τοιαῦτά ἐστι τὰ ὅμοια τοῖς καλοῖς λόγοις μέτρα καὶ μέλη,
διὰ ταύτας γινόμενα τὰς αἰτίας ἃς προεῖπόν σοι.
τοῦθ’ ἕξεις δῶρον ἡμέτερον, ὦ Ῥοῦφε, “πολλῶν ἀντάξιον 20
ἄλλων,” εἰ βουληθείης ἐν ταῖς χερσί τε αὐτὸ συνεχῶς ὥσπερ
And “Oh my baby,” she moaned, “for my lot
Of anguish!—but thou, thou carest not:
Adown sleep’s flood is thy child-soul sweeping,
Though beams brass-welded on every side
Make a darkness, even had the day not died
When they launched thee forth at gloaming-tide.
And the surf-crests fly o’er thy sunny hair
As the waves roll past—thou dost not care:
Neither carest thou for the wind’s shrill cry,
As lapped in my crimson cloak thou dost lie
On my breast, little face so fair—so fair!
Ah, were these sights, these sounds of fear
Fearsome to thee, that dainty ear
Would hearken my words—nay, nay, my dear,
Hear them not thou! Sleep, little one, sleep;
And slumber thou, O unrestful deep!
Sleep, measureless wrongs; let the past suffice:
And oh, may a new day’s dawn arise
On thy counsels, Zeus! O change them now!
But if aught be presumptuous in this my prayer,
If aught, O Father, of sin be there,
Forgive it thou.”[197]
Such are the verses and lyrics which resemble beautiful prose; and they owe this resemblance to the causes which I have already set forth to you.
Here, then, Rufus, is my gift to you, which you will find “outweigh a multitude of others,”[198] if only you will keep it in
1 τέκος Athen. ix. 396 E: τέκνον PMV 2 σὺ δ’ ἀωτεῖς Casaubonus: οὐδ’ αυταις P: σὺ δ’ αὖτε εἷς Athen. (l.c.) 3 ἐγαλαθηνωδει θει P, V: γαλαθηνῷ δ’ ἤτορι Athen.: corr. Bergkius || κνοώσσεισ P, V: κνώσσεις Athen. 4 δούρατι Guelf.: δούνατι PM: δούναντι V || δίχα νυκτὸς ἀλαμπεῖ Us.: δενυκτι λαμπεῖ P, MV 5 σταλείς Bergkius: ταδ’ εἰσ P, MV 6 ἅλμαν δ’ Bergkius: αὐλεαν δ’ P, V: αὐλαίαν δ’ M 9 πρὸς κόλπῳ κ. πρ. Us.: πρόσωπον καλον πρόσωπον P: πρόσωπον καλὸν MV 10 ἦν Sylburgius: ἦι P: ἦ M: ἢ V 11 καί M: κἀί V: κε cum litura P || λεπτὸν s: λεπτῶν PMV 14 μαιτ(α)βουλία (i.e. μεταβουλία: cp. [90] 4 supra) P: μαιτ(α)βουλίου M: ματαιοβουλία V 17 νόσφι δίκας Victorius: ηνοφι δικασ P: ἣν ὀφειδίασ MV 19 προεῖπά PMV (cf. εἴπειεν P, Aristot. Rhet. 1408 a 32) 21 αὐτὸ Sylburgius: αὐτὰ PMV
4. δίχα νυκτός: cp. δίχα μελέτης τε καὶ γυμνασίας ([282] 4), which may be an unconscious echo of this passage. “To me the expression seems to indicate that Simonides took a view of the story different from the ordinary one, and imagined that the chest was not open or boat-like but closed over,—a ‘Noah’s ark.’ This would not have suited the vase-painters, but there is nothing inconsistent with it in the poem. Danaë does not speak of seeing the waves, nor of the wind ruffling the child’s hair, but only of ἀνέμου φθόγγον—she heard it. Hence I think the words imply—‘which, even apart from its being night, would be gloomy, and thou wert so launched forth in the darksome gloaming.’ She makes no reference to seeing the stars” (A. S. Way).
5. Schneidewin reads ταθείς.
7. ἀλέγεις: rarely constructed with the accusative case.
11. ἐμῶν ῥημάτων: constructio ad sensum with ὑπεῖχες οὖας (= ὑπήκουες).