Antipater of Thessalonica

Antipater of Thessalonica (Greek: Ἀντίπατρος ὁ Θεσσαλονικεύς; c. 10 BC – c. AD 38) was a Greek epigrammatist of the Roman period.

Quotes

• Κυλλήνην ὄρος Ἀρκάδων ἀκούεις:
  αὕτη σῆμ᾽ ἐπίκειτ᾽ Ἀπολλοδώρῳ.
  Πίσηθέν μιν ἰόντα νυκτὸς ὥρῃ
  ἔκτεινεν Διόθεν πεσὼν κεραυνός.
  τηλοῦ δ᾽ Αἰανέης τε καὶ Βεροίης
  νικηθεὶς Διὸς ὁ δρομεὺς καθεύδει.
• You have heard of Cyllene the Arcadian mountain. That is the monument that covers Apollodorus. As he journeyed from Pisa by night the thunderbolt from Zeus killed him; and far from Aeanae and Beroea the racer sleeps, conquered by Zeus.
  • Anthologia Palatina, VII, 390

• Πᾶσα θάλασσα θάλασσα: τί Κυκλάδας στενὸν Ἕλλης
    κῦμα καὶ Ὀξείας ἠλεὰ μεμφόμεθα;
  ἄλλως τοὔνομ᾽ ἔχουσιν ἐπεὶ τί με, τὸν προφυγ́οντα
    κεῖνα, Σκαρφαιεὺς ἀμφεκάλυψε λιμήν;
  νόστιμον εὐπλοΐην ἀρῷτό τις: ὡς τά γε πόντου
    πόντος, ὁ τυμβευθεὶς οἶδεν Ἀρισταγόρης.
• Every sea is sea. Why do we foolishly blame the Cyclades or the Hellespont, and the Sharp Isles? They merit not their evil fame; for why, when I had escaped them, did the harbour of Scarphaea drown me? Let who will pray for fair weather to bring him home; Aristagoras, who is buried here, knows that the sea is the sea.
  • Anthologia Palatina, VII, 639.
  • See also Thalatta! Thalatta!; with "Sharp Isles" cp. Anth. Pal. VII, 628.

• Στρυμόνι καὶ μεγάλῳ πεποτισμένον Ἑλλησπόντῳ
    ἠρίον Ἠδωνῆς Φυλλίδος, Ἀμφίπολι,
  λοιπά τοι Αἰθοπίης Βραυρωνίδος ἴχνια νηοῦ
    μίμνει, καὶ ποταμοῦ τἀμφιμάχητον ὕδωρ,
  τὴν δὲ ποτ᾽ Αἰγείδαις μεγάλην ἔριν ὡς ἁλιανθὲς
    τρῦχος ἐπ᾽ ἀμφοτέραις δερκόμεθ᾽ ἠιόσιν.
• Amphipolis, tomb of Edonian Phyllis, washed by the Strymon and great Hellespont, all that is left of thee is the ruin of the temple of Brauronian Artemis and the disputed water of thy river. We see her for whom the Athenians strove so long now lying like a torn rag of precious purple on either bank.
  • Anthologia Palatina, VII, 705.
  • The Athenian possession of Amphipolis was disputed by the Spartans and later by the Macedonians.

• Τάσδε θεογλώσσους Ἑλικὼν ἔθρεψε γυναῖκας
    ὕμνοις, καὶ Μακεδὼν Πιερίας σκόπελος,
  Πρήξιλλαν, Μοιρώ, Ἀνύτης στόμα, θῆλυν Ὅμηρον,
    Λεσβιάδων Σαπφὼ κόσμον ἐυπλοκάμων,
  Ἤρινναν, Τελέσιλλαν ἀγακλέα, καὶ σέ, Κόριννα,
    θοῦριν Ἀθηναίης ἀσπίδα μελψαμέναν,
  Νοσσίδα θηλύγλωσσον, ἰδὲ γλυκυαχέα Μύρτιν,
    πάσας ἀενάων ἐργάτιδας σελίδων.
  ἐννέα μὲν Μούσας μέγας Οὐρανός, ἐννέα δ᾽ αὐτὰς
    γαῖα τέκεν, θνατοῖς ἄφθιτον εὐφροσύναν.
• These are the divine-voiced women that Helicon fed with song, Helicon and Macedonian Pieria’s rock: Praxilla; Moero; Anyte, the female Homer; Sappho, glory of the Lesbian women with lovely tresses; Erinna; renowned Telesilla; and thou, Corinna, who didst sing the martial shield of Athena; Nossis, the tender-voiced, and dulcet-toned Myrtis—all craftswomen of eternal pages. Great Heaven gave birth to nine Muses, and Earth to these ten, the deathless delight of men.
  • Anthologia Palatina, IX, 26

• Ἵσχετε χεῖρα μυλαῖον, ἀλετρίδες: εὕδετε μακρά,
    κἢν ὄρθρον προλέγῃ γῆρυς ἀλεκτρυόνων:
  Δηὼ γὰρ Νύμφαισι χερῶν ἐπετείλατο μόχθους:
    αἱ δὲ κατ᾽ ἀκροτάτην ἁλλόμεναι τροχιήν,
  ἄξονα δινεύουσιν ὁ δ᾽ ἀκτίνεσσιν ἑλικταῖς
    στρωφᾷ Νισυρίων κοῖλα βάρη μυλάκων.
  γευόμεθ᾽ ἀρχαίου βιότου πάλιν, εἰ δίχα μόχθου
    δαίνυσθαι Δηοῦς ἔργα διδασκόμεθα.
• Cease from grinding, ye women who toil at the mill; sleep late, even if the crowing cocks announce the dawn. For Demeter has ordered the Nymphs to perform the work of your hands, and they, leaping down on the top of the wheel, turn its axle which, with its revolving spokes, turns the heavy concave Nisyrian mill-stones. We taste again the joys of the primitive life, learning to feast on the products of Demeter without labour.
  • Anthologia Palatina, IX, 418 ("On a Water-mill")

Translations

• W. R. Paton, The Greek Anthology, Vol. 2, LCL 68 (1917)
• W. R. Paton, The Greek Anthology, Vol. 3, LCL 69 (1917)
• Various hands, The Oxford Book of Greek Verse in Translation (1938), nos. 590–2