NOSSIS ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS

NOSSIS There is nothing sweeter than love. All other delights are secondary. Thus, I spit out even honey. This is what Gnossis says: Whomever Aphrodite does not love, Is bereft of her roses. —Nossis translation by Michael R. Burch Most reverend Hera, the oft-descending from heaven, attend your Lacinian shrine fragrant with incense and there receive the linen mantle your noble child Nossis, daughter of Theophilis and Cleocha, has woven for you. —Nossis translation by Michael R. Burch Stranger, if you sail to Mitylene, her homeland of beautiful dances, to indulge in the most exquisite graces of Sappho, remember I also was loved by the Muses, who bore and reared me in Locris. My name, never forget it!, is Nossis. Now go! —Nossis translation by Michael R. Burch Pass me by with ringing laughter, then award me an appreciative word: I am Rhinthon, scion of Syracuse, the Muses’s smallest nightingale; yet with my tragic burlesques I was able to pluck an ivy, uniquely my own. —Nossis translation by Michael R. Burch Let’s visit Aphrodite’s shrine to see her statue, finely wrought and embellished with gold, which Polyarchis the courtesan dedicated to her, having made a fortune from her body’s splendor! —Nossis translation by Michael R. Burch Aphrodite will receive this gift, joyfully, I think, it being Samthya’s own headdress, for it’s elaborate and fragrantly perfumed. With it she also anoints the beautiful Adonis. —Nossis, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Sabaethis’s image is known from afar due to its stature and beauty. Even here we recognize her prudence, her kindness. Godspeed, blessed lady! —Nossis, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch This tablet portrays Thaumareta, aptly conveying the ripeness and pride of the tender-eyed girl. Even your watchdog would wag its tail, thinking her its mansion’s mistress! —Nossis, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Melinna is finely wrought. Her tender face! See how she seems to gaze at us benignly! How splendidly the daughter resembles her mother! Isn’t it nice when children duplicate their parents? —Nossis, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch The Bruttians flung these shields aside as they fled from the fleet-footed Locrians. Now hung from temple ceilings, the shields praise the Locrians’ valor. Nor do they desire the arms of the cowards they deserted. —Nossis, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Nossis, Greek, epigram, love, Muses, Aphrodite, roses, heaven