Thursday 14 March 2019

Mycenae and Troy

The cities of Homer are sunk in dust, but live forever in his Iliad.

9.28
POMPEY, OR SOME SAY MARCUS THE YOUNGER
I lie here desolate beneath the dust, 
Mycenae, less to see than any knoll. 
And yet whoever who looks on Ilium, 
That famous town whose walls I trampled down, 
And purged the house of Priam — they shall know 
What strength I owned. If age has slighted me, 
I am content in Homer’s witnessing.

9.62
EUĒNUS OF ASCALON
I, sacred Ilium, that storied town 
Whose tower-studded walls were famed in song: 
Stranger, the dust of time has eaten me. 
In Homer, though, I rest inviolate, 
Behind my gates of bronze. Achaean spears 
That ruined Troy can never root me thence; 
I shall be reside upon the very lips 
Of every single Hellene yet to come.

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