Humanitext Reader

Theocritus · Syrinx §1-20

Dedication to Pan and the Riddle of the Syrinx

Passage 1 of 1 · Greek

Summary

A pattern poem that sings of the origin of the panpipe (syrinx) dedicated to the god Pan and his mythological background, incorporating complex riddles.

§1Οὐδενὸς εὐνάτειρα Μακροπτολέμοιο δὲ μάτηρ §2μαίας ἀντιπέτροιο θοὸν τέκεν ἰθυντῆρα, §3οὐχὶ Κεράσταν ὅν ποτε θρέψατο ταυροπάτωρ, §4ἀλλ᾽ ου πειλιπὲς αἶθε πάρος φρένα τέρμα σάκους, §5οὔνομ᾽ Ὅλον, δίζων, ὃς τᾶς μέροπος πόθον §6κούρας γηρυγόνας ἔχε τᾶς ἀνεμώδεος, §7ὃς Μοίσᾳ λιγὺ πᾶξεν ἰοστεφάνῳ §8ἕλκος, ἄγαλμα πόθοιο πυρισμαράγου, §9ὃς σβέσεν ἀνορέαν ἰσαυδέα §10παπποφόνου Τυρίας τ᾽ ἐξήλασεν.
The bedfellow of Nobody and the mother of Great-War bore the swift leader of the nurse of the one who was substituted for a stone, not the Horned One whom once the bull-father reared, but him whose heart once burned, deprived of a female, for the border of a shield, whose name is All, double-natured, who the desire of the mortal wind-swift, voiced maiden held, who infixed shrilly for the violet-crowned Muse a wound, a monument of fire-resounding desire, who quenched the equal-voiced wrath, and drove him out of the Tyrian land of the grandfather-slayer.
§11ᾧ τόδε τυφλοφόρων ἐρατόν §12πῆμα Πάρις θέτο Σιμιχίδας·
To whom this lovely, of the blind-bearers, pain did Simichidas' Paris dedicate.
§13ψυχὰν ᾇ, βροτοβάμων, §14στήτας οἶστρε Σαέττας, §15κλωποπάτωρ, ἀπάτωρ, §16λαρνακόγυιε, χαρείς §17ἁδὺ μελίσδοις §18ἔλλοπι κούρᾳ, §19Καλλιόπᾳ §20νηλεύστῳ.
With his own soul, O mortal-treading one, O gadfly of the standing-up Saettae, thief-fathered, fatherless, chest-limbed, rejoicing, may you sweetly play for the speechless maiden, Calliope, the unstoned.

Notes

  1. §1Οὐδενὸς εὐνάτειρα Μακροπτολέμοιο δὲ μάτηρ — The 'wife of Nobody (Outis)' refers to Penelope (wife of Odysseus), and the 'mother of Great-War (Makroptolemos)' refers to Telemachus (whose name literally means 'fighting from afar'). This is a riddle based on the alternative mythological tradition that Penelope was the mother of Pan.
  2. §2μαίας ἀντιπέτροιο θοὸν τέκεν ἰθυντῆρα — The 'one substituted for a stone (antipetros)' refers to Zeus, who was replaced by a stone swallowed by Cronus. His 'nurse (maia)' refers to Maia (or Amaltheia). The 'swift leader' of Maia is Hermes, her son. Thus, the passage refers to Hermes, the father of Pan, through a double riddle.
  3. §4πειλιπὲς αἶθε πάρος φρένα τέρμα σάκους — The 'border of a shield (terma sakous)' represents 'itys' (shield-rim), which is a wordplay on Pitys, the pine-nymph whom Pan loved. 'Deprived of a female (peilipes, from pēly + lipes)' refers to Pan's unrequited passion and loss of Pitys.
  4. §12πῆμα Πάρις θέτο Σιμιχίδας — Simichidas is the poetic pseudonym of Theocritus. 'Paris' refers to the mythological judge of beauty. It is a double metaphor meaning that the poet Simichidas, acting like Paris, dedicated this 'pain' (the syrinx, born of the pain of love) to Pan.
  5. §15κλωποπάτωρ, ἀπάτωρ — A juxtaposition showing Pan's unusual parentage. It refers to Hermes (the god of thieves, klōps) as his father, and the alternative myth that Penelope bore Pan to all the suitors, thus making him 'fatherless' (apatōr) in terms of a single, defined father.
  6. §18ἔλλοπι κούρᾳ — The word 'ellops' usually means 'speechless' or 'fish-like'. Here it refers to the maiden Syrinx, who transformed into reeds to escape Pan and became a musical instrument, thus losing her human voice.

Cite this passage

Theocritus, Syrinx §1-20. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0005.tlg003.humanitext-grc1:1-20

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