Ibycus

Ibycus (Greek: Ἴβυκος; fl. 6th century BC) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet, a citizen of Rhegium in Magna Graecia, probably active at Samos during the reign of the tyrant Polycrates and numbered by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria in the canonical list of nine lyric poets.

Quotes

• Ἦρι μὲν αἵ τε Κυδώνιαι
  μηλίδες ἀρδόμεναι ῥοᾶν
  ἐκ ποταμῶν, ἵνα Παρθένων
  κῆπος ἀκήρατος, αἵ τ᾿ οἰνανθίδες
  αὐξόμεναι σκιεροῖσιν ὑφ᾿ ἕρνεσιν
  οἰναρέοις θαλέθοισιν· ἐμοὶ δ᾿ ἔρος
  οὐδεμίαν κατάκοιτος ὥραν·
  ἀλλ᾿ ἅθ᾿ ὑπὸ στεροπᾶς φλέγων
  Θρηίκιος Βορέας ἀίσσων
  παρὰ Κύπριδος ἀζαλέαις μανίαισιν
  ἐρεμνὸς ἀθαμβὴς
  ἐγκρατέως πεδόθεν φυλάσσει
  ἡμετέρας φρένας.
  • ’Tis but in Spring the quince-trees of the Maids’ holy garden grow green with the watering rills from the river, and the vine-blossoms wax ’neath the mantling sprays of the vines; but for me Love’s awake the year round, and like the Northwind from Thrace aflame with the lightning, comes with a rush from the Cyprian, with shrivelling frenzies baleful and bold, and with masterful power shakes me to the bottom of my heart.
  • Quoted by Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, XIII, 601b (tr. J. M. Edmonds)

• Ἔρος αὖτέ με κυανέοισιν ὑπὸ
  βλεφάροις τακέρ᾿ ὄμμασι δερκόμενος
  κηλήμασι παντοδαποῖς ἐς ἀπειρα
  δίκτυα Κύπριδος βάλει.
  ἦ μὰν τρομέω νιν ἐπερχόμενον,
  ὥστε φερέζυγος ἵππος ἀεθλοφόρος ποτὶ γήρᾳ
  ἀέκων σὺν ὄχεσφι θοοῖς ἐς ἅμιλλαν ἔβα.
  • Yet again will Love eye me tenderly from beneath dark brows and cast me with manifold magic into the hopeless net of the Love-Goddess. I swear his approach makes me tremble like an old champion-horse of the chariot-race when he draws the swift car all unwillingly to the contest.
  • Quoted by the Scholiast on Plato, Parmenides, 136e (tr. J. M. Edmonds)

• Εὐρύαλε Γλαυκέων Χαρίτων θάλος, Ὡρᾶν
  καλλικόμων μελέδημα, σὲ μὲν Κύπρις
  ἅ τ' ἀγανοβλέφαρος Πει-
  θὼ ῥοδέοισιν ἐν θρέψαν.
  • Euryalus, offshoot of the blue-eyed Graces, darling of the lovely-haired Seasons, the Cyprian and soft-lidded Persuasion nursed you among rose-blossoms.
  • Quoted by Athenaeus, XIII, 564f (tr. David A. Campbell)

Bibliography

• J. A. Symonds, Studies of the Greek Poets: First Series, 2nd ed. (1877), p. 155

• Walter Headlam, A Book of Greek Verse (Cambridge, 1908), p. 27

• J. M. Edmonds, Lyra Graeca, Vol. 2 (LCL, 1924), pp. 78–119

• David A. Campbell, Greek Lyric, Vol. 3 (LCL, 1991), pp. 209–305

• Constantine A. Trypanis, The Penguin Book of Greek Verse (1971), nos. 68–9

• Andrew M. Miller, Greek Lyric: An Anthology in Translation (1996), pp. 95–98