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Literature > Poetry > Lyrical poetry

Socio-cultural movements

Antiquity > Greek culture > Classical period

Work

The Distaff (excerpt) / 4 epigrams

Date of production: 400 a.C

Types of works

Text

Genres

Literature > Poetry > Lyrical poetry

Socio-cultural movements

Antiquity > Greek culture > Classical period

Works

1. Excerpt of The Distaff 

[…]

De los blancos caballos a las olas profundas

te abalanzabas tú con pies enloquecidos,

mas yo decía en alto:” ¡ya te tengo, mi amiga!”.

Y, cuando eras tortuga, corrías dando saltos

a través del recinto del gran patio.

Esto es lo que yo lloro, desventurada Baucis,

con profundo pesar: estos vestigios tuyos

en mi corazón yacen aún ardientes, muchacha.

Cenizas son ahora nuestros gozos de entonces.

De niñas, en los cuartos, junto a nuestras muñecas,

jugando a ser las novias y libres de cuidados.

Y, al despuntar el alba, la madre, que entregaba

la lana a las sirvientas tejedoras,

venía, y te llamaba para salar la carne.

¡Ay, de pequeñas cuánto miedo nos daba Mormo,

la de grandes orejas, que andaba a cuatro patas

y mudaba de una cara a otra!

Pero cuando marchaste hacia el lecho de un hombre,

mi Baucis, olvidaste cuanto habías oído

de tu madre en la infancia, que Afrodita

el olvido metió en tu corazón.

Y yo que te lamento no asisto a tus exequias:

no tengo pies profanos para dejar la casa,

no conviene a mis ojos contemplar un cadáver

y no puedo llorar con los cabellos libres.

Sin embargo, me araña un rubor de vergüenza…

Translation: Juan Manuel Macías

Sabido Sánchez, Fernando (2015). “Erina de Lesbos” en Poetas siglo XXI - Antología mundial + 20.000 poetas, (retrieved on 23/07/2021),

<https://poetassigloveintiuno.blogspot.com/2015/11/erina-de-lesbos-17474-poeta-de-grecia.html>

Greek text

[...]

λε]υκᾶν μαινομέν[οισι(ν)          π]οσσὶν ἀφ’ἵ[π]πω[ν  15

αἰ]αῖ ε.ω μέγ’ἄϋσα· φ[              ]χελύννα                      

ἁλ]λομένα μεγάλας[                 ]χορτίον αὐλᾶς·

τα]ῦτά τυ, Βαυκὶ τάλαιν[να βαρὺ στονά]χεισα γόημ[ι·] 

τα]ῦτά μοι ἐν κραδ[ίαι              ]παίχνια κεῖται

]θέρμ’ ἔτι· τῆν[α                      -] ύρομες ἄνθρακες ἤδη    20

]δαγύ[δ]ων τε χ[                       -]ίδες ἐν θαλάμοισι

νύμ[φ]αι. [-                  -]έες· ἃ τε πὸτ’ὄρθρον

μάτηρ αε[-                   -].οισιν ἐρείθοις 

τήνας ἠλθ[-                  -]να ἀμφ’ἁλίπαστον·

μικραις[-                      -]ν φόβον ἄγαγε Μορμώ  25

-] ἐν μὲν κο[-                ].ατα· ποσσί δὲ φοιτῆι

-] ..[.]σιν· ἐκ δ’]                       ]μετεβάλλετ’ὀπωπάν·

]ἁνίκα δ’ἐς [λ]έχος[      τ]όκα πάντ’ἐλέλασο 

]ἅσσ’ ἔτι νηπιασα (.)τ.  ]ματρὸς ἄκουσας 

]Βαυκὶ φίλα· λάθασ..ε  ]. Ἀφροδίτα·                30                                

]τῶ τυ κατακλα[ί]οισα τα[        -]λλα δὲ λείπω

]οὐ [γ]άρ μοι πόδες …[.]  ]ἄπο δῶμα βέβαλοι·

]οὐδ’ἐσιδῆν φαέ. [..].[      -] κνυν οὐδὲ γοάσαι

]γυμναῖσιν χαίταισιν[   φ]οινίκιος αἰδὼς 

δρύπτε[ι] μ’ ἀμφὶ πα[ρῆιδας                             35                                

αἰε[ὶ]δὲ π[ρ]οπάροιθ[εν [...]

(PSI IX 1090 = SH 401)

2. Epigrams

         I. Pez piloto, que escoltas la navegación de feliz curso de los marinos,

Da escolta a mi dulce amiga desde la popa.

 

II. Así, el eco del llanto penetra en el Hades vacío,

            El silencio, en los muertos, y los ojos maldicen,

            Todo el tiempo, la oscuridad, la noche.

            Todo el tiempo, la oscuridad, la noche.

 

III. Estelas y sirenas y urna de duelo

              Estela mía, y sirenas, y cofre funerario

              que guardas las exiguas cenizas de mí muerta:

              saludad a quien pase por frente de este túmulo

              —sea ciudadano o venga de otras tierras—

              y decidle que, a mí, recién casada, la tumba

              es quien me tiene; y así mismo que “Baucis”

              me llamaba mi padre, y que era de Telos.

              Eso quiero que sepan. Además, que mi amiga,

              Erina, gravó en mi tumba este epitafio. (Ant. Pal. 7.710)

 

IV. Soy la tumba de Baucis, la recién desposada.

—Tú, que pasas por frente de esta estela,

ojalá increparas a la muerte diciéndole:

“¡Traicionera y perversa, oh muerte, eres!”—

Esta inscripción le informa a quien leyere

la suerte crudelísima de Baucis:

cómo el cremador prendió fuego a su pira

con las mismas antorchas encendidas

bajo las cuales Himeneo cantara;

y que tú mismo, oh Himeneo, debiste

acordar tus canciones y gemidos. (Ant. Pal. 7.712)

Páramo, Jorge (2009). “Erina y Baucis: una amistad tronchada por la muerte” en Literatura: teoría, historia, crítica, no 11, (Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Sede Bogotá), (retrieved on 10/07/2021), Erina y Baucis: una amistad tronchada por la muerte

Greek texts

III-Στᾶλαι, καὶ Σειρῆνες ἐμαί, καὶ πένθιμε κρωσσέ,

ὅστις ἔχεις Ἀϊδα τὰν ὀλίγαν σποδιάν,

τοῖς ἐμὸν ἐρχομένοισι παρ’ἠρίον ἔπατε χαίρειν,

αἴτ’ἀστοὶ τελέθωντ’, αἴθ’ ἑτέρας πόλιος·

χὤτι με νύμφαν εὖσαν ἔχει τάφος, ἔπατε καὶ τό·                  5

χὤτι πατὴρ μ’ ἐκάλει Βαυκίδα, χὤτι γένος

Τηνία, ὡς εἰδῶντι· καὶ ὅττι μοι ἁ συνεταιρὶς

 Ἤρινν’ ἐν τύμβῳ γράμμ’ ἐχάραξε τόδε.

(AP. 7. 710)

IV- νύμφας Βαυκίδος ἐμμί: πολυκλαύταν δὲ παρέρπων

στάλαν τῷ κατὰ γᾶς τοῦτο λέγοις Ἀίδᾳ:

‘βάσκανός ἐσ᾽, Ἀίδα:’ τὰ δέ τοι καλὰ σάμαθ᾽ ὁρῶντι

ὠμοτάταν Βαυκοῦς ἀγγελέοντι τύχαν,

ὡς τὰν παῖδ᾽, Ὑμέναιος ἐφ᾽ αἷς ἀείδετο πεύκαις,     5

ταῖσδ᾽ ἐπὶ καδεστὰς ἔφλεγε πυρκαϊᾷ

καὶ σὺ μέν, ὦ Ὑμέναιε, γάμων μολπαῖον ἀοιδὰν

ἐς θρήνων γοερὸν φθέγμα μεθηρμόσαο.

(AP. 7. 712)

Information about the work and context of creation

Of this Greek poet's most famous work, The Distaff, only 26 readable hexameters out of a total of 54, corresponding to different parts of the poem, out of the original 300, have survived; we also have four fragmentary epigrams that have been attributed to her. 

The Distaff, her best known poem, is a lament for her friend Baucis’ death. It is an elegy, a poetic composition that is not subject to any particular type of verse. However, Erinna uses the dactylic hexameter, typical of epic poetry. She writes in Doric dialect, loaded with Aeolicisms and Homericisms, a nod to her predecessor Sappho and to lyrical poetry in general, since Aeolian is the language this genre was born in. This is why she was first believed to be a contemporary of Sappho.  

The mastery of language and dactylic hexameter in a young girl of barely 15 years old, the age at which she supposedly wrote this poem, is surprising. She was native of the island of Telos, today's Tilos, and was educated on Cos, the island which Telos administratively belonged to. Both islands were Doric-speaking. 

The antithesis used in the poem serves to portray the contrast between the past hours of happiness and the pain when facing separation and death. It is written in the first person and evidences her fear of loneliness and the distancing that marriage meant for women, since it separated them from their home and loved ones.  

The title of the poem, The Distaff, is a symbol, the symbol par excellence of Greek women relegated to domestic chores and, more specifically, to the activity they were mainly attributed: weaving. Baucis distances herself from her friend Erinna because of her marriage, something that will distance her from her home and loved ones, and will relegate her to the occupations which are expected of her: having children and weaving. 

The poem evokes childhood memories, games like that of the turtle in the courtyard of her house: how, playing the turtle, she ritually and correctly responded that her son "had leapt hastily into the deep sea from his cart drawn by white horses"; how then - for such was the game - she had dashed off in pursuit of the companions, and how, finally, she had shouted to Baucis as she caught her: "I've got you, girl!" It also speaks of children's fears, represented by Mormo, an ogress who kidnapped children (like the "bogeyman" and many others). In the poem, Erinna identifies her friend's husband, who separated her from everything she loved, with a messenger of Mormo. 

The elegy is a type of composition that has continued to be cultivated throughout history, and of which Erinna is, undoubtedly, a referent. 

The Distaff was widely read and admired.  Nearly seventy years after her death, the poet Asclepiades of Samos (285 BC) edited her work with this prologue:  
 
Éste es el trabajo dulcísimo de Erina. En verdad  

poco extenso, como resulta propio de una muchacha 

de diecinueve años; pero más impactante que muchos. 

Si la muerte no le hubiera llegado tan temprano, 

¡su nombre a gran altura se hubiese remontado! 
 
Her scarce poetic output was successively praised by Leonidas of Tarentum (280 BC), Antipater of Sidon (170-100 BC) and two later anonymous manuscripts in the Palatine Anthology (respectively: 4.13, 7.713, 7.12 and 9.190). 

In the Palatine Anthology two sepulchral epigrams (III and IV) appear under the name of Erinna: 7710 and 712, supposedly inscribed on the tombstone of the tomb of Baucis. The first one is said to have been composed by Erinna. However, some question this authorship and others simply deny it. 

Heiress of the great poetess Sappho of Mytilene, Erinna can also be linked to many other Greek women poets of all times, with whom she shares the interpretation of human values, considered and expressed through the feminine experience, a different point of view from that other side of humanity. These women poets are Anyte of Tegea, Nossis of Locris, Cleobulina of Lindos, Corinna of Tanagra, Myro of Byzantium and many others. Evidently, all these women are the necessary referents of later poetry, both by women and men. 

 

 

 

Indications

-Classical culture: Block Classical roots of today's world. Everyday life; Block Continuity of cultural heritage. Literature (Poetry), art and science.

-Greek Baccalaureate: Block The text: comprehension and translation; Block Literary education.

-Spanish Language and Literature ESO: Literary Education Block.

-Universal Literature 1st Baccalaureate: Interpretation of Greek period fragments of different genres and themes.

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