Humanitext Reader

Callimachus · Aetia §4.1-4.3

Prologue to Book 4 and Fragments on Local Lore

Passage 6 of 7 · Greek

Summary

Callimachus reflects on the royal house and his own poetic path in the prologue to the fourth book of the *Aetia*, followed by prose citations concerning the Thessalian locality Deipnias and the 'hero at the stern' in Phaleron.

§4.1Ἄρην ὅτ’ ἐμὴ Μοῦσά π[οθ’ ἱλ]άσεται.
When my Muse shall one day appease Ares.
[ἦ]που καὶ Χαρίτων [σὺ λοχεύτ]ρια, μαῖα δ’ ἀνάσσης [ἡμε]τέρης, οὔ σε ψευδον ὑμῳ στό]ματι πάντ’ ἀγαθὴν καὶ πάντα τ[ελ]εσφόρον εἶπε[ν ἀοιδὸς κεῖνος τῷ Μοῦσαι πολλὰ νέμοντι βοτὰ σὺν μύθους ἐβάλοντο παρ’ ἴχν[ι]ον [ι]ον ὀξέος ἵππου·
Surely you are also the midwife of the Graces, and the nurse of our queen; with no lying mouth of song did that poet call you all-good and all-accomplishing, the poet with whom, as he pastured many beasts, the Muses exchanged words by the footprint of the swift horse.
χαῖρε, σὺν εὐεστοῖ δ’ ἔρχεο λωιτέρῃ.
Hail, and go with a better well-being.
χαῖρε, Ζεῦ, μέγα καὶ σύ, σάω δ’ [ὅλο]ν οἶκον ἀνάκτων· αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ Μουσέων πεζὸς [ἔ]πειμι νομόν.
Hail, O Zeus, greatly you too, and save the whole house of the kings; but I will traverse the pasture of the Muses on foot.
§4.2Δειπνιάς, κώμη Θεσσαλίας περὶ Λάρισσαν, ὅπου φασὶ τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα δειπνῆσαι πρῶτον ὅτε ἐκ τῶν Τέμπεων καθαρθεὶς ὑπέστρεψεν· καὶ τῷ παιδὶ τῷ διακομιστῇ τῆς δάφνης ἔθος εἰς τήνδε παραγενομένῳ δειπνεῖν· Καλλίμαχος τετάρτῳ· "Δειπνιὰς ἔνθεν μιν δειδέχαται. "
Deipnias, a village of Thessaly near Larissa, where they say Apollo first dined when he returned purified from Tempe; and it is the custom for the boy who conveys the laurel to dine when he arrives at this place; Callimachus in the fourth book: "Deipnias, whence it welcomes him."...
§4.3, τιμᾶται δέ τις καὶ Φαληροῖ κατὰ πρύμναν ἥρως]. . . ὁ δὲ κατὰ πρύμνας ἥρως πρύμναν ἥρως]. Ἀνδρόγεως ἐστιν, υἱὸς Μίνωος, οὕτως ὀνομασθεὶς ὅτι κατὰ πρύμνας τῶν νεῶν ἵδρυτο, ὡς Καλλίμαχος ἐν δ’ τῶν Αἰτίων μέμνηται.
"and a certain 'hero at the stern' is also honored at Phaleron"... and the "hero at the stern" is Androgeos, the son of Minos, so named because he was established near the sterns of the ships, as Callimachus mentions in the fourth book of the *Aetia*.

Notes

  1. §4.1Ἄρην — A poetic accusative form of Ares, the god of war (alternatively interpreted as the accusative of ἀρή, meaning 'prayer' or 'bane'). It likely refers to a mythological or historical pacification relevant to the Ptolemaic royal house or Arsinoe's apotheosis.
  2. §4.1ἀοιδὸς κεῖνος — 'That poet' refers to Hesiod. The subsequent description of the Muses exchanging words with him as he pastured his beasts (τῷ... νέμοντι) explicitly points to the famous encounter on Mount Helicon at the beginning of the *Theogony*.
  3. §4.1πεζὸς — Literally meaning 'on foot' (pedestrian), here used metaphorically to contrast his humble, refined elegiac poetry with the grand epic traditions represented by Hesiod and the winged horse Pegasus. It serves as a statement of Callimachus' own poetic program.
  4. §4.2δειδέχαται — An Ionic or poetic form of the verb δέχομαι (to receive, welcome), functioning here as a third-person singular (or plural) perfect with present force. The subject is the personified place-name Deipnias (or its inhabitants), welcoming Apollo or the laurel-bearing boy.

Cite this passage

Callimachus, Aetia §4.1-4.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0533.tlg006.humanitext-grc1:4.1-4.3

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