Three tiny but exquisite bath-houses, again from the epideictic ninth book of the Anthology. Epideictic means declamatory, that is, rhetorical skill shown off for its own sake. In my first version I take liberties in unpacking the suggestive connotations of the violet among the flowers. The Callimachean echoes of the second lay it open to metapoetic interpretation as well. Paton declares the tree of the third to be myrtle, and I do not doubt him.
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This is a very small facility
But its appearance is delectable:
It is a rose amid the shrubberies,
A violet in the basketsful of flowers
That destine for the garland-weaver’s stall.
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Within a little bath, great beauty lies,
And sweet Desire belongs to those who bathe
Within a stream that is the slenderest.
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There is a tree: its leaves are very small,
And yet its scent is lovely. Even so
This bath is loved though it is small and low.
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