE SONGS OF ALCAEUS A AI'''^ o THE SONGS OF A LC AEUS MEMOIR AND TEXT WITH LITERAL AND VERSE TRANS- LATIONS AND NOTES BY JAMES S. EASBY-SMITH (m. a,., georgbtowh) - AUTHOR OF " THE SONGS OF SAPPHO,' ' ETC. ^^™ WASHINGTON W. H. LOWDERMILK AND COMPANY M C M I 3\ Copyright, 1901, In the United States and Great Britain, By J. S. EASBY-SMITH All rights reserved^ TO THE MEMORY OF JOSEPH SEBASTIAN ROGERS BORN I 8th march 187O DIED 20TH AUGUST 1 898 PREFACE In this work I have attempted what has not yet been done for Alcaeus, and what Mr. Whar- ton so ably did for Sappho ; that is, to give him in the entirety of his remains to English readers, whether they understand Greek or not, and at the same time to give to the student an accurate text in a convenient form. Though much has' been written of him in connection with the other Greek lyrists by English, German, and other scholars, the notes and occasional trans- lations are in Latin, German, or other tongue; and practically the only form in which he is at all available to the EngHsh student is Professor Farnell's excellent work on the Greek Lyric Poets ; though Professor Herbert Weir Smyth, of Bryn Mawr, has in press a work on the Greek Lyrists. Even in Professor Farnell's work the remarks on Alcaeus are necessarily limited, and while the notes are in English, there are no translations; and the work is intended for the PREFACE Student alone, being of little value to the general reader. It is true that there have been pub- lished more or less extended criticisms of Al- caeus, and occasional translations of some of the fragments, in works upon the Greek Lyric Poets in general, but these have never been collected. I have given here a life of Alcaeus, the longer fragments w^ith verse translations, the shorter fragments with prose translations, notes upon the fragments, and a bibliography. In the Life, while narrating everything con- cerning him that could be gathered from ancient authors and deduced from his writings, I have confined myself to that only which is well au- thenticated, and have refrained from relating probabilities or possibilities as facts. I have necessarily included some remarks upon his times, upon his contemporaries, upon the Aeolic or Lesbian school of poetry, upon Horace and his debt to Alcaeus, and upon Catullus ; and also some critical notes upon his poetry. In the text I have closely followed Bergk, with a few exceptions mentioned in the notes, where I have followed Hartung, Farnell, or HofFmann, and have included every fragment which can properly be ascribed to Alcaeus, omitting only single words and broken sen- tences incapable of restoration or translation. PREFACE and of value only to the lexicographer. The numbers included in brackets (in the notes) are Bergk's, except where otherwise noted. I have followed the usual custom of grouping the frag- ments according to subject, giving, first, Drink- ing-songs ; second. Love-songs ; third, Polemics ; fourth. Hymns ; and fifth. Miscellaneous. In the metrical translations I have striven to adhere closely to the original, availing myself as little as possible of the liberties generally sup- posed to belong to the translator into verse, with the exception of the paraphrases, " Autumn," " To Sappho," and " No More for Lycus," and even in these I have endeavoured to be historically and critically true to the poet. With the shorter fragments I have given literal prose translations. I must here confess that my ren- derings of some of these shorter fragments are not altogether satisfactory to myself, for many of them are practically incapable of translation. In each of the notes on the longer fragments I have given a literal prose translation, such meritorious verse translations by various authors as I have found, a reference to the place of preservation of the fragment, a description of the metre, references to other authors of an- tiquity, especially to Horace, and such remarks as may tend to the elucidation and understand- PREFACE ing of the fragment. The notes on the shorter fragments are briefer. I have not attempted any textual or metrical criticism, leaving that to more able scholars ; and I would here invite the critical student to the great work of Bergk, the ablest Greek scholar of the century, and to the works of Matthiae, Hartung, Farnell, Hoff- mann, and others mentioned in the bibliography. Professor Farnell's work will be found of especial value to the student, containing not only the text with valuable notes, but also a treatise upon the Aeolic dialect and upon metre in the lyric poets. The main difficulties to be experienced by the student lie in the peculiarities of the Aeolic dialect and its admixture with other forms, and in the broken and disconnected con- dition of some of the fragments. In the bibliography will be found a complete list of the principal works upon or relating to Al- caeus, to which I have had reference or access. Some remarks here concerning the literature of Alcaeus may be of interest. He was held in such high esteem by the ancients that many commentaries were written on his poems. Athe- naeus and others relate that Dicaearchus and Chamaeleon, the disciples of Aristotle, wrote on Alcaeus ; Hephaestion says that Aristophanes, the celebrated grammarian of Byzantium, who PREFACE flourished about the middle of the third century B.C., and his more famous pupil, the Alexandrian critic Aristarchus, wrote elaborate commenta- ries on Alcaeus and divided his poems into ten books ; according to Strabo, Callias, the Mity- lenean, taught and wrote upon the works of Alcaeus about 25 B.C. ; Suidas says that Draco, the grammarian, who flourished under Hadrian, and Horapollo, the grammarian of Constan- tinople and Alexandria, who flourished about 400 A.D., wrote commentaries on Alcaeus. The first modern publication of any part of Alcaeus was in the Gnomologiae sive Aristologiae Pindaricae of Michael Neander, a Greek and Latin edition of fragments from the nine lyric poets, printed at Basle in 1556. This was followed by the editions of the lyric poets by Henricus Stepha- nus, published in Paris in 1560 and subsequent years. Fulvius Ursinus published at Antwerp, in 1568, a fuller collection of the fragments of Alcaeus, with a commentary, in his Carmina Novem Illustrium Feminarum . . . et Lyricorum. The first separate edition of Alcaeus was the Commentatio de Alcaeo^ Poeta Lyrica Ejusque Frag- mentis of Christian David Jani, pubhshed at Halle in 1780. This work is in Latin, and consists of a most excellent life and criticism of the poet, with the text of the principal frag- PREFACE ments preserved in Athenaeus, that is, part of our fragment iii and fragments viii, x, xix, xxvi, and xxxviii, with full notes. This edition was reprinted by T. F. Stange at Halle, in 1810, in his edition of Alcaeus, which consists of reprints from various sources and a collection of other fragments and mentions of Alcaeus by ancient authors. The next (and, so far as I have been able to find, the latest) work treating of Alcaeus alone is the Alcaei Mytilenaei Reliquiae of August Matthiae, Leipzig, 1827. This is the most important work on Alcaeus except Bergk's, and contains a hundred and twenty-eight fragments (counting single words), with full notes in Latin, and an appreciative biography of the poet. Al- caeus, together with the other Greek lyrists, has been edited by many scholars of this century, preeminent among whom is the late Theodore Bergk, who, in treating Alcaeus, makes' Mat- thiae's work the basis of his own. Of the other Greeks who bore the name Alcaeus it is necessary to mention only those the fragments of whose writings have sometimes improperly been ascribed to our poet. These are Alcaeus, the Athenian tragic poet, who lived about 308 b.c. ; Alcaeus, the comic poet, probably identical with the foregoing ; Alcaeus, the epigrammatist, the contemporary of Philip PREFACE ^ of Macedon; and Alcaeus, the epigrammatist, who lived under the Emperor Titus. A probably authentic Lesbian coin has been preserved, bearing upon the obverse AAKAIOS MTTIA. and a profile head of Alcaeus, and upon the reverse HITTAKOS and a profile head of Pittacus. This coin is said to have belonged to Fulvius Ursinus. It passed through various hands and collections into the Royal Museum at Paris, and w^as engraved by the Cheva- lier Visconti.i The frontispiece of this w^ork, the medallion head of Alcaeus, reproduced in photogravure, was drawn, after Visconti, by Mr. Howard Sill of Baltimore, who has also designed the cover. Reviewing my finished work, particularly the metrical renderings, I feel more deeply than ever how impossible it is to know the Greek poets truly and intimately outside the original, to express in any other tongue the fervour, the incomparable beauty of language and rhythm, and the exquisite turns of thought intrinsic to the Greek songs, or to give more than their bald sense. Yet am I upheld in my work by the belief that to have these songs at second hand 1 Iconographie Grecque / par / Le Chevalier E. Q. Vis- conti/Membre de I'lnstitut de France./Paris./MDCCCvni./ Vo/. I, Plate Hi, No. 3. xiii PREFACE is better than not to have them at all, and by the hope that it may further the study of Alcaeus and of the other Greek lyrists, — a study which is too much neglected, even in our colleges. J. S. EASBY-SMITH. Washington, 9th May, 1900, CONTENTS Preface PACZ vii Life of Alcaeus .... • 3 Longer Fragments: Drinking Songs • 44 Love Songs .... • 56 Polemic Songs . 62 Hymns .... • 78 Miscellaneous Songs . 84 Shorter Fragments . ■ 99 Notes • "7 Bibliography .... . 145 LIFE OF ALCAEUS LIFE OF ALCAEUS Although twenty-five centuries have passed since he lived and sang, we have comparatively much authentic information concerning Alcaeus. Because he was not only a great poet but also a traveller, a soldier, a bitter partisan of the noble order, and a disturbing factor in the po- litical affairs of Mitylene, we have many details of his life which otherwise would never have been recorded ; and adding to this the frequent personal references occurring in the surviving fragments of his poems, we are able to form a tolerably accurate idea of his life and career. Born in the latter part of the seventh century B.C., probably about the year 630, Alcaeus was contemporary with Pittacus, Dictator of Mity- lene and one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece, and with Sappho, but was younger than either of them. There is no record of his parentage, but it is certain that he sprang from the old Lesbian nobility, and that Cicis and Antimeni- das were his brothers. The close of the seventh century B.C. was a i THE SONGS OF ALCAEUS time of wild political commotion and great in- tellectual activity throughout Greece, and espe- cially in the Island of Lesbos. Mitylene, the principal city of the island, having conquered her ancient enemy Methymna, was mistress of Lesbos, but was rent by internal dissensions and was at war with Athens, who had seized upon some of the Lesbian colonies in the Troad. Mitylene was rich and famous and powerful. She had built a strong navy and planted colo- nies on the Asiatic coast in order to secure and hold the trade of the Hellespont, and had ex- tended her commerce to the uttermost east and west. Succeeding to the simple, patriarchal life and customs depicted in the Homeric poems came a period of beauty, splendour, and luxury, ever tempered by the exquisite Greek refine- ment. The rich and splendid jewelry, armour, and household trappings, and the loose and in~ dulgent customs of the East, were all repro- duced in Lesbos ; not, indeed, in the gorgeous and barbaric and dissolute manner of the East, but with that consummate art of expression and repression which was the distinguishing charac- teristic of the Greek nature in the day of its highest development. Meanwhile, to the early rule of the hero-princes had succeeded an he- reditary monarchy, to be in its turn overthrown 4 LIFE OF ALCAEUS by an oligarchy which gradually drifted into an aristocracy or rule of the nobles, certainly the most aesthetic, if not the most practical or logi- cal, form of government. But during the later years of the aristocracy, frequent feuds among the various noble families striving for suprem- acy in the state brought about internal w^ars and disturbances, w^hich from time to time gave occasion for ambitious usurpers to seize upon the supreme power, only to be beaten and put to death by the reunited nobles. Finally the people, become more intelligent and powerful, grew tired of the misrule occasioned by the bickerings of the aristocrats, and there began in Mitylene, and throughout all Greece, the death-struggle between the democracy and the aristocracy. During these years of political change and revolution, Lesbos had become the acknow- ledged head and centre of the Asiatic Greeks, not only in material affairs, but also intellectu- ally. Set as a gem upon the bosom of the soft Aegean, with beautiful scenery, magnificent har- bours, and exquisite climate, Lesbos was fair to behold and sweet to dwell within. Her inhabit- ants had about them all the delights of nature, and through extended commerce had become wealthy and were supplied with all the luxuries 5 THE SONGS OF ALCAEUS of the world. All their surroundings tended to develop to the utmost their intense poetic natures. They were connected by ancestry and tradition with the demigods and hero-princes of epic days, not yet too far removed to exert a living influence upon their imaginations ; they were in direct contact with the older countries of the mainland, and were fired by the stories of their mariners, and of travellers to the old eastern countries and to the new and strange lands of the west. Under such conditions the Lesbian or Aeolic school of poetry developed with a rapidity that is only equalled by its in- tenseness and perfection ; for within the century wherein Archilochus laid its real foundations, it reached in the songs of Sappho and Alcaeus that high point of brilliancy to which it never after- wards approached. And its decay was as rapid as its rise ; for although it exerted a strong influ- ence over melic poetry for more than a century, and indeed influenced to some extent all lyric poetry throughout Greece, and though its effects are to be marked in the lyric poetry of Rome and of all countries to the present time, yet it did not survive so long as the less brilliant and more slowly developing Dorian school, and prac- tically ceased to exist after the deaths of Sappho and Alcaeus and their less gifted contemporaries. LIFE OF ALCAEUS It is impossible to fix a beginning for this school, or for lyric poetry in general. Whether it preceded the epic or not, it was probably co- existent with and rapidly developed after the decay of the latter. The epic was succeeded by the elegy, in which the epic metre was slightly varied, to be in turn followed by iambic, and later by true melic poetry. The Aeolians were, poetically, the most highly gifted of all the early Greek peoples; for not only do we probably owe to them the epics, but of the nine great lyric poets, six were of Aeolic descent. As has been pointed out, Lesbos, on account of her wealth and position, became the natural centre of the older Greek countries of Asia Minor and of the colonies on the mainland and adjacent islands. It is possible that a sepa- rate Aeolic or Lesbian school had begun to exist as early as the eighth century ; for Terpander, the earliest melic poet, who introduced lyric poetry into Sparta about 700 B.C., was a native of Lesbos; and Archilochus, about 687 B.C., speaks of the Lesbian style : — Himself beginning a Paean in the Lesbian mode}- This school owes more to Archilochus for its artistic development than to any other poet, for ^ AStAs i^dpxoiv vpis affKbv Aivyov 6av(iTov tAos * dtrirls iKeivrj ipp^Tio ' i^avTLS KTfjtTopjai oil KaKita, 2 "£701 S' &ir dCr^s ipiyov uare K6KKvi iawida plwai xoTafutO KaWipdov trap 8xSas. LIFE OF ALCAEUS And of Horace, Alcaeus' Roman imitator : — With thee I saw Philippi's plain. Its fatal rout, a fearful scene ! And dropp'd, alas I th' inglorious shield. Where valour's self was fore' d to yield?- — Francis. In the duel with Phrynon it is related that Pittacus vanquished his antagonist by entangling him in a net and killing him with a trident, a form of combat called retiarii, afterward forced upon the gladiators in the Roman amphitheatres. That the Lesbians considered the defeat at Sigeum an honourable one is proved by the fact that they received the home-coming army with great honours, and richly rewarded Pittacus. The war with Athens was terminated by the arbitra- tion of Periander, Tyrant of Corinth, who left each state in control of its original territory. Then followed another period of internal dis- sensions and bloody wars. Myrsilus, Megalagy- rus, the Cleanactids, and others placed themselves at the head of the people, each claiming to be endeavouring to establish a democracy, but really intending to enthrone himself as tyrant. Against these demagogues Alcaeus, with intense patriot- ism and unquestioned bravery, led the nobles, 1 Carm. II, 7, 9. 13 THE SONGS OF ALCAEUS and, for many years, was victorious. Myrsilus was defeated and killed, and Alcaeus, in_/r. xxvi heartily rejoices. But eventually the democ- racy was triumphant, and Alcaeus, Antimenidas, and the other nobles were driven into exile. There is no further mention of Cicis, who, per- haps, was killed during the Athenian war, or in one of the internal disturbances. In the wars between the nobles and the democratic faction, Alcaeus not only took an active part as a soldier, but aroused his fellows by war poems assailing the demagogues, and filled with all the bitter in- vective that his intense nature was capable of putting forth. To this period must be ascribed most of the Stasiotica, or Polemic Odes, more especially The Ship of State, frs. xx and xxi, the original of all the allegories wherein the state is likened to a ship, and directed, according to Heraclides, against Myrsilus ; the description of the armoury, _^. xix, and other polemic pieces. The poem on the armoury has frequently been cited by modern critics to prove that Alcaeus was nothing more than a military fop, fond of the trappings of war, but not in love with its dangers. In his lectures upon Greece, delivered before the Lowell Institute, the late President Felton, of Harvard University, speaking of Al- caeus and of this poem, says : " The longest piece 14 LIFE OF ALCAEUS remaining of this poet is his brilliant description of the martial furniture with which he had embellished his own habitation ; and this piece of military fop- pery is a proof that it was the show and gauds of vjar, and not its hard blows, to which he was addicted." The ending of this poem proves, however, that it was written by Alcaeus to in- cite his followers to be about their warlike work. Moreover, the unanimous testimony of all an- cient writers that Alcaeus was a courageous soldier is sufficient to overthrow these modern deductions. Professor George S. Farnell, in his note on this poem, calls Wellington to wit- ness the well-known fact that the greatest mili- tary dandies frequently make the best soldiers ; and we have at home illustrious examples in our own Washington and Lee. During their exile, Alcaeus and Antimenidas travelled widely. According to Strabo, Alcaeus visited Egypt, and, in one of his poems, described the mouths of the Nile. It is probable that he wandered into Thrace. In fr. xcix he praises the Hebrus as the most beautiful of rivers, and Bergk argues that he must have travelled in Thrace in order to experience the winter de- scribed in fr. viii. Antimenidas went even as far as Babylon, where he served in the army of Nebuchadnezzar, and achieved a great repu- 15 THE SONGS OF ALCAEUS tation as a doughty warrior. He probably took part in the conquest of Judea and the destruc- tion of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. In fr. xviii Alcaeus welcomes him home and relates one of his deeds of prowess for which the Babylonians rewarded him with a sword whose hilt was of ivory inlaid with gold. To this period of exile and travel are to be ascribed the songs of travel of which we have numerous small fragments, and many of the Drinking-songs. During their exile, the nobles never lost sight of their design to reestablish the aristocracy in Mitylene, and were continually planning and plotting against the home government. It is possible that the real reason of Antimenidas' connection with the Babylonians was to enlist their aid for the nobles. As the noble party grew stronger and began to threaten an invasion of Lesbos, the people grew fearful, and, in 589 B.C., chose Pittacus as Aisymnetes or absolute ruler for ten years, to strengthen the city and lead them in repelling the aristocratic party. Upon this, Alcaeus attacked Pittacus in the bitterest and most scurrilous verses. In^r. xxiv he calls him Ka/coirdrpiSa = base-born, because he was not of noble birth ; and in other fragments he calls him "Drag-foot," "Split-foot," "Thick-belly," " Dirty Fellow," and other contemptuous names. 16 LIFE OF ALCAEUS Pittacus was at this time about sixty years of age. He was a native of Mitylene, his father being Tyrrhadius or Hyrrhadius, a Thracian, and his mother a Lesbian. Besides being a warrior of renown and a political leader of great sagacity, he was a man of letters, and was reck- oned one of the Seven Sages. Some of the many sententious sayings attributed to him in ancient times have survived, among them : " Kntnv the proper time" and " It is difficult to he vir- tuous." We have, too, a short poem by him which has been thus rendered by Mr. Charles Merivale: — March with how and lu ell-stock' d quiver Arm'd against the wicked wight ; For his tongue is faithless ever. Words and thoughts just opposite} It is said that he composed many elegiac verses. Pittacus has generally been pictured as a wise, moderate ruler, ambitious only to further the good of Mitylene and its people ; but, while his ability cannot be questioned, we have a glimpse of the other side of the picture in the 1 'ExoiTO Set rb^ov re xai IoS6kov fpapirpav ffreixfiv ttotI (pdra Kaxdv. TTUTThv ycip oid^v y\u(r(ra 5(A ffrbfiaros \a\ei 5(x6/tvdoK Exovtrt xapSlg, vitiiui. «7 THE SONGS OF ALCAEUS refrain of the popular Mill Song of Mitylene, which has been preserved : — Grind, mill., grind ! For Pittacus himself is grinding. Ruling mighty Mitylene?- It is related that Pittacus restored rule and order to the city, which enjoyed several years of peace. But the nobles, gathering all their strength, made a last, desperate effort to regain power. About 585 B.C. Alcaeus, at the head of the exiles, invaded the island, but was defeated and taken prisoner. Pittacus released him, say- ing that forgiveness was better than revenge. He has been praised and highly applauded for his apparent great generosity to Alcaeus, who was not only an enemy of the State, but also his bitter personal foe. But it is more pleasant to forgive than to be forgiven, easier to play the part of the magnanimous victor than to accept from his hands the bitter fruits of defeat. It is possible, too, that it was rather shrewdness than generosity which prompted Pittacus ; for, by sacrificing Alcaeus to his personal hatred, he would only further have inflamed the partisans 1 "AXet jUiJXa fiXet • KoX 7dp niTTaic6s SX«, /te7(lXas MiruXiyas (SairiXciJwi'. ig LIFE OF ALCAEUS of the aristocratic faction. That Alcaeus accepted his fate with equanimity and settled down into the life of a peaceable citizen would seem to put him in quite as good a light as Pittacus. Alcaeus was now fast approaching middle life ; and though we have no further historical mention of him, it is probable from fr. xxxvii that he lived to enjoy a ripe old age. Pittacus ruled the city well until 579, when he declined a reelection, but lived ten years longer, dying at an advanced age in 569 B.C. The only relative named or addressed by Alcaeus in the fragments we have is his brother Antimenidas. There is no mention of father or mother, wife or child, and it is probable that he was not married. He addresses or names some of his friends, and the beautiful youths Menon and Dinnomenes ; and, in the scanty remains of his Love-songs, we can find mention of only Sappho. There is little doubt that he was in love with Sappho, and was one of her — perhaps many — rejected suitors. Aristotle, quoting line 2 oifr. xii, says that it was addressed by Alcaeus to Sappho ; and the first line of the same fragment rests upon the authority of Hephaestion. Hermesianax in a Catalogue of Things Relating to Love, quoted by Athenaeus, 19 THE SONGS OF ALCAEUS XV, 598 B, says that Alcaeus often sang of his love for Sappho : — And well thou knowest how famed Alcaeus smote Of his high harp the love-enlivened strings. And raised to Sappho's praise the enamoured note^ 'Midst noise of mirth and jocund revellings : Aye, he did love that nightingale of song With all a lover's fervours?- — J. Bailey. But Hermesianax is not so sure an authority, for in the same poem he commits the anach- ronism of making Anacreon one of Sappho's lovers. Stephanas of Byzantium, and among later critics Professor F. Blass of Kiel, have argued that Aristotle w^as mistaken or was merely following a common but erroneous tra- dition in attributing this fragment to Alcaeus, and that it belongs, together with Sappho's answer, to a dialogue composed entirely by Sappho. But in addition to the inherent im- probability of Aristotle's mistake in a matter of authorship, which he states so clearly and positively, is the fact that two of his disciples, Chamaeleon and Dicaearchus, wrote treatises on Alcaeus and Sappho, and Aristotle had 1 A^ff^ios 'AXkojos 5^ irAirous dveS^faTO Kiiyiiovs, Zair^ous (pop/jUj^uv l/nepdeiTa ir6Sov, k.t.\. LIFE OF ALCAEUS therefore an unusual occasion to be thoroughly familiar and accurately acquainted with both poets. The circumstance that the lines attrib- uted to Alcaeus are in a modified Sapphic metre (that is, Sapphic with the addition of anacrusis, a form never used by Sappho, but frequently by Alcaeus), and the lines attributed to Sappho are in Alcaics, seems to be enough to destroy the theory that all belonged to a dialogue composed by Sappho. The great trouble with some of the critics is that they become Sappho-mad (a sweet and easy malady ! for who can study the beguiling mistress of song without becoming a worshipper ?), and seek all possible excuses to add to her too scanty remains every fragment worthy of her muse. Among the later Greek critics and during the early centuries of this era, while the poems of Sappho and Alcaeus were extant, the story of Alcaeus' love for the poetess was accepted without question and was a favourite subject in art. An ancient terra- cotta plaque of unknown manufacture, in the British Museum, represents Sappho with her lyre, seated, while Alcaeus stands leaning toward her, grasping her lyre with his right hand, the two conversing or singing; and at Munich there is a vase of the fifth century, upon which Al- caeus and Sappho are pictured standing, with THE SONGS OF ALCAEUS lyres in hand, singing. Added to the historical testimony is the very strong probability of the story. Alcaeus and Sappho belonged to a class within a class in a small insular city; they were both poets, both aristocrats, both natives of Mitylene. They were therefore necessarily brought into close contact with each other, and it would be strange indeed had not the strong, impulsive, manly, warrior-poet become enamoured of the poetess, no less strong, but truly feminine, no less impulsive but more deli- cate, a woman before whose genius he, master- poet though he was, must have bowed down in self-forgetful homage. It is further probable that Alcaeus and Sappho were associated not only at home but in exile, for it is pretty well authenticated that for some reason Sappho fled from Mitylene to Sicily about the end of the seventh century. As she belonged to the nobility, or the aristocratic party, it is possible that she was forced to flee with the other nobles after their defeat, which happened about this time, and that she returned to Lesbos after peace was established; while Alcaeus roamed from country to country, until, at the head of the nobles, he invaded his native city and suf- fered his final defeat. It is certain that Alcaeus was younger than Sappho, and perhaps in this LIFE OF ALCABUS fact is to be found the secret of his failure to win her love ; for it is possible, and even prob- able, that the following fragment of one of her poems is another repulse to the pleadings of Alcaeus : — If thou wouldst still be dear to me. With younger maidens seek thy joy ; For I am loath to mate with thee. An older woman with a hoy ! ^ Both the public and private character of Alcaeus have suffered much at the hands of some modern critics. He has been painted as a political trickster and malcontent and as a vain military fop, and in his private life as a drunkard and libertine. Colonel Mure has placed him, together with Sappho, beyond the pale of human respectability; and Dr. Felton, in the lectures above referred to, after quoting Merivale's translations of some of the Drinking- songs, says : " JVe cannot wonder at any madness or folly in the life of a man so devoted to the god of wine." And later : " We cannot respect his per- sonal character, which was stained by boastfulness, 1 'AXV imv l\oi &nfuv (fiXXo) X^X**^ Apvvffo veiirepov vdf l' iiriTa yepaiTipa. (Bekgk, No. 73.) 23 THE SONGS OF ALCAEUS excess, and perhaps profligacy. He was an unscru- pulous and bitter hater of men who had in any way offended him, and he slandered them without stint or decency." But, after all, what would it matter were all these charges true ? what effect has an author's private life upon the literary worth of his writ- ings ? We may as well prepare to purge our libraries of considerably more than half of the best literature of the world, if we are to judge it by the private lives of its producers as painted by the zealous a^id jealous defenders of the purity of literature who live after them. Yet, while it does not affect the merit of his writings, it is a satisfaction to know that an author whom one admires is not altogether bad. The public life of Alcaeus, and the charges that he was a military fop and a coward, have already been considered. It is inconceivable that a man should for many years maintain the leadership of a large and powerful political party, a party which for many generations had been in control of the state, and be aught but a brave, generous, and able leader. The charges that Alcaeus was a drunkard are founded upon his avowed fond- ness for wine and upon the large proportion that the Drinking-songs bear to the whole of his remains. That he was fond of wine is not 24 LIFE OF ALCAEUS to be denied, but he preached its use, not its abuse, as is clearly shown in^. xi. The Greeks were a temperate race, and drunkenness was not one of their vices. With their famous wines — and the Lesbian wines were particularly noted for their excellence — it was the custom to mix water, and it appears iiomfrs. i, x, and Ixiv that Alcaeus did not depart from this custom. How different from the drinking-songs of Alcaeus is the exclamation of Catullus : — ^t vos quo libet hinc abite^ lymphae^ Vint pernicies, et ad severos Migrate : hie merus est Thyonianus. XXVII, 5—7. Arguing from their writings we may more reasonably conclude that Horace was a drunk- ard than Alcaeus. The large number of Drink- ing-songs among the fragments argues nothing. They are nearly all quoted by Athenaeus to prove that Alcaeus had composed them for all occasions, but there is nothing to show how great a portion of his ten books of poems were Drinking-songs. The charge that he was a libertine, addicted to many vices, is founded not so much upon anything to be found in his frag- ments, or in early historical statements, as upon the statement of Quintilian that Alcaeus at ^5 THE SONGS OF ALCAEUS times debased his muse by writing unworthy things; and upon certain remarks of Cicero. The charge is so intangible as to be impossible of refutation. Greek morals of the sixth cen- tury B.C. were, in one very essential feature, the direct antithesis of Christian ideals ; and with the remark that in his private life Alcaeus was prob- ably neither better nor worse than the average Lesbian of birth, education, and position in that day, the whole subject may very profitably be dismissed. The extent of the writings of Alcaeus was considerable, for Hephaestion says that Aristoph- anes and Aristarchus, the famous Alexandrian grammarians and critics, wrote commentaries on his poems and divided them into ten books ; and this is corroborated by Athenaeus, who quotes fr. vii from the Tenth Book. Hephaestion does not say in what manner this division was made, whether chronologically, by metre, or by subject. Of the ten books we have now remain- ing only a handful of fragments, scarcely two hundred lines in all, and even these would be lost to us but for the quotations by Athenaeus, Apollonius, Hephaestion, Strabo, Heraclides, and others. In what manner his works have so completely perished it is impossible to con- jecture. Cardan says that the works of the z6 LIFE OF ALCAEUS lyric poets were burned by Gregory Nazianzen about 380 A.D., but even if this story be true, all the copies of Alcaeus then existing were not destroyed ; for a quarter of a century later Hora- poUo, the grammarian of Alexandria and Con- stantinople, wrote a commentary on Alcaeus. According to Scaliger the poets were burnt at Rome and Constantinople under Gregory VII about 1073. This story has little or no corrobo- ration, and even if true, it is incredible that all the manuscripts of the poets were collected and destroyed. It is the ardent hope of the entire literary world that the works of Alcaeus and of the other lyric poets may yet be recovered ; and that this hope is not a foolish one and may yet be realised is proved by the recent discoveries of Herondas and Bacchylides, and the more recent and very extensive discoveries of ancient manu- scripts in Egypt by Mr. Bernard P. Gfenfell and Mr. Arthur S. Hunt, from which an ode of Sappho, a fragment of Alcman, and other classi- cal fragments have been sifted and published. But until the longed-for discovery is made we must be content with one complete poem of seven lines or twenty-one cola. The Armoury^ fr. xix, and a hundred fragments of from one to nine lines. We are indebted to the Deipnoso- phists of Athenaeus, that great treasure house 27 THE SONGS OF ALCAEUS of classic gems, for The Armoury and for most of the Drinking-songs — one ode and thirteen fragments in all, aggregating forty-four lines; to Apollonius for seventeen fragments or twenty- two lines ; and to Hephaestion for fifteen frag- ments or twenty-one lines. Heraclides preserves the two fragments (xx and xxi) The Ship of State; Aristotle and Hephaestion preserve the address to Sappho ; and the remaining fragments are found in the etymologies and in the writings of Strabo, Plutarch, and a score of grammarians, rhetoricians, and scholiasts. These fragments embrace a wide variety of subjects, but have usually been divided into five classes : Drinking- songs, Love-songs, Polemic or Seditious Songs, Hymns, and Miscellaneous Songs. The Drink- ing-songs, the Polemics, and many of the Mis- cellaneous Songs may be classed as Scolia, or short, monodic pieces, to be sung at banquets or convivial meetings. In addition to the Hymns it is probable that Alcaeus composed more elab- orate paeans ; but all his poems of which we have any trace are purely melic, or lyrics in the true sense, that is, monodic songs, subjective, or expressive of the poet's personal feelings result- ing from his own experiences, and composed for singing. In ancient times, and while his songs were 28 LIFE OF ALCAEUS Still extant, Alcaeus enjoyed the highest reputa- tion. He was placed among the nine great lyric poets and by some critics was given preeminence over them all. Athenaeus says that he was the greatest musician that ever lived. His works were studied and taught, and elaborate commen- taries were written on them by Aristophanes and Aristarchus, the most celebrated of the Alexandrians ; by Chamaeleon and Dicaearchus, the disciples of Aristotle ; by Callias the Mity- lenean ; and by Horapollo. He was frequently quoted by the historians and rhetoricians. The historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus says of him : " Observe in Alcaeus the sublimity, brevity, and sweetness coupled with stern power, his splendid figures, and his clearness which was unimpaired by the dialect; and above all mark his manner of expressing his sentiments on public affairs." ^ He was the acknowledged poetic master of Horace, who pays tribute to him in the Thir- teenth Ode of the Second Book : — Where Sappho's sweet complaints reprove The rivals of her fame and love. 1 'A\Ka.lov Si fiev "jrepl rati Bipattriv irepOerco ifkeKTai'; v7ro6vfuSd<; ti<;, KaB Be 'x^evdra) fivpov aBv Kar t& iroi ^opea ^pe/iovrai.^ K'a/SySaWe top ^eifiwv, iirl p.ev Ti9ei<; TTvp, iv Be KipvaK olvov a^eiBe(o<; IJi,e\iy^ov, avTap afil Kopaa fidXOaKov afj,i . . eo ySe'Xev?, 0(bpaKe<} re viot, Xivoa KoClXai re kut dairiBe; ^e^rifievai " Trap Be HaXKiBiKai airdOai, Trap Be ^lOfiara iroWa Kol KvirdrriBei ' ■ T&v ovK ean XdOeaff, eireiBrj irpdniar inro fipyov earaiiev ToBe. 64 LONGER FRAGMENTS THE ARMOURY The spacious hall in brazen splendour gleams. And all the house in Ares' honour beams. The helmets glitter; high upon the wall The nodding plumes of snowy horse's hair, Man's noblest ornaments, wave over all ; And brightly gleaming brazen greaves are there. Each hanging safe upon its hidden nail, A sure defence against the arrowy hail. And many coats of mail, and doublets stout. Breast-plates of new-spun linen, hollow shields. Well-worn and brought from foe-abandoned fields. And broad Chalcidian swords are stacked about. Bear well in mind these tools of war, they make Easy and sure the work we undertake. 6S THE SONGS OF ALCAEUS XX ^ KavverrjfU t&v aveficov crTaaiv • TO fiev jap evQev KVfia KvXivSerai, TO B' evOev • cififie'; B' av to jj^eaaov val (fjop'^/jLeffa aiiv fieXaiva, j^ei/xeoVL fioyOevmei fieyaXw fioXa • irep /j,ev jap ai/rXo? IcrToireBav e%et, \atea. 86 LONGER FRAGMENTS POVERTY A grievous weight, too heavy to endure, Bitter, and full of woe, Is Poverty, who, with her sister, Want, Cripples the people so. s? THE SONGS OF ALCAEUS XXXII Tas iTTiOvfiiwi yap ovre ryvvT} 7re6evT0'! mpdva /xecrot. Between the earth and the cloud-flecked heavens. SHORTER FRAGMENTS L Melanchrus (in his actions) towards the City was worthy of respect. LI A6(j)ov T€ creiaiv 'KdpcKov. Brandishing the Carian crest. LI I OvSe irat TlocreiSav aXfivpov ia-TU(j)e\i,^€ ttovtov • olov QireSov) v lorar vfi/ie Xa^ovTcov yepai a6iT0V For that honour shall remain inviolate by the will of those gods who have been made thy protectors. LXI To S' epyov ayrjo-aiTO Tea Kopa. Let thy daughter proceed in the work. MISCELLANEOUS LXI I Kat iT\el(rTOi airoWvfievoi'; adayi. As he will save them from destruction. LXXI Oi'«(a re irep cr5> Kal Tre/a' art/iias. Through you and through dishonour I exist. LXXI I EZ? T&V SvOKalSeKOiV. One of the twelve. 107 THE SONGS OF ALCAEUS LXXIII Ka^ K ovBev e'« Bevoi jevoiro. And from nothing nothing comes. LXXIV At Se K afi/Mi Zeii? reXecry votj/jlu. But if Zeus grant the fulfilment of our desires. LXXV . . . No'oi' S' iavTco •rrcifnrav aeppei. He is thoroughly aroused in his mind. LXXVI JLcnrnrXevcrT) vdeenv. He will approach in ships. LXXVI I "A-iMfiiv addvarot 0eoi The immortal gods grant the victory to us. io8 SHORTER FRAGMENTS LXXVIII 'Aj^vdaBrifii kolkok ' ovn jap ol <^t\ot. I am sorely grieved ; for friends by no means — LXXIX Nuv B' (aiSr') ovto? eirncperei KiVTjaat.'i Tov air Xpa<; Trvfuarov \i6ov. He now has the mastery, moving upon the holy field the last stone, LXXX ^vfi^aK, rah Aib? e^ cuji.o'xm ^alcrt, rervy- fjLevai<;. Nymphs, descended, 't is said, from Zeus, the aegis-bearing. LXXXI At yap KaX\o0€V eXOrj ro'Se, d\av apyaXiav exoK. Unless you carefully remove from the rubble the stone which is to be worked, it will prob- ably fare ill with your head. NOTES NOTES I (45). I feel the coming of the flowery spring. Quickly mix in the bowl the honey-sweet wine. Quickly, quickly mix for me up Honeyed wine in a beaker cup ; Quickly, quickly, that I may sing The joyous coming offlowety spring. — John Moreton Walhousi. I breathed the coming of the flowery spring. — Frederick Tennyson. Quoted by Athenaeus, X, 430. The metre is choreic, consisting of an initial trochee or spondee, four dactyls, and a final trochee — very nearly a hex- ameter dactyl catalectic or heroic : — KJ \J \J \J \J \J \J \J ^ w In the metrical translation I have joined this with the next succeeding fi-agment, though they are from different songs. II (36). But let some one place about my throat necklaces of anise, woven garlands, and pour sweet per- fumes over my breast. Quoted by Athenaeus, lines I— z in XV, 674, and 3—4 in XV, 687, and rightly joined by Hartung, Bergk, and others. The metre is Sapphic : — \J W \J \J \J w vy \D v.^* \J x-/ — w \J w \J \J \J — ^ \J \J \^ "7 THE SONGS OF ALCAEUS Cf. Horace, Carm. 11, 7 : — Obliviosa levia Massico Ciboria exple, funde capacibus Unguenta de conchis. J^uis udo Deproperare apio coronas Curatve myrto ? Ill (39). Moisten your throats with wine, for the dog-star is risen, and this is the oppressive season when everything thirsts under the burning heat. The cicada sings pleasantly, sending forth his clear- toned song from among the thick leaves. The artichoke blooms where the sun, beating down upon the fields, lets fall spread- ing, blazing rays. And now are women most amor- ous, but the men languid, for Sirius parches both head and legs. Glad your hearts with rosy wine, Now the dog-star takes his round. Sultry hours to sleep incline. Gapes with heat the sultry ground. Crickets sing on leafy boughs, And the thistle is in flower, And men forget the sober vows They made to the moon in some colder hour. — J. H. Merivale, Wet thy lungs with wine, for the dog-star rides on high ; Oppressive is the season — all things are parched and dry ; 'Mid the leaves the shrill cicada its song so thin and quick. Pours out beneath its wings, and bloom the thistles red and thick. — J. M. Walhouse. This song is made up of fragments quoted by various authors and joined by Matthiae, Hartung, Bergk, and others. Line i, part of z, and 3, 6, 7, and 8 are preserved in Proclus on Hesiod, Works, 584 ; i and z are quoted by Athenaeus, X, 430 ; part of 3, and 4—5, are quoted by Demetrius, de Eloc. 14Z. The verses iiS NOTES all belong, without doubt, to one song. The metre is choriambic, the asclepiadeum secundum as used by Horace, Carm, I, ii, etc, lii ^ \J \J \^ \J \J \J v.y v^ Cf. Horace, Carm, III, 29, 18 : — Jam Procyon furit Et Stella versani Leoms Sole dies referente siccos. The song is a close imitation of the following passage in Hesiod's Works and DaySy 582 seq. : — JIvKv6v virb TTTep^yojVj 64peos Kafj.aT(Jb8eos upy, T^/Aos irtdTaTai t alyes Kal otvos dpiaroSf M-HyXdraTaL Sk yvvatKeSf 6,