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Theocritus · Epigrams §6.1-6.6

Consolation to Thyrsis Weeping for a Kid Seized by a Wolf

Passage 6 of 25 · Greek

Summary

The speaker consoles the mourning shepherd Thyrsis, arguing that weeping is useless because the young goat has been snatched by a wolf and sent to Hades, leaving absolutely nothing behind.

§6.1Ἆ δειλαῖε τὺ Θύρσι, τί τὸ πλέον, εἰ καταταξεῖς §6.2δάκρυσι διγλήνους ὦπας ὀδυρόμενος;
Ah, wretched Thyrsis, what is the use, if you melt away your two-pupilled eyes with tears as you lament?
§6.3οἴχεται ἁ χίμαρος, τὸ καλὸν τέκος, οἴχετʼ ἐς Ἅιδαν· §6.4τραχὺς γὰρ χαλαῖς ἀμφεπίαξε λύκος.
The young she-goat is gone, the beautiful kid, gone to Hades; for a fierce wolf has seized her in his claws.
§6.5αἱ δὲ κύνες κλαγγεῦντι·
And the dogs howl.
τί τὸ πλέον, ἁνίκα τήνας §6.6ὀστίον οὐδὲ τέφρα λείπεται οἰχομένας;
What is the use, when of her, who is gone, neither bone nor ash is left?

Notes

  1. §6.1καταταξεῖς — Doric dialect form for κατατήξεις, the future active second-person singular of κατατήκω (to melt down, waste away). It takes the accusative διγλήνους ὦπας in the next line as its direct object, meaning "to waste away your eyes with tears."
  2. §6.5τήνας ... οἰχομένας — Doric dialect forms for ἐκείνης ... οἰχομένης, genitive singular feminine of the demonstrative pronoun and the present participle. They function as a genitive of possession or reference modifying ὀστίον οὐδὲ τέφρα ("neither bone nor ash of her who is gone").

Cite this passage

Theocritus, Epigrams §6.1-6.6. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0005.tlg002.humanitext-grc2:6.1-6.6

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