Volume 1

Studies of the Greek poets / by John Addington Symonds.

  • John Addington Symonds
Date:
1877-1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Studies of the Greek poets / by John Addington Symonds. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    teal robs fiev r“i?|as, robs S’ b'lrr’fiaas, ivlovs Se (pvod/aas, &£ei irduras is ev /lapaOpoi/. And another with a more delicate ring of melancholy in the last couplet (ii. 289) : * imv&eis u> Vcupe- rb 8e (TKvtpos avrb fioa ere' eypeo, psp repirou peoipibir) peeXerr) * fj.7] (peiari Aibbcope ’ Aa&pos 8’ els Bauxov oXicrQwv &XPLS cepaXepov faponSrei ybvaros * eo’creO' or’ ou 7ri6p.ea0a, -itoXvs ttoXvs’ aAA.’ &y’ iirelyov. r] avver^ Kpordepeau airrerai 7]p.erepcov. And yet another (ii. 294)^ which sounds like the Florentine Carnival Song composed by Lorenzo de’ Medici: “ Chi vuol esser lieto sia ; Di doman non e certezza : ” trive kclL eveppaivov * rl 'yap abpiov ^ t\ rb peXXou ovbels 7Lvdcncei * /arj rpixe> H-'h Koiria ’ 6)S bvvaaai, xaptcai, perabos, <f>dye, f)vi]ra Xoyt^ov * rb £r)v rod p.)} £rjv ovbev HXus cnrixel * tt«s 8 j8ios roidabe poirr] p.6vov • irpoAdfiris <rov tiv be Gdvrjs erepou iravra ’ ab 8’ ouSev l?xets. But the majority of the kinypafifiaTa (TKimmica, or jesting epigrams, are not of this kind. They are written for the most Or wastes or burns or blows our life away, But drives us all down to one pit of death. ” * ‘ ‘ Thou sleepest, friend : but see, the beakers call ! Awake, nor dote on death that waits for all. Spare not, my Diodorus, but drink free Till Bacchus loose each weak and faltering knee. Long will the years be when we can’t carouse— Long, long : up then ere age hath touched our brows.” f ‘ ‘ Drink and be merry. What the morrow brings No mortal knoweth : wherefore toil or run? Spend while thou mayst, eat, fix on present things Thy hopes and wishes : life and death are one. One moment : grasp life’s goods ; to thee they fall : Dead, thou hast nothing, and another all.” Goldwin Smith.