Epigram takes a bath - PowerPoint slides as plain text

 

•Epigram takes a bath
•Gideon Nisbet, University of Birmingham
•Academia Belgica, 18/10/23

 

•AP 16.107 (Julian)

On an Icarus in bronze, set up in a bathhouses

Wax killed you, Icarus; but now with wax

The bronze-smith has restored you to your form.

But do not beat your wings upon the air,

Lest you should once more plummet from the sky

And make these baths as well ‘Icarian’.

 

•AP 9.605 (Nossis), preceding the sequence

The portrait is of Callo, like to life

In every detail: she commissioned it,

And hung it here in Aphrodite’s hall.

How nice she looks, and lovely for her age!

Good luck to her throughout her blameless life.

ἁ χάρις ἁλίκον ἀνθεῖ; cf. 9.604.4, δέσποιναν ... ποθορῆν

 

•AP 9.641 (Agathias), following the sequence

First came proud Italy, and tribes of Medes;

The whole barbarian horde. Now you as well,

Sangarius, are made our emperor’s slave,

His mighty arches shackling your streams.

Impassable before; yet now you lie

Pinioned and tamed in manacles of stone.

 

•AP 9.662 (Agathias)

I was a place detestable to see,

A mud-brick warren. Here the strangers came,

And native folk and boorish countrymen,

To noisily excrete their bowel waste,

Until our city’s father intervened.

Agathias transformed me: now I shine,

Who was so ignominious before.

 

•AP 9.669 (Marianus), on a park named Eros

Break from your journey for a little while,

And sprawl at ease beneath the bosky glade

To rest your limbs from weary voyaging,

Where water bubbles from the fountain-spouts

And runs spontaneous amid the planes.

Upon the gleaming furrow here in spring,

Soft violet twines with rosebuds. Come and see:

The sprawling ivy weaves the dewy lawn

An arbour of its ample foliage.

Here too the river’s banks are overgrown,

Skirting the meadow of a magic dell. 

This is Desire for sure: what other name

Befits a spot to which from every side

The lovely Graces have been gathered in?

 

•AP 1.35 (Agathias)

On <an icon> in the Sosthenium

Aemilianus, come from Caria,

And John, who came with him along the way;

Rufinus too, of Alexandria;

Agathias, of Asia. They attained

The fourth year in their study of the Law,

And in your honour, blessed Archangel,

Offered this painted image, praying too

For a bright future. Make your presence felt

And guide their hopes for life that is to come.

 

•Kharis in some inscribed balneary epigrams

Rome, C4 AD (Busch p.133):

‘...From all around flashes inextinguishable kharis, whatever your eye may light upon: the waters of the Nymphs, the bathing-pools, the halls, the Kharites…’

— excerpted from an epigram signed ‘Eudemus of Laodicea, sophist of the Romans’

Cilicia, C5 AD (Busch p.146), in mosaic:

‘Great is the kharis of possessions; the general Museus is master of them all, he whom nature has adorned with illustrious deserving traits. Let Phthonos keep away from the excellence of this mosaic.’

 

•AP 5.231 (Macedonius)

Your lips with charm, your cheeks with flowers bloom;

Your eyes with Aphrodite; and your hands

Bloom with the lyre. Your glances captivate,

Your song enslaves the ear: at every turn,

Huntress, you set a trap for poor young men.

τὸ στόμα ταῖς Χαρίτεσσι, προσώπατα δ᾽ ἄνθεσι θάλλει,
ὄμματα τῇ Παφίῃ, τὼ χέρε τῇ κιθάρῃ.
συλεύεις βλεφάρων φάος ὄμμασιν, οὖας ἀοιδῇ:
πάντοθεν ἀγρεύεις τλήμονας ἠιθέους. 

 

•Numidia, C2 AD (Busch p.284):

[o]ptaui Dacos tenere caesos: tenui.

[opt]aui în sella pacis sedere: sedi.

[o]ptaui claros sequi triumphos: factum.

optaui primi comoda plena pili: hab[ui.]

optaui nudas uidere Nymphas: uidi.

•Cf. AP 9.625 (Macedonius)

 

•AP 5.219 (Paul the Silentiary)

Rhodope, let’s steal kisses — steal the joys

Of Aphrodite’s bouts. Sweet to evade

The eagle eye of sentries; sweeter still

The honey of a secret love-affair.