Sexual life in ancient Greece : with thirty-two full-page plates

LyrRIc POETRY

Among the imitations of Anacreon—the “ Anacreontea ’’—which are of later date, and in which mention is frequently made of the love of boys, may be specially noticed the little song in which the poet complains that a swallow by its early twittering has awakened him from his dreams of the beautiful Bathyllus. Another cleverly combines the matter of the love song with the manner of the song of war: ‘You sing of the deeds of the Thebans, of the warshouts of the Phrygians, but I will tell of my conquests ; it is neither horse, nor ship, nor foot soldier that hath destroyed me, but another new army launched from the eyes against me.”

6. PINDAR

From Pindar, the greatest and most powerful of all Greek lyric poets, who lived from 522 to 442 B.C. we still possess, in addition to an imposing number of fragments, forty-five odes in nearly perfect condition—the songs of victory, which were composed for those who had won the crown in the great national games. The writer’s piety made him recast in more respectful form some of the legends that had gathered irreverent accretions. Such a one was that which relates how ‘Tantalus, having invited Zeus to dine, killed the All-Father’s son, Pelops, and served him up as a meal as a test of the divine omniscience. But the gods saw through the horrible deception, put the pieces together again and restored the boy to life, and punished ‘Tantalus severely. Such horrors are unendurable to the pious poet; according to his presentation of the legend Pelops has not fallen a victim to the shameful crime of his father, rather had his beauty so inflamed the heart of Poseidon, that he was carried off by him, as ay Ganymede was seized by Zeus (Olym., 1, 27 t.):

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