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Callimachus · Hymn to Apollo §57-113

Founding of Cyrene and the Rejection of Envy

Passage 2 of 2 · Greek

Summary

The poet recounts Apollo's founding of cities, the altar of horns in Ortygia, and his patronage of Cyrene and the Carneian festival, concluding with the famous rejection of Envy and Mockery in favor of pure, refined poetry.

§57κτιζομένῃσʼ, αὐτὸς δὲ θεμείλια Φοῖβος ὑφαίνει.
as they are being founded; and Phoebus himself weaves their foundations.
§58τετραέτης τὰ πρῶτα θεμείλια Φοῖβος ἔπηξε §59καλῇ ἐν Ὀρτυγίῃ περιηγέος ἐγγύθι λίμνης.
At four years of age, Phoebus fixed the first foundations in beautiful Ortygia near the circular lake.
§60Ἄρτεμις ἀγρώσσουσα καρήατα συνεχὲς αἰγῶν §61Κυνθιάδων φορέεσκεν, ὁ δʼ ἔπλεκε βωμὸν Ἀπόλλων.
Artemis, hunting, brought continuously the heads of goats of Cynthus, and Apollo wove the altar.
§62δείματο μὲν κεράεσσιν ἐδέθλια, πῆξε δὲ βωμὸν §63ἐκ κεράων, κεραοὺς δὲ πέριξ ὑπεβάλλετο τοίχους.
He built the foundations with horns, and fixed the altar of horns, and placed walls of horns all around.
§64ὧδʼ ἔμαθεν τὰ πρῶτα θεμείλια Φοῖβος ἐγείρειν.
Thus Phoebus learned to raise his first foundations.
§65Φοῖβος καὶ βαθύγειον ἐμὴν πόλιν ἔφρασε Βάττῳ §66καὶ Λιβύην ἐσιόντι κόραξ ἡγήσατο λαῷ §67δεξιὸς οἰκιστῆρι καὶ ὤμοσε τείχεα δώσειν §68ἡμετέροις βασιλεῦσιν· ἀεὶ δʼ εὔορκος Ἀπόλλων.
Phoebus also pointed out my deep-soiled city to Battus, and as a raven guided the people entering Libya, favorable on the right to the founder, and swore to give walls to our kings; and Apollo is always true to his oath.
§69ὤπολλον, πολλοί σε Βοηδρόμιον καλέουσι, §70πολλοὶ δὲ Κλάριον, πάντη δέ τοι οὔνομα πογλύ· §71αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ Καρνεῖον· ἐμοὶ πατρώιον οὕτω.
Apollo, many call you Boëdromios, and many Clarios, and everywhere your name is great; but I call you Carneios; for this is the custom of my ancestors.
§72Σπάρτη τοι, Καρνεῖε, τὸ δὴ πρώτιστον ἔδεθλον, §73δεύτερον αὖ Θήρη, τρίτατόν γε μὲν ἄστυ Κυρήνης.
Sparta indeed, Carneios, was your very first home, and second in turn Thera, and third indeed the city of Cyrene.
§74ἐκ μέν σε Σπάρτης ἕκτον γένος Οἰδιπόδαο §75ἤγαγε Θηραίην ἐς ἀπόκτισιν· ἐκ δέ σε Θήρης §76οὖλος Ἀριστοτέλης Ἀσβυστίδι πάρθετο γαίῃ, §77δεῖμε δέ τοι μάλα καλὸν ἀνάκτορον, ἐν δὲ πόληι §78θῆκε τελεσφορίην ἐπετήσιον, ᾗ ἐνὶ πολλοὶ §79ὑστάτιον πίπτουσιν ἐπʼ ἰσχίον, ὦ ἄνα, ταῦροι.
From Sparta, the sixth generation of Oedipus brought you to the colony of Thera; and from Thera steadfast Aristoteles established you in the Asbystian land, and built you a very beautiful temple, and in the city established an annual festival of fulfillment, in which many bulls fall upon their hindmost flank, O king.
§80ἱὴ ἱὴ Καρνεῖε πολύλλιτε, σεῖο δὲ βωμοὶ
Hië, Hië, Carneios, much-entreated!
§81ἄνθεα μὲν φορέουσιν ἐν εἴαρι τόσσα περ Ὧραι §82ποικίλʼ ἀγινεῦσι ζεφύρου πνείοντος ἐέρσην, §83χείματι δὲ κρόκον ἡδύν· ἀεὶ δέ τοι ἀέναον πῦρ, §84οὐδέ ποτε χθιζὸν περιβόσκεται ἄνθρακα τέφρη.
Your altars bear in spring as many flowers as the Hours bring in all their variety when Zephyrus breathes dew, and in winter the sweet crocus; and always you have an everlasting fire, and never does the ash feed upon yesterday's coal.
§85ἦ ῥʼ ἐχάρη μέγα Φοῖβος, ὅτε ζωστῆρες Ἐνυοῦς §86ἀνέρες ὠρχήσαντο μετὰ ξανθῇσι Λιβύσσαις, §87τέθμιαι εὖτέ σφιν Καρνειάδες ἤλυθον ὧραι.
Surely Phoebus rejoiced greatly, when the men girt with the belt of Enyo danced with the golden-haired Libyan women, when for them the established seasons of Carneia arrived.
§88οἱ δʼ οὔπω πηγῇσι Καρνειάδες ἤλυθον ὧραι.
But they, the Carneian seasons, had not yet come to the springs.
§89Δωριέες, πυκινὴν δὲ νάπαις Ἄζιλιν ἔναιον.
The Dorians, but they inhabited Azilis with its thick valleys.
§90τοὺς μὲν ἄναξ ἴδεν αὐτός, ἑῇ δʼ ἐπεδείξατο νύμφῃ §91στὰς ἐπὶ Μυρτούσσης κερατώδεος, ἧχι λέοντα §92Ὑψηὶς κατέπεφνε βοῶν σίνιν Εὐρυπύλοιο.
The king himself saw them, and showed them to his nymph, standing upon horned Myrtoussa, where the daughter of Hypseus slew the lion that ravaged the cattle of Eurypylus.
§93οὐ κείνου χορὸν εἶδε θεώτερον ἄλλον Ἀπόλλων, §94οὐδὲ πόλει τόσʼ ἔνειμεν ὀφέλσιμα, τόσσα Κυρήνῃ, §95μνωόμενος προτέρης ἁρπακτύος.
Apollo did not see any other chorus more divine than that, nor did he grant as many benefits to any city as to Cyrene, remembering his former abduction.
οὐδὲ μὲν αὐτοὶ §96Βαττιάδαι Φοίβοιο πλέον θεὸν ἄλλον ἔτεισαν.
And indeed the descendants of Battus themselves honored no other god more than Phoebus.
§97ἱὴ ἱὴ παιῆον ἀκούομεν, οὕνεκα τοῦτο §98Δελφός τοι πρώτιστον ἐφύμνιον εὕρετο λαός, §99ἦμος ἑκηβολίην χρυσέων ἐπεδείκνυσο τόξων.
We hear "Hië, Hië Paieon", because this refrain indeed the Delphian people first invented for you, when you displayed the far-shooting power of your golden bow.
§100Πυθώ τοι κατιόντι συνήντετο δαιμόνιος θήρ, §101αἰνὸς ὄφις.
When you went down to Pytho, there met you a demonic beast, a dreadful serpent.
τὸν μὲν σὺ κατήναρες ἄλλον ἐπʼ ἄλλῳ §102βάλλων ὠκὺν ὀιστόν, ἐπηύτησε δὲ λαός, §103ἱὴ ἱὴ παιῆον, ἵει βέλος. εὐθύ σε μήτηρ §104γείνατʼ ἀοσσητῦρα, τὸ δʼ ἐξέτι κεῖθεν ἀείδῃ.
You slew him, letting fly one after another swift arrows, and the people shouted, "Hië, Hië Paieon, shoot the arrow!" Straightway your mother bore you as a helper, and from that time on this is sung.
§105ὁ Φθόνος Ἀπόλλωνος ἐπʼ οὔατα λάθριος εἶπεν §106οὐκ ἄγαμαι τὸν ἀοιδὸν ὃς οὐδʼ ὅσα πόντος ἀείδει. §107τὸν Φθόνον ὡπόλλων ποδί τʼ ἤλασεν ὧδέ τʼ ἔειπεν· §108Ἀσσυρίου ποταμοῖο μέγας ῥόος, ἀλλὰ τὰ πολλὰ §109λύματα γῆς καὶ πολλὸν ἐφʼ ὕδατι συρφετὸν ἕλκει. §110Δηοῖ δʼ οὐκ ἀπὸ παντὸς ὕδωρ φορέουσι Μέλισσαι, §111ἀλλʼ ἥτις καθαρή τε καὶ ἀχράαντος ἀνέρπει §112πίδακος ἐξ ἱερῆς ὀλίγη λιβὰς ἄκρον ἄωτον. §113χαῖρε ἄναξ·
Envy spoke secretly to the ears of Apollo: "I do not admire the singer who does not sing even as much as the sea." Apollo spurned Envy with his foot, and spoke thus: "Great is the stream of the Assyrian river, but it drags along much filth of the earth and much refuse in its water." "And to Deo, the Melissae do not carry water from every source, but that which rises pure and undefiled from a sacred spring, a tiny rill, the choicest bloom." Hail, king!
ὁ δὲ Μῶμος, ἵνʼ ὁ Φθόνος, ἔνθα νέοιτο.
And let Mockery go where Envy is.

Notes

  1. 57κτιζομένῃσʼ — Dative plural feminine of the present passive participle (κτιζομένῃσι, with elision), qualifying 'πολίεσσι' in line 56 ('he delights in cities as they are being founded').
  2. 71αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ Καρνεῖον — Ellipsis of the verb of calling. In contrast with 'πολλοί σε... καλέουσι' in lines 69–70, the first-person verb 'καλέω' (I call) is understood with the accusative 'Καρνεῖον'.
  3. 79ὑστάτιον πίπτουσιν ἐπʼ ἰσχίον — 'Fall upon their hindmost flank' is a formulaic description of sacrificial bulls falling when slaughtered. 'ὑστάτιον' (last) functions as an adverbial accusative (cognate/internal accusative) modifying the action of falling.
  4. 106ὃς οὐδʼ ὅσα πόντος ἀείδει — 'Who does not sing even as much as the sea.' The sea (πόντος) represents immense scale and volume. The relative 'ὅσα' introduces a clause comparing the quantity of the song to the vastness of the sea.
  5. 112ἄκρον ἄωτον — 'The choicest bloom' or 'highest quintessence', in apposition with the subject 'ὀλίγη λιβὰς' (a tiny rill), emphasizing the supreme quality and purity of the water offered to Demeter (Deo).

Cite this passage

Callimachus, Hymn to Apollo §57-113. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0533.tlg016.humanitext-grc3:57-113

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