| ENKOMION: FOR THEOXENOS OF
TENEDOS Holly Nesbeitt | |
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True, my heart, one ought to cull love in one's prime, the appropriate time for it. But Theoxenos' brightness, sparkling from his eyes-- any man who has seen this and not been pinned under waves of longing has a black heart of iron or adamant hammered in chilly flame (an insult from swift-glancing Aphrodite!); or he pants relentlessly after money; or, heart like a girl's, he's pulled the whole cold way to the altar, the slave. But I, by the sharp-eyed goddess' blessing, melt like sacred bees' wax, sun-bitten, whenever I gaze at the new-limbed youth of boys. And even in Tenedos, charm and grace have taken up residence in Hagesilas' son, Theoxenos. written by Pindar, 5th century B.C.E. |