CHAPTER III
EPITAPHS
I OF THE ATHENIAN DEAD AT PLATAEA SIMONIDES
If to die nobly is the chief part of excellence, to us out of all men
Fortune gave this lot; for hastening to set a crown of freedom on
Greece we lie possessed of praise that grows not old.
II ON THE LACEDAEMONIAN DEAD AT PLATAEA SIMONIDES
These men having set a crown of imperishable glory on their own land were folded in the dark cloud of death; yet being dead they have not died, since from on high their excellence raises them gloriously out of the house of Hades.
III ON THE SPARTANS AT THERMOPYLAE PARMENIO
Him, who over changed paths of earth and sea sailed on the mainland and went afoot upon the deep, Spartan valour held back on three hundred spears; be ashamed, O mountains and seas.
IV ON THE SAME SIMONIDES
O passer by, tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here obeying their orders.
V ON THE DEAD IN AN UNKNOWN BATTLE MNASALCAS
These men, in saving their native land that lay with tearful fetters on her neck, clad themselves in the dust of darkness; and they win great praise of excellence; but looking on them let a citizen dare to die for his country.
VI ON THE DEAD IN A BATTLE IN BOEOTIA AUTHOR UNKNOWN
O Time, all-surveying deity of the manifold things wrought among mortals, carry to all men the message of our fate, that striving to save the holy soil of Greece we die on the renowned Boeotian plains.
VII ON A SLAIN WARRIOR ANACREON
Valiant in war was Timocritus, whose monument this is; but Ares spares the bad, not the good.
VIII ON THE SLAIN IN A BATTLE IN THESSALY AESCHYLUS
These men also, the steadfast among spears, dark Fate destroyed as they defended their native land rich in sheep; but they being dead their glory is alive, who woefully clad their limbs in the dust of Ossa.
IX ON THE ATHENIAN DEAD AT THE BATTLE OF CHALCIS SIMONIDES
We fell under the fold of Dirphys, and a memorial is reared over us by our country near the Euripus, not unjustly; for we lost lovely youth facing the rough cloud of war.
X ON THE ERETRIAN EXILES IN PERSIA PLATO
We who of old left the booming surge of the Aegean lie here in the mid-plain of Ecbatana: fare thou well, renowned Eretria once our country, farewell Athens nigh to Euboea, farewell dear sea.
XI ON THE SAME PLATO
We are Eretrians of Euboea by blood, but we lie near Susa, alas! how far from our own land.
XII ON AESCHYLUS AESCHYLUS
Aeschylus son of Euphorion the Athenian this monument hides, who died in wheat-bearing Gela; but of his approved valour the Marathonian grove may tell, and the deep-haired Mede who knew it.
XIII ON AN EMPTY TOMB IN TRACHIS EUPHORION
Not rocky Trachis covers over thy white bones, nor this stone with her dark-blue lettering; but them the Icarian wave dashes about the shingle of Doliche and steep Dracanon; and I, this empty earth, for old friendship with Polymedes, am heaped among the thirsty herbage of Dryopis.
XIV ON THE GRAVE OF AN ATHENIAN AT MEROË AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Straight is the descent to Hades, whether thou wert to go from Athens or takest thy journey from Meroë; let it not vex thee to have died so far away from home; from all lands the wind that blows to Hades is but one.
XV ON THE GRAVE OF AN ATHENIAN WOMAN AT CYZICUS ERYCIUS
I am an Athenian woman; for that was my city; but from Athens the wasting war-god of the Italians plundered me long ago and made a Roman citizen; and now that I am dead, seagirt Cyzicus wraps my bones. Fare thou well, O land that nurturedst me, and thou that thereafter didst hold me, and thou that at last hast taken me to thy breast.
XVI ON A SHIPWRECKED SAILOR PLATO
I am the tomb of one shipwrecked; and that opposite me, of a husbandman; for a common Hades lies beneath sea and earth.
XVII ON THE SAME PLATO
Well be with you, O mariners, both at sea and on land; but know that you pass by the grave of a shipwrecked man.
XVIII ON THE SAME THEODORIDES
I am the tomb of one shipwrecked; but sail thou; for when we were perishing, the other ships sailed on over the sea.
XIX ON THE SAME LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM
May the seafarer have a prosperous voyage; but if, like me, the gale drive him into the harbour of Hades, let him blame not the inhospitable sea-gulf, but his own foolhardiness that loosed moorings from our tomb.
XX ON THE SAME AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Mariner, ask not whose tomb I am here, but be thine own fortune a kinder sea.
XXI ON THE SAME CALLIMACHUS
What stranger, O shipwrecked man? Leontichus found me here a corpse on the shore, and heaped this tomb over me, with tears for his own calamitous life: for neither is he at peace, but flits like a gull over the sea.
XXII ON THE EMPTY TOMB OF ONE LOST AT SEA GLAUCUS
Not dust nor the light weight of a stone, but all this sea that thou beholdest is the tomb of Erasippus; for he perished with his ship, and in some unknown place his bones moulder, and the sea-gulls alone know them to tell.
XXIII ON THE SAME SIMONIDES
Cloudcapt Geraneia, cruel steep, would thou hadst looked on far Ister and long Scythian Tanaïs, and not lain nigh the surge of the Scironian sea by the ravines of the snowy Meluriad rock: but now he is a chill corpse in ocean, and the empty tomb here cries aloud of his heavy voyage.
XXIV ON THE SAME DAMAGETUS
Thymodes also, weeping over unlooked-for woes, reared this empty tomb to Lycus his son; for not even in a strange land did he get a grave, but some Thynian beach or Pontic island holds him, where, forlorn of all funeral rites, his shining bones lie naked on an inhospitable shore.
XXV ON A SAILOR DROWNED IN HARBOUR ANTIPATER OF SIDON
Everywhere the sea is the sea; why idly blame we the Cyclades or the narrow wave of Helle and the Needles? in vain have they their fame; or why when I had escaped them did the harbour of Scarphe cover me? Pray whoso will for a fair passage home; that the sea's way is the sea, Aristagoras knows who is buried here.
XXVI ON ARISTON OF CYRENE, LOST AT SEA THEAETETUS
O sailing mariners, Ariston of Cyrene prays you all for the sake of
Zeus the Protector, to tell his father Meno that he lies by the
Icarian rocks, having given up the ghost in the Aegean sea.
XXVII ON BITON OF AMPHIPOLIS, LOST AT SEA NICAENETUS
I am the grave of Biton, O wayfarer; and if leaving Torone thou goest even to Amphipolis, tell Nicagoras that Strymonias at the setting of the Kids lost him his only son.
XXVIII ON POLYANTHUS OF TORONE, LOST AT SEA PHAEDIMUS
I bewail Polyanthus, O thou who passest by, whom Aristagore his wife laid newly-wedded in the grave, having received dust and bones (but him the ill-blown Aegean wave cast away off Sciathus), when at early dawn the fishermen drew his luckless corpse, O stranger, into the harbour of Torone.
XXIX ON A WAYSIDE TOMB NICIAS
Sit beneath the poplars here, traveller, when thou art weary, and drawing nigh drink of our spring; and even far away remember the fountain that Simus sets by the side of Gillus his dead child.
XXX ON THE CHILDREN OF NICANDER AND LYSIDICE AUTHOR UNKNOWN
This is the single tomb of Nicander's children; the light of a single morning ended the sacred offspring of Lysidice.
XXXI ON A BABY AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Me a baby that was just tasting life heaven snatched away, I know not whether for good or for evil; insatiable Death, why hast thou snatched me cruelly in infancy? why hurriest thou? Are we not all thine in the end?
XXXII ON A CHILD OF FIVE LUCIAN
Me Callimachus, a five-years-old child whose spirit knew not grief, pitiless Death snatched away; but weep thou not for me; for little was my share in life, and little in life's ills.
XXXIII ON A CHILD OF SEVEN AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Hermes messenger of Persephone, whom usherest thou thus to the laughterless abyss of Death? what hard fate snatched Ariston from the fresh air at seven years old? and the child stands between his parents. Pluto delighting in tears, are not all mortal spirits allotted to thee? why gatherest thou the unripe grapes of youth?
XXXIV ON A BOY OF TWELVE CALLIMACHUS
Philip the father laid here the twelve-years-old child, his high hope,
Nicoteles.
XXXV ON CLEOETES AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Looking on the monument of a dead boy, Cleoetes son of Menesaechmus, pity him who was beautiful and died.
XXXVI ON A BEAUTIFUL BOY AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Not death is bitter, since that is the fate of all, but to die ere the time and before our parents: I having seen not marriage nor wedding- chant nor bridal bed, lie here the love of many, and to be the love of more.
XXXVII ON A BOY OF NINETEEN AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Bidding hail to me, Diogenes beneath the earth, go about thy business and obtain thy desire; for at nineteen years old I was laid low by cruel sickness and leave the sweet sun.
XXXVIII ON A SON, BY HIS MOTHER DIOTIMUS
What profits it to labour in childbirth? what to bear children? let not her bear who must see her child's death: for to stripling Bianor his mother reared the tomb; but it was fitting that the mother should obtain this service of the son.
XXXIX ON A GIRL CALLIMACHUS
The daughters of the Samians often require Crethis the teller of tales, who knew pretty games, sweetest of workfellows, ever talking; but she sleeps here the sleep to which they all must come.
XL ON A BETROTHED GIRL ERINNA
I am of Baucis the bride; and passing by my oft-wept pillar thou mayest say this to Death that dwells under ground, "Thou art envious, O Death"; and the coloured monument tells to him who sees it the most bitter fortune of Bauco, how her father-in-law burned the girl on the funeral pyre with those torches by whose light the marriage train was to be led home; and thou, O Hymenaeus, didst change the tuneable bridal song into a voice of wailing dirges.
XLI ON THE SAME ANTIPATER OF THESSALONICA
Ausonian earth holds me a woman of Libya, and I lie a maiden here by the sea-sand near Rome; and Pompeia, who nurtured me like a daughter, wept over me and laid me in a free tomb, while hastening on that other torch-fire for me; but this one came first, and contrary to our prayers Persephone lit the lamp.
XLII ON A SINGING-GIRL AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Blue-eyed Musa, the sweet-voiced nightingale, suddenly this little grave holds voiceless, and she lies like a stone who was so accomplished and so famous; fair Musa, be this dust light over thee.
XLIII ON CLAUDIA HOMONOEA AUTHOR UNKNOWN
I Homonoea, who was far clearer-voiced than the Sirens, I who was more golden than the Cyprian herself at revellings and feasts, I the chattering bright swallow lie here, leaving tears to Atimetus, to whom I was dear from girlhood; but unforeseen fate scattered all that great affection.
XLIV ON PAULA OF TARENTUM DIODORUS OF SARDIS
Bear witness this my stone house of night that has hidden me, and the wail-circled water of Cocytus, my husband did not, as men say, kill me, looking eagerly to marriage with another; why should Rufinius have an ill name idly? but my predestined Fates lead me away; not surely is Paula of Tarentum the only one who has died before her day.
XLV ON A MOTHER, DEAD IN CHILDBIRTH DIODORUS OF SARDIS
These woeful letters of Diodorus' wisdom tell that I was engraven for one early dead in child-birth, since she perished in bearing a boy; and I weep to hold Athenaïs the comely daughter of Melo, who left grief to the women of Lesbos and her father Jason; but thou, O Artemis, wert busy with thy beast-slaying hounds.
XLVI ON A MOTHER OF EIGHTEEN, AND HER BABY AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Name me Polyxena wife of Archelaus, child of Theodectes and hapless Demarete, and a mother as far as the birth-pangs; but fate overtook the child before full twenty suns, and myself died at eighteen years, just a mother and just a bride, so brief was all my day.
XLVII ON A YOUNG WIFE AUTHOR UNKNOWN
To his wife Paulina, holy of life and blameless, who died at nineteen years, Andronicus the physician paying memorial placed this witness the last of all.
XLVIII ON ATTHIS OF CNIDOS AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Atthis who didst live for me and breathe thy last toward me, source of joyfulness formerly as now of tears, holy, much lamented, how sleepest thou the mournful sleep, thou whose head was never laid away from thy husband's breast, leaving Theius alone as one who is no more; for with thee the hopes of our life went to darkness.
XLIX ON PREXO, WIFE OF THEOCRITUS OF SAMOS LEONIDAS OF TARENTUM
Who and of whom art thou, O woman, that liest under the Parian column? Prexo, daughter of Calliteles. And of what country? Of Samos. And also who buried thee? Theocritus, to whom my parents gave me in marriage. And of what diedst thou? Of child-birth. How old? Two-and-twenty. And childless? Nay, but I left a three-year-old Calliteles. May he live at least and come to great old age. And to thee, O stranger, may Fortune give all prosperity.
L ON AMAZONIA OF THESSALONICA AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Why idly bemoaning linger you by my tomb? nothing worthy of
lamentation is mine among the dead. Cease from plaints and be at rest,
O husband, and you my children fare well, and keep the memory of
Amazonia.
LI ON A LACEDAEMONIAN NURSE AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Here earth holds the Peloponnesian woman who was the most faithful nurse of the children of Diogeitus.
LII ON A LYDIAN SLAVE DIOSCORIDES
A Lydian am I, yes a Lydian, but in a free tomb, O my master, thou didst lay thy fosterer Timanthes; prosperously mayest thou lengthen out an unharmed life, and if under the hand of old age thou shalt come to me, I am thine, O master, even in the grave.
LIII ON A PERSIAN SLAVE AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Even now beneath the earth I abide faithful to thee, yes my master, as before, forgetting not thy kindness, in that then thou broughtest me thrice out of sickness to safe foothold, and now didst lay me here beneath sufficient shelter, calling me by name, Manes the Persian; and for thy good deeds to me thou shalt have servants readier at need.
LIV ON A FAVOURITE DOG AUTHOR UNKNOWN
Thou who passest on the path, if haply thou dost mark this monument, laugh not, I pray thee, though it is a dog's grave; tears fell for me, and the dust was heaped above me by a master's hands, who likewise engraved these words on my tomb.
LV ON A MALTESE WATCH-DOG TYMNES
Here the stone says it holds the white dog from Melita, the most faithful guardian of Eumelus; Bull they called him while he was yet alive; but now his voice is prisoned in the silent pathways of night.
LVI ON A TAME PARTRIDGE AGATHIAS
No longer, poor partridge migrated from the rocks, does thy woven house hold thee in its thin withies, nor under the sparkle of fresh- faced Dawn dost thou ruffle up the edges of thy basking wings; the cat bit off thy head, but the rest of thee I snatched away, and she did not fill her greedy jaw; and now may the earth cover thee not lightly but heavily, lest she drag out thy remains.
LVII ON A THESSALIAN HOUND SIMONIDES
Surely even as thou liest dead in this tomb I deem the wild beasts yet fear thy white bones, huntress Lycas; and thy valour great Pelion knows, and splendid Ossa and the lonely peaks of Cithaeron.
LVIII ON CHARIDAS OF CYRENE CALLIMACHUS
Does Charidas in truth sleep beneath thee? If thou meanest the son of Arimmas of Cyrene, beneath me. O Charidas, what of the under world? Great darkness. And what of the resurrection? A lie. And Pluto? A fable; we perish utterly. This my tale to you is true; but if thou wilt have the pleasant one of the Samian, I am a large ox in Hades.
LIX ON THEOGNIS OF SINOPE SIMONIDES
I am the monument of Theognis of Sinope, over whom Glaucus set me in guerdon of their long fellowship.
LX ON A DEAD FRIEND AUTHOR UNKNOWN
This little stone, good Sabinus, is the record of our great friendship; ever will I require thee; and thou, if it is permitted, drink not among the dead of the water of Lethe for me.
LXI ON AN UNHAPPY MAN AUTHOR UNKNOWN
I Dionysius of Tarsus lie here at sixty, having never married; and would that my father had not.
LXII ON A CRETAN MERCHANT SIMONIDES
I Brotachus of Gortyna, a Cretan, lie here, not having come hither for this, but for traffic.
LXIII ON SAON OF ACANTHUS CALLIMACHUS
Here Saon, son of Dicon of Acanthus, rests in a holy sleep; say not that the good die.