ARCHILOCHUS


…..
My one great talent lies in making those who wrong me suffer horribly.

…..

O daughter of the highborn Amphimedo,

I replied, of the widely remembered

Amphimedo now in the rich earth dead,

There are, do you know, so many pleasures

For young men to choose from

Among the skills of the delicious goddess

It's green to think the holy one's the only.

When the shadows go black and quiet,

Let us, you and I alone, and the gods,

Sort these matters out. Fear nothing:

I shall be tame, I shall behave

And reach, if I reach, with a civil hand.

I shall climb the wall and come to the gate.

You'll not say no, Sweetheart, to this?

I shall come no farther than the garden grass.

Neobulé I have forgotten, believe me, do.

Any man who wants her may have her.

Aiai! She's past her day, ripening rotten.

The petals of her flower are all brown.

The grace that first she had is shot.

Don't you agree that she looks like a boy?

A woman like that would drive a man crazy.

She should get herself a job as a scarecrow.

I'd as soon hump her as kiss a goat's butt.

A source of joy I'd be to the neighbours

With such a woman as her for a wife!

How could I ever prefer her to you?

You, O innocent, true heart and bold.

Each of her faces is as sharp as the other,

Which way she's turning you never can guess.

She'd whelp like the proverb's luckless bitch

Were I to foster get upon her, throwing

Them blind, and all on the wrongest day.

I said no more, but took her hand,

Laid her down in a thousand flowers,

And put my soft wool cloak around her.

I slid my arm under her neck

To still the fear in her eyes,

For she was trembling like a fawn,

Touched her hot breasts with light fingers,

Spraddled her neatly and pressed

Against her fine, hard, bared crotch.

I caressed the beauty of all her body

And came in a sudden white spurt

While I was stroking her hair.

…..


Let the gods take care of everything. Many times

they resurrect a man whom disaster left lying

face down on the black earth. Many times they topple

a man and pin him, back to the soil, though he

was solid on his feet. A multitude of evils

batters him as he wanders hungry and mad.

…..
Nothing in the world can surprise me now. Nothing

is impossible or too wonderful, for Zeus, father

of the Olympians, has turned midday into black night,

by shielding light from the blossoming sun,

and now dark terror hangs over mankind.

Anything may happen, so do not be amazed if beasts

on dry land seek pasture with dolphins in

the ocean, and those beasts who loved sunny hills

love crashing seawaves more than the warm mainland.
…..
Be brave, my heart.

Plant your feet and

square your shoulders

to the enemy. Meet

him among the

man-killing spears.

Hold your ground. In

victory, do not brag; in

defeat, do not weep.

…..
And by a prudent flight and cunning save

A life which valour could not, from the grave.

A better buckler I can soon regain,

But who can get another life again?

…..
Take the joy and bear the sorrow,
looking past your hopes and fears:
learn to recognize the measured
dance that orders all our years.

…..
I lie here miserable and broken with desire,

pierced through to the bones by the bitterness

of this god-given painful love.

O comrade, this passion makes my limbs limp
and tramples over me.

…..
My Soul, my Soul, all disturbed by sorrows inconsolable,

Bear up, hold out, meet front-on the many foes that rush on you.

Now from this side and now that, enduring all such strife up close,

Never wavering; and should you win, don't openly exult,

Nor, defeated, throw yourself lamenting in a heap at home,

But delight in things that are delightful and, in hard times, grieve

Not too much - appreciate the rhythm that controls men's lives.

…..
These golden matters

Of Gyges and his treasuries

Are no concern of mine.

Jealousy has no power over me,

Nor do I envy a god his work,

And I do not burn to rule.

Such things have no

Fascination for my eyes.

She held a sprig of myrtle she'd picked

and a rose

that pleased her most

of those on the bush

and her long hair shaded her shoulders and back."

…..
Wayward and wildly pounding heart,

There is a girl who lives among us

Who watches you with foolish eyes,

A slender, lovely, graceful girl,

Just budding into supple line,

And you scare her and make her shy.

There are, do you know, so many pleasures

For young men to choose from

Among the skills of the delicious goddess.

…..
Be bold! That's one way

Of getting through life.

So I turn upon her

And point out that,

Faced with the wickedness

Of things, she does not shiver.