Humanitext Reader

Moschus · Fragments §4.1-4.13

The Perils of the Sea and the Peace of Rustic Life

Passage 1 of 4 · Greek

Summary

The poet contrasts the temptation of a calm sea with the terror of a stormy one, praising the sweetness of a peaceful rustic life spent sleeping under a plane tree and listening to a spring, far from the hardships of a fisherman's life.

§4.1Τὰν ἅλα τὰν γλαυκὰν ὅταν ὥνεμος ἀτρέμα βάλλῃ, §4.2τὰν φρένα τὰν δειλὰν ἐρεθίζομαι, οὐδ’ ἔτι μοι γᾶ §4.3ἐστὶ φίλα, ποθίει δὲ πολὺ πλέον ἁ μεγάλα μ’ ἅλς.
When the wind gently strikes the blue sea, my timid heart is stirred, and no longer to me is the land dear, but the great sea woos me far more.
§4.4ἀλλ’ ὅταν ἀχήσῃ πολιὸς βυθός, ἁ δὲ θάλασσα §4.5κυρτὸν ἐπαφρίζῃ, τὰ δὲ κύματα μακρὰ μεμήνῃ, §4.6ἐς χθόνα παπταίνω καὶ δένδρεα, τὰν δ’ ἅλα φεύγω, §4.7γᾶ δέ μοι ἀσπαστά, χἀ δάσκιος εὔαδεν ὕλα, §4.8ἔνθα καὶ ἢν πνεύσῃ πολὺς ὥνεμος, ἁ πίτυς ᾅδει.
But when the gray deep roars, and the sea swells and foams, and the long waves rage, I look toward the land and the trees, and flee the sea; then the land is welcome to me, and the shady wood pleases me, where, even if a great wind blows, the pine tree sings.
§4.9ἦ κακὸν ὁ γριπεὺς ζώει βίον, ᾧ δόμος ἁ ναῦς, §4.10καὶ πόνος ἐστὶ θάλασσα, καὶ ἰχθύες ἁ πλάνος ἄγρα.
Truly, the fisherman lives a hard life, whose home is his ship, and his labor is the sea, and fish his wandering prey.
§4.11αὐτὰρ ἐμοὶ γλυκὺς ὕπνος ὑπὸ πλατάνῳ βαθυφύλλῳ, §4.12καὶ παγᾶς φιλέοιμι τὸν ἐγγύθεν ἆχον ἀκούειν, §4.13ἃ τέρπει ψοφέοισα τὸν ἀγρικόν, οὐχὶ ταράσσει.
But for me, sweet is sleep beneath a leafy plane tree, and I would love to hear the sound of a spring close by, which, with its babbling, delights the rustic, and does not trouble him.

Notes

  1. §4.3μ’ ἅλς — μ’ is the elided form of the accusative personal pronoun με, acting as the direct object of the verb ποθίει (longs for, attracts), with ἁ μεγάλα ἅλς (the great sea) as the subject.
  2. §4.7χἀ δάσκιος εὔαδεν ὕλα — χἀ is a crasis of καὶ ἁ. εὔαδεν is the Doric third-person singular aorist of ἁνδάνω (to please), agreeing with the subject ἁ δάσκιος ὕλα (the shady wood), with the dative μοι understood from the previous clause.
  3. §4.13ἃ τέρπει — The relative pronoun ἃ is neuter plural nominative. Its antecedent can be understood as ἆχον (sound) treated as plural, or the whole preceding activity of hearing the sound of the spring. The participle ψοφέοισα (making sound) is feminine nominative singular, agreeing with the source of the sound, παγᾶς (the spring).

Cite this passage

Moschus, Fragments §4.1-4.13. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0035.tlg005.humanitext-grc2:4.1-4.13

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