§1Αἰάζω τὸν Ἄδωνιν· ἀπώλετο καλὸς Ἄδωνις·
I lament for Adonis; beautiful Adonis has perished.
§2ὤλετο καλὸς Ἄδωνις
ἐπαιάζουσιν Ἔρωτες.
Beautiful Adonis has perished, the Loves lament in response.
§3μηκέτι πορφυρέοις ἐνὶ φάρεσι Κύπρι κάθευδε·
Sleep no longer, Cypris, in purple robes.
§4ἔγρεο δειλαία, κυανόστολα καὶ πλατάγησον §5στήθεα καὶ λέγε πᾶσιν
ἀπώλετο καλὸς Ἄδωνις. §6αἰάζω τὸν Ἄδωνιν· ἐπαιάζουσιν Ἔρωτες.
Awake, wretched one, put on black weeds and beat your breasts, and say to all, 'Beautiful Adonis has perished.' I lament for Adonis; the Loves lament in response.
§7κεῖται καλὸς Ἄδωνις ἐν ὤρεσι μηρὸν ὀδόντι, §8λευκῷ λευκὸν ὀδόντι τυπείς, καὶ Κύπριν ἀνιῇ §9λεπτὸν ἀποψύχων· τὸ δέ οἱ μέλαν εἴβεται αἷμα §10χιονέας κατὰ σαρκός, ὑπ’ ὀφρύσι δ’ ὄμματα ναρκῇ, §11καὶ τὸ ῥόδον φεύγει τῶ χείλεος· ἀμφὶ δὲ τήνῳ §12θνᾴσκει καὶ τὸ φίλημα, τὸ μήποτε Κύπρις ἀνοίσει.
Beautiful Adonis lies in the mountains, his thigh wounded by a tusk, wounded on his white thigh by a white tusk, and he grieves Cypris, as he faintly breathes his last; and his dark blood flows down over his snow-white flesh, and under his brows his eyes grow dim, and the rose flees from his lip; and about it dies also the kiss, which Cypris will never bear away.
§13Κύπριδι μὲν τὸ φίλημα καὶ οὐ ζώοντος ἀρέσκει, §14ἀλλ’ οὐκ οἶδεν Ἄδωνις, ὅ νιν θνᾴσκοντ’ ἐφίλησεν.
To Cypris indeed the kiss is dear, even though he lives no longer, but Adonis knows not that she kissed him as he died.
§15αἰάζω τὸν Ἄδωνιν· ἐπαιάζουσιν Ἔρωτες.
I lament for Adonis; the Loves lament in response.
A wild, wild wound Adonis has upon his thigh; but Cythereia bears a greater wound in her heart.
§18τῆνον μὲν περὶ παῖδα φίλοι κύνες ὠδύραντο §19καὶ Νύμφαι κλαίουσιν ὀρειάδες· ἁ δ’ Ἀφροδίτα §20λυσαμένα πλοκαμῖδας ἀνὰ δρυμὼς ἀλάληται §21πενθαλέα νήπλεκτος ἀσάνδαλος· αἱ δὲ βάτοι νιν §22ἐρχομέναν κείροντι καὶ ἱερὸν αἷμα δρέπονται· §23ὀξὺ δὲ κωκύουσα δι’ ἄγκεα μακρὰ φορεῖται §24Ἀσσύριον βοόωσα πόσιν καὶ παῖδα καλεῦσα.
Around that youth his dear hounds wailed, and the mountain Nymphs weep; but Aphrodite, having loosed her tresses, wanders through the oak coppices, sorrowful, unbraided, unsandalled; and the brambles tear her as she goes and harvest her sacred blood; and crying shrilly she is carried through the long glens, calling her Assyrian husband and summoning him as her boy.
§25ἀμφὶ δέ νιν μέλαν αἷμα παρ’ ὀμφαλὸν ᾀωρεῖτο, §26στήθεα δ’ ἐκ μηρῶν φοινίσσετο, τοὶ δ’ ὑπὸ μαζοὶ §27χιόνεοι τὸ πάροιθεν Ἀδώνιδι πορφύροντο.
And about him the dark blood welled up around his navel, and his breasts were reddened from his thighs, and his breasts, snow-white before, became purple for Adonis.
§28αἰαῖ τὰν Κυθέρειαν
ἐπαιάζουσιν Ἔρωτες.
Alas for Cythereia, the Loves lament in response.
§29ὤλεσε τὸν καλὸν ἄνδρα, συνώλεσεν ἱερὸν εἶδος.
She lost her beautiful husband, she lost her sacred beauty with him.
While Adonis lived, Cypris had beautiful beauty; but her beauty died with Adonis.
τὰν Κύπριν αἰαῖ
Alas for Cypris!
§32ὤρεα πάντα λέγοντι, καὶ αἱ δρύες
αἲ τὸν Ἄδωνιν. §33καὶ ποταμοὶ κλαίουσι τὰ πένθεα τᾶς Ἀφροδίτας, §34καὶ παγαὶ τὸν Ἄδωνιν ἐν ὤρεσι δακρύοντι, §35ἄνθεα δ’ ἐξ ὀδύνας ἐρυθαίνεται· ἁ δὲ Κυθήρα §36πάντας ἀνὰ κναμώς, ἀνὰ πᾶν νάπος οἰκτρὸν ἀείδει §37αἰαῖ τὰν Κυθέρειαν, ἀπώλετο καλὸς Ἄδωνις. §38Ἀχὼ δ’ ἀντεβόασεν
ἀπώλετο καλὸς Ἄδωνις. §39Κύπριδος αἰνὸν ἔρωτα τίς οὐκ ἔκλαυσεν ἂν αἰαῖ;
all the mountains say, and the oaks: 'Alas for Adonis!' And the rivers weep for the sorrows of Aphrodite, and the springs weep for Adonis in the mountains, and the flowers turn red from grief; and Cythera sings plaintively through all the foothills, through every glen: 'Alas for Cythereia, beautiful Adonis has perished.' And Echo cried in response: 'Beautiful Adonis has perished.' Who would not have wept for the dreadful love of Cypris? Alas!
§40ὡς ἴδεν, ὡς ἐνόησεν Ἀδώνιδος ἄσχετον ἕλκος, §41ὡς ἴδε φοίνιον αἷμα μαραινομένῳ περὶ μηρῷ, §42πάχεας ἀμπετάσασα κινύρετο· ‘μεῖνον Ἄδωνι, §43δύσποτμε μεῖνον Ἄδωνι, πανύστατον ὥς σε κιχείω, §44ὥς σε περιπτύξω καὶ χείλεα χείλεσι μίξω.
When she saw, when she perceived the uncontainable wound of Adonis, when she saw the dark blood around his wasting thigh, spreading wide her arms she cried: 'Stay, Adonis, ill-fated Adonis, stay, so that I may find you for the very last time, so that I may embrace you and mix lips with lips.
§45ἔγρεο τυτθὸν Ἄδωνι, τὸ δ’ αὖ πύματόν με φίλησον, §46τοσσοῦτόν με φίλησον, ὅσον ζώῃ τὸ φίλημα, §47ἄχρις ἀποψύχῃς ἐς ἐμὸν στόμα κεἰς ἐμὸν ἧπαρ §48πνεῦμα τεὸν ῥεύσῃ, τὸ δέ σευ γλυκὺ φίλτρον ἀμέλξω, §49ἐκ δὲ πίω τὸν ἔρωτα, φίλημα δὲ τοῦτο φυλάξω §50ὡς αὐτὸν τὸν Ἄδωνιν, ἐπεὶ σύ με δύσμορε φεύγεις, §51φεύγεις μακρὸν Ἄδωνι, καὶ ἔρχεαι εἰς Ἀχέροντα
Wake a little, Adonis, and kiss me once again for the last time, kiss me just so much as a kiss lives, until you exhale your breath into my mouth and into my liver your spirit flows, and I shall drain your sweet love-charm, and drink down your love, and I shall guard this kiss as Adonis himself, since you, ill-fated one, flee me, you flee far, Adonis, and go to Acheron.'