Lycophron · Alexandra Ἀλεξάνδρα

Lycophron, Alexandra 979–1125: Alexandra 979–1125: Colonies in the West, a man killed in his bath, and Cassandra's own death

Unhappy men build a city like Ilios and kill the descendants of Xuthus in the temple of Laphria, and the men of Croton sack the city of the Amazon Clete. Exiles settle at Tereina, Melita, Othronus and Temessa and on the Crotonian fields, and a woman who burns the fleet of her masters is hung on a cliff that takes her name. A man entangled in a net at his bath is struck down with an axe, his ghost having seen the bitter housekeeping of the lioness, and Cassandra says that she herself will lie beside the bath, cleft by the sword of a jealous woman who treats her as a stolen bride rather than a spear-won prize. A whelp will avenge his father by plunging a sword into the viper, and her husband and master will be called Zeus by the Spartans.

Lines 979–1125 · 1227 words · click a number to copy its link
979ἄρουραν οἰκήσουσιν, ἔνθα δύσμορος 980Κάλχας ὀλύνθων Σισυφεὺς ἀνηρίθμων κεῖται, κάρα μάστιγι γογγύλῃ τυπείς, ῥείθροισιν ὠκὺς ἔνθα μύρεται Σίνις, ἄρδων βαθεῖαν Χωνίας παγκληρίαν. πόλιν δʼ ὁμοίαν Ἰλίῳ δυσδαίμονες 985δείμαντες, ἀλγυνοῦσι Λαφρίαν κόρην σάλπιγγα, δῃώσαντες ἐν ναῷ θεᾶς τοὺς πρόσθʼ ἔδεθλον Ξουθίδας ᾠκηκότας. γλήναις δʼ ἄγαλμα ταῖς ἀναιμάτοις μύσει, στυγνὴν Ἀχαιῶν εἰς Ἰάονας βλάβην 990λεῦσσον φόνον τʼ ἔμφυλον ἀγραύλων λύκων, ὅταν θανὼν λῄταρχος ἱρείας σκύλαξ πρῶτος κελαινῷ βωμὸν αἱμάξῃ βρότῳ. ἄλλοι δὲ πρῶνας δυσβάτους Τυλησίους λίνου θʼ ἁλισμήκτοιο δειραίαν ἄκραν 995Ἀμαζόνος σύγκληρον ἄρσονται πέδον, δούλης γυναικὸς ζεῦγλαν ἐνδεδεγμένοι, ἣν χαλκομίτρου θῆσσαν ὀτρηρῆς κόρης πλανῆτιν ἄξει κῦμα πρὸς ξένην χθόνα. ἧς ἐκπνεούσης λοῖσθον ὀφθαλμὸς τυπεὶς 1000πιθηκομόρφῳ πότμον Αἰτωλῷ φθόρῳ τεύξει τράφηκι φοινίῳ τετμημένῳ.

There the unhappy men shall build a city like Ilios, and shall vex the Maiden Laphria Salpinx by slaying in the temple of the goddess the descendants’ of Xuthus who formerly occupied the town. And her image shall shut its bloodless eyes, beholding the hateful-destruction of Ionians by Achaeans and the kindred slaughter of the wild wolves, when the minister son of the priestess dies and stains first the altar with his dark blood.

And others shall take to them the steep Tylesian hills and sea-washed Linos’ hilly promontory, the territory of the Amazon, taking on them the yoke of a slave woman, whom, as servant of the brazen-mailed impetuous maiden, the wave shall carry wandering to an alien land: slave of that maiden whose eye, smitten as she breathes her last, shall bring doom to the ape-formed Aetolian pest, wounded by the bloody shaft.

1002Κροτωνιᾶται δʼ ἄστυ πέρσουσίν ποτε Ἀμαζόνος, φθέρσαντες ἄτρομον κόρην Κλήτην, ἄνασσαν τῆς ἐπωνύμου πάτρας. 1005πολλοὶ δὲ πρόσθεν γαῖαν ἐκ κείνης ὀδὰξ δάψουσι πρηνιχθέντες, οὐδʼ ἄτερ πόνων πύργους διαρραίσουσι Λαυρήτης γόνοι. οἱ δʼ αὖ Τέρειναν, ἔνθα μυδαίνει ποτοῖς Ὠκίναρος γῆν, φοῖβον ἐκβράσσων ὕδωρ, 1010ἄλῃ κατοικήσουσι κάμνοντες πικρᾷ. τὸν δʼ αὖ τὰ δευτερεῖα καλλιστευμάτων λαβόντα, καὶ τὸν ἐκ Λυκορμαίων ποτῶν στρατηλάτην σῦν, καρτερὸν Γόργης τόκον, τῇ μὲν Λίβυσσαν ψάμμον ἄξουσι πνοαὶ 1015Θρῇσσαι ποδωτοῖς ἐμφορούμεναι λίνοις, τῇ δʼ ἐκ Λιβύσσης αὖθις ἐμπίπτων νότος εἰς Ἀργυρίνους καὶ Κεραυνίων νάπας ἄξει βαρεῖ πρηστῆρι ποιμαίνων ἅλα. ἔνθα πλανήτην λυπρὸν ὄψονται βίον 1020Λακμωνίου πίνοντες Αἴαντος ῥοάς. Κρᾶθις δὲ γείτων ἠδὲ Μυλάκων ὅροις χῶρος συνοίκους δέξεται Κόλχων Πόλαις, μαστῆρας οὓς θυγατρὸς ἔστειλεν βαρὺς Αἴας Κορίνθου τʼ ἀρχός, Εἰδυίας πόσις, 1025τὴν νυμφαγωγὸν ἐκκυνηγετῶν τρόπιν, οἳ πρὸς βαθεῖ νάσσαντο Διζηροῦ πόρῳ.

And the men of Croton shall sack the city of the Amazon, destroying the dauntless maiden Clete, queen of the land that bears her name. But, ere that, many shall be laid low by her hand and bite the dust with their teeth, and not without labour shall the sons of Laureta sack the towers.

Others, again, in Tereina, where Ocinarus moistens the earth with his streams, bubbling with bright water, shall dwell, weary with bitter wandering.

And him, again, who won the second prize for beauty, and the boar leader from the streams of Lycormas, the mighty son of Gorge, on the one hand the Thracian blasts, falling on taut sails, shall carry to the sands of Libya; on the other hand from Libya again the blast of the South wind shall carry them to the Argyrini and the glades of Ceraunia,' shepherding the sea with grievous hurricane. And there they shall see a sorry wandering life, drinking the waters of Aias which springs from Lacmon. And neighbouring Crathis and the land of the Mylaces shall receive them in their bounds to dwell at Polae, the town of the Colchians whom the angry ruler of Aea and of Corinth, the husband of Eiduia, sent to seek his daughter, tracking the keel that carried off the bride; they settled by the deep stream of Dizerus.

1027ἄλλοι δὲ Μελίτην νῆσον Ὀθρωνοῦ πέλας πλαγκτοὶ κατοικήσουσιν, ἣν πέριξ κλύδων ἔμπλην Παχύνου Σικανὸς προσμάσσεται, 1030τοῦ Σισυφείου παιδὸς ὀχθηρὰν ἄκραν ἐπώνυμόν ποθʼ ὑστέρῳ χρόνῳ γράφων κλεινόν θʼ ἵδρυμα παρθένου Λογγάτιδος, Ἕλωρος ἔνθα ψυχρὸν ἐκβάλλει ποτόν. Παπποκτόνος δʼ Ὀθρωνὸν οἰκήσει λύκος, 1035τηλοῦ πατρῷα ῥεῖθρα Κοσκύνθου ποθῶν. ὃς ἐν θαλάσσῃ χοιράδων βεβὼς ἔπι ῥήτρας πολίταις τὰς στρατοπλώτους ἐρεῖ. χέρσου πατρῴας οὐ γὰρ ἂν φονῆ ποσὶ ψαῦσαι, μέγαν πλειῶνα μὴ πεφευγότα, 1040δίκης ἐάσει τάρροθος Τελφουσία Λάδωνος ἀμφὶ ῥεῖθρα ναίουσα σκύλαξ. ὅθεν, πεφευγὼς ἑρπετῶν δεινὴν μάχην δρακοντομόρφων, εἰς Ἀμαντίαν πόλιν πλώσει, πέλας δὲ γῆς Ἀτιντάνων μολών, 1045Πράκτιν παρʼ αὐτὴν αἰπὺ νάσσεται λέπας, τοῦ Χαονίτου νᾶμα Πολυάνθους δρέπων. ὁ δʼ Αὐσονείων ἄγχι Κάλχαντος τάφων,

Other wanderers shall dwell in the isle of Melita, near Othronus, round which the Sicanian wave laps beside Pachynus, grazing the steep promontory that in after time shall bear the name of the son of Sisyphus and the famous shrine of the maiden Longatis, where Helorus’ empties his chilly stream.

And in Othronus shall dwell the wolf that slew his own grandfather, yearning afar for his ancestral stream of Coscynthus. Standing in the sea upon the rocks he shall declare to his countrymen the compact of the sailing army. For never will the ally of Justice, the Telphusian hound that dwells by the streams of Ladon, allow the murderer to touch with his feet his fatherland, if he has not spent a great year in exile. Thence, fleeing from the terrible warfare of the serpent-shaped vermin," he shall sail to the city of Amantia, and coming nigh to the land of the Atintanians, right beside Practis shall he dwell upon a steep hill, drinking the waters of Chaonian Polyanthes.

And near the Ausonian false-tomb of Calchas one of two brothers shall have an alien soil over his bones and to men sleeping in sheepskins on his tomb he shall declare in dreams his unerring message for all.

1048δυοῖν ἀδελφοῖν ἅτερος, ψευδηρίων ξένην ἐπʼ ὀστέοισιν ὀγχήσει κόνιν. 1050δοραῖς δὲ μήλων τύμβον ἐγκοιμωμένοις χρήσει καθʼ ὕπνον πᾶσι νημερτῆ φάτιν, νόσων δʼ ἀκεστὴς Δαυνίοις κληθήσεται, ὅταν κατικμαίνοντες Ἀλθαίνου ῥοαῖς ἀρωγὸν αὐδήσωσιν Ἠπίου γόνον 1055ἀστοῖσι καὶ ποίμναισι πρευμενῆ μολεῖν. ἔσται ποτὲ πρεσβεῦσιν Αἰτωλῶν φάος ἐκεῖ γοηρὸν καὶ πανέχθιστον φανέν, ὅταν Σαλάγγων γαῖαν Ἀγγαίσων θʼ ἕδη μολόντες αἰτίζωσι κοιράνου γύας, 1060ἐσθλῆς ἀρούρης πῖαρ ἔγκληρον χθονός. τοὺς δʼ εἰς ἐρεμνὸν ζῶντας ὠμησταὶ τάφον κρύψουσι κοίλης ἐν μυχοῖς διασφάγος. τοῖς δʼ ἀκτέριστον σῆμα Δαυνῖται νεκρῶν στήσουσι χωστῷ τροχμάλῳ κατηρεφές, 1065χώραν διδόντες, ἥν περ ἔχρῃζον λαβεῖν, τοῦ κρατοβρῶτος παιδὸς ἄτρεστου κάπρου. τῶν Ναυβολείων δʼ εἰς Τέμεσσαν ἐγγόνων ναῦται καταβλώξουσιν, ἔνθα Λαμπέτης Ἱππωνίου πρηῶνος εἰς Τηθὺν κέρας

And healer of diseases shall he be called by the Daunians, when they wash the sick with the waters of Althaenus and invoke the son of Epius to their aid, that he may come gracious unto men and flocks. There some time for the ambassadors of the Aetolians shall dawn a sad and hateful day, when, coming to the land of the Salangi and the seats of the Angaesi, they shall ask the fields of their lord, the rich inheritance of goodly soil. Alive in a dark tomb within the recesses of a hollow cleft shall the savages hide them; and for them the Daunites shall set up a memorial of the dead without funeral rites, roofed with piled stones, giving them the land which they desired to get,—the land of the βοὴ of the dauntless boar who devoured the brains of his enemy.

And the mariners of the descendants of Naubolus shall come to Temessa, where the hard horn of the Hipponian hill inclines to the sea of Lampeta.

1070σκληρὸν νένευκεν. ἀντὶ δὲ Κρίσης ὅρων Κροτωνιᾶτιν ἀντίπορθμον αὔλακα βοῶν ἀροτρεύσουσιν ὁλκαίῳ πτερῷ, πάτραν Λίλαιαν κἀνεμωρείας πέδον ποθοῦντες Ἄμφισσάν τε καὶ κλεινὰς Ἄβας. 1075Σήταια τλῆμον, σοὶ δὲ πρὸς πέτραις μόρος μίμνει δυσαίων, ἔνθα γυιούχοις πέδαις οἴκτιστα χαλκείῃσιν ὠργυιωμένη θανῇ, πυρὶ φλέξασα δεσποτῶν στόλον, ἔκβλητον αἰάζουσα Κράθιδος πέλας 1080τόργοισιν αἰώρημα φοινίοις δέμας. σπιλὰς δʼ ἐκείνη σῆς φερώνυμος τύχης πόντον προσαυγάζουσα φημισθήσεται. οἱ δʼ αὖ Πελασγῶν ἀμφὶ Μέμβλητος ῥοὰς νῆσόν τε Κερνεᾶτιν ἐκπεπλωκότες 1085ὑπὲρ πόρον Τυρσηνὸν ἐν Λαμητίαις δίναισιν οἰκήσουσι Λευκανῶν πλάκας. καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἄλγη ποικίλαι τε συμφοραὶ ἄνοστον αἰάζοντας ἕξουσιν τύχην ἐμῶν ἕκατι δυσγάμων ῥυσταγμάτων 1090Οὐδʼ οἱ χρόνῳ μολόντες ἀσπαστῶς δόμους εὐκταῖον ἐκλάμψουσι θυμάτων σέλας, χάριν τίνοντες Κερδύλᾳ Λαρυνθίῳ. τοιαῖσδʼ ἐχῖνος μηχαναῖς οἰκοφθορῶν παραιολίξει τὰς ἀλεκτόρων πικρὰς 1095στεγανόμους ὄρνιθας. οὐδὲ ναυφάγοι λήξουσι πένθους δυσμενεῖς φρυκτωρίαι πτόρθου διαρραισθέντος, ὃν νεοσκαφὲς

And in place of the bounds of Crisa they shall till with ox-drawn trailing ploughshare the Crotonian fields across the straits, longing for their native Lilaea and the plain of Anemoreia and Amphissa and famous Abae. Poor Setaea! for thee waits an unhappy fate upon the rocks, where, most pitifully outstretched with brazen fetters on thy limbs, thou shalt die, because thou didst burn the fleet of thy masters: bewailing near Crathis thy body cast out and hung up for gory vultures to devour. And that cliff, looking on the sea, shall be called by thy name in memory of thy fate.

And others again beside the Pelasgian streams of Membles and the Cerneatid isle shall sail forth and beyond the Tyrrhenian strait occupy in Lametian waters Leucanian plains.

And griefs and varied sufferings shall be the lot of these—bewailing their fate which allows them not to return home, on account of my haling to unhappy marriage.

Nor shall they who after many days come gladly home kindle the flame of votive offering in gratitude to Cerdylas Larynthius. With such craft shall the hedgehog ruin their homes and mislead the housekeeping hens embittered against the cocks. Nor shall the ship-devouring hostile beacons abate their sorrow for his shattered scion, whom a new-dug

1098κρύψει ποτʼ ἐν κλήροισι Μηδύμνης στέγος. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀμφὶ χύτλα τὰς δυσεξόδους 1100ζητῶν κελεύθους αὐχενιστῆρος βρόχου ἐν ἀμφιβλήστρῳ συντεταργανωμένος τυφλαῖς ματεύσει χερσὶ κροσσωτοὺς ῥαφάς. θερμὴν δʼ ὑπαὶ λουτρῶνος ἀρνεύων στέγην τιβῆνα καὶ κύπελλον ἐγκάρῳ ῥανεῖ, 1105τυπεὶς σκεπάρνῳ κόγχον εὐθήκτῳ μέσον. οἰκτρὰ δέ πέμφιξ Ταίναρον πτερύξεται, λυπρὰν λεαίνης εἰσιδοῦσʼ οἰκουρίαν. ἐγὼ δὲ δροίτης ἄγχι κείσομαι πέδῳ, Χαλυβδικῷ κνώδοντι συντεθραυσμένη, 1110ἐπεί με, πεύκης πρέμνον ἢ στύπος δρυὸς ὅπως τις ὑλοκουρὸς ἐργάτης ὀρεύς, ῥήξει πλατὺν τένοντα καὶ μετάφρενον, καὶ πᾶν λακίζουσʼ ἐν φοναῖς ψυχρὸν δέμας δράκαινα διψὰς κἀπιβᾶσʼ ἐπʼ αὐχένος 1115πλήσει γέμοντα θυμὸν ἀγρίας χολῆς, ὡς κλεψίνυμφον κοὐ δορίκτητον γέρας δύσζηλος ἀστέμβακτα τιμωρουμένη. βοῶσα δʼ οὐ κλύοντα δεσπότην πόσιν θεύσω κατʼ ἴχνος ἠνεμωμένη πτεροῖς. 1120σκύμνος δὲ πατρὸς κῆρα μαστεύων φόνου εἰς σπλάγχνʼ ἐχίδνης αὐτόχειρ βάψει ξίφος, κακὸν μίασμʼ ἔμφυλον ἀλθαίνων κακῷ. ἐμὸς δʼ ἀκοίτης, δμωίδος νύμφης ἄναξ, Ζεὺς Σπαρτιάταις αἱμύλοις κληθήσεται, 1125τιμὰς μεγίστας Οἰβάλου τέκνοις λαχών.

habitation in the territory of Methymna shall hide.

One at the bath while he seeks for the difficult exits-of the mesh about his neck, entangled in a net, shall search with blind hands the fringed stitching. And diving under the hot covering of the bath he shall sprinkle with his brains tripod and basin, when he is smitten in the midst of the skull with the well-sharpened axe. His piteous ghost shall wing its way to Taenarus, having looked on the bitter housekeeping of the lioness. And I beside the bath shall lie on the ground, shattered by the Chalybdic sword. For she shall cleave me— broad tendon and back—even as a woodcutter workman on the mountains cleaves trunk of pine or stem of oak—and, sand-viper as she is, will rend all my cold body in blood and set her foot on my neck and glut her laden soul of bitter bile, taking relentless vengeance on me in evil jealousy, as if I were a stolen bride and not a spear-won prize. And calling on my master and husband, who hears no more, I shall follow his track on wings of the wind. But a whelp, seeking vengeance for his father’s blood, shall with his own hand plunge his sword in the entrails of the viper, with evil-healing the evil pollution of his race.

And my husband, lord of a slave bride, shall be called Zeus’ by the crafty Spartiates, obtaining highest honours from the children of Oebalus. Nor shall my worship be nameless among men, nor fade hereafter in the darkness of oblivion.

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.