Greek Anthology
Καὶ τίς ἂν εἴην εἰ πάντων σοι τῶν εἰρημένων τὴν γνῶσιν ἐκθέμενος τὴν Στράτωνος τοῦ Σαρδιανοῦ Παιδικὴν Μοῦσαν ἀπεκρυψάμην, ἣν αὐτὸς παίζων πρὸς τοὺς πλησίον ἀπεδείκνυτο, τέρψιν οἰκείαν τὴν ἀπαγγελίαν τῶν ἐπιγραμμάτων, οὐ τὸν νοῦν, ποιούμενος. ἔχου τοίνυν τῶν ἑξῆς· ἐν χορείαις γὰρ ἥ γε σώφρων, κατὰ τὸν τραγικόν, οὐ διαφθαρήσεται.
1.—ΣΤΡΑΤΩΝΟΣ
Ἐκ Διὸς ἀρχώμεσθα, καθὼς εἴρηκεν Ἄρατος· ὑμῖν δ᾿, ὦ Μοῦσαι, σήμερον οὐκ ἐνοχλῶ. εἰ γὰρ ἐγὼ παῖδάς τε φιλῶ καὶ παισὶν ὁμιλῶ, τοῦτο τι πρὸς Μούσας τὰς Ἑλικωνιάδας;
2.—ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ
Μὴ ζήτει δέλτοισιν ἐμαῖς Πρίαμον παρὰ βωμοῖς, μηδὲ τὰ Μηδείης πένθεα καὶ Νιόβης, μηδ᾿ Ἴτυν ἐν θαλάμοις, καὶ ἀηδόνας ἐν πετάλοισιν· ταῦτα γὰρ οἱ πρότεροι πάντα χύδην ἔγραφον· 5ἀλλ᾿ ἱλαραῖς Χαρίτεσσι μεμιγμένον ἡδὺν Ἔρωτα, καὶ Βρόμιον· τούτοις δ᾿ ὀφρύες οὐκ ἔπρεπον.
3.—ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ
Τῶν παίδων, Διόδωρε, τὰ προσθέματ᾿ εἰς τρία πίπτει σχήματα, καὶ τούτων μάνθαν᾿ ἐπωνυμίας.
Book XII
Strato’s Musa Puerilis
And what kind of man should I be, reader, if after setting forth all that precedes for thee to study, I were to conceal the Puerile Muse of Strato of Sardis, which he used to recite to those about him in sport, taking personal delight in the diction of the epigrams, not in their meaning. Apply thyself then to what follows, for “in dances,” as the tragic poet says, “a chaste woman will not be corrupted.”
1.—Strato
“Let us begin from Zeus,” as Aratus said, and you, O Muses, I trouble not to-day. For if I love boys and associate with boys, what is that to the Muses of Helicon?
2.—By the Same
Look not in my pages for Priam by the altar, nor for the woes of Medea and Niobe, nor for Itys in his chamber and the nightingales amid the leaves; for earlier poets wrote of all these things in profusion. But look for sweet Love mingled with the jolly Graces, and for Bacchus, No grave face suits them.
3.—By the Same
My dear Diodorus, the forepokers of boys fall into three shapes; learn their names. Well, name the