Following is a picture representation of Theocritus, Idyll XXX, “Paidika.” Some texts (Lang et al.) refer to Idyll xxx as a lament for Adonis, but numbering according to Oxford/Clarendon/Gow places this as number 30. Theocritus is considered to be the first bucolic, or pastoral, poet of European culture. He was born approximately 300 bce and flourished during Hellenistic times (Alexander the Great died in 323 bce.). Theocritus was from the ancient island of Kos (better known as Cos).
The picture is for people who don’t have their browser configured to display Greek fonts. The original text used for this picture is from Theocritus, Idylls, R. J. Cholmeley, M.A., Ed. from Perseus at Tufts University. The text is freely available at Perseus. A prose translation at the Theoi E-Texts Library. Anna Rist has done a much better translation, but it is copyrighted material. Andrew Lang uses a different numbering in his translations, so if you look it up don’t be confused. I haven’t bothered to locate and display the poem as translated by Lang because I’ve never cared for his translations anyway. After reading the Butcher and Lang translation of the Odyssey lo now many years ago, I began calling them “Butcher and Lang, They of the Long Wind” and continue to think of them that way to this day. I can hear you bracketing me with them at this very moment, LMAO.
The poem is a love poem by an older man to a younger man, so if you’re offended by that, don’t read it. For the record, its subject matter has nothing to do with my reasons for posting this, which are strictly prosodic… hmmmm…. prosodic reasons…. But I don’t care in the least who has sex with whom as long as it’s culturally acceptable in terms of age and consent; with regard to 2,300 years ago, I don’t even care about that.
The lines of “Paidika” are written in the Greater Asclepiad meter. It’s the longest Ancient Greek example of the meter I’m aware of, but I’ll be very happy if someone proves me wrong — very, very happy indeed. Because that would mean another example of which I’m unaware. So, please, prove me wrong.
Paidika, by Theocritus
BlogoSquare