Theognis of Megara: Difference between revisions

Theognis wrote in the archaic [[Elegy|elegiac]] style. An "elegy" in English is associated with lamentation. In ancient Greece it was a much more flexible medium, suitable for performance at drinking parties and public festivals, urging courage in war and surrender in love. It gave the [[hexameter]] line of epic verse a lyrical impulse by the addition of a shorter "pentameter" line, in a series of couplets accompanied by the music of the [[aulos]] or pipe.<ref>Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Elegiac Poetry'', Loeb Classical Library (1999), page 1–3</ref> Theognis was conservative and unadventurous in his use of language, frequently imitating the epic phrasing of [[Homer]], even using his Ionian dialect rather than the Dorian spoken in Megara, and possibly borrowing inspiration and entire lines from other elegiac poets, such as Tyrtaeus, Mimnermus and Solon. His verses are not always melodious or carefully constructed but he often places key words for good effect and he employs linguistic devices such as [[asyndeton]], familiar in common speech.<ref>David A. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', Bristol Classical Press (1982), pages 346–47</ref> He was capable of arresting imagery and memorable statements in the form of terse epigrams.<ref>David Mulroy, ''Early Greek Lyric Poetry'', The University of Michigan Press (1992), page 171</ref> Some of these qualities are evident in the following lines [425-8], considered to be "the classic formulation of Greek pessimism":<ref>B. M. Knox, 'Theognis', ''The Cambridge History of Greek Literature:I Greek Literature'', Cambridge University Press (1985), P. Easterling and B. Knox (ed.s), page 144</ref>

{{Verse translation|italicsoff=y|

φύντα δ᾽ ὅπως ὤκιστα πύλας Ἀΐδαο περῆσαι<br>

|

Best of all for mortal beings is never to have been born at all