Lycophron · Alexandra Ἀλεξάνδρα

Lycophron, Alexandra 1126–1252: Alexandra 1126–1252: Cassandra's shrine and the maidens' penance, her mother and brother, and the founder of thirty towers

The chiefs of the Daunians will build Cassandra a shrine on the banks of the Salpe, where girls who wish to escape unwelcome marriage will embrace her image. For the sake of her impious wedlock the Locrian towns and the house of Ileus will pay a thousand years of penance by sending their unwed daughters to the goddess, and the people of Ilios will keep watch for them and praise whoever kills them. Her mother will become the attendant of the triform goddess, and her brother will live as a hero in the Islands of the Blest and rescue the Aonians from an armed host, after the woes of the rulers of Cnossus. A kinsman's son, called the son of Castnia, goes to Tyrrhenia with Tarchon and Tyrsenus and founds thirty towers when he counts the young of the dark sow.

Lines 1126–1252 · 1127 words · click a number to copy its link
1126οὐ μὴν ἐμὸν νώνυμνον ἀνθρώποις σέβας ἔσται, μαρανθὲν αὖθι ληθαίῳ σκότῳ. ναὸν δέ μοι τεύξουσι Δαυνίων ἄκροι Σάλπης παρʼ ὄχθαις, οἵ τε Δάρδανον πόλιν 1130ναίουσι, λίμνης ἀγχιτέρμονες ποτῶν. κοῦραι δὲ παρθένειον ἐκφυγεῖν ζυγὸν ὅταν θέλωσι, νυμφίους ἀρνούμεναι τοὺς Ἑκτορείοις ἠγλαϊσμένους κόμαις, μορφῆς ἔχοντας σίφλον ἢ μῶμαρ γένους, 1135ἐμὸν περιπτύξουσιν ὠλέναις βρέτας, ἄλκαρ μέγιστον κτώμεναι νυμφευμάτων, Ἐρινύων ἐσθῆτα καὶ ῥέθους βαφὰς πεπαμέναι θρόνοισι φαρμακτηρίοις. κείναις ἐγὼ δηναιὸν ἄφθιτος θεὰ 1140ῥαβδηφόροις γυναιξὶν αὐδηθήσομαι. πένθος δὲ πολλαῖς παρθένων τητωμέναις τεύξω γυναιξὶν αὖθις, αἳ στρατηλάτην ἀθεσμόλεκτρον, Κύπριδος λῃστὴν θεᾶς, δαρὸν στένουσαι, κλῆρον εἰς ἀνάρσιον 1145πέμψουσι παῖδας ἐστερημένας γάμων. Λάρυμνα, καὶ Σπερχειέ, καὶ Βοάγριε, καὶ Κῦνε, καὶ Σκάρφεια, καὶ Φαλωριάς, καὶ Ναρύκειον ἄστυ, καὶ Θρονίτιδες Λοκρῶν ἀγυιαί, καὶ Πυρωναῖαι νάπαι, 1150καὶ πᾶς Ὁδοιδόκειος Ἰλέως δόμος,

But the chiefs of the Daunians shall build for me a shrine on the banks of Salpe, and those also who inhabit the city of Dardanus, beside the waters of the lake. And when girls wish to escape the yoke of maidens, refusing for bridegrooms men adorned with locks such as Hector wore, but with defect of form or reproach of birth, they will embrace my image with their arms, winning a mighty shield against marriage, having clothed them in the garb of the Erinyes and dyed their faces with magic simples. By those staff-carrying women I shall long be called an immortal goddess.

And to many women robbed of their maiden daughters I shall bring sorrow hereafter. Long shall they bewail the leader who sinned against. the laws of marriage, the pirate of the Cyprian goddess, when they shall send to the unkindly shrine their daughters reft of marriage. Larymna and Spercheius and Boagrius and Cynus and Scarpheia and Phalorias and city of Naryx and Locrian streets of Thronium and Pyronaean glades and all the house of Ileus son of Hodoedocus—ye for the sake of my impious wedlock shall pay penance to the goddess Gygaea Agrisca, for the space of a thousand years fostering to old age your unwed daughters by the arbitrament of the lot.

1151ὑμεῖς ἐμῶν ἕκατι δυσσεβῶν γάμων ποινὰς Γυγαίᾳ τίσετʼ Ἀγρίσκᾳ θεᾷ, τὸν χιλίωρον τὰς ἀνυμφεύτους χρόνον πάλου βραβείαις γηροβοσκοῦσαι κόρας. 1155αἷς ἀκτέριστος ἐν ξένῃ ξέναις τάφος ψάμμῳ κλύδωνος λυπρὸς ἐκκλυσθήσεται, φυτοῖς ἀκάρποις γυῖα συμφλέξας ὅταν Ἥφαιστος εἰς θάλασσαν ἐκβράσῃ σποδὸν τῆς ἐκ λόφων Τράρωνος ἐφθιτωμένης. 1160ἄλλαι δὲ νύκτωρ ταῖς θανουμέναις ἴσαι Σιθῶνος εἰς θυγατρὸς ἵξονται γύας, λαθραῖα κἀκκέλευθα παπταλώμεναι, ἕως ἂν εἰσθρέξωσιν Ἀμφείρας δόμους λιταῖς Σθένειαν ἵκτιδες γουνούμεναι. 1165θεᾶς δʼ ὀφελτρεύσουσι κοσμοῦσαι πέδον, δρόσῳ τε φοιβάσουσιν, ἀστεργῆ χόλον ἀστῶν φυγοῦσαι. πᾶς γὰρ Ἰλιεὺς ἀνὴρ κόρας δοκεύσει, πέτρον ἐν χεροῖν ἔχων, ἢ φάσγανον κελαινόν, ἢ ταυροκτόνον 1170στερρὰν κύβηλιν, ἢ Φαλακραῖον κλάδον, μαιμῶν κορέσσαι χεῖρα διψῶσαν φόνου. δῆμος δʼ ἀνατεὶ τὸν κτανόντʼ ἐπαινέσει, τεθμῷ χαράξας, τοὐπιλώβητον γένος. ὦ μῆτερ, ὦ δύσμητερ, οὐδὲ σὸν κλέος 1175ἄπυστον ἔσται, Περσέως δὲ παρθένος Βριμὼ Τρίμορφος θήσεταί σʼ ἑπωπίδα

And they, aliens in an alien land, shall have without funeral rites a tomb, a sorry tomb in wave-washed sands, when Hephaestus burns with unfruitful plants the limbs of her that perishes from Traron’s peaks, and tosses her ashes into the sea. And, to fill the place of those that shall die, others shall come by night to the fields of Sithon’s daughter by secret paths and glancing fearfully, until they rush into the shrine of Ampheira as suppliants beseeching with their prayers Stheneia. And they shall sweep and array the floor of the goddess and cleanse it with dew, having escaped the loveless anger of the citizens. For every man of Ilios shall keep watch for the maidens, with a stone in his hands, or a dark sword or hard bull-slaying axe, or shaft from Phalacra, eager to sate his hand athirst for blood. And the people shall not harm him who slays that race of reproach, but shall praise him and grave his name by ordinance.

O mother, O unhappy mother! thy fame, too, shall not be unknown, but the maiden daughter of Perseus, Triform Brimo, shall make thee her attendant, terrifying with thy baying in the night all mortals who worship not with torches the images of the Zerynthian queen of Strymon, appeasing the goddess of Pherae with sacrifice.

1177κλαγγαῖσι ταρμύσσουσαν ἐννύχοις βροτούς, ὅσοι μεδούσης Στρυμόνος Ζηρυνθίας δείκηλα μὴ σέβουσι λαμπαδουχίαις, 1180θύσθλοις Φεραίαν ἐξακεύμενοι θεάν. ψευδήριον δὲ νησιωτικὸς στόνυξ Πάχυνος ἕξει σεμνὸν ἐξ ὀνειράτων ταῖς δεσποτείαις ὠλέναις ὠγκωμένον ῥείθρων Ἑλώρου πρόσθεν ἐκτερισμένης· 1185ὃς δὴ παρʼ ἀκταῖς τλήμονος ῥανεῖ χοάς, τριαύχενος μήνιμα δειμαίνων θεᾶς, λευστῆρα πρῶτον οὕνεκεν ῥίψας πέτρον Ἅιδῃ κελαινῶν θυμάτων ἀπάρξεται. σὺ δʼ, ὦ ξύναιμε, πλεῖστον ἐξ ἐμῆς φρενὸς 1190στερχθείς, μελάθρων ἕρμα καὶ πάτρας ὅλης, οὐκ εἰς κενὸν κρηπῖδα φοινίξεις φόνῳ ταύρων, ἄνακτι τῶν Ὀφίωνος θρόνων πλείστας ἀπαρχὰς θυμάτων δωρούμενος. ἀλλʼ ἄξεταί σε πρὸς γενεθλίαν πλάκα 1195τὴν ἐξόχως Γραικοῖσιν ἐξυμνημένην, ὅπου σφε μήτηρ ἡ πάλης ἐμπείραμος τὴν πρόσθʼ ἄνασσαν ἐμβαλοῦσα Ταρτάρῳ ὠδῖνας ἐξέλυσε λαθραίας γονῆς, τὰς παιδοβρώτους ἐκφυγοῦσʼ ὁμευνέτου 1200θοίνας ἀσέπτους, οὐδʼ ἐπίανεν βορᾷ νηδύν, τὸν ἀντίποινον ἐγμάψας πέτρον, ἐν γυιοκόλλοις σπαργάνοις εἰλημένον, τύμβος γεγὼς Κένταυρος ὠμόφρων σπορᾶς. νήσοις δὲ μακάρων ἐγκατοικήσεις μέγας

And the island spur of Pachynus shall hold thine awful cenotaph, piled by the hands of thy master, prompted by dreams when thou hast gotten the rites of death in front of the streams of Helorus. He shall pour on the shore offerings for thee, unhappy one, fearing the anger of the three-necked goddess, for that he shall hurl the first stone at thy stoning and begin the dark sacrifice to Hades.

And thou, O brother, most beloved of my heart, stay of our halls and of our whole fatherland, not in vain shalt thou redden the altar pedestal with blood of bulls, giving full many a sacrificial offering to him who is lord of Ophion’s throne. But he shall bring thee to the plain of his nativity, that land celebrated above others by the Greeks, where his mother, skilled in wrestling, having cast into Tartarus the former queen, delivered her of him in travail of secret birth, escaping the child-devouring unholy feast of her spouse; and he fattened not his belly with food, but swallowed instead the stone, wrapped in limb-fitting swaddling-clothes: savage Centaur, tomb of his own offspring. And in the Islands of the Blest thou shalt dwell, a mighty hero, defender of the arrows of pestilence, where the sown folk of Ogygus, persuaded by the oracles of the Physician Lepsius Termintheus, shall lift thee from thy cairn in Ophryneion and bring thee to the tower of Calydnus and the land of the Aonians to be their saviour, when they are harassed by an armed host which seeks to sack their land and the shrine of Tenerus.

1205ἥρως, ἀρωγὸς λοιμικῶν τοξευμάτων, ὅπου σε πεισθεὶς Ὠγύγου σπαρτὸς λεὼς χρησμοῖς Ἰατροῦ Λεψίου Τερμινθέως ἐξ Ὀφρυνείων ἠρίων ἀνειρύσας ἄξει Καλύδνου τύρσιν Ἀόνων τε γῆν 1210σωτῆρʼ, ὅταν κάμνωσιν ὁπλίτῃ στρατῷ πέρθοντι χώραν Τηνέρου τʼ ἀνάκτορα. κλέος δὲ σὸν μέγιστον Ἐκτήνων πρόμοι λοιβαῖσι κυδανοῦσιν ἀφθίτοις ἴσον. ἥξει δὲ Κνωσσὸν κἀπὶ Γόρτυνος δόμους 1215τοὐμὸν ταλαίνης πῆμα, πᾶς δʼ ἀνάστατος ἔσται στρατηγῶν οἶκος. οὐ γὰρ ἥσυχος πορκεὺς δίκωπον σέλμα ναυστολῶν ἐλᾷ, Λεῦκον στροβήσων φύλακα τῆς μοναρχίας, ψυδραῖσί τε ἔχθραν μηχαναῖς ἀναπλέκων. 1220ὃς οὔτε τέκνων φείσετʼ οὔτε συγγάμου Μήδας δάμαρτος, ἠγριωμένος φρένας, οὐ Κλεισιθήρας θυγατρός, ἧς πατὴρ λέχος θρεπτῷ δράκοντι συγκαταινέσει πικρόν. πάντας δʼ ἀνάγνοις χερσὶν ἐν ναῷ κτενεῖ, 1225λώβαισιν αἰκισθέντας Ὀγκαίου βόθρου. γένους δὲ πάππων τῶν ἐμῶν αὖθις κλέος μέγιστον αὐξήσουσιν ἄμναμοί ποτε, αἰχμαῖς τὸ πρωτόλειον ἄραντες στέφος, γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης σκῆπτρα καὶ μοναρχίαν 1230λαβόντες. οὐδʼ ἄμνηστον, ἀθλία πατρίς,

And the chiefs of the Ectenes shall with libations celebrate thy glory in the highest, even as the immortals.

And unto Cnossus and the halls of Gortyn shall come the woe of me unhappy, and all the house of the rulers shall be overthrown. For not quietly shall the fisherman voyage, rowing his two-oared boat, to stir up Leucus, guardian of the kingdom, and weaving hate with lying wiles. He shall spare neither the children nor Meda the wedded wife, in the rage of his mind, nor the daughter Cleisithera, whom her father shall betroth unhappily to the serpent whom he himself has reared. All will he slay with impious hands in the temple, maltreated and abused in the Trench of Oncaea.

And the fame of the race of my ancestors shall hereafter be. exalted to the highest by their descendants, who shall with their spears win the foremost crown of glory, obtaining the sceptre and monarchy of earth and sea. Nor in the darkness of oblivion, my unhappy fatherland, shalt thou hide thy glory faded.

1231κῦδος μαρανθὲν ἐγκατακρύψεις ζόφῳ. τοιούσδʼ ἐμός τις σύγγονος λείψει διπλοῦς σκύμνους λέοντας, ἔξοχον ῥώμῃ γένος, ὁ Καστνίας τε τῆς τε Χειράδος γόνος, 1235βουλαῖς ἄριστος, οὐδʼ ὀνοστὸς ἐν μάχαις. ὃς πρῶτα μὲν Ῥαίκηλον οἰκήσει μολών, κισσοῦ παρʼ αἰπὺν πρῶνα καὶ Λαφυστίας κερασφόρους γυναῖκας. ἐκ δʼ Ἀλμωπίας πάλιμπλανήτην δέξεται Τυρσηνία 1240Λιγγεύς τε θερμῶν ῥεῖθρον ἐκβράσσων ποτῶν, καὶ Πῖσʼ Ἀγύλλης θʼ αἱ πολύρρηνοι νάπαι. σὺν δέ σφι μίξει φίλιον ἐχθρὸς ὢν στρατόν, ὅρκοις κρατήσας καὶ λιταῖς γουνασμάτων νάνος, πλάναισι πάντʼ ἐρευνήσας μυχὸν 1245ἁλός τε καὶ γῆς. σὺν δὲ δίπτυχοι τόκοι Μυσῶν ἄνακτος, οὗ ποτʼ Οἰκουρὸς δόρυ γνάμψει Θέοινος, γυῖα συνδήσας λύγοις, Τάρχων τε καὶ Τυρσηνός, αἴθωνες λύκοι, τῶν Ἡρακλείων ἐκγεγῶτες αἱμάτων. 1250ἔνθα τράπεζαν εἰδάτων πλήρη κιχών, τὴν ὕστερον βρωθεῖσαν ἐξ ὀπαόνων, μνήμην παλαιῶν λήψεται θεσπισμάτων.

Such a pair of lion whelps shall a certain kinsman of mine leave, a breed eminent in strength ©: the son of Castnia called also Cheiras, —in counsel best and not to be despised in battle. He shall first come to occupy Rhaecelus beside the steep crag of Cissus and the horned women of Laphystius. And from Almopia in his wandering Tyrsenia shall receive him and Lingeus bubbling forth its stream of hot waters, and Pisa and the glades of Agylla, rich in sheep. And with him shall an erstwhile foe join a friendly army, winning him by oaths and prayers and clasped knees: even the Dwarf who in his roaming searched out every recess of sea and earth; and therewithal the two sons of the King of the Mysians, whose spear one day shall be bent. by the Housekeeping God of Wine, who shall fetter his limbs with twisted tendrils: even Tarchon and Tyrsenus, tawny wolves, sprung from the blood of Heracles. There he shall find full of eatables a table which is afterwards devoured by his attendants and shall be reminded of an ancient prophecy. And he shall found in places of the Boreigonoi a settled land beyond the Latins and Daunians—even thirty towers, when he has numbered the offspring of the dark sow, which he shall carry in his ship from the hills of Ida and places of Dardanus, which shall rear such number of young at a birth.

People and places in this passage

English translation by A. W. Mair (1921). Original text: A. W. Mair and G. R. Mair (eds. and trs.), Callimachus and Lycophron, Aratus, Loeb Classical Library, London: Heinemann; New York: Putnam, 1921 (Greek text as digitised by Perseus, tlg0341.tlg002 perseus-grc2).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library, Greek text); translation public domain (OCR from the Internet Archive scan). Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.