Greek Elegiac Poetry

by Douglas E. Gerber (Editor/Translator), Solon, Theognis

The Greek poetry of the archaic period that we call elegy was composed primarily for banquets and convivial gatherings. Its subject matter consists of almost any topic, excluding only the scurrilous and obscene. In this completely new Loeb Classical Library edition, Douglas Gerber provides a faithful translation of the fragments and significant testimonia that have come down to us, with full explanatory notes.

Most substantial in this volume is the collection of elegiac verses to which Theognis' name is attached. Drinking and merry-making are frequent themes in these poems; there are also more reflective and philosophic pieces and love poems. Together they offer an interesting picture of an aristocratic man's views about life, friendship, fate, and daily concerns. Also notable in this volume is the martial verse of the Spartan Tyrtaeus and the poetry of Solon, Athens' famous lawmaker.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Literature

512 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1999

Reviews

[Unknown]

For now the floor is clean and clean the hands of everyone and the cups; (one servant) places woven garlands round (the heads of the guests), and another offers sweet-smelling perfume in a saucer; the mixing-bowl stands filled with good cheer; on hand is additional wine, which promises never to run out, mellow in its jars and fragrant with its bouquet; in the middle incense sends forth its pure and holy aroma and there is water, cool, sweet, and clear; nearby are set golden-brown loaves and a magnificent table laden with cheese and thick honey; in the centre an altar is covered all over with flowers, and song and festivity pervade the room. (Xenophanes, 1)
__________
Endure, even if the gods deal you a hard lot. (24, Stobeaus (from Euripides, Telephus))

__________
Callinus
How long are you going to lie idle? (1)

Death will occur only when the Fates have spun it out. (1)

. . . and while he lives he is the equal of demigods. (1)
__________
Tyrtaeus
Testimonia
He is very ancient, contemporary with those called the Seven Sages, or even earlier. (1)

. . . and most people know that he was a poet and that by means of poems which contained noble thoughts. (5)

“A good one to incite the hearts of the young.” (11)

A poet is equipped with these four things, meter, myth, narrative, and diction of a particular kind, and any poem that does not partake of these four is not a poem. For instance, we do not give the name of poet to Empedocles, and Tyrtaeus and those who talk about astronomy, even if they employed meter, because they did not make use of what characterises a poet. (14)

Fragments
Biting his lip with his teeth. (10)
__________
Solon
Wisdom’s hidden essence, which alone holds the key to everything, is the most difficult to discern. (16)

As I grow old I am always learning many things. (18)

Poets tell many lies. (29)

We ought not to follow those who recommend that a man have thoughts suitable to a man. (45)
__________
Theognis
Testimonia
But it seems to me he is accusing them of lack of knowledge about their own lives. (6)

Elegiac Poems
Don’t deliberate at all on an enterprise even with any of your friends; few indeed out of many friends had a ind that is trustworthy. (73-74)

Never talk big, Cyrnus, for no one knows what a day or night will bring to pass for a man. (159-160)

Drinking wine in large quantities is indeed a bane, but if one drinks it wisely, wine is not a bane but a blessing. (211-212)

There I grasped her round the waist in my arms and kissed her neck, while from her lips came tender words. (261-266 partial)

. . . and don’t tell one who’s wide awake to sleep against his will. (~470)

I’ve had my limit of honey-sweet wine. (~475)

My heart, I cannot provide you with everything that is fitting. Be patient: you’re not the only one to have a passion for fine things. (695-696)

Enjoy your youth, my dear heart; soon it will be the turn of other men, and I’ll be dead and become dark earth. (877-878)

Cyrnus, if god were angry at mortal men for every fault, knowing the inward thoughts each one has and the deeds of just and unjust alike, it would be a great bane for mortals. (897-900)

In every activity one man is worse, another better. No one on his own is skilled in everything. (901-902)

Many indeed have a false, thievish character and keep it hidden, taking on an attitude appropriate to the day. (~964-965)

I shall give advice for all the world: so long as one has hyyouth’s splendid bloom and noble thoughts, let him enjoy his possessions. For it is impossible to. Obtain a second youth from the gods and there is no release from death for mortal men, but vile and accursed old age brings dishonour and takes hold of the top of one’s head. (1007-1012)

Let’s sleep. (1043)

Now let’s delight in drink and fine talk. What will happen afterwards is up to the gods. (1047-1048)

Witless and foolish are men who weep for the dead, but not for the dading bloom of youth. (1069-1070)

Cleverness is in truth superior even to great merit. (1074)

I’ll not find fault with any of my enemies whose behaviour is noble, nor will I praise a friend whose behaviour is base. (1079-1080)

I do not crave or pray for wealth, but may I live from modest means, suffering no ill. (1055-1056)

Love too rises in season, when the burgeoning earth blooms with spring flowers. Then Love leaves the beautiful island of Cyprus and goes among men, bringing seed down upon land. (1275-1278)

I’ll never cause you harm, even when I am absent, and no one will persuade me not to love you. (1363-1364)
__________
Phocylides
This too is by Phocylides.

Take counsel at night, since at night the mind of men is sharper; quiet is good for one who seeks excellence. (8)

Many men who walk about in an orderly manner [or “with ornate dress”] seem to be of sound mind, although their wits are actually shallow. (11)
__________
Xenophanes
. . . proud and exulting(?) in the splendour of their hair, drenched with the scent of the most refined unguents. (3)
__________
Euenus
I consider that a correct understanding of each man’s character is not the least part of wisdom. (3)
__________
Critias
Upon their eyes a dark mist settles, oblivion melts away memory from their minds, and reason is tripped up. (6)

But the Spartan way of life is evenly ordered: to eat and drink moderately so as too be able to think and work. There is no day set apart to intoxicate the body with immoderate drinking. (6)

More men excel from practice than from nature. (9)
__________
Anonymous Elegiacs
But a good man is at one time bad, at another good. (Plato, 2)

The good are good in one way only, the bad are bad in all sorts of ways. (3, Aristotle)

Lack of discourse dissolves many a friendship. (4, Aristotle)

Sometimes chance counteracts the designs of good men, and sometimes according to the proverb.
Although a good man, he met another who was better. (10, Polybius)

Girls who lifted up their light footsteps (in the dance) (11, Dionysius of Halicarnassus)

It’s late, (boy), but we have both come to our senses. (13, Plutarch)

Zeus alone has cures for everything (21, Stobeaus)

[Seward Park Branch Library, NYPL · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The wisest and most stupid thing is time" —Euenus


I'm full-on sick right now, as a result my head is bobbing in a vat of snot and the walls are pulsing with respiratory cadence... still, it's given me time to finish off this collection 'Greek Elegiac Poetry'—while this little Loeb hasn't exactly been the medicine I so dearly need, it has proved to be a welcome intrusion on restless daydreaming which frequently serves as companion to the bedridden.

Most of what's contained in 'GEP' is work by Theognis, a poet which I was already sure I was going to dislike based on the summation of his work by Werner Jaeger in his excellent three volume work on Ancient Greek culture, 'Paideia...'. Theognis is a sorry fellow, the worst kind of aristocrat, one who believes in his birthright like others 'get religion'. I think he would do well to consider the words of Phocylides who asks,


'Of what advantage is noble birth to those who have nothing attractive in what they say or plan?'


Theognis reminds me of Nietzsche at his worst and most adolescent. Indeed, Nietzsche himself was something of a 'fan' of Theognis, who describes him as the 'Janus head' who stands at 'the crossroads of social change'. Well, this much is true. Yet, Theognis surely isn't a shining example of true nobility in practice as distinct from the rabble, as Nietzsche figures! On the contrary, he read to me as a man who can only make sense of his wounds through downer-philosophy writ large. No, in Theognis we don't have anything close to the sublime nobility of Pindar, we have a paranoid crank whose societal ship is sinking. Still, he has his sober moments. Lines such as,


'There is no one on earth who escapes blame; but it is better thus, if the majority pay no heed',


and,


'Excess to be sure has already destroyed many more men than famine, men who wanted to have more than their allotment.'


seem sound to me. Yet, Theognis can't help but extend his wounds to an entire world view, which is the most dangerous of practices. The man has been betrayed by many a 'friend', and lines like these come in legion :


'Make none of these townsmen your sincere friend, Polypaïdes, because of any need. Seem in speech to be the friend of everyone, but share with no one any serious matter whatsoever. If you do, you will come to know the minds of men who are wretched, since there is no trust to be placed in their actions, but they love treachery, deceit, and craftiness, just like men beyond salvation.'


and


'Many in truth are your comrades when there’s food and drink, but not so many when the enterprise is serious.'


And despite there being lines and lines in dedication to the evils which money has wrought on the social fabric of Greece, Theognis himself would never suffer poverty adroitly...


'Poverty, Cyrnus, overwhelms a man of worth more than anything else, including hoary age and fever. To escape from it, Cyrnus, you should throw yourself to the monsters of the sea or down from lofty cliffs. For in effect a man overwhelmed by poverty is powerless to say or accomplish anything, and his tongue is bound fast.'


In a world where status means nothing, money is ruler of mens passions, and friends betray friends for gain, the only thing one can hope for is luck, which is bestowed by the Gods. Despite all of his advice to Cyrnus to seek the company of noble men and the advantage of noble education, life, for Theognis is a roll of the dice. According to Theognis the gods are beyond reproach since as mere mortals we have not the capacity to understand their ways. As a matter of fact, the only other thing besides the Gods that is beyond reproach is wine. Much like the gods, wine has unpredictable qualities, and only the noble can carry its/their burden without looking a fool. Indeed, Theognis has much to say about wine,


'I praise you, wine, in some respects and find fault with you in others; I can never totally hate or love you. You are a blessing and a bane. What man who’s truly wise would blame or praise you?'


... and the noble man can hold is drink!


'But you say “fill it up!” This is always your idle chatter; that’s why you get drunk. One cup is a toast to friendship, another is set before you, another you offer as a libation to the gods, another you have as a penalty, and you don’t know how to say no. That man is truly the champion who after drinking many cups will say nothing foolish.'


One can only imagine the arguments Theognis, this bitter soul, might find himself involved in at a Symposium turned sour. To the base soul, he might have said,


'If you, sir, had been allotted as much judgement as stupidity and if you had been as sensible as you are foolish, you would seem to many of these citizens to be as deserving of admiration as you are now worth nothing.'


What remains of the rest of Theognis' work are erotic poems in praise of homosexual love, between men and boys. It is a kind of *misogynist* homosexual love only a Greek is capable of. Mmmm.

Solon, the great legislator, was much more to my taste, though not much of his poetry survives. Solon was one who supremely believed in Justice above all else, and that to fulfill Justice, one was quite frequently unpopular. Indeed, Solon observes that the masses often get what they are looking for in a Tyrant, yet,


'From a cloud comes the force of snow and hail, thunder from a flash of lightning, from powerful men a city’s destruction, and through ignorance the masses fall enslaved to a tyrant. If they raise a man too high, it’s not easy to restrain him afterwards; it is now that one should consider everything.;


... in a similar vein,


'If you have suffered grief because of your wrong action, do not lay the blame for this on the gods. You yourselves increased the power of these men by providing a bodyguard and that is why you have foul slavery. Each one of you follows the fox’s tracks, and collectively you are empty-headed. You look to the tongue and words of a crafty man, but not to what he does.'


The wise legislator, according to Solon, always strikes a middle ground. Reflecting upon experience he tells us,


'These things I did by the exercise of my power, blending together force and justice, and I persevered to the end as I promised. I wrote laws for the lower and upper classes alike, providing a straight legal process for each person. If another had taken up the goad as I did, a man who gave bad counsel and was greedy, he would not have restrained the masses. For if I had been willing to do what then was pleasing to their opponents and in turn whatever the others [i.e., the masses] planned for them, this city would have been bereft of many men.'

[...]

For that reason I set up a defence on every side and turned about like a wolf among a pack of dogs.


and...


'he would not have restrained the masses nor would he have stopped until he had stirred up the milk and got rid of the cream. But I stood in no-man’s-land between them like a boundary marker.'


What remains? We have exhortations for the young to bravely do battle—on this subject Callinus gives us quality, while Tyrtaeus offers quantity. Tyrtaeus was much more interesting as a personality rather than a poet. Apparently this lame-footed school teacher was summoned from Athens to lead the Spartans in battle according to the advice of the Delphic Oracle...

What we have in GEP is a fascinating slice of life from both the Greek Aristocracy, and the rising middle classes who were to increasingly hold sway on Greek society. And, as is the case in times ancient and modern, some bore change gracefully, and some like little children who think the world owes them a living. Yet, there is a unifying theme here, an appeal to *arete*, uniquely Greek nobility. I'll leave you with a line from Phocylides, which should hang above the reading room of any local library worth its salt,


'Take council at night, since at night the mind of men is sharper; quiet is good for the one who seeks excellence.'

—AF

[John Cairns · Rating 3 out of 5]

The maxims 'Nothing in excess' and 'Know yourself' are attributed to Solon. His lawgiving was to prevent a demagogue stirring up the masses and getting rid of the rich whereas he stood between them. I like the poetic image by Theognis of himself like a dog that crossed the mountain stream in winter's flood [of vicissitudes] and shook everything off. The editor thinks the meaning obscure but one gets it. So much for Socrates I say if Theognis is right and you will never make the base man noble through teaching, no silk purses out of sows ears here. The best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley, he says. Everything has gone to the crows. The editor doesn't seem to realise Theognis is saying he's the mule, Academus the ass, unsurprisingly because there's he-haw difference in poetic status. I'd've thought old age taking hold of one's head meant baldness but heigh-ho.