Vesuvius

HIC

(From Epigrammata, Liber IV)

IC est pampineis viridis modo Vesvius umbris,
Presserat hic madidos nobilis uva lacus.

Haec iuga quam Nysae colles plus Bacchus amavit,
Hoc nuper Satyri monte dedere choros.

Haec Veneris sedes, Lacedaemone gratior illi;
Hic locus Herculeo nomine clarus erat.
Cuncta iacent flammis et tristi mersa favilla:
Nec superi vellent hoc licuisse sibi.

Marcus Valerius Martialis.

Ulysses and the Sirens

(Sorrento)

(From The Odyssey, Book XII)

Ὣς ἔφατ', αὐτίκα δὲ χρυσόθρονος ἤλυθεν Ηώς. ἡ μὲν ἔπειτ ̓ ἀνὰ νῆσον ἀπέστιχε δια θεάων· αὐτὰρ ἐγὼν ἐπὶ νῆα κιὼν ὤτρυνον ἑταίρους αὐτούς τ ̓ ἀμβαίνειν ἀνά τε πρυμνήσια λύσαι. οἱ δ ̓ αἶψ ̓ εἴσβαινον καὶ ἐπὶ κληῖσι καθίζον. [ἑξῆς δ ̓ ἑζόμενοι πολιὴν ἅλα τύπτον ἐρετμοῖς.] ἡμῖν δ ̓ αὖ κατόπισθε νεὸς κυανοπρώροιο ἴκμενον οὖρον ἵει πλησίστιον, ἐσθλὸν ἑταῖρον, Κίρκη ἐυπλόκαμος, δεινὴ θεὸς αὐδήεσσα. αὐτίκα δ' ὅπλα ἕκαστα πονησάμενοι κατὰ νῆα

Vesuvius

VESUVIO, covered with the fruitful vine,

Here flourished once, and ran with floods of
wine,

Here Bacchus oft to the cool shades retired,
And his own native Nisa less admired;
Oft to the mountain's airy tops advanced,
The frisking Satyrs on the summits danced;
Alcides here, here Venus graced the shore,
Nor loved her favorite Lacedæmon more:
Now piles of ashes, spreading all around,
In undistinguished heaps deform the ground,
The gods themselves the ruined seats bemoan,
And blame the mischiefs that themselves have done.
Tr. by Joseph Addison.

Ulysses and the Sirens

(Sorrento)

(From The Odyssey, Book XII)

SHE spake; the Morning on her golden throne Looked forth; the glorious goddess went her way

Into the isle, I to my ship, and bade

The men embark and cast the hawsers loose.
And straight they went on board, and duly manned
The benches, smiting as they sat with oars

The hoary waters. Circè, amber-haired,
The mighty goddess of the musical voice,
Sent a fair wind behind our dark-prowed ship
That gayly bore us company, and filled
The sails. When we had fairly ordered all

ἤμεθα· τὴν δ ̓ ἄνεμός τε κυβερνήτης τ ̓ ἴθυνε. δὴ τότ ̓ ἐγὼν ἑτάροισι μετηύδων ἀχνύμενος κῆρ·

“Ω φίλοι, οὐ γὰρ χρὴ ἕνα ἴδμεναι οὐδὲ δύ ̓ οἴους θέσφαθ ̓ ἅ μοι Κίρκη μυθήσατο, δια θεάων ἀλλ ̓ ἐρέω μὲν ἐγὼν, ἵνα εἰδότες ἤ κε θάνωμεν ἤ κεν ἀλευάμενοι θάνατον καὶ κῆρα φύγοιμεν. Σειρήνων μὲν πρῶτον ἀνώγει θεσπεσιάων φθόγγον ἀλεύασθαι καὶ λειμῶν ̓ ἀνθεμόεντα. οἷον ἔμ' ἠνώγειν ὅπ ̓ ἀκουέμεν· ἀλλά με δεσμῷ δήσατ ̓ ἐν ἀργαλέῳ, ὄφρ ̓ ἔμπεδον αὐτόθι μίμνω, ὀρθὸν ἐν ἱστοπέδῃ, ἐκ δ ̓ αὐτοῦ πείρατ ̓ ἀνήφθω. εἰ δέ κε λίσσωμαι ὑμέας λυσαί τε κελεύω, ὑμεῖς δὲ πλεόνεσσι τότ ̓ ἐν δεσμοῖσι πιέζειν.

Η τοι ἐγὼ τὰ ἕκαστα λέγων ἑτάροισι πίφαυσκον τόφρα δὲ καρπαλίμως ἐξίκετο νηὺς εὐεργὴς νῆσον Σειρήνοιιν· ἔπειγε γὰρ οὐρος ἀπήμων. αὐτίκ ̓ ἔπειτ ̓ ἄνεμος μὲν ἐπαύσατο ἠδὲ γαλήνη ἔπλετο νηνεμίη, κοίμησε δὲ κύματα δαίμων. ἀνστάντες δ ̓ ἕταροι νεὸς ἱστία μηρύσαντο, καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐν νηὶ γλαφυρῇ θέσαν, οἱ δ ̓ ἐπ ̓ ἐρετμὰ ἑζόμενοι λεύκαινον ὕδωρ ξεστῇς ἐλάτῃσιν. αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ κηροῖο μέγαν τροχὸν ὀξέι χαλκῷ τυτθὰ διατμήξας χερσὶ στιβαρῇσι πίεζον. αἶψα δ' ἰαίνετο κηρὸς, ἐπεὶ κέλετο μεγάλη ἲς Ἠελίου τ ̓ αὐγὴ Ὑπεριονίδαο ἄνακτος· ἑξείης δ' ἑτάροισιν ἐπ ̓ οὔατα πᾶσιν ἄλειψα.

On board our galley, we sat down, and left
The favoring wind and helm to bear us on,
And thus in sadness I bespake the crew:

"My friends! it were not well that one or two
Alone should know the oracles I heard
From Circè, great among the goddesses;
And now will I disclose them, that ye all,
Whether we are to die or to escape

The doom of death, may be forewarned. And first
Against the wicked Sirens and their song
And flowery bank she warns us. I alone

May hear their voice, but ye must bind me first
With bands too strong to break, that I may stand
Upright against the mast; and let the cords

Be fastened round it. If I then entreat

And bid

you

loose me,

make the bands more strong."

Thus to my crew I spake, and told them all
That they should know,while our good ship drew near
The island of the Sirens, prosperous gales
Wafting it gently onward. Then the breeze
Sank to a breathless calm; some deity

Had hushed the winds to slumber. Straightway rose
The men and furled the sails and laid them down
Within the ship, and sat and made the sea
White with the beating of their polished blades,
Made of the fir-tree. Then I took a mass
Of wax and cut it into many parts,

And kneaded each with a strong hand. It grew
Warm with pressure, and the beams of him
Who journeys round the earth, the monarch Sun..
With this I filled the ears of all my men

οἱ δ ̓ ἐν νηί μ ̓ ἔδησαν ὁμοῦ χεῖράς τε πόδας τε ὀρθὸν ἐν ἱστοπέδῃ, ἐκ δ ̓ αὐτοῦ πείρατ ̓ ἀνῆπτον· αὐτοὶ δ ̓ ἑζόμενοι πολιὴν ἅλα τύπτον ἐρετμοῖς. ἀλλ ̓ ὅτε τόσσον ἀπὴν ὅσσον τε γέγωνε βοήσας, ῥίμφα διώκοντες, τὰς δ ̓ οὐ λάθεν ὠκύαλος νηὺς ἐγγύθεν ὀρνυμένη, λιγυρὴν δ ̓ ἔντυνον ἀοιδήν·

‘Δεῦρ ̓ ἄγ ̓ ἰων, πολύαιν' Οδυσεύ, μέγα κύδος ̓Αχαιών,

νῆα κατάστησον, ἵνα νωιτέρην ὅπ ̓ ἀκούσῃς.

οὐ γάρ πώ τις τῇδε παρήλασε νηὶ μελαίνῃ, πρίν γ' ἡμέων μελίγηρυν ἀπὸ στομάτων ὅπ ̓ ἀκοῦσαι, ἀλλ ̓ ὅ γε τερψάμενος νεῖται καὶ πλείονα εἰδώς. ἴδμεν γάρ τοι πάνθ ̓ ὅσ ̓ ἐνὶ Τροίῃ εὐρείῃ ̓Αργείοι Τρώές τε θεῶν ἰότητι μόγησαν·

ἴδμεν δ ̓ ὅσσα γένηται ἐπὶ χθονὶ πουλυβοτείρῃ.

Ὣς φάσαν ἱεῖσαι ὄπα κάλλιμον· αὐτὰρ ἐμὸν κήρ ἤθελ ̓ ἀκουέμεναι, λῦσαί τ ̓ ἐκέλευον ἑταίρους, ὀφρύσι νευστάζων· οἱ δὲ προπεσόντες ἔρεσσον. αὐτίκα δ ̓ ἀνστάντες Περιμήδης Ευρύλοχός τε πλείοσί μ' ἐν δεσμοῖσι δέον μᾶλλόν τε πίεζον. αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δὴ τάς γε παρήλασαν, οὐδ ̓ ἔτ ̓ ἔπειτα φθογγῆς Σειρήνων ἠκούομεν οὐδέ τ ̓ ἀοιδῆς, αἶψ ̓ ἀπὸ κηρὸν ἕλοντο ἐμοὶ ἐρίηρες ἑταῖροι,

ὅν σφιν ἐπ ̓ ὠσὶν ἄλειψ', ἐμέ τ ̓ ἐκ δεσμῶν ἀνέλυσαν.

Homer.