Callimachus - Delphi Complete Works of Callimachus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 84)

The Complete Works of

CALLIMACHUS

(310/305240 BC)

Contents

Delphi Classics 2017

Version 1

The Complete Works of

CALLIMACHUS

By Delphi Classics, 2017

Complete Works of Callimachus

First published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by Delphi Classics.

Delphi Classics, 2017.

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.

ISBN: 978 1 78656 393 4

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Ruins of Cyrene, Shahhat, modern-day Libya Callimachus birthplace

Callimachus was born in Cyrene, Libya, in c. 310/305 BC and raised as a member of a distinguished family, his parents being descendants of the first Greek king of Cyrene, Battus I. He was named after his grandfather, an elder Callimachus, who was highly regarded by the Cyrenaean citizens and had served as a general. Few details survive about his personal life. We do know that he married the daughter of a Greek man named Euphrates, who came from Syracuse. However, it is unknown if they had children. He also had a sister called Megatime, though very little is known about her. In later years, Callimachus was educated in Athens, before returning to North Africa to live at Alexandria. King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt had found him employment in the Library of Alexandria, the most important institution of its kind in the Hellenistic world.

Elitist and erudite, Callimachus claimed to abhor all common things and is best known for his short poems and epigrams. During the Hellenistic period, a major trend in Greek-language poetry rejected the epic poetry modelled on Homer. Instead, Callimachus urged poets to drive their wagons on untrodden fields, rather than following in the well-worn tracks of Homer. Callimachus argued for an idealised form of poetry that was brief, yet carefully formed and worded a style that he particularly excelled at. Big book, big evil, ( ) is a famous saying attributed to the poet, often thought to be attacking long, old-fashioned poetry. Callimachus also wrote poems in praise of his royal patrons, including Ptolemy II Philadelphus, and a wide variety of other poetic styles, as well as prose and criticism.

Though Callimachus was an opponent of large-scale books, the Suda ascribes to him a possibly exaggerated 800 works, suggesting that he found large quantities of small works more acceptable. Out of this long list of works, only six hymns, sixty-four epigrams and several fragments are extant. In the Hymns , Callimachus adapts the traditional religious form of the Homeric Hymns to an original and purely literary use; they are very learned and artificial in style. The Epigrams treat a variety of personal themes with consummate artistry.

Of his prolific prose works, certainly the most famous was the Pinakes (Tables of Those Who Have Distinguished Themselves in Every Form of Culture and of What They Wrote) in 120 books, now lost. This work consisted of an elaborate critical and biographical catalogue of the authors of the works held in the Library of Alexandria.

A considerable fragment of the Hecale , one of Callimachus few longer poems treating epic material, has also been discovered in the Rainer papyri. His Aetia (Causes), another rare longer work surviving only in tattered papyrus fragments and quotations in later authors, was a collection of elegiac poems in four books, dealing with the foundation of cities, obscure religious ceremonies and exploring unique local traditions apparently chosen for their oddity.

Discoveries in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries of ancient Egyptian papyruses confirm the fame of Callimachus. No other Greek poet except Homer was so often quoted by the grammarians of late antiquity. He was taken as a model by many Roman poets, notably Catullus and Propertius, and by the most accomplished Greek poets.

A papyrus of Callimachus Aetia, 1st century AD

A bust depicting Ptolemy II Philadelphus (309246 BC), Callimachus great patron

An eighteenth century depiction of Callimachus

Translated by A. W. Mair

CONTENTS

[1] At libations to Zeus what else should rather be sung than the god himself, mighty for ever, king for evermore, router of the Pelagonians, dealer of justice to the sons of Heaven?

[4] O Lord, for thee the Cretans builded; but thou didst not die, for thou art for ever.

[10] call it the primeval childbed of Rheia. There when thy mother had laid thee down from her mighty lap, straightway she sought a stream of water, wherewith she might purge her of the soilure of birth and wash thy body therein.

[17] athirst: while that abundant water lay beneath his feet.

[28] Lycaons daughter, drink.

[42] beating their armour, that Cronus might hear with his ears the din of the shield, but not thine infant noise.

[54] which thou hast set beside thy throne.

[67] for he hath clean outstripped all others. At evening he accomplisheth what whereon he thinketh in the morning; yea, at evening the greatest things, but the lesser soon as he thinketh on them. But the others accomplish some things in a year, and some things not in one; of others, again, thou thyself dost utterly frustrate the accomplishing and thwartest their desire.

[90] Hail! greatly hail! most high Son of Cronus, giver of good things, giver of safety. Thy works who could sing? There hath not been, there shall not be, who shall sing the works of Zeus. Hail! Father, hail again! And grant us goodness and prosperity. Without goodness wealth cannot bless men, nor goodness without prosperity. Give us goodness and weal.