Callimachus 14 G-P

 

Κόγχος ἐγώ, Ζεφυρῖτι, παλαίτερον, ἀλλὰ σὺ νῦν με,
Κύπρι, Σεληναίης ἄνθεμα πρῶτον ἔχεις,
ναυτίλος ὃς πελάγεσσιν ἐπέπλεον, εἰ μὲν ἀῆται,
τείνας οἰκείων λαῖφος ἀπὸ προτόνων,
εἰ δὲ Γαληναίη, λιπαρὴ θεός, οὖλος ἐρέσσων
ποσσίν—ἴδ’ ὡς τὤργωι τοὔνομα συμφέρεται—
ἔστ’ ἔπεσον παρὰ θῖνας Ἰουλίδος, ὄφρα γένωμαι
σοὶ τὸ περίσκεπτον παίγνιον, Ἀρσινόη,
μηδὲ μοι ἐν θαλὰμηισιν ἔθ’ ὡς πάρος—εἰμί γὰρ ἄπλους—
τίκτηται νοτερῆς ὤεον ἀλκυόνος.
Κλεινίου ἀλλὰ θυγατρὶ δίδου χάριν· οἶδε γὰρ ἐσθλὰ
ῥέζειν, καὶ Σμύρνης ἐστὶν ἀπ’ Αἰολίδος.

Elegaic couplets

“I was a shell, O Aphrodite of Zephyrium, but now
you have me: Selenaea’s first dedication,
a sailor who floated the seas, hoisting a sail
from my own halyards if there were winds,
and rowing hard with my feet—see how my name
fits what I do—if Galenaea, the goddess of calm,
until I fell on the shores of Iulis, to become
your admired toy, Arsinoe, and to never again
bear a marine Halycon’s egg in the seas,
as before—for I am not seaworthy.
So give favor to Cleinias’ daughter: for she knows
how to behave, and she is from Aeolian Smyrna.”


Image from Wikipedia (by Manuae)