so that the young bloom from his l[ovel]y…reclining, wiping away white wrinkles…
I can understand why line 26 is missing from the translation. Not enough of the line is confidently restored. But in line 25 I assume with βλ[εφάρ]ων the restored letters are a pretty sure bet. And the rest of the line except for [πόθον is found in the papyri.
I’d translate it as “longing … drips from the eyes”
Does it seem like a line from the translation got dropped, or is there another reason why line 25 is missing from the translation?
Yes it does look as if something has dropped out. It’s certainly odd that ἀπὸ χροὸς in 24 isn’t translated either, and there’s definitely enough of 26 to be worth translating. ἐγ[ὼ and ἐν ἄνθε[σιν are as good as certain there, reinforcing the homoerotic content of this remarkable piece.
πόθον will be the object of λείβει, btw, not the subject as you seem to have it.
Thanks, Michael. I wanted to make sure I understood correctly what the translation was trying to do. In line 26, Sider doesn’t say that “ἐγ[ὼ” is definite. I didn’t know if other restorations were possible. I’m glad to hear that you think it’s certain.
I’m actually more uncertain about the interpretation of elegy 21 W. Until just now I didn’t really that it was formerly Adesp. eleg. 28. No wonder there were no journal articles about it that I could find.
A key line is 6:
ὑ]μετέρης εἶδον τέρμ[ατα πα]ιδεῒης (dots under most of the letters of the last word)
The translation, including context, is:
“from the very moment I saw the end of your youth on your tender thighs, and black was mixing with that ivory gleam”
West reads ή]μετέρης rather than ὑ]μετέρης. That totally changes the meaning of the entire poem. From the apparatus it was W. Peek who proposed ὑ]μετέρης. Since I don’t know German I was not able to find out why. Sider says that the lack of this single letter is the crux of the interpretation of the poem, and he agrees with Peek.
Line 9:
ἀλλ ’αἰδ[ὼ]ς ἤρυκε, νέου δ.[..].τ[ ] ὕβριν
“But shame kept me back …. violence” (Needless to say, “violence” is not the only translation for ὕβριν.)
So why is the speaker feeling shame? Is it because the eromenos is becoming a man and can no longer be courted according to Greek mores? Is the rest of the poem, eleg. 22, a fantasy about a place where the restricting mores are not in force?
In my admitted limited experience of homoerotic Greek poetry, this attitude seems quite different from everything else I’ve seen.
Thanks Mark. I find it hard to think of viable alternatives to ἐγ[ὼ in 26. Does Sider offer any?
I’m not convinced that ὑ]μετέρης is right as against ή]μετέρης, which would be referring to his own adolescence. But it’s a very challenging poem, and I haven’t kept up with what’s been written about it since what came in the wake of the P.Oxy. publication, which of course was transformative.
“Shame” is rarely the best translation of aidws, of course. But yes, perhaps he’s fantasizing about losing his inhibitions along with his wrinkles.
Sider doesn’t discuss ἐγ[ὼ at all. I do think that ή]μετέρης would make the poem easier to understand. It leaves a mystery – why do Sider and Peek think it’s ὑ]μετέρης?