According to one meaning of the word, an epode is the third part of an ancient Greek choral ode that follows the strophe and the antistrophe and completes the movement.
82-493: The word epode is also used to refer to the second (shorter) line of a two-line stanza of the kind composed by Archilochus and Hipponax in which the first line consists of a dactylic hexameter or an iambic trimeter. (See Archilochian .) It can also be used (as in Horace's Epodes ), to refer to poems written in such stanzas. In the performance of a choral ode, at a certain point in time the choirs, which had previously chanted to
164-513: A cow from the fields, but that the boy chanced to meet a group of women who soon vanished with the animal and left him a lyre in its place – they were the Muses and they had thus earmarked him as their protégé. According to the same inscription, the omen was later confirmed by the oracle at Delphi . Not all the inscriptions are as fanciful as that. Some are records by a local historian of the time, set out in chronological order according to custom, under
246-469: A device common in the archaic iambus of Hipponax and Archilochus: in this case, the "friends" may be understood to be Roman citizens at a time of social and political decay. A fictional Mevius would also be consistent with iambus as a mere literary topic, where Horace makes up for the lack of any real context by adding artistic values, in the Hellenistic manner. The poem is skilfully structured. There
328-460: A different name, 'Notus' (line 20), so that these two mentions provide the poem with the kind of symmetry found in Ring composition . By the latter part of the poem, however, the south wind is no longer being addressed, a change that happens when Mevius is addressed instead (lines 15–20). This change in addressee is preceded by a mythological episode taken from the heroic Ajax legend, occurring exactly in
410-453: A feature of the poetic tradition within which Archilochus composed, known by the ancients as iambus . The two poems quoted by Aristotle help to date the poet's life (assuming of course that Charon and the unnamed father are speaking about events that Archilochus had experienced himself). Gyges reigned 687–652 BC and the date of the eclipse must have been either 6 April 648 BC or 27 June 660 BC (another date, 14 March 711 BC,
492-528: A hymn to Heracles with which victors were hailed at the Olympic Games , with a resounding refrain, Τήνελλα καλλίνικε , in which the first word imitates the sound of the lyre. Τήνελλα καλλίνικε, χαῖρ' ἄναξ Ἡράκλεες, αὐτός τε καὶ Ἰόλαος, αἰχμητὰ δύο. Τήνελλα καλλίνικε χαῖρ' ἄναξ Ἡράκλεες. Although his work now only survives in fragments, Archilochus was revered by the ancient Greeks as one of their most brilliant authors, able to be mentioned in
574-643: A key meaning absent from Horace's epode – a motive for hate. ..... κύματι πλαζόμενος· κἀν Σαλμυδησσῶι γυμνὸν εὐφρονέστατα Θρήϊκες ἀκρόκομοι λάβοιεν - ἔνθα πόλλ᾽ ἀναπλήσει κακὰ δούλιον ἄρτον ἔδων - ῥίγει πεπηγότ᾽ αὐτόν· ἐκ δὲ τοῦ χνόου φυκία πόλλ᾽ ἐπέχοι, κροτέοι δ᾽ ὀδόντας, ὡς κύων ἐπὶ στόμα κείμενος ἀκρασίηι ἄκρον παρὰ ῥηγμῖνα κυμα[...] ταῦτ᾽ ἐθέλοιμ᾽ ἂν ἰδεῖν, ὅς μ᾽ ἠδίκησε, λὰξ δ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ὁρκίοισ᾽ ἔβη, τὸ πρὶν ἑταῖρος ἐών. .... Drifting about in
656-474: A lyrical element ( Epode 13), and a suggestion of love poetry ( Epodes 11 and 14). Moreover, his iambic persona is deliberately presented as powerless, in contrast to the swaggering persona of Archilochus. Horace's weak iambic persona is not inconsistent with the genre. Traditionally the iambic poet, though he bullies others, is a victim too. Thus, Archilochus was said to have driven his would-be in-laws to suicide by his invectives after they had cheated him out of
738-424: A performance before a local group to a literary artifact with an international reach. By the Hellenistic period, the librarian/scholar Callimachus claimed to be following the example of Hipponax yet introduced a wider range of content and a more literary and intellectual focus. He also aligned iambus more closely with other genres such as curse poetry (Ἀραί) and farewell poetry ( propemptika , προπέμπτικα ). Iambus
820-430: A poet were neatly summarized by the rhetorician Quintilian : "We find in him the greatest force of expression, sententious statements that are not only vigorous but also terse and vibrant, and a great abundance of vitality and energy, to the extent that in the view of some his inferiority to anyone results from a defect of subject matter rather than poetic genius." Most ancient commentators focused on his lampoons and on
902-579: A promised marriage, and Hipponax was said to have driven Bupalus to suicide after being caricatured by him in a sculpture. Similarly the author of the Strasbourg fragment below is motivated by revenge. Moreover, Horace's thematic variety is not without parallel among archaic poets such as Archilochus and Hipponax: the mood of the genre is meant to appear spontaneous and that inevitably led to some "hodepodge" contexts. Whatever his unique contribution may have been, Horace still managed to recreate something of
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#1732773384275984-532: A real person but it could also function like "John Doe" and thus it might be a stock figure with some special significance for the original audience. Some scholars identify him with the Maevius rubbished as a contemptible poet by Virgil in Eclogues 3.90 but there is no proof for such an identification. He could represent an imaginary scapegoat intended to avert the gods' anger from the poet's circle of 'friends',
1066-463: A recent eclipse of the sun and, in the other, a carpenter named Charon, expressing his indifference to the wealth of Gyges , the king of Lydia . There is nothing in those two fragments to suggest that Archilochus is speaking in those roles (we rely entirely on Aristotle for the context) and possibly many of his other verses involved role-playing too. It has even been suggested by one modern scholar that imaginary characters and situations might have been
1148-467: A sanctuary to Archilochus (the Archilocheion ) was established on his home island Paros sometime in the third century BC, where his admirers offered him sacrifices, as well as to gods such as Apollo, Dionysus, and the Muses. Inscriptions found on orthostats from the sanctuary include quoted verses and historical records. In one, we are told that his father Telesicles once sent Archilochus to fetch
1230-488: A thousand lines, of which fragments of thirteen poems survive. He in turn influenced Roman poets such as Catullus , who composed satirical epigrams that popularized Hipponax's choliamb . Horace 's Epodes on the other hand were mainly imitations of Archilochus and, as with the Greek poet, his invectives took the forms both of private revenge and denunciation of social offenders. Originally "iambos" ( ἴαμβος ) denoted
1312-437: A traditional entertainment. According to another view, Lycambes as an oath-breaker had marked himself out as a menace to society and the poet's invective was not just personal revenge but a social obligation consistent with the practice of 'iambos'. The inscriptions in the Archilocheion imply that the poet had a controversial role in the introduction of the cult of Dionysus to Paros. It records that his songs were condemned by
1394-420: A type of poetry, specifically its content, and only secondarily did it have any significance as a metrical term. This emerges for example from the fact that Archilochus, a famous iambic poet, was once criticized for being "too iambic" The genre appears to have originated in the cult of Demeter, whose festivals commonly featured insulting and abusive language ( αἰσχρολογία , aischrologia ). A figure called "Iambe"
1476-484: A wordsmith can be seen in the way he loads the beginnings of lines with key words, a trend he overturns in the final couplet, with a caesura , marked by a comma, between key words justifying his hatred, μ᾽ ἠδίκησε, λὰξ ("wronged me, trampling"). One of the uncertainties in the text comes in the word ἐπέχοι , which indicates that the seaweed has a hold on the castaway. Some scholars prefer to read ἐπιχέοι , indicating that he spews out seaweed. Scholars often contrast
1558-533: Is addressed to an audience with shared values and customs, which are represented as under threat, as for example a body of citizens or companions. Whatever its real composition, the audience is cast in the role of mutual friends and their friendship ( φιλότης , philotēs or Latin amicitia ) is asserted in various ways: Blame ranges from humorous ribbing of friends to merciless attacks on outsiders. Among ancient literary theorists, iambic verse came to be regarded as lower than lyric poetry, partly because iambic meter
1640-436: Is an introduction briefly outlining the situation (lines 1–2), a large midsection made up of curses (lines 3–14) and predictions (15–20), and finally an epilogue (21–24). Three winds (Auster, Eurus, Aquilo) are the chief figures in the main body of the poem and also at the very end ( Tempestates ). Each wind is assigned its own couplet (lines 3–8), but only the south wind is addressed. The south wind gets another mention, though by
1722-1532: Is based on comments by Eduard Fraenkel . Horace's poem is in couplets, where a line of iambic trimeter (six iambic feet) is followed by a line of iambic dimeter (four iambic feet). Here it is broken into four-line stanzas to bring out the intrinsic structure of the poem. The English translation has the same metrical couplets but the rhythm is accentual (the norm for English verse) rather than quantitative (the norm for classical Latin and Greek verse). Mala soluta navis exit alite ferens olentem Mevium. ut horridis utrumque verberes latus, Auster, memento fluctibus; niger rudentis Eurus inverso mari fractosque remos differat; insurgat Aquilo, quantus altis montibus frangit trementis ilices; nec sidus atra nocte amicum appareat, qua tristis Orion cadit; quietiore nec feratur aequore quam Graia victorum manus, cum Pallas usto vertit iram ab Ilio in inpiam Aiacis ratem. o quantus instat navitis sudor tuis tibique pallor luteus et illa non virilis eiulatio preces et aversum ad Iovem, Ionius udo cum remugiens sinus Noto carinam ruperit! opima quodsi praeda curvo litore porrecta mergos iuverit, libidinosus immolabitur caper et agna Tempestatibus. The ship casts off from shore in an ill-omened hour, Carrying
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#17327733842751804-468: Is even mentioned in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter , employing language so abusive that the goddess forgets her sorrows and laughs instead. The abuse of a divinity however is quite common in other cults too, as an ironic means of affirming piety: "Normality is reinforced by experiencing its opposite". The common element in all iambus is blame, drawing attention to dangerous or unsuitable behaviours. It
1886-517: Is generally considered too early). These dates are consistent with other evidence of the poet's chronology and reported history, such as the discovery at Thasos of a cenotaph, dated around the end of the seventh century and dedicated to a friend named in several fragments: Glaucus, son of Leptines. The chronology for Archilochus is complex but modern scholars generally settle for c. 680 – c. 640 BC. Whether or not their lives had been virtuous, authors of genius were revered by their fellow Greeks. Thus
1968-633: Is indicative too of the fragmentary nature of Archilochus's extant work: lines 2 and 3 are probably corrupted and modern scholars have tried to emend them in various ways, though the general meaning is clear. θυμέ, θύμ᾽ ἀμηχάνοισι κήδεσιν κυκώμενε, ἄνα δέ, δυσμενέων δ᾽ ἀλέξευ προσβαλὼν ἐναντίον στέρνον, ἐν δοκοῖσιν ἐχθρῶν πλησίον κατασταθείς ἀσφαλέως· καὶ μήτε νικῶν ἀμφαδὴν ἀγάλλεο μηδὲ νικηθεὶς ἐν οἴκωι καταπεσὼν ὀδύρεο. ἀλλὰ χαρτοῖσίν τε χαῖρε καὶ κακοῖσιν ἀσχάλα μὴ λίην· γίνωσκε δ᾽ οἷος ῥυσμὸς ἀνθρώπους ἔχει. My Soul, my Soul, all disturbed by sorrows inconsolable, Bear up, hold out, meet front-on
2050-434: Is no sure evidence about the original venue for iambic poetry but the drinking party (or symposium ) and the cult festival were probably the main occasions. Nor do we know clearly what role iambic poetry played in ancient society. It was certainly complex. It seems to have found voice during times of social change and political dissent, when the poet felt entitled or empowered to preach and condemn. Semonides , probably about
2132-630: Is now mainly familiar from the Epodon liber or the Book of Epodes , one of the early works of Horace . He says in the course of these poems that in composing them he was introducing a new form, at least in Latin literature , and that he was imitating the effect of the iambic distichs invented by Archilochus. Accordingly, the first ten of these epodes are composed in alternate verses of iambic trimeter and iambic dimeter , as at, for example, Epode 5.1–2: In
2214-525: Is quite consistent with iambus for the whole crew to be punished on account of one offender, a result implied by the impersonal ending iuverit in the version here. Moreover, the impersonal ending marks a clear break between the epilogue and the main body of the poem. The intricate structure of the poem reveals Hellenistic influence. A poet of the archaic period, such as Archilochus or Hipponax, might have mentioned this or that wind but not arranged them as neatly as here, assigning each its own couplet. Moreover,
2296-511: Is referred to as "blame poetry". For Alexandrian editors, however, iambus signified any poetry of an informal kind that was intended to entertain, and it seems to have been performed on similar occasions as elegy even though lacking elegy's decorum. The Archaic Greek poets Archilochus , Semonides and Hipponax were among the most famous of its early exponents. The Alexandrian poet Callimachus composed "iambic" poems against contemporary scholars, which were collected in an edition of about
2378-402: Is the earliest known Greek author to compose almost entirely on the theme of his own emotions and experiences. A considerable amount of information about the life of Archilochus has come down to the modern age via his surviving work, the testimony of other authors, and inscriptions on monuments, yet it all needs to be viewed with caution – the biographical tradition is generally unreliable and
2460-449: The Budé edition (1958, revised 1968) by François Lasserre and André Bonnard . About half of these fragments are too short or too damaged to discern any context or intention (some of them consisting of single words). One of the longest fragments (fragment 13) has ten nearly complete lines. Thirty previously unknown lines by Archilochus, in the elegiac meter, describing events leading up to
2542-509: The Old Assyrian Empire , Shamshi-Adad I , with the same proverb: "The bitch by her acting too hastily brought forth the blind." Iambus (genre) Iambus or iambic poetry was a genre of ancient Greek poetry that included but was not restricted to the iambic meter and whose origins modern scholars have traced to the cults of Demeter and Dionysus . The genre featured insulting and obscene language and sometimes it
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2624-660: The Trojan War , in which Achaeans battled Telephus king of Mysia , have been identified among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri and published in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri , Volume LXIX (Graeco-Roman Memoirs 89, 2007). A discovery of a fragment of writing by Archilochus contained a citation of a proverb that was important to the proper interpretation of a letter in the Akkadian language from the emperor of
2706-499: The "Strasbourg" papyrus, a fragment attributed either to Archilochus or Hipponax (seventh and sixth century respectively). The modern world became aware of the Greek poem only in 1899, when it was discovered by R. Reitzenstein among other papyri at the University Library of Strasbourg. He published it straight away, recognizing its significance and its resemblance to Horace's poem. This study however begins with Horace and it
2788-514: The Ionian sea, resounding with the wet Southern wind, breaks apart your ship! If then the rich spoil, scattered round the curving shore, Lies at the pleasure of the gulls, There will be sacrifices of a lusty goat And lamb in honour of the Winds. It is not known who Mevius is nor what he is supposed to have done wrong. The name could be of
2870-510: The Parian colony on Thasos and battled the indigenous Thracians, expressing himself in his poems as a cynical, hard-bitten soldier fighting for a country he doesn't love ("Thasos, thrice miserable city") on behalf of a people he scorns yet he values his closest comrades and their stalwart, unglamorous commander. Later he returned to Paros and joined the fight against the neighbouring island of Naxos . A Naxian warrior named Calondas won notoriety as
2952-526: The Parians as "too iambic" (the issue may have concerned phallic worship) but they were the ones who ended up being punished by the gods for impiety, possibly with impotence. The oracle of Apollo then instructed them to atone for their error and rid themselves of their suffering by honouring the poet, which led to the shrine being dedicated to him. His hero cult lasted on Paros over 800 years. His combative spirit also expressed itself in warfare. He joined
3034-620: The Saians ( Thracian tribe ) now delights in the shield I discarded Unwillingly near a bush, for it was perfectly good, But at least I got myself safely out. Why should I care for that shield? Let it go. Some other time I'll find another no worse. Archilochus was much imitated even up to Roman times and three other distinguished poets later claimed to have thrown away their shields – Alcaeus , Anacreon and Horace . Like other archaic Greek poets, Archilochus relied heavily on Homer's example for his choice of language, particularly when using
3116-408: The agreement, and the poet retaliated with such eloquent abuse that Lycambes, Neobule and one or both of his other daughters committed suicide. The story later became a popular theme for Alexandrian versifiers, who played upon its poignancy at the expense of Archilochus. Some modern scholars believe that Lycambes and his daughters were not actually the poet's contemporaries but fictional characters in
3198-824: The ancient spirit of the genre, alerting his companions to threats facing them as a group, in this case as Roman citizens of a doomed republic: In the midst of a crisis which could be seen as a result of the decline and failure of traditional Roman amicitia , Horace turned to a type of poetry whose function had been the affirmation of "friendship" in its community. It is doubtful whether he believed that his or anyone else's poetry could avert disaster. But he may have hoped that his iambi would somehow 'blame' his friends and fellow citizens into at least asking themselves quo ruitis [i.e. where are you careering to ]? The nature of iambus changed from one epoch to another, as becomes obvious if we compare two poems that are otherwise very similar – Horace's Epode 10 (around 30 BC) and
3280-505: The arrival on stage of an enraged chorus in The Knights , but Archilochus uses it here to communicate the need for emotional moderation. His use of the meter isn't intentionally ironic, however, since he didn't share the tidy functionalism of later theorists, for whom different meters and verse-forms were endowed with distinctive characters suited to different tasks – his use of meter is "neutral in respect of ethos". The following verse
3362-441: The breakers' edge, still licked at by the surf! These are the things I must see, Because he wronged me, trampling all over our oaths, Once a companion of mine! The language is vigorous and direct, appropriate to the mood of the piece. Some of the diction is borrowed from the older work of Homer but it adds dignity and pathos without any artificiality. Meanings flow clearly and naturally with
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3444-550: The brilliance of the poem's invective suggests it is the work of a more significant poet i.e. Archilochus. Some scholars conclude that the fragment is not a single poem, assigning part to Archilochus and the rest to Hipponax. Like Horace's epode above, the verse below is made of couplets, but the meter is a bit different. An initial line of iambic trimeter in this case is followed by a hemiepes (two dactyls then an emphatic final syllable). The English translation follows it closely but in accentual rhythm. The opening lines are lost and
3526-642: The cult of Demeter on Thasos near the end of the eighth century BC, a mission that was famously depicted in a painting at Delphi by the Thasian Polygnotus . The painting, later described by Pausanias , showed Tellis in Hades , sharing Charon 's boat with the priestess of Demeter. The poet's father, Telesicles, also distinguished himself in the history of Thasos, as the founder of a Parian colony there. The names 'Tellis' and 'Telesicles' can have religious connotations and some modern scholars infer that
3608-402: The cult of Dionysus. This cult's association with iambus seems to be indicated etymologically by the poetic form associated with Dionysus, the dithyramb , a term which appears to include the same root as "iambus". Early dithyrambs were a "riotous affair" and Archilochus was prominent in the controversial development of Dionyssian worship on Paros (possibly in relation to phallic rites). There
3690-508: The dark night As Orion sinks in the west! May the sea carrying him be no more gentle than The waves the winning Greeks sailed on That time Athena turned her rage from smouldering Troy Onto Ajax and his damned ship! Oh what a cold damp sweating will beset your crew While you change hue to a pale green, And oh how woman-like will all that wailing be And all those prayers ignored by Jove, When
3772-421: The epode bears resemblance to curse poems or Ἀραί , fashionable in the Hellenistic period. On the other hand, Horace leaves out the heavy-handed pedantry of a craftsman like Callimachus. The epode also resembles a "farewell" poem or προπεμπτικόν but with an ironic inversion: in a Hellenistic "farewell" poem, it was conventional to wish upon the traveller a safe voyage and favourable winds, pledging sacrifices if
3854-468: The epodical system. In Latin poetry the epode was cultivated, in conscious archaism , both as a part of the ode and as an independent branch of poetry. Of the former class, the epithalamia of Catullus , founded on an imitation of Pindar , present us with examples of strophe, antistrophe and epode; and it has been observed that the celebrated ode 1.12 of Horace , beginning Quem virum aut heroa lyra vel acri , possesses this triple character. The word
3936-409: The fragmentary nature of the poems does not really support inferences about his personal history. The vivid language and intimate details of the poems often look autobiographical yet it is known, on the authority of Aristotle , that Archilochus sometimes role-played. The philosopher quoted two fragments as examples of an author speaking in somebody else's voice: in one, an unnamed father commenting on
4018-446: The man that killed him. The Naxian's fate interested later authors such as Plutarch and Dio Chrysostom, since it had been a fair fight yet he was punished for it by the gods: He had gone to the temple of Apollo at Delphi to consult the oracle and was rebuked with the memorable words: "You killed the servant of the Muses; depart from the temple." Εἰμὶ δ' ἐγὼ θεράπων μὲν Ἐνυαλίοιο ἄνακτος, καὶ Μουσέων ἐρατὸν δῶρον ἐπιστάμενος. I am
4100-685: The many foes that rush on you Now from this side and now that, enduring all such strife up close, Never wavering; and should you win, don't openly exult, Nor, defeated, throw yourself lamenting in a heap at home, But delight in things that are delightful and, in hard times, grieve Not too much – appreciate the rhythm that controls men's lives. Fragments of Archilochus's poetry were first edited by Theodor Bergk in Poetae Lyrici Graeci (tom. II, 1882) There are about three hundred known fragments of Archilochus's poetry, besides some forty paraphrases or indirect quotations, collected in
4182-418: The middle of the poem (lines 11–14), where it functions as a sort of piano nobile , with curses before and predictions afterwards. In some versions of the poem, Mevius continues to be addressed right to the very end, i.e. iuverit has been taken to be iuveris instead (line 22). Some scholars prefer iuveris since it implies that only Mevius ends up as rich spoil for the gulls, but other scholars argue that it
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#17327733842754264-532: The middle of the seventh century, composed iambic verse on a misogynist theme, but without the invective and obscenity of Archilochus. A hundred years after Archilochus, Hipponax was composing choliambs , a deliberately awkward version of the iambic trimeter symbolizing mankind's imperfections and vices, yet by then iambus seems to have been performed mainly for entertainment (our understanding of his work however might change significantly when and as more fragments are unearthed). The genre's religious and moral value
4346-470: The name of epodes, although they bear little enough resemblance to the epode of early Greek literature . Archilochus Archilochus ( / ɑːr ˈ k ɪ l ə k ə s / ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Ἀρχίλοχος Arkhílokhos ; c. 680 – c. 645 BC) was a Greek lyric poet of the Archaic period from the island of Paros . He is celebrated for his versatile and innovative use of poetic meters, and
4428-544: The names of archons . Unfortunately, these are very fragmentary. Snippets of biographical information are provided by ancient authors as diverse as Tatian , Proclus , Clement of Alexandria , Cicero , Aelian , Plutarch , Galen , Dio Chrysostom , Aelius Aristides and several anonymous authors in the Palatine Anthology . According to tradition, Archilochus was born to a notable family on Paros. His grandfather (or great-grandfather), Tellis, helped establish
4510-522: The opposite extreme, to censure, seeing, I suppose, that men are in greater need of this, and first of all he censures himself ... [thus winning for himself, in Dio's opinion] ... the highest commendation from heaven. The spread of literacy impacted on all ancient poetry, iambus included. Its influence was already becoming evident in Athens by the fifth century BC, gradually changing the nature of poetry from
4592-557: The particular gestures he elects to make: The abandonment of grandly heroic attitudes in favour of a new unsentimental honesty, an iconoclastic and flippant tone of voice coupled with deep awareness of traditional truths." Ancient authors and scholars often reacted to his poetry and to the biographical tradition angrily, condemning "fault-finding Archilochus" for "fattening himself on harsh words of hatred" (see Pindar's comment below ) and for "the unseemly and lewd utterances directed towards women", whereby he made "a spectacle of himself" He
4674-532: The poem's realism with the artificiality of Horace's Epode 10, but not all scholars are willing to go along with this view, citing the Homeric diction as a literary device and the absence of proof that the oath-breaker was ever a real man rather than just a scapegoat or imaginary exemplar. Yet the poet has made the context seem real. In this poem fierce hatred mingled with contempt finds a powerful voice, and yet, with so much passion, every phrase and every sentence
4756-497: The poet was born into a priestly family devoted to Demeter. Inscriptions in the Archilocheion identify Archilochus as a key figure in the Parian cult of Dionysus There is no evidence to back isolated reports that his mother was a slave, named Enipo, that he left Paros to escape poverty, or that he became a mercenary soldier – the slave background is probably inferred from a misreading of his verses; archaeology indicates that life on Paros, which he associated with "figs and seafaring",
4838-496: The possible inventor of the elegy . Modern critics often characterize him simply as a lyric poet , but he was not included in the Alexandrian list of nine lyric poets – his range exceeded their narrow criteria for lyric ('lyric' meant verse accompanied by the lyre ). He did in fact compose some lyrics but only the smallest fragments of these survive today. However, they include one of the most famous of all lyric utterances,
4920-678: The resulting loss, he embroidered his own poem with many elaborate devices, most of them derived from Hellenistic poetry. Consequently what had been a weapon in a serious struggle became in his hands a dexterous display of literary patterns. The "serious struggle" is found in the Strasbourg fragment. Reitzenstein, the first editor of the fragment, attributed it to Archilochus but, in the following year (1900) Friedrich Blass assigned it to Hipponax. The papyrus includes, among its tattered portions, an incomplete name ( Ἱππωνά.. , Hippona.. ), which seems to support Blass's identification since Hipponax often mentions himself by name in his extant work. However,
5002-402: The right of the altar or stage, and then to the left of it, combined and sang in unison, or permitted the coryphaeus to sing for them all, while standing in the centre. The epode soon took its place in choral poetry, which it lost when that branch of literature declined. But it extended beyond the ode, and in the early dramatists we find numerous examples of monologues and dialogues framed on
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#17327733842755084-549: The same breath as Homer and Hesiod , yet he was also censured by them as the archetypal poet of blame – his invectives were even said to have driven his former fiancée and her father to suicide. He presented himself as a man of few illusions either in war or in love, such as in the following elegy, where discretion is seen to be the better part of valour: Ἀσπίδι μὲν Σαΐων τις ἀγάλλεται, ἥν παρὰ θάμνῳ ἔντος ἀμώμητον κάλλιπον οὐκ ἐθέλων· αὐτὸν δ' ἔκ μ' ἐσάωσα· τί μοι μέλει ἀσπὶς ἐκείνη; Ἐρρέτω· ἐξαῦτις κτήσομαι οὐ κακίω. One of
5166-508: The same meter, dactylic hexameter (as for example in elegy ), but even in other meters the debt is apparent – in the verse below, for example, his address to his embattled soul or spirit, θυμέ , has Homeric echoes. The meter below is trochaic tetrameter catalectic (four pairs of trochees with the final syllable omitted), a form later favoured by Athenian dramatists because of its running character, expressing aggression and emotional intensity. The comic poet Aristophanes employed it for
5248-472: The servant of Lord Enyalios [Ares, god of war], and skilled in the lovely gift of the Muses. This couplet testifies to a social revolution: Homer's poetry was a powerful influence on later poets and yet in Homer's day it had been unthinkable for a poet to be a warrior. Archilochus deliberately broke the traditional mould even while adapting himself to it. "Perhaps there is a special relevance to his times in
5330-510: The seven remaining epodes Horace diversified the measures, while retaining the general character of the distich. This group of poems belongs mostly to the early youth of the poet and displays a truculence and a controversial heat which are absent from his more mature writings. As he was imitating Archilochus in form, he believed himself justified in repeating the sarcastic violence of his fierce model. These particular poems of Horace, which are short lyrical satires, have appropriated almost exclusively
5412-414: The ship arrived at port. Nevertheless, the ironic genre-bending quality of epode 10 (and some others in the collection) was fairly typical of Hellenistic poetry generally. To sum up. Horace did not attempt to reproduce the true nature of the old Greek iambus which had partly suggested to him the theme of his epode. His borrowing was confined to the most general outlines of the subject. As if to make up for
5494-467: The simple meter, except in one place, marked with a "parenthesis" or endash , where emotions get ahead of the poet's control as he anticipates years of suffering for his former friend. Images seem to tumble from his excited mind but nothing is superfluous and his control of the material is shown for example in his use of irony when referring to the great kindness of the savage Thracians , their hair neatly dressed, in contrast to his nude friend. His skill as
5576-404: The spirit of iambus seems to have infused much of his non-iambic verse as well. Horace nominally modelled his Epodes on the work of Archilochus but he mainly followed the example of Callimachus, relying on painstaking craftsmanship rather than instinctive vitriol and broadening the range of the genre. Thus, for example he introduced a panagyric element in support of Augustus ( Epodes 1 and 9),
5658-475: The square brackets indicate another lost portion. The square brackets are not in the English version, replaced by an "educated guess" suggested by Eduard Fraenkel. A few more letters were lost in the original but scholars are in general agreement about their identity and those gaps are not shown here. The comments are also largely based on Fraenkel's work. Despite all the gaps in the original, the fragment supplies
5740-413: The stately hexameter of epic, whereas the term 'iambus', as used by Alexandrian scholars, denoted any informal kind of verse meant to entertain (it may have included the iambic meter but was not confined to it). Hence the accusation that he was "too iambic" (see Biography ) referred not to his choice of meter but his subject matter and tone (for an example of his iambic verse see Strasbourg papyrus ). Elegy
5822-416: The stinking Mevius. God of the southern wind – take care to pulverize Both its sides with horrendous waves! Let the black eastern wind turn the sea upside-down, Some oars here, some rigging there, And may the north wind loom as large as when it rends Oaks trembling on the mountain tops, And not one friendly star appear through
5904-474: The swell; When he comes nude to Salmydessus, may the kind Thracians, their hair in a bun, Take him in hand – there he shall have his fill of woe, Slavishly eating his bread – Stiff with the freezing cold; emerging from the froth, Clung to by piles of seaweed, May he lie like a dog face-down on chattering teeth, Laid low by his feebleness, Sprawled at
5986-416: The two poets who for all time deserve to be compared with no other, namely Homer and Archilochus, Homer praised nearly everything ... But Archilochus went to the opposite extreme, to censure; seeing, I suppose, that men are in greater need of this, and first of all he censures himself", thus winning for himself "the highest commendation from heaven." – Dio Chrysostom The earliest meter in extant Greek poetry
6068-553: The virulence of his invective, yet the extant verses (most of which come from Egyptian papyri ) indicate a very wide range of poetic interests. Alexandrian scholars collected the works of the other two major iambographers, Semonides and Hipponax, in just two books each, which were cited by number, whereas Archilochus was edited and cited not by book number but rather by poetic terms such as 'elegy', 'trimeters', 'tetrameters' and 'epodes'. Moreover, even those terms fail to indicate his versatility: "... not all his iambic and trochaic poetry
6150-444: Was accompanied by the aulos or pipe, whereas the performance of iambus varied, from recitation or chant in iambic trimeter and trochaic tetrameter, to singing of epodes accompanied by some musical instrument (which one isn't known). The Alexandrian scholars included Archilochus in their canonical list of iambic poets , along with Semonides and Hipponax , yet ancient commentators also numbered him with Tyrtaeus and Callinus as
6232-486: Was considered "a noble poet in other respects if one were to take away his foul mouth and slanderous speech and wash them away like a stain" ( Suda ). According to Valerius Maximus , the Spartans banished the works of Archilochus from their state for the sake of their children "lest it harm their morals more than it benefited their talents." Yet some ancient scholars interpreted his motives more sympathetically: "For of
6314-524: Was evidently not appreciated by the fifth century lyric poet Pindar , who condemned Archilochus for being "sharp-tongued" and "grown fat on the harsh words of hate", yet Archilochus's brand of iambus could still find sympathetic audiences even in the first century AD, when the philosopher, Dio Chrysostom , compared him with Homer in these terms: For of the two poets who for all time deserve to be compared with no other, namely Homer and Archilochus, Homer praised nearly everything ... But Archilochus went to
6396-485: Was invective. In his elegiacs we find neat epigrams, consolatory poems and a detailed prediction of battle; his trochaics include a cry for help in war, an address to his troubled soul and lines on the ideal commander; in his iambics we find an enchanting description of a girl and Charon the carpenter's rejection of tyranny." One convenient way to classify the poems is to divide them between elegy and iambus ( ἴαμβος ) – elegy aimed at some degree of decorum, since it employed
6478-450: Was quite prosperous; and though he frequently refers to the rough life of a soldier, warfare was a function of the aristocracy in the archaic period and there is no indication that he fought for pay. The life of Archilochus was marked by conflicts. The ancient tradition identified a Parian, Lycambes, and his daughters as the main target of his anger. The father is said to have betrothed his daughter, Neobule , to Archilochus, but reneged on
6560-628: Was taken up as a political weapon by some public figures in Rome, such as Cato the Elder , who, in an account by Plutarch : ... betook himself to iambic verse, and heaped much scornful abuse upon Scipio , adopting the bitter tone of Archilochus, but avoiding his license and puerility. Neoteric poets such as Catullus combined a native tradition of satirical epigram with Hipponax's pungent invective to form neatly crafted, personal attacks. Hipponactean choliambs were among Catullus's most often used meters but
6642-447: Was the epic hexameter of Homer. Homer did not create the epic hexameter, however, and there is evidence that other meters also predate his work. Thus, though ancient scholars credited Archilochus with the invention of elegy and iambic poetry, he probably built on a "flourishing tradition of popular song" that pre-dated Homer. His innovations however seem to have turned a popular tradition into an important literary medium. His merits as
6724-406: Was thought to be the simplest of verse forms, and the nearest to common speech, but also because of its undignified content. It isn't clear what role Archilochus played in the development of the literary genre at the beginning of the seventh century. Demeter was a significant deity in his home island, Paros , but she isn't prominent in his surviving poetry. Possibly he became involved in iambus via
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