Living Poets

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M = reading of the whole MS tradition
m = reading of part of the MS tradition
P = reading on a papyrus
 

Ἀρχίλοχος· ὅτι τῶν σπουδαίων οὐδὲ θανόντων οἱ θεοὶ λήθην τίθενται. Ἀρχίλοχον γοῦν ποιητὴν γενναῖον τἄλλα, εἴ τις αὐτοῦ τὸ αἰσχροεπὲς αἰσχροεπές m: αἰσχροπρεπές m καὶ τὸ κακορρῆμον ἀφέλοι, καὶ οἱονεὶ κηλίδα ἀπορρύψαι, ὁ Πύθιος ἠλέει τεθνεῶτα καὶ ταῦτα ἐν τῶι πολέμωι, ἔνθα δήπου ξυνὸς Ἐνυάλιος. καὶ ὅτε ἧκεν ὁ ἀποκτείνας αὐτὸν, Καλώνδας μὲν ὄνομα, Κόραξ δὲ ἐπώνυμον, τοῦ θεοῦ δεόμενος ὑπὲρ ὧν ἐδεῖτο, οὐ προσήκατο αὐτὸν ἡ Πυθία ὡς ἐναγῆ, ἀλλὰ ταῦτα δήπου τὰ θρυλούμενα ἀνεῖπεν. ὁ δὲ ἄρα προεβάλλετο τὰς τοῦ πολέμου τύχας καὶ ἔλεγεν, ὡς ἧκεν ἐς ἀμφίβολον ἢ δρᾶσαι ἢ παθεῖν, ὅσα ἔπραξε, καὶ ἠξίου μὴ ἀπεχθάνεσθαι τῶι θεῶι εἰ τῶι ἑαυτοῦ δαίμονι ζῆι, καὶ ἐπηρᾶτο, ὅτι μὴ τέθνηκε μᾶλλον ἢ ἀπέκτεινε. καὶ ταῦτα ὁ θεὸς οἰκτείρει καὶ αὐτὸν κελεύει ἐλθεῖν εἰς Ταίναρον, ἔνθα Τέττιξ τέθαπται, καὶ μειλίξασθαι τὴν τοῦ Τελεσικλείου παιδὸς ψυχὴν καὶ πραΰναι χοαῖς. οἷς ἐπείσθη, καὶ τῆς μήνιδος τῆς ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐξάντης ἐγένετο. καὶ παροιμία· Ἀρχίλοχον πατεῖς, ἐπὶ τῶν κακηγόρων καὶ λοιδόρων.

Archilochus: the gods do not make the famous forgotten, even in death. Archilochus was a poet, noble in all other pursuits – if one excludes his foul speech and his defamation, as if to wash out a blemish. The Pythian god pitied him in his death and the circumstances of war, where, indeed, Enyalius is impartial. And when the man who killed him, whose name was Calondas, nick-named ‘The Crow’, came to Delphi, and when the god was asked what needed to be done, the Pythia did not approach him because he was polluted, but proclaimed those frequently repeated lines. And Calondas put forward the circumstances of war as a defense and he claimed that he was uncertain whether to take action or to suffer the consequences of what he had done. He asked not to be hated by the god if he lived by his own spirit, and he cursed that he did not perish rather than killing. And the god pitied these things and commanded him to go to Taenarus, where Tettix is buried, and to placate the soul of the son of Telesicles and calm him with libations. He followed these orders, and he became safe from the rage of the god. There is also a proverb: ‘you are treading on Archilochus’, for those who engage in foul language and abuse.

Relevant guides	Archilochus