Anyte of Tegea

Anyte of Tegea (fl. c. 300 BC) was a Greek poetess from Tegea in Arcadia. Little is known of her life, but twenty-four epigrams attributed to her are preserved in the Greek Anthology, and one is quoted by Julius Pollux. She introduced rural themes to the genre, which became a standard theme in Hellenistic epigram. She is one of the nine outstanding ancient women poets listed by Antipater of Thessalonica. Her pastoral poetry may have influenced Theocritus, and her works were adapted by several later poets, including Ovid.

Quotes

• Ἡνία δή τοι παῖδες ἐνί, τράγε, φοινικόεντα
  θέντες καὶ λασίῳ φιμὰ περὶ στόματι,
  ἵππια παιδεύουσι θεοῦ περὶ ναὸν ἄεθλα,
  ὄφρ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἐφορῇ νήπια τερπομένους.
  • Red reins, O Goat, these boys have set about
    Thy neck, a muzzle on thy shaggy snout,
    And round God’s temple ply their mimic race,
    That he may look on them with kindly face.
    • Anthologia Palatina, vi, 312, as translated by W. H. D. Rouse, An Echo of Greek Song (1899), "The Goat"

• Οὐκέτι δὴ πλωτοῖσιν ἀγαλλόμενος πελάγεσσιν
  αὐχέν᾽ ἀναρρίψω βυσσόθεν ὀρνύμενος,
  οὐδὲ περὶ σκαλάμοισι νεὼς περικαλλέα χείλη
  ποιφύσσω, τἀμᾷ τερπόμενος προτομᾷ:
  ἀλλά με πορφυρέα πόντου νοτὶς ὦς᾽ ἐπὶ χέρσον,
  κεῖμαι δὲ ῥαδινὰν τάνδε παρ᾽ ἠιόνα.
  • No more exulting o'er the buoyant sea
    High shall I raise my head in gambols free;
    Nor by some gallant ship breathe out the air,
    Pleas'd with my own bright image figur'd there.
    The storm's black mist has forc'd me to the land,
    And laid me lifeless on this couch of sand.
  • Anthologia Palatina, vii, 215, as translated by Francis Hodgson, in Robert Bland, et al. Collections from the Greek Anthology, new ed. (1833), "On a Dolphin cast ashore"

• ἵζευ ἅπας ὑπὸ καλὰ δάφνας εὐθαλέα φύλλα,
    ὡραίου τ᾽ ἄρυσαι νάματος ἁδὺ πόμα,
  ὄφρα τοι ἀσθμαίνοντα πόνοις θέρεος φίλα γυῖα
    ἀμπαύσῃς, πνοιῇ τυπτόμενα Ζεφύρου.
  • Sit all beneath fair leaves of spreading bay,
      And draw sweet water from a timely spring,
    And let your breathless limbs, this summer day,
      Rest, in the west wind’s airy buffeting.
  • Anthologia Palatina, ix, 313, as translated by Robert Allason Furness, Translations from the Greek Anthology (1931), "Under a Laurel"

• Ἑρμᾶς τᾶιδ᾽ ἕστακα παρ᾽ ὄρχατον ἠνεμόεντα
    ἐν τριόδοις πολιᾶς ἐγγύθεν ἀιόνος,
  ἀνράσι κεκμηῶσιν ἔχων ἄμπαυσιν ὁδοῖο·
    ψυχρὸν δ᾽ ἀχραὲς κράνα ὑποπροχέει.
  • I, Hermes, by the grey sea-shore,
      Set where the three roads meet,
    Outside the wind-swept garden,
      Give rest to weary feet;
    The waters of my fountain
    Are clear, and cool, and sweet.
  • Anthologia Palatina, ix, 314, as translated by J. R. Rodd, Love, Worship and Death (1916), "The God of the Cross-Roads"

• Θάεο τὸν Βρομίου κεραὸν τράγον, ὡς ἀγερώχως
    ὄμμα κατὰ λασιᾶν γαῦρον ἔχει γενύων,
  κυδιόων ὅτι οἱ θάμ᾽ ἐν οὔρεσιν ἀμφὶ παρῇδα
    βόστρυχον εἰς ῥοδέαν Ναῒς ἔδεκτο χέρα.
  • You see with what a roguish eye and self-complacent mien
    Yon horned goat of Bromios surveys his shaggy chin.
    He is proud to know those bearded cheeks have oft-times been caressed
    By the Naiad’s rosy fingers who haunts the mountain crest.
  • Anthologia Palatina, ix, 745, as translated by J. R. Rodd, Love, Worship and Death (1916), "The Goat"

External links

• "Anyte: Epigrams", Attalus (26 February 2018)