Tag: Hesiod

Some lines of Philitas of Cos

~ Walter Shandy ~ Leave a comment

Reported by Stobaeus (Florilegium 2.4.5) as an extract from Philitas of Cos’ Παίγνια (‘play, sport, game’ – a very rare word). Philitas (born ~340 BCE) was both poet and scholar and one side of his scholarship – his love for rare archaic words (also illustrated here) – comes through well in these few lines.

No lumbering rustic snatching up a hoe
Shall bear me from the mountains—me, an alder tree;
But one who knows the marshalling of words, who toils,
Who knows the pathways of all forms of speech.

οὐ μέ τις ἐξ ὀρέων ἀποφώλιος ἀγροιώτης
αἱρήσει κλήθρην, αἰρόμενος μακέλην·
ἀλλ᾿ ἐπέων εἰδὼς κόσμον καὶ πολλὰ μογήσας,
μύθων παντοίων οἶμον ἐπιστάμενος.

The note to the Loeb edition (titled The Hellenistic Collection) adds:

If the second line is to be taken literally, the speaker may be the tree itself, or, derived from it, a poet’s staff (cf. Hes. Th. 30) (so Maass), or writing-tablet (so Kuchenmüller). Other scholars have suggested that a Philitan poem, or collection of poems, or poetry itself is speaking. Alternatively, the speaker could be a girl who prefers to marry a poet rather than a rustic (so Reitzenstein). On any reading, the lines contain an image, perhaps self-image, of the refined, learned, and dedicated poet.

There is more of interest in these lines than first looks. A few quick observations – the flavor of ἀποφώλιος ἀγροιώτης feels a condensed reminiscence of Hesiod’s ποιμένες ἄγραυλοι, κάκ᾽ ἐλέγχεα, γαστέρες οἶον at Theogony 26 (Shepherds of the wilderness, wretched things of shame, mere bellies). Hesiod actually has ποιμένας ἀγροιώτας in the same line-end position at Scutum 39 but if Philitas is recalling the phrase, he punches it up with the rare (and exclusively Odyssean in Homer) ἀποφώλιος (’empty, vain, idle’) memorably used by Odysseus of Euryalus in Odyssey 8.177 – νόον δ᾽ ἀποφώλιός ἐσσι (‘but in mind thou art stunted’ in the old Loeb translation).

The phrase ἐπέων εἰδὼς κόσμον is in the same family as κόσμον ἐπέων ὠιδὴν in Solon’s Salamis Elegy (fr.1-3 in West’s edition) and Parmenides’ µάνθανε κόσµον ἐµῶν ἐπέων ἀπατηλὸν ἀκούων (Learn as you listen the deceptive order of my words, line 52 in Diels) – but feels less a direct reference than a pull from a shared early poetic stockpile.

The same feels true of μύθων παντοίων οἶμον – the metaphor is seen in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ Μούσῃσιν Ὀλυμπιάδεσσιν ὀπηδός, / τῇσι χοροί τε μέλουσι καὶ ἀγλαὸς οἶμος ἀοιδῆς (And though I am a follower of the Olympian Muses who love dances and the bright path of song, 451) and in Pindar Olympian 9 ἔγειρ᾽ ἐπέων σφιν οἶμον λιγύν (Arouse for them a clear-sounding path of song, 47).

The ways of wisdom are steep (σοφίαι μέν αἰπειναί)

~ Walter Shandy ~ Leave a comment

A phrase from the end of Pindar’s Olympian 9 (104-108) that I always find more striking than I probably should and am now trying to justify to myself as worth the interest.

for some paths
are longer than others,
and no single training will develop
us all. The ways of wisdom
are steep …

ἐντὶ γὰρ ἄλλαι
ὁδῶν ὁδοὶ περαίτεραι,
μία δ᾿ οὐχ ἅπαντας ἄμμε θρέψει
μελέτα· σοφίαι μέν
αἰπειναί …

αἰπεινός is an adjective related to the far more common αἰπύς, both meaning something like ‘high, steep, sheer’. The full definitions of αἰπύς from Liddell Scott and Cunliffe’s Homeric Dictionary are below but, in short form, the word mostly appears in Epic and Lyric and the primary use is with cities, hills, and anything physically high up. An extended use later develops that allows application to what I’ll term vertiginous abstracts – death, darkness, anger, trickery, and toil (though you could probably argue for death as a transitional usage, its poetic conception ranging between a physical presence and a personified notion).

LSJ:

αἰπύς, εῖα, ύ, Ep. and Lyr. Adj., rare in Trag.,

high and steep, in Hom. mostly of cities on rocky heights, esp. of Troy, Od. 3.485, al.; of hills, Il. 2.603; later of the sky, αἰθήρ B. 3.36; οὐρανός S. Aj. 845; on high, ποδῶν αἰ. ἰωή Hes. Th. 682; ἁψαμένη βρόχον αἰπύν hanging high, Od. 11.278.

metaph., sheer, utter, αἰ. ὄλεθρος freq. in Hom., death being regarded as the plunge from a high precipice; φόνος αἰ. Od. 4.843; θάνατος Pi. O. 10(11).42; σκότος utter darkness, Id. Fr. 228; of passions, etc., αἰ. χόλος towering wrath, Il. 15.223; δόλος αἰ. h.Merc. 66, Hes. Th. 589; αἰπυτάτη σοφίη AP 11.354 (Agath.); arduous, πόνος Il. 11.601, 16.651; αἰπύ οἱ ἐσσεῖται ʼtwill be hard work for him, 13.317.

Cunliffe:

αἰπύς -εῖα, -ύ.

Steep, sheer: ὄρος Il. 2.603. Cf. Il. 2.811, 829, Il. 5.367, 868, Il. 11.711, Il. 15.84: αἰπεῖα εἰς ἅλα πέτρη (running sheer down into the sea) Od. 3.293. Cf. Od. 3.287, Od. 4.514, Od. 19.431. Applied to walls Il. 6.327, Il. 11.181: Od. 14.472. Of a noose, hung from on high Od. 11.278.
Of cities, set on a steep Il. 2.538, Il. 9.668, Il. 15.71: Od. 3.485, Od. 10.81, Od. 15.193.

Fig., difficult, hard.In impers. construction : αἰπύ οἱ ἐσσεῖται Il. 13.317. Of ὄλεθρος (thought of as a precipice or gulf), sheer, utter Il. 6.57, Il. 10.371, Il. 11.174, 441, Il. 12.345, 358, Il. 13.773, Il. 14.99, 507=Il. 16.283, Il. 16.859, Il. 17.155, 244, Il. 18.129: Od. 1.11, 37, Od. 5.305, Od. 9.286, 303, Od. 12.287, 446, Od. 17.47, Od. 22.28, 43, 67. Sim. of φόνος Il. 17.365: Od. 4.843, Od. 16.379. Of the toil and moil of war, hard, daunting Il. 11.601, Il. 16.651. Of wrath, towering Il. 15.223.

The less common αἰπεινός shows only the first use in Homer – the physical application. Again, Cunliffe:

αἰπεινός -ή, -όν[αἰπύς.]

Steep, sheer: Μυκάλης κάρηνα Il. 2.869. Cf. Il. 20.58: Od. 6.123. Rocky, rugged: Καλυδῶνι Il. 13.217, Il. 14.116.
Of cities, set on a steep Il. 2.573, Il. 6.35, Il. 9.419 = 686, Il. 13.773, Il. 15.215, 257, 558, Il. 17.328.

But then in Pindar’s four uses of αἰπεινός, two are figurative applications. One (Nemean 5.32) is explicable through comparison with the extended uses of αἰπύς seen in Hesiod’s Theogony (589) at the presentation of Pandora and the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (66). First Hesiod:

θαῦμα δ᾽ ἔχ᾽ ἀθανάτους τε θεοὺς θνητούς τ᾽ ἀνθρώπους,
ὡς εἶδον δόλον αἰπύν, ἀμήχανον ἀνθρώποισιν.

And wonder took hold of the deathless gods and mortal men when they saw that which was sheer guile, not to be withstood by men.

And then Hermes:

ἆλτο κατὰ σκοπιὴν εὐώδεος ἐκ μεγάροιο
ὁρμαίνων δόλον αἰπὺν ἐνὶ φρεσίν, οἶά τε φῶτες
φηληταὶ διέπουσι μελαίνης νυκτὸς ἐν ὥρῃ.

[He] sprang from the sweet-smelling hall to a watch-place, pondering sheer trickery in his heart —deeds such as knavish folk pursue in the dark night-time;

The context of both scenes is the realm of subterfuge. Pandora is intended as an inescapable (ἀμήχανον) evil slipped in amongst men. Hermes – who coincidentally leaps to a watching place (σκοπιὴ) to do so – makes thieving plans. The same context is activated below in Pindar’s telling of Hippolyta attempting to persuade her husband to ambush Peleus. I bold the relevant phrases but the main point is that we have here only the extended, metaphorical use. There is no element of the physical:

And, after a prelude
to Zeus, they first sang of august Thetis
and Peleus, telling how elegant Hippolyta, Cretheus’
daughter, sought to snare him by a trick, after she
persuaded her husband, overseer of the Magnesians,
to be an accomplice through her elaborate designs:
she put together a falsely fabricated tale,
claiming that in Acastus’ own marriage bed
he was trying to gain her wifely
love. But the opposite was true, for again and again
with all her heart she begged him beguilingly.
But her precipitous words provoked his anger,
and he immediately rejected the wife,

αἱ δὲ πρώτιστον μὲν ὕμνησαν Διὸς ἀρχόμεναι σεμνὰν Θέτιν
Πηλέα θ᾿, ὥς τέ νιν ἁβρὰΚρηθεῒς Ἱππολύτα δόλῳ πεδᾶσαι
ἤθελε ξυνᾶνα Μαγνήτων σκοπόν
πείσαισ᾿ ἀκοίταν ποικίλοις βουλεύμασιν,
ψεύσταν δὲ ποιητὸν συνέπαξε λόγον,
ὡς ἦρα νυμφείας ἐπείρα κεῖνος ἐν λέκτροις Ἀκάστου

εὐνᾶς· τὸ δ᾿ ἐναντίον ἔσκεν· πολλὰ γάρ νιν παντὶθυμῷ
παρφαμένα λιτάνευεν. τοῖο δ᾿ ὀργὰν κνίζον αἰπεινοὶ λόγοι·
εὐθὺς δ᾿ ἀπανάνατο νύμφαν,

(As an aside, I would add here the consideration that there’s a second or alternate influence on this use in Pindar – that αἰπεινοὶ in ‘τοῖο δ᾿ ὀργὰν κνίζον αἰπεινοὶ λόγοι’ is a transferred modifier, the background idea being ‘but her words provoked his precipitous anger.’ This sense would draw from the metaphorical application of αἰπύς to passions.)

Coming at last back to launching point in Olympian 9:

for some paths
are longer than others,
and no single training will develop
us all. The ways of wisdom
are steep …

ἐντὶ γὰρ ἄλλαι
ὁδῶν ὁδοὶ περαίτεραι,
μία δ᾿ οὐχ ἅπαντας ἄμμε θρέψει
μελέτα· σοφίαι μέν
αἰπειναί …

There is an easy near parallel to this thought flow in Hesiod’s Works and Days (286-292):

σοὶ δ᾽ ἐγὼ ἐσθλὰ νοέων ἐρέω, μέγα νήπιε Πέρση.
τὴν μέν τοι κακότητα καὶ ἰλαδὸν ἔστιν ἑλέσθαι
ῥηιδίως: λείη μὲν ὁδός, μάλα δ᾽ ἐγγύθι ναίει:
τῆς δ᾽ ἀρετῆς ἱδρῶτα θεοὶ προπάροιθεν ἔθηκαν
ἀθάνατοι: μακρὸς δὲ καὶ ὄρθιος οἶμος ἐς αὐτὴν
καὶ τρηχὺς τὸ πρῶτον: ἐπὴν δ᾽ εἰς ἄκρον ἵκηται,
ῥηιδίη δὴ ἔπειτα πέλει, χαλεπή περ ἐοῦσα.

To you, foolish Perses, I will speak good sense. Badness can be got easily and in shoals; the road to her is smooth, and she lives very near us. But between us and Goodness the gods have placed the sweat of our brows; long and steep is the path that leads to her, and it is rough at the first; but when a man has reached the top, then is she easy to reach, though before that she was hard.

Substitute Pindar’s σοφίαι for Hesiod’s ἀρετή (goodness, excellence – more), αἰπειναί for ὄρθιος (straight up, steep – more), and ὁδοὶ for οἶμος ( way, road – more) and you’re in the same region of folk wisdom. But what you get different with Pindar is typical of his construction generally – a marked condensing of thought alongside a heightened intensity. He manages the effect here through a unique (in surviving work) use of αἰπεινός that forces activation of both its physical and metaphorical senses – basically I read his σοφίαι μέν αἰπειναί as pulling together the entirety of Hesiod’s
τῆς δ᾽ ἀρετῆς ἱδρῶτα θεοὶ προπάροιθεν ἔθηκαν / ἀθάνατοι: μακρὸς δὲ καὶ ὄρθιος οἶμος ἐς αὐτὴν. It hits not just the physical difficulty of ὄρθιος οἶμος but also – calling in the metaphorical use of αἰπύς – the attendant psychic strain of τῆς δ᾽ ἀρετῆς ἱδρῶτα θεοὶ προπάροιθεν ἔθηκαν ἀθάνατοι (between us and Goodness the gods have placed the sweat of our brows). Wisdom here is difficult to reach like an elevated city or cliff and daunting to encounter/overcome like death, treachery, and the darker passions.

Truly a path longer than others.



Peleus became annoyed

~ Walter Shandy ~ Leave a comment

From the second Loeb volume of Hesiod in the collection of fragments – an amusing scholia from Apollonius Rhodius’ Argonautica about a lost work attributed (in antiquity) to Hesiod. A compilation of the more absurd of these would be very entertaining for a very small audience.

The author of the Aegimius says in Book 2 that Thetis cast the children she bore to Peleus into a cauldron of water since she wanted to find out whether they were mortal . . . And after many had been destroyed, Peleus became annoyed and prevented Achilles from being cast into the cauldron.

ὁ τὸν Αἰγίμιον ποιήσας ἐν δευτέρῳ φησίν, ὅτι ἡ Θέτις εἰς λέβητα ὕδατος ἔβαλλεν τοὺς ἐκ Πηλέως γεννωμένους, γνῶναι βουλομένη εἰ θνητοί εἰσιν . . . · καὶ δὴ πολλῶν διαφθαρέντων ἀγανακτῆσαι τὸν Πηλέα καὶ κωλῦσαι τὸν Ἀχιλλέα ἐμβληθῆναι εἰς λέβητα.

The verb used for Pelias’ emotion (ἀγανακτέω) is not the sort of terribly strong one you’d expect of a man whose wife seems to have made it a practice to boil/drown their children. Below is the LSJ entry.

ἀγᾰνακτ-έω, properly in physical sense,

  • Afeel a violent irritation, of the effects of cold on the body, Hp. Liqu. 2, cf. Heliod. ap. Orib. 46.7.8; of wine, ferment, Plu. 2.734e; so metaph., ζεῖ τε καὶ ἀ., of the soul, Pl. Phdr. 251c.
    • IImetaph., to be displeased, vexed, μηδʼ ἀγανάκτει Ar. V. 287; esp. show outward signs of grief, κλάων καὶ ἀ. Pl. Phd. 117d; τὰ σπλάγχνʼ ἀγανακτεῖ Ar. Ra. 1006, etc.; ἀ. ἐνθυμούμενος . . And. 4.18:—foll. by a relat., ἀ. ὅτι . . Antipho 4.2.1, Lys. 3.3; ἀ. εἰ . ., ἐάν . . And. 1.139, Pl. La. 194a.
      • 2c. dat. rei, to be vexed at a thing, θανάτῳ Pl. Phd. 63b, etc.; c. acc. neut., ib.64a; ἀ. ταῦτα, ὅτι . . Id. Euthphr. 4d; ἀ. ἐπί τινι Lys. 1.1, Isoc. 16.49, etc.; ὑπέρ τινος Pl. Euthd. 283e, etc.; περί τινος Id. Ep. 349d; διά τι Id. Phd. 63c; πρός τι Epict. Ench. 4, M.Ant. 7.66; and sts. c. gen. rei, AB 334.
      • 3to be vexed at or with a person, τινί X. HG 5.3.11; πρός τινα Plu. Cam. 28, Diog.Oen. 68; κατά τινος Luc. Tim. 18:—c. part., to be angry at, ἀ. ἀποθνῄσκοντας Pl. Phd. 62e, cf. 67d.
    • IIIMed. in act. sense, aor. part. -ησάμενος Luc. Somn. 4; prob. in Palaeph. 40; ἠγανάκτηνται τῷ πράγματι Hyp. Fr. 70.

And when Periclymenus became a bee and stood upon Heracles’ chariot…

~ Walter Shandy ~ Leave a comment

A lengthier fragment of Hesiod’s Catalogue of Women, from Glenn Most’s recent Loeb edition – which now seems far the better option over the old Merkelbach-West Fragmenta Hesiodea. This one (from fragment 31, pg 97) covers Nestor’s shapeshifting brother Periclymenus. For a 900 page book that deals in part with reconstructing Periclymenus and his relationship to Nestor I recommend Douglas Frame’s Hippota Nestor. There is some comedy of tone in that recommendation but it is truly an amazing piece of work, though nowhere close to the author’s earlier Myth of Return in Early Greek Epic. Both are available online through the links thanks to the Center For Hellenic Studies’ kindly open scholarship policy.

I think a few letters of the Greek have dropped out in pasting but if you know what you’re doing it isn’t any issue. And if you don’t it isn’t any matter.

Happy he, to whom earth-shaking Poseidon gave gifts
of all kinds, for sometimes among the birds he appeared
as an eagle, and sometimes he became—a wonder to see—
an ant, and sometimes the splendid race of bees,
sometimes a snake, terrible and implacable; he received gifts
of all kinds, unnamable, which later ensnared him
by the will of Athena. He destroyed many other men
fighting around the wall of very glorious Neleus,
his father, and he brought many to black death
by killing them. But when Pallas Athena became angry with him,
she stopped him being the best. Unendurable grief [seized
Heracles’ force in his heart, for his troops were being destroyed.
Then, over against Heracles’ force,
sitting on the knob of the yoke, he strove for great deeds,
and said] he would halt horse-taming Heracles’ strength—
the fool, nor did he fear Zeus’ patient-minded son,
neither him nor his famous bow and arrows, which
Phoebus Apollo gave him.
But] then he came opposite Heracles’ force
] and to him bright-eyed Athena,
to Amphitryon’s son,] put the bow grasped firmly
in his hands, and] pointed out to him godlike Periclymenus
] mighty strength [
] he strung with his [own] hands
his bow, and a swift] arrow upon the twisted[ string

ὄλβιον, ὧι⌋ πόρε δῶρα Ποσειδάων ἐνοσίχθων
παντο⌋ῖ᾽, ἄλλ⌊ο⌋τε μὲν γὰρ ἐν ὀρνίθεσσι φάνεσκεν
15αἰετός,⌋ ἄλλοτε δ᾽ αὖ γινέσκετο, θαῦμα ἰδέσθαι,
μύρμ⌋ηξ, ἄλλοτε δ᾽ αὖτε μελισσέων ἀγλαὰ φῦλα,
ἄλλο⌋τε δεινὸς ὄφις καὶ ἀμείλιχος· εἶχε δὲ δῶρα
παντ⌋οῖ᾽ οὐκ ὀνομαστά, τά μιν καὶ ἔπειτα δόλωσε
β⌊ο⌋υλ⌊ῆι⌋ Ἀθηναίης· πολέας δ᾽ ἀπόλεσσε καὶ ἄλλους
μαρνάμενος Νηλῆος ἀγακλειτοῦ περὶ τεῖχος
ο[ὗ] πατρός, πολέας δὲ μελαίνηι κηρὶ πέλασσε
κ]τείνων. ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε δή οἱ ἀγάσσατο Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη,
πα]ῦσεν ἀριστεύοντα· βίην δ᾽ Ἡρακληείην
εἷ]λ᾽ ἄχος ἄτλητον κραδίην, ὤλλυντο δὲ λαοί.
ἤ]τοι ὁ μὲν ζυγοῦ ἄντα βίης Ἡρακληείης
ὀ]μφαλῶι ἑζόμενος μεγάλων ἐπεμαίετο ἔργω[ν,
φ]ῆ θ᾽ Ἡρακλῆος στήσειν μένος ἱπποδάμοιο·
νήπιος, οὐδ᾽ ἔδδεισε Διὸς ταλασίφρονα παῖδα,
αὐτὸν καὶ κλυτὰ τόξα, τά οἱ πόρε Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων.
ἀλλὰ] τοτ᾽ ἀντίος ἦλθε βίης Ἡρακληείης
´]ιας, τῶι δὲ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη
Ἀμφιτρυωνι]ηι θῆκ᾽ εὐσχεθὲς ἐν παλάμηισ[ι
τόξον, καί οἱ φρ]σσε Περικλύμενον θεοε[έα
]κεν κρατερὸν μένος α[
]μενος τάνυσεν χείρε[σσι φίληισι
τόξον, καὶ τα]χὺν ἰὸν ἐπὶ στρεπτῆς[νευρῆς

And his end according to a scholia on Iliad 2.336 (fragment 32)

And when he (i.e., Periclymenus) became a bee and stood upon Heracles’ chariot, Athena showed him to Heracles and made sure that he was killed . . . Hesiod tells the story in the Catalogues

καὶ δὴ γενόμενον αὐτὸν μέλισσαν καὶ στάντα ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους ἅρματος Ἀθηνᾶ δείξασα Ἡρακλεῖ ἐποίησεν ἀναιρεθῆναι. . .ἱστορεῖἩσίοδος ἐν Καταλόγοις.

The dark Fates, gnashing their white teeth, terrible-faced, grim, bloodred, dreadful … all eager to drink black blood

~ Walter Shandy ~ Leave a comment

From Hesiod’s Aspis / The Shield of Herakles (249-270). Terrifying – and seems a rare glimpse in early Greek poetry of what might be folk beliefs/conceptions not polished into presentability.


…. the dark Fates, gnashing their white teeth, terrible-faced, grim, bloodred, dreadful, were engaged in conflict around those who were falling. They were all eager to drink black blood. Whomever they caught first, lying there or falling freshly wounded, she clenched around him her great claws, and his soul went down to Hades to chilling Tartarus. When they had satisfied their spirits with human blood, they would hurl him backward, and going forward they would rush once again into the battle din and melee. Clotho and Lachesis stood over them; Atropos, somewhat smaller, was there, not an especially big goddess, but nonetheless she was superior to these others and the oldest one. All of them were waging bitter battle around one man; they glared terribly with their eyes at one another in their fury, and upon it they were equal to one another in their claws and fierce hands. Beside them stood Death-Mist, gloomy and dread, pallid, parched, cowering in hunger, thick-kneed; long claws were under her hands. From her nostrils flowed mucus, from her cheeks blood was dripping down onto the ground. She stood there, grinning dreadfully, and much dust, wet with tears, lay upon her shoulders.

Κῆρες κυάνεαι, λευκοὺς ἀραβεῦσαι ὀδόντας,
δεινωποὶ βλοσυροί τε δαφοινοί τ᾽ ἄπλητοί τε
δῆριν ἔχον περὶ πιπτόντων· πᾶσαι δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἵεντο
αἷμα μέλαν πιέειν· ὃν δὲ πρῶτον μεμάποιεν
κείμενον ἢ πίπτοντα νεούτατον, ἀμφὶ μὲν αὐτῷ
βάλλ’ ὄνυχας μεγάλους, ψυχὴ δ’ ᾌδόσδε κατῇεν
Τάρταρον ἐς κρυόενθ᾽· αἳ δὲ φρένας εὖτ᾽ ἀρέσαντο
αἵματος ἀνδρομέου, τὸν μὲν ῥίπτασκον ὀπίσσω,
ἂψ δ᾽ ὅμαδον καὶ μῶλον ἐθύνεον αὖτις ἰοῦσαι.
Κλωθὼ καὶ Λάχεσίς σφιν ἐφέστασαν· ἣ μὲν ὑφήσσων
Ἄτροπος οὔ τι πέλεν μεγάλη θεός, ἀλλ᾽ ἄρα ἥ γε
τῶν γε μὲν ἀλλάων προφερής τ᾽ ἦν πρεσβυτάτη τε.
πᾶσαι δ᾽ ἀμφ᾽ ἑνὶ φωτὶ μάχην δριμεῖαν ἔθεντο·
δεινὰ δ᾽ ἐς ἀλλήλας δράκον ὄμμασι θυμήνασαι,
ἐν δ᾽ ὄνυχας χεῖράς τε θρασείας ἰσώσαντο.
πὰρ δ᾽ Ἀχλὺς εἱστήκει ἐπισμυγερή τε καὶ αἰνή,
χλωρὴ ἀυσταλέη λιμῷ καταπεπτηυῖα,
γουνοπαχής, μακροὶ δ᾽ ὄνυχες χείρεσσιν ὑπῆσαν·
τῆς ἐκ μὲν ῥινῶν μύξαι ῥέον, ἐκ δὲ παρειῶν
αἷμ᾽ ἀπελείβετ᾽ ἔραζ᾽· ἣ δ᾽ ἄπλητον σεσαρυῖα
εἱστήκει, πολλὴ δὲ κόνις κατενήνοθεν ὤμους,
δάκρυσι μυδαλέη.

τρέε δ’ Ἀίδης ἐνέροισι καταφθιμένοισιν ἀνάσσων

~ Walter Shandy ~ Leave a comment

Related to part of a scene from Ovid a few days ago (And the light, penetrating to the lower world, strikes terror into the infernal king and his consort) – I found in Hesiod the other day a connected image. During the fight between Zeus and Typhoeus (starting at 820 of the Theogony) – the whole of which feels a part model for the Phaethon tale – we get this sequence (844-850):

The violet-dark sea was enveloped by a conflagration from both of them—of thunder and lightning, and fire from that monster of tornadoes and winds, and the blazing thunderbolt. And all the earth seethed, and the sky and sea; and long waves raged around the shores, around and about, under the rush of the immortals, and an inextinguishable shuddering arose. And Hades, who rules over the dead below, was afraid

καῦμα δ’ ὑπ’ ἀμφοτέρων κάτεχεν ἰοειδέα πόντον
βροντῆς τε στεροπῆς τε πυρός τ’ ἀπὸ τοῖο πελώρου
πρηστήρων ἀνέμων τε κεραυνοῦ τε φλεγέθοντος·
ἔζεε δὲ χθὼν πᾶσα καὶ οὐρανὸς ἠδὲ θάλασσα·
θυῖε δ’ ἄρ’ ἀμφ’ ἀκτὰς περί τ’ ἀμφί τε κύματα μακρὰ
ῥιπῇ ὕπ’ ἀθανάτων, ἔνοσις δ’ ἄσβεστος ὀρώρει·
τρέε δ’ Ἀίδης ἐνέροισι καταφθιμένοισιν ἀνάσσων

That, combined with something like 758-760, can lead to Ovid’s scene:

That [Tartarus] is where the children of dark Night have their houses, Sleep and Death, terrible gods; never does the bright Sun look upon them with his rays when he goes

ἔνθα δὲ Νυκτὸς παῖδες ἐρεμνῆς οἰκί’ ἔχουσιν,
Ὕπνος καὶ Θάνατος, δεινοὶ θεοί· οὐδέ ποτ’ αὐτοὺς
Ἠέλιος φαέθων ἐπιδέρκεται ἀκτίνεσσιν

But now I’m curious whether there are any other instances in Greek or Latin literature of Hades growing frightened.

Then they dined on beef and necks of horses

~ Walter Shandy ~ Leave a comment

The structure of Numa’s replies in the other day’s conversation between Numa and Jupiter put in mind a section of the The Contest of Homer and Hesiod (Certamen Homeri et Hesiodi) and the new text+commentary by Paola Bassino I’ve had out for the last year without opening. Below are the relevant sections (starting line ~100 of the text) and here is the dissertation version of the text+commentary (the main change to the published version seems to be the addition of a translation). This one does demand Greek since the charm – light though it may be – is in playing with the syntax of hexameters – Hesiod producing a complete line and Homer manufacturing an enjambment that reopens composition and allows him to flip the subversive sense of the original.

As he replied well also on these occasions, Hesiod turned to ambiguous propositions and, uttering several lines, expected Homer to reply in a fitting manner to each. So the first is Hesiod’s, the following Homer’s, though occasionally Hesiod composed the question by using two lines:

Hes. Then they dined on beef and necks of horses
Hom. they cleansed, since they were sweaty, being sated with war.
Hes. And the Phyrgians, who of all men on ships are the best
Hom. at having a meal on the shore with pirates.
Hes. Shooting arrows at the tribes of all the giants with his hands
Hom. Heracles loosed from his shoulders a bent bow.
Hes. This man is the son of a good man and a coward
Hom. mother, since war is hard for all women.
Hes. And not for [conceiving] you did your father and revered mother make love
Hom. the body that they sowed by the action of golden Aphrodite.
Hes. As she had yielded to marriage, Artemis shooter of arrows
Hom. killed Callisto from her silver bow.
Hes. So they feasted all day, having nothing
Hom. of their own, but Agamemnon lord of men arranged it.
Hes. Having dined among the smoky ashes
Hes. they gathered up the white bones of the deceased, Zeus’
Hom. son, the proud and godly Sarpedon.
Hes. Sitting thus over the plan of the Simois
Hes. we make our way from the ships carrying upon our shoulders
Hom. hilted swords and long-socketed javelins.
Hes. Then the best young men with their hands from the sea
Hom. pleased and eager dragged off the swift ship.
Hes. Then they took away the Colchian girl and king Aietes
Hom. they fled, as they recognised him as inhospitable and unlawful.
Hes. After they had made libations and drunk up the sea’s swell
Hom. they made themselves ready to sail on well-benched ships.
Hes. For them all the son of Atreus prayed very much, that they might perish
Hom. never in the sea, and he uttered this verse:
Hes. Eat, o foreigners, and drink; may none of you
Hes. return home to your dear fatherland
Hom. harmed, but may you reach home unharmed.

καλῶς δὲ καὶ ἐν τούτοις ἀπαντήσαντος ἐπὶ τὰς ἀμφιβόλους
γνώμας ὥρμησεν ὁ Ἡσίοδος, καὶ πλείονας στίχους λέγων
ἠξίου καθ’ ἕνα ἕκαστον συμφώνως ἀποκρίνασθαι τὸν Ὅμηρον.
ἔστιν οὖν ὁ μὲν πρῶτος Ἡσιόδου, ὁ δὲ ἑξῆς Ὁμήρου, ἐνίοτε δὲ
καὶ διὰ δύο στίχων τὴν ἐπερώτησιν ποιουμένου τοῦ Ἡσιόδου·

Hes. δεῖπνον ἔπειθ’ εἵλοντο βοῶν κρέα καὐχένας ἵππων
Hom. ἔκλυον ἱδρώοντας, ἐπεὶ πολέμοιο κορέσθην.
Hes. καὶ Φρύγες, οἳ πάντων ἀνδρῶν ἐπὶ νηυσὶν ἄριστοι
Hom. ἀνδράσι ληιστῆρσιν ἐπ’ ἀκτῆς δόρπον ἑλέσθαι.
Hes. χερσὶ βαλὼν ἰοῖσιν ὅλων κατὰ φῦλα γιγάντων
Hom. Ἡρακλῆς ἀπέλυσεν ἀπ’ ὤμων καμπύλα τόξα.
Hes. οὗτος ἀνὴρ ἀνδρός τ’ ἀγαθοῦ καὶ ἀνάλκιδός ἐστι
Hom. μητρός, ἐπεὶ πόλεμος χαλεπὸς πάσῃσι γυναιξίν.
Hes. οὔτ’ ἂρ σοί γε πατὴρ ἐμίγη καὶ πότνια μήτηρ
Hom. †σῶμα τό γ’ ἐσπείραντο† διὰ χρυσῆν Ἀφροδίτην.
Hes. αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δμήθη γάμῳ Ἄρτεμις ἰοχέαιρα
Hom. Καλλιστὼ κατέπεφνεν ἀπ’ ἀργυρέοιο βιοῖ<ο>.
Hes. ὣς οἳ μὲν δαίνυντο πανήμεροι, οὐδὲν ἔχοντες
Hom. οἴκοθεν, ἀλλὰ παρεῖχεν ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν Ἀγαμέμνων.
Hes. δεῖπνον δειπνήσαντες ἐνὶ σποδῷ αἰθαλοέσσῃ
Hes. σύλλεγον ὀστέα λευκὰ Διὸς κατατεθνειῶτος
Hom. παιδὸς ὑπερθύμου Σαρπηδόνος ἀντιθέοιο.
Hes. ἡμεῖς δ’ ἂμ πεδίον Σιμοέντιον ἥμενοι οὕτως
Hes. ἴομεν ἐκ νηῶν ὁδὸν ἀμφ’ ὤμοισιν ἔχοντες
Hom. φάσγανα κωπήεντα καὶ αἰγανέας δολιχαύλους.
Hes. δὴ τότ’ ἀριστῆες κοῦροι χείρεσσι θαλάσσης
Hom. ἄσμενοι ἐσσυμένως τε ἀπείρυσαν ὠκύαλον ναῦν.
Hes. κολχίδ’ ἔπειτ’ ἤγοντο καὶ Αἰήτην βασιλῆα
Hom. φεῦγον, ἐπεὶ γίγνωσκον ἀνέστιον ἠδ’ ἀθέμιστον.
Hes. αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ σπεῖσάν τε καὶ ἔκπιον οἶδμα θαλάσσης
Hom. ποντοπορεῖν ἤμελλον ἐυσέλμων ἐπὶ νηῶν.
Hes. τοῖσιν δ’ Ἀτρείδης μεγάλ’ εὔχετο πᾶσιν ὀλέσθαι
Hom. μηδέ ποτ’ ἐν πόντῳ, καὶ φωνήσας ἔπος ηὔδα·
Hes. ἐσθίετ’ ὦ ξεῖνοι, καὶ πίνετε· μηδέ τις ὑμῶν
Hes. οἴκαδε νοστήσειε φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν
Hom. πημανθείς, ἀλλ’ αὖτις ἀπήμονες οἴκαδ’ ἵκοισθε.

In that one voice all these things were heard

~ Walter Shandy ~ Leave a comment

Lucan’s unforgettable description of Erictho’s final addition to her witch’s brew at (6.~685).  I’d like to remember to check a commentary to see what predecessors and parallels he could have been working with – Hesiod’s Typhoeus (passage below) is the only other extensive description of a voice that comes to mind but there’s the key difference that in Hesiod the sounds are present only one at a time (the list presenting him another lovely little ἄλλοτε alliterative catalogue) whereas Lucan bundles them into some unimaginable end.  The closest I get is to a nightmare version of polyphonic overtone singing

and lastly [she mixed in] her voice, more powerful than any drug to bewitch the powers of Lethe, first uttered indistinct sounds, sounds untunable and far different from human speech. The dog’s bark and the wolfs howl were in that voice; it resembled the complaint of the restless owl and the night-flying screech–owl, the shrieking and roaring of wild beasts, the serpent’s hiss, the beat of waves dashing against rocks, the sound of forests, and the thunder that issues from a rift in the cloud: in that one voice all these things were heard.

Tum vox Lethaeos cunctis pollentior herbis
Excantare deos confundit murmura primum
Dissona et humanae multum discordia linguae.
Latratus habet illa canum gemitusque luporum,
Quod trepidus bubo, quod strix nocturna queruntur,
Quod strident ululantque ferae, quod sibilat anguis;
Exprimit et planctus inlisae cautibus undae
Silvarumque sonum fractaeque tonitrua nubis:
Tot rerum vox una fuit.

Hesiod at Theogony ~830:

φωναὶ δ᾽ ἐν πάσῃσιν ἔσαν δεινῇς κεφαλῇσι
παντοίην ὄπ᾽ ἰεῖσαι ἀθέσφατον: ἄλλοτε μὲν γὰρ
φθέγγονθ᾽ ὥστε θεοῖσι συνιέμεν, ἄλλοτε δ᾽ αὖτε
ταύρου ἐριβρύχεω, μένος ἀσχέτου, ὄσσαν ἀγαύρου,
ἄλλοτε δ᾽ αὖτε λέοντος ἀναιδέα θυμὸν ἔχοντος,
ἄλλοτε δ᾽ αὖ σκυλάκεσσιν ἐοικότα, θαύματ᾽ ἀκοῦσαι,
ἄλλοτε δ᾽ αὖ ῥοίζεσχ᾽, ὑπὸ δ᾽ ἤχεεν οὔρεα μακρά.

And there were voices in all his dreadful heads which uttered every kind of sound unspeakable; for at one time they made sounds such that the gods understood, but at another, the noise of a bull bellowing aloud in proud ungovernable fury; and at another, the sound of a lion, relentless of heart; and at anothers, sounds like whelps, wonderful to hear; and again, at another, he would hiss, so that the high mountains re-echoed.

 

Reaping asphodel

~ Walter Shandy ~ Leave a comment

Erasmus Adagia 377 – from the section of proverbial phrases for pointless tasks.

Τὸν ἀνθέρικον θερίζειν (‘to reap Asphodel’) is said of those who take in hand an empty and profitless task.  Asphodel is a kind of herb which cannot be reaped [with a scythe] but requires being plucked by hand like linen….

Τὸν ἀνθέρικον θερίζειν, id est Anthericum metere, dicebantur, qui laborem inanem ac sterilem caperent. Anthericus, herbae genus, quod meti non possit, sed velli manibus necesse est velut et linum….

Aside from Achilles in Bk 11 of the Odyssey walking off through an asphodel meadow in the underworld (μακρὰ βιβᾶσα κατ᾽ ἀσφοδελὸν λειμῶνα) and a similar notice in Bk 24 of the same work the only other reference point I have for asphodel in classical literature is early – lines 37-41 – in Hesiod’s Works and Days where he criticizes his brother Perses’ behavior on the death of their father:

Already we had divided our inheritance but you snatched up and carried off the greater part, honoring the gift-eating (i.e. feeding on bribes) kings who are willing to judge such a case.  Fools, who do not know how much more the half is than the whole nor what great benefit there is in mallow and asphodel.

ἤδη μὲν γὰρ κλῆρον ἐδασσάμεθ᾽, ἀλλὰ τὰ πολλὰ
ἁρπάζων ἐφόρεις μέγα κυδαίνων βασιλῆας
δωροφάγους, οἳ τήνδε δίκην ἐθέλουσι δίκασσαι.
νήπιοι, οὐδὲ ἴσασιν ὅσῳ πλέον ἥμισυ παντὸς
οὐδ᾽ ὅσον ἐν μαλάχῃ τε καὶ ἀσφοδέλῳ μέγ᾽ ὄνειαρ.

The general sense in West’s commentary on Works and Days is simply that mallow and asphodel – examples of the poorest fare – are recommended under the same conscious paradox as guides ‘the half better than the whole.’  The point is the preferability of honestly obtained poor fare to dishonestly obtained luxury.  No commentaries mention Erasmus’ adage – or the harvesting experience it springs from – but it seems something of a confirming contribution to Hesiod’s point – that Asphodel as terrible food and a pain to obtain is still better than wrongly gotten luxury.

And with this thought process I myself have reaped asphodel.