HEDYLUS
῞Ηδυλος
c 280bc
Translated by G. Theodoridis
© 2005
All Rights Reserved
Let us Drink (HE5)
Let us drink, then
And
perhaps we’ll find
something new
in our wine –
some eloquent, honey-coloured word.
So come!
Fill me up!
With jugs of Chian wine
and say,
“Go ahead, Hedylus, play!”
I hate an empty life –
empty of wine.
——————-
161 (Hedylus or Asclepiades)
Diomedes’ Old Women
Diomedes’ old women,
Euphro, Thais
And
Boidion
Were thrown ashore by the captains of the
Twenty-oared freighters,
Each one of them naked
And
Looking more wrecked than the shipwrecked
Agis, Cleophon
And
Antagoras.
But with these ships you’ve escaped
Aphrodite’s pirates
Who
Are more vicious than the Sirens!
——————
199.
The Rape of Aglaoniki
The wine
And
The devious toasts –toast after toast!-
And
Her gentle love for Nikagoras
Sent Aglaoniki to sleep.
Now, the trophies of her virginity, lie there,
Offerings to Cypris,
Still dripping with her scents:
Her sandals,
The fine band that once held her breasts,
Her garlands.
Witnesses all, to her sleep,
Witnesses all, to his violence.
————–
292
Niconoe
Niconoe’s girdle
And
Her purple underwear
And
Her Laconian robes
And
The silly little golden piping on her tunic
All fell
Because she was the ambrosial child of
The Loves
And
The Graces.
And that is why she dedicates this fawn skin
And
This golden wine jug to
Priapus,
The judge in the beauty
Contest.
