Anacreon Translation

These are my modern English translations of ancient Greek epigrams by Anacreon from the Anacreontea. Here he lies in state tonight: great is his Monument! Yet Ares cares not, neither does War relent. —Anacreon, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Yes, bring me Homer’s lyre, no doubt, but first yank the bloodstained strings out! —Anacreon, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Here we find Anacreon, an elderly lover of boys and wine. His harp still sings in lonely Acheron as he thinks of the lads he left behind ... —Anacreon, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Behold Anacreon's tomb; here the Teian swan sleeps with the unmitigated madness of his love for lads. Still he sings songs of longing on the lyre of Bathyllus and the albescent marble is perfumed with ivy. Death has not quenched his desire and the house of Acheron still burns with the fevers of Cypris. —Antipater of Sidon, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch May the four-clustered clover, Anacreon, grow here by your grave, ringed by the tender petals of the purple meadow-flowers, and may fountains of white milk bubble up, and the sweet-scented wine gush forth from the earth, so that your ashes and bones may experience joy, if indeed the dead know any delight. —Antipater of Sidon, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Stranger passing by the simple tomb of Anacreon, if you found any profit in my books, please pour drops of your libation on my ashes, so that my bones, refreshed by wine, may rejoice that I, who so delighted in the boisterous revels of Dionysus, and who played such manic music, as wine-drinkers do, even in death may not travel without Bacchus in my sojourn to that land to which all men must come. —Antipater of Sidon, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Anacreon, glory of Ionia, even in the land of the lost may you never be without your beloved revels, or your well-loved lyre, and may you still sing with glistening eyes, shaking the braided flowers from your hair, turning always towards Eurypyle, Megisteus, or the locks of Thracian Smerdies, sipping sweet wine, your robes drenched with the juices of grapes, wringing intoxicating nectar from its folds ... For all your life, old friend, was poured out as an offering to these three: the Muses, Bacchus, and Love. —Antipater of Sidon, translation by Michael R. Burch Keywords/Tags: Anacreon, Antipater, Bacchus, Muses, Epitaph, Epigram