ἢ πάλι κοιμιστὰν λύχνον ἰδεῖν μένομεν;
πίνωμεν γαλερῶς· μετά τοι χρόνον οὐκέτι πουλὺν,
σχέτλιε, τὴν μακρὰν νύκτ’ ἀναπαυσόμεθα.
Anth. Pal. xii. 50.[126]
The love of Mimnermus was hardly of a kind to bring tears to the eyes!
Yet, though this love has reached to such a passionate height, it does not forget to be gallant and courteous;[127] and there is a striking absence of that jealousy and that savage spirit of revenge which may almost be said to be the one motive of the “lovers” in Euripides. A remarkable instance of this most un-Greek willingness to forgive, is the epigram in Anth. Pal. v. 150:—
ὡμολόγησ’ ἥξειν εἰς νύκτα μοι ἡ ’πιβόητος
Νικώ, καὶ σεμνὴν ὤμοσε Θεσμοφόρον·
κοὐχ ἥκει, φυλακὴ δὲ παροίχεται· ἆρ’ ἐπιορκεῖν