Alcaeus of Mytilene - Alcaeus Collected Fragments

Collected Fragments of ALCAEUS (c. 625/620-c. 580 BC) Contents Delphi Classics 2022 Version 1 Browse Ancient Classics Collected Fragments of ALCAEUS OF MYTILENE By Delphi Classics, 2022

Collected Fragments of Alcaeus First published in the United Kingdom in 2022 by Delphi Classics. Delphi Classics, 2022. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

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Mytilene, the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos Alcaeus birthplace Ancient ruins at Mytilene Translated by J. M. Edmonds, Loeb Classical Library, 1922 Alcaeus of Mytilene (c.625/620 c.580 BC) was a lyric poet from the Greek island of Lesbos, who is credited with inventing the Alcaic stanza (which consists of two Alcaic hendecasyllables, followed by an Alcaic enneasyllable and an Alcaic decasyllable). A contemporary of Sappho, also from Lesbos, he was included in the canonical list of nine lyric poets by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria. He was born into the aristocratic governing class of Mytilene, where he was involved in political disputes and feuds. By the end of the seventh century BC, Mytilene was the most influential of all the North Aegean Greek cities, with a strong navy and colonies securing its trade-routes in the Hellespont.

The city had long been ruled by kings born to the Penthilid clan, but during Alcaeuss life, the Penthilids were a depleted force and rival aristocrats and their factions contended for supreme power. Alcaeus and his older brothers were passionately involved in the struggle, though they experienced little success. At some point prior to 600, Mytilene fought Athens for control of Sigeion and Alcaeus is believed to have taken part in the fighting. According to Herodotus, he threw away his shield to make good his escape from the victorious Athenians and then celebrated the occasion in a poem that he sent to his friend, Melanippus. It is thought that Alcaeus travelled widely during his years in exile, including at least one visit to Egypt. He wrote numerous verses in celebration of Antimenides return, including a reference to his valour in slaying the larger opponent and he proudly describes the military hardware that adorned his family home.

Since both Alcaeus and Sappho composed for the entertainment of Mytilenean friends, they would have had opportunities to associate with each other, including at such events as the Kallisteia, an annual festival celebrating the islands federation under Mytilene, held at the Messon, where Sappho is known to have performed with female choirs. Alcaeus refers to Sappho in his poetry in terms more typical of a divinity, as holy/pure, honey-smiling Sappho, which may have been inspired by the witnessing of her performances. The works of Sappho and Alcaeus represent for many the high point of brilliance for the development of early Greek lyrical poetry. Alcaeus poems were collected into ten books, with elaborate commentaries, by the Alexandrian scholars Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace sometime in the 3rd century BC. Sadly, today his verses exist only in fragmentary form, varying in size from mere phrases to entire groups of stanzas. Some ancient critics held Alcaeus even higher than Pindar in their estimation of his poetical abilities.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus wrote: Observe in Alcaeus the sublimity, brevity and sweetness coupled with stern power, his splendid figures, and his clearness which was unimpaired by the dialect; and above all mark his manner of expressing his sentiments on public affairs, while Quintilian, after commending Alcaeus for his excellence in that part of his works where he inveighs against tyrants and contributes to good morals; in his language he is concise, exalted, careful and often like an orator; goes on to add: but he descended into wantonness and amours, though better fitted for higher things. The poems are conventionally grouped according to five genres.

• Political songs , covering the power struggles on Lesbos with the passion and vigour of a partisan, cursing his opponents, rejoicing in their deaths, delivering blood-curdling homilies on the consequences of political inaction and exhorting his comrades to heroic defiance.
• Drinking songs: According to the grammarian Athenaeus, Alcaeus made every occasion an excuse for drinking and he has provided posterity several quotes in proof of it. Alcaeus exhorts his friends to drink in celebration of a tyrants death, to drink away their sorrows, to drink because life is short, to drink through winter storms and to drink through the heat of summer.
• Hymns : Alcaeus sang about the gods in the spirit of the Homeric hymns, to entertain his companions rather than to glorify the gods and in the same meters that he used for his secular lyrics.
• Love songs : Almost all Alcaeus amorous verses have vanished without trace. There is a brief reference to his love poetry in a passage by Cicero. Horace, who often wrote in imitation of Alcaeus, sketches in verse one of the Lesbian poets favourite subjects: Lycus of the black hair and eyes.
• Miscellaneous : Alcaeus wrote on a wide variety of subjects and themes that contradictions in his character emerge.

  Athenaeus has preserved some verses about perfumed ointments to prove just how unwarlike Alcaeus could be and he quoted his description of the armour adorning the walls of his house as proof that he could be unusually warlike for a lyric poet.

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