Rennell Rodd

“ For all that it be yesterday's, in memory of her.
The rose that loveth lovers, the rose lets fall a tear
Because my arms are empty, because she is not here.
VIII
THE WREATH
White violet with the tender-leaved narcissus I will twine,
And the laughing lips of lilies with myrtle blooms combine;
And I will bind the hyacinth, the dark red-purple flower,
With crocus sweet and roses that are the lovers' dower,
To make the wreath that Heliodore's curl-scented brow shall wear,
To strew with falling petals the glory of her hair. ”

“ Among the many diverse forms of expression in which the Greek genius has been revealed to us, that which is preserved in the lyrics of the anthology most typically reflects the familiar life of men, the thought and feeling of every day in the lost ancient world. ”

“ This is the Cyprian's holy ground,
Who ever loves to stand
Where she can watch the shining seas
Beyond the utmost land;
That sailors on their voyages
May prosper by her aid,
Whose radiant effigy the deep
Beholding is afraid. ”

“ There was more than one Plato, but the great Plato is evidently referred to in the prefatory poem of Meleager as included among the poets of his anthology.
Captives from Eretria were established in a colony in Persia by Darius after the first Persian war. The colony at Ardericca was, however, hundreds of miles from Ecbatana.
If the epigram on Lais is not attributed to the great Plato by the most competent authorities, the dates of the two famous courtesans who bore the name would not exclude the possibility of his being the author. ”

“ Of those that remain some at least I hope approach the desired standard, failing to achieve which they would undoubtedly be better expressed in simple prose. And yet there is a value in rendering rhythm by rhythm where it is possible, and if any success has been attained, such translations probably convey more of the spirit of the original, which meant verse, with all which that implies, and not prose. ”

“ Theirs is the age of the austerer mood, when the clean-cut marble outlines of a great language matured in its noblest expression. Then a century of song is followed by the period of the dramatists during which the lyric muse is almost silent, in an age of political and intellectual intensity.
A new epoch of lyrical revival is inaugurated by the advent of Alexander, and the wide extension of Hellenic culture to more distant areas of the Mediterranean. Then follows the long succession of poets who may generally be classified as of the school of Alexandria. ”

“ There indeed poetry seems the appropriate expression of the environment, and there even still to-day, more than anywhere else in the world, the correlation of our life with nature may be felt instinctively; the human soul seems nearest to the soul of the world.
The poems, of which some renderings are here offered to those who cannot read the originals, cover a period of about a thousand years, broken by one interval during which the lesser lyre is silent. ”

“ These few words of introduction should suffice, since the development of the lyric poetry of Greece and the characteristics of its successive exponents have been made familiar to English readers in the admirable work of my friend J.W. Mackail. A reference to his Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology suggests one plea of justification for the present little collection of renderings, since the greater number of them have been by him translated incomparably well into prose. ”

“ The interpretation of these lyrics has been my sole and grateful distraction during a period of ceaseless work and intense anxiety in the tragic years of 1914 and 1915.
R.R.
INDEX OF AUTHORS
MIMNERMUS—CARPE DIEM
SAPPHO—
I. A BITTER WORD
II. THE BELOVED PRESENCE
III. HESPER
IV. OUT OF REACH
ANACREONTICA—
I. LOVE'S CHALLENGE
II. BACCHANAL
III. HER PORTRAIT
IV. METAMORPHOSIS
V. APOLOGIA
UNKNOWN—ANACREON'S GRAVE
SIMONIDES—
I. ON THE SPARTANS
II. ON THE ATHENIANS
PLATO—
I. A GRAVE IN PERSIA
II. STARWORSHIP
III. THE UNSET STAR
IV. LAIS ”