Callimachus

Callimachus of Cyrene (c. 310 BC – c. 240 BC) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar, and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he reputedly wrote over 800 works, most of which do not survive, in a wide variety of genres. He espoused an aesthetic philosophy, known as Callimacheanism, which exerted a strong influence on the poets of the Roman Empire and, through them, on all subsequent Western literature. Quotes thumb|Nothing unattested do I sing. Greek text cited from R. Pfeiffer, Callimachus, vols. I–II (Oxford, 1949–1953), whose line and fragment numbering is also followed. Hymns I. To Zeus ψευδοίμην· ἀίοντος ἅ κεν πεπίθοιεν ἀκουήν. When I speak fiction, be it such fiction as persuades the listener's ear! I.65 (tr. A. W. Mair, 1921) Alternate translation (S. Lombardo, D. Rayor, 1988): A poet's fiction should at least be plausible. οὔτ᾿ ἀρετῆς ἄτερ ὄλβος ἐπίσταται ἄνδρας ἀέξειν οὔτ᾿ ἀρετὴ ἀφένοιο· δίδου δ᾿ ἀρετήν τε καὶ ὄλβον. Without goodness wealth cannot bless men, nor goodness without prosperity. Give us goodness and weal. I.95–96 (tr. A. W. Mair, 1921) II. To Apollo ὁ Φθόνος Ἀπόλλωνος ἐπ᾿ οὔατα λάθριος εἶπεν·'οὐκ ἄγαμαι τὸν ἀοιδὸν ὃς οὐδ᾿ ὅσα πόντος ἀείδει.'τὸν Φθόνον ὡπόλλων ποδί τ᾿ ἤλασεν ὧδέ τ᾿ ἔειπεν·'Ἀσσυρίου ποταμοῖο μέγας ῥόος, ἀλλὰ τὰ πολλάλύματα γῆς καὶ πολλὸν ἐφ᾿ ὕδατι συρφετὸν ἕλκει.Δηοῖ δ᾿ οὐκ ἀπὸ παντὸς ὕδωρ φορέουσι μέλισσαι,ἀλλ᾿ ἥτις καθαρή τε καὶ ἀχράαντος ἀνέρπειπίδακος ἐξ ἱερῆς ὀλίγη λιβὰς ἄκρον ἄωτον.' Spake Envy privily in the ear of Apollo: "I admire not the poet who singeth not things for number as the sea." Apollo spurned Envy with his foot and spake thus: "Great is the stream of the Assyrian river, but much filth of earth and much refuse it carries on its waters. And not of every water do the Melissae carry to Deo, but of the trickling stream that springs from a holy mountain, pure and undefiled, the very crown of waters." II.105–112 (tr. A. W. Mair, 1921) Epigrams Εἶπέ τις, Ἡράκλειτε, τεὸν μόρον, ἐς δέ με δάκρυ    ἤγαγεν· ἐμνήσθην δ᾿ ὁσσάκις ἀμφότεροιἥλιον ἐν λέσχῃ κατεδύσαμεν. ἀλλὰ σὺ μέν που,    ξεῖν᾿ Ἁλικαρνησεῦ, τετράπαλαι σποδιή,αἱ δὲ τεαὶ ζώουσιν ἀηδόνες, ᾗσιν ὁ πάντων    ἁρπακτὴς Ἀΐδης οὐκ ἐπὶ χεῖρα βαλεῖ. They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead, They brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed. I wept, as I remembered, how often you and I Had tired the sun with talking and sent him down the sky.And now that thou art lying, my dear old Carian guest,A handful of grey ashes, long, long ago at rest,Still are thy pleasant voices, thy nightingales, awake;For Death, he taketh all away, but them he cannot take. Epigram 2 (tr. W. J. Cory, 1858) Τῇδε Σάων ὁ Δίκωνος Ἀκάνθιος ἱερὸν ὕπνον    κοιμᾶται· θνῄσκειν μὴ λέγε τοὺς ἀγαθούς. Here sleeps Saon, of Acanthus, son of Dicon, a holy sleep: say not that the good die. Epigram 9 (tr. J. Banks, 1856) ὦ Χαρίδα, τί τὰ νέρθε; 'πολὺ σκότος.' αἱ δ᾿ ἄνοδοι τί;    'ψεῦδος.' ὁ δὲ Πλούτων; 'μῦθος.' ἀπωλόμεθα. O Charidas, what of the under world? Great darkness. And what of the resurrection? A lie. And Pluto? A fable; we perish utterly. Epigram 13.3–4 (tr. J. W. Mackail, 1906) ὤμοσεν· ἀλλὰ λέγουσιν ἀληθέα τοὺς ἐν ἔρωτι    ὅρκους μὴ δύνειν οὔατ᾿ ἐς ἀθανάτων. He sware: but what they say is true—that lovers' oaths enter not the ears of the immortals. Epigram 25.3–4 (tr. A. W. Mair, 1921) φωρὸς δ᾿ ἴχνια φὼρ ἔμαθον. Set a thief to catch a thief. Epigram 43.6 (tr. R. A. Furness, G. M. Young, 1931) πολλάκι λήθει    τοῖχον ὑποτρώγων ἡσύχιος ποταμός. Oft by stealthThe silent river undermines the wall. Epigram 44.3–4 (tr. T. B. Harbottle, 1902) ἦ πανακὲς πάντων φάρμακον ἁ σοφία. Surely the poet's skill is sovereign remedy for all ill. Epigram 46.4 (tr. A. W. Mair, 1921) Τέσσαρες αἱ Χάριτες· ποτὶ γὰρ μία ταῖς τρισὶ τήναις    ἄρτι ποτεπλάσθη κἦτι μύροισι νοτεῖ.εὐαίων ἐν πᾶσιν ἀρίζηλος Βερενίκα,    ἇς ἄτερ ουδ᾿ αὐταὶ ταὶ Χάριτες Χάριτες. The Graces, three erewhile, are three no more:A fourth is come, with perfume sprinkled o'er.'Tis Berenice blest and fair; were sheAway, the Graces would no Graces be. Epigram 51 (tr. G. Smith, 1849) Fragments ὅσσα τ᾿ ὀδόντων    ἔνδοθι νείαιράν τ᾿ εἰς ἀχάριστον ἔδυ,καὶ τῶν οὐδὲν ἔμεινεν ἐς αὔριον· ὅσσα δ᾿ ἀκουαῖς    εἰσεθέμην, ἔτι μοι μοῦνα πάρεστι τάδε. And of all that passed my teeth and plunged into the ungrateful belly nothing remained till the morrow; but the only things which I still keep are those that I laid in my ears. Fr. 43.14–17; Aetia, book II (tr. C. A. Trypanis, 1958) Alternate translation (S. Takats, 2006): All that I have given to my stomach has disappeared, and I have retained all the fodder that I gave to my spirit. ἦ πολυιδρείη χαλεπὸν κακόν, ὅστις ἀκαρτεῖ    γλώσσης· ὡς ἐτεὸν παῖς ὅδε μαῦλιν ἔχει. Surely much knowledge is a grievous thing for him who does not control his tongue; this man is really a child with a knife. Fr. 75.8–9; Aetia, book III (tr. C. A. Trypanis, 1958) Καλλίμαχος ὁ γραμματικὸς τὸ μέγα βιβλίον ἴσον ἔλεγεν εἶναι τῷ μεγάλῳ κακῷ. The grammarian Callimachus used to say that a big book is equivalent to a big evil. Fr. 465 (tr. S. Douglas Olson, 2007) Paraphrases: A big book is a big misfortune. (A. W. Bulloch, 1985) A great book is like great evil. (E. M. Knowles, 1999) αἰεὶ τοῖς μικκοῖς μικκὰ δίδουσι θεοί. The gods always give small things to small men. Fr. 475 (tr. C. A. Trypanis, 1958) τεθναίην ὅτ᾿ ἐκεῖνον ἀποπνεύσαντα πυθοίμην. May I die when I have learned that that man has breathed his last. Fr. 591 (= Hecale, fr. 161 Hollis; tr. D. L. Clayman, 2022) ἀμάρτυρον οὐδὲν ἀείδω. Nothing unattested do I sing. Fr. 612 (tr. A. W. Bulloch, 1985) ἄγνωτον μηδὲν ἔχοιμι καλόν. May I not keep concealed anything that is good. Fr. 620 (tr. C. A. Trypanis, 1958) τί δάκρυον εὗδον ἐγείρεις; Why do you rouse a sleeping tear? Fr. 682 (= Hecale, fr. 158 Hollis; tr. D. L. Clayman, 2022) κουφοτέρως τότε φῶτα διαθλίβουσιν ἀνῖαι,    ἐκ δὲ τριηκόντων μοῖραν ἀφεῖλε μίαν,ἢ φίλον ἢ ὅτ᾿ ἐς ἄνδρα συνέμπορον ἢ ὅτε κωφαῖς    ἄλγεα μαψαύραις ἔσχατον ἐξερύγῃ. Worries then weigh less on a man, and of thirty parts one is removed, when he blurts out his troubles to a friend, or a fellow-traveller, or even finally to the deaf gusts of wind. Fr. 714 (tr. C. A. Trypanis, 1958) Quotes about Callimachus The most outstanding intellect of this generation, the greatest poet that the Hellenistic age produced, and historically one of the most important figures in the development of Graeco-Roman (and hence European) literature. A. W. Bulloch, in The Cambridge History of Classical Literature (1989), edited by P. E. Easterling and B. M. W. Knox, vol. 1, part 4, p. 9 Battiades semper toto cantabitur orbe:quamvis ingenio non valet, arte valet. The son of Battus shall aye be sung through all the earth; though he sway not through genius, he sways through art. Ovid, Amores, I.15.13–14 (tr. G. Showerman, 1914) His blend of sensitivity and detachment, elegance, wit, and learning, had a profound influence on later Roman poets, especially Catullus, Ovid, and Propertius (the last thought of himself as the Roman Callimachus), and through them on the whole European literary tradition. D. E. W. Wormell, in The Penguin Companion to Literature (1969) vol. 4, p. 47 External links Callimachus Dickinson College Commentaries: Aetia Selected Poems by Callimachus (English translations) Callimachus and Lycophron (1921) edited A. W. Mair at Google Books Callimachus and Lycophron (1921) edited A. W. Mair at Internet archive English translation of Hymns (HTML) English translation of Epigrams (HTML) Callimachus at the Perseus Project: Mair (1921) and Wilamowitz (1897) Arrangement for strings of Stanford's setting of the Cory version of Heraclitus Category:Poets from Greece Category:People from Alexandria Category:Librarians Category:Critics Category:Educators from Greece Category:BCE births Category:BCE deaths Category:Epigrammatists of the Greek Anthology