cloudsoup

no soup, no clouds

Mimnermus

leave a comment

From a podcast episode called Philosophy and Religion in Classical Greece I heard Dr Isabelle Pafford read the 7th Century BCE elegaic poet, Mimnermus. For a fragment two and a half millenia old it was suprisingly accessible.

We are as leaves in jeweled springtime growing,
Open to the sunlight's quickening rays.
So joy, we, in our span of youth, unknowing
if God shall bring us good or evil days

Two Fates beside you stand. The one has sorrow,
Dull Age's fruit; that other gives the boon
of Death. For Youth's fair flower has no tomorrow
And lives but as a sunlit afternoon

Apparently, his poems were set by himself to flute music.

The whole podcast series, History 4A The Ancient Mediterranean World on the webcast/courses pages here.

Written by David

January 1st, 2008 at 10:14 am

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged with ,

Leave a Reply