Greek Lyric Poetry by Willis Barnstone; Selections from the Greek Anthology by Andrew

Sinclair; Theocritus' Coan Pastorals: A Poetry Book by Gilbert Lawall

Review by: B. Walker
Classical Philology, Vol. 64, No. 4 (Oct., 1969), pp. 239-240
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/267696 .
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 BOOKREVIEWS 239
with some reservations,by LSJ. In this case, LSJ, Light Verse). Since no barbitos has as yet
Suppl. without asterisk, of course, lists the new resourndedon the present occasion, perhaps I
form as an addition to LSJ, with specificreference may risk a few weak chords:
to Youtie's article. In that same article, pages
66-67, POxy., XX, 2273. 8 is cited since it contains Says Scott to Liddell,
the word -crpat'Ktov, explained by the original "Is there some jot or tittle
editor as "dried fig." Youtie, after a thorough Of Greek that we've not
discussion, suggests that the meaning is rather In our lexicon got?
"crate for drying figs." Nevertheless,LSJ, Suppl. Editionsreach nine
lists only "*TapaKLoV, To, dub. sens., perh. dried And I want to resign;
fig" with a referenceto the papyrus but none to I'm just skin and bones,
the TAPA suggestion. (Oversightor silent rejec- Though we did bring in Jones."
tion ?) Says Liddellto Scott,
Still another kind of fig puts in its first appear- "Despite all our swot,
ance as "*vLKvAEov, T-o', kind of fig, Cretan, By nineteensixty-eight
Hermonax ap. Ath. 3.76e." An article by Giunter Greek words are in spate-
Neumann in Glotta,XL (1962), 51-54, devoted to Papyri,potsherds,
this word makes clear, by the aid of Egyptianand Lord, all the new words!"
Coptic cognates, that this is the fruit of ficus Says Scott to Liddell,
sycomorus.A referenceto this article, while not "I just won't fiddle
strictly necessary,would have been of value. With more Addenda
M. N. Tod, in his article, "A New Eleusinian Nor yet Corrigenda.
Title?" AJP, LXXVII (1956), 52-54, proposed to Our laurelsare age-proof;
fill in an incomplete word occurringin SEG, X, I won'tread more page-proof,
24-25 so as to read 0EoaEaEUVos (acc. pl.), appar- No more errantglosses.
ently some sort of official. This duly appears as Let's cut our losses-
"* OeEO'ULVOL, od, board of officials at Eleusis," If we've missed a couple,
with referencesto the inscription and to Tod's We'll leave them for Suppl."
article. GORDON M. MESSING
The word Kop,wAoOyLa is not new. LSJ, Suppl.
proposes to add the definition"(butperh. training Cornell University
of vine-stems)." S. B. Porges in an article, TAPA,
XCII (1961),469-80, "A Leaseof an OliveGrove," Greek Lyric Poetry. Translated by WILLIS
discussesthe word in some detail (pp. 473-74) and BARNSTONE. ("Indiana University Greek
argues that, in the text she is discussing,PCol., and Latin Classics.") Introduction by
Inv. 65, it is more likely to mean a special kind WILLIAM E. MCCULLOH. Drawings by
of pruning than some kind of irrigationwork. A HELLE TZALOS. Bloomington and London:
referenceto this article, while perhaps not indis- Indiana University Press, 1967. Pp. viii+
pensable, would have been helpful. On the other
310. $6.75.
hand, one can rest assuredthat this same volume
of TAPA was carefully perused, for the entry Selections from the Greek Anthology. Trans-
"*a'KAa, q, = Lat. alicula, a light upper garment" lated by ANDREW SINCLAIR. New York:
refers specificallyto PMich., Inv. 3163, published The Macmillan Company, 1967. Pp. 150.
by E. M. Husselman in TAPA, XCII (1961), $4.95.
251-66. Theocritus' Coan Pastorals: A Poetry Book.
Finally, as an obvious touchstone,the Dyscolus By GILBERT LAWALL. Washington, D.C.:
of Menanderhas been added to the texts scrutin- The Center for Hellenic Studies, 1967.
ized, and we may find, s.v. KaAo's-, the citation Pp. vii + 145; 1 ill. in text. $5.00. Distributed
"KczAcz y' E'-T&qaEhe deserved it, Men. Dysc. 629."
by Harvard University Press, Cambridge,
After the Lexicon first appeared, no less a Mass.
poet than Thomas Hardy greeted its advent The extraordinary richness and diversity
with some amusing verses which should be of Greek lyric and epigram continually in-
familiar to all classical scholars (and may be vites translators of different styles and tem-
conveniently consulted in the Oxford Book of peraments to make new versions-and usually,

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240 BOOKREVIEWS
since the field is so vast, new selections also. close connection between Idylls 1 and 3-6
Sinclair's 350 epigrams are chosen for their has been taken by previous editors (notably
"bite and wit," because these are the ones he Gow) to suggest that they were written in the
likes and thinks most revealing, to the modern same place and at about the same time. L.
readers, of human nature and Greek civiliza- argues in detail for a close connection between
tion. The mordancy he admires is a real 1 and 2, and he sees 7 as the climax of the
quality of his Greek originals, and his ver- group, celebrating a symbolic poetic harvest
sions-spare, simple (usually trochaic quat- as well as the actual harvest festival which it
rains or couplets), and brief sometimes to the describes. This is supported by examination
point of obscurity-are a valuable contrast to of verbal repetitions of a "formulaic" kind
the resourceful, brilliant, sometimes rather and of metrical patterns recurring in the seven
lush verse of Barnstone's volume. This is a poems. (References are fully provided in the
much wider selection, not limited to the Notes; the repetitions are striking and L. adds
Anthology, and includes a brief biographical that in the remaining Theocritean corpus
and critical introduction to each of the sev- such repetitions are negligible.) Comment on
enty authors. Occasionally the two translators the poems themselves is usually perceptive
handle the same piece; a brief example and (especially on 7) elucidates the structure of
(from Simonides) will indicate what different the Idylls in an impressive and exciting way.
qualities they bring out in the original: When L. goes on to find "metaphysical
patterns" in the "tension of opposites"
The God of War once washedhis long-barbed
arrows experienced by Theocritus' figures, issuing
In rain that was red on the breastsof these. in an "articulately elaborated pastoral vision
The standingranks now lie beneaththe barrows, of life," the reviewer feels bemused rather
The living men are lifeless memories [SINCLAIR]. than enlightened. But there is more sophisti-
With mindlessbravuraAres washedhis long cation in Theocritus than readers used to
sleek arrowheads think: L.'s chapter iii shows how he uses
in the crimsonwaterswithin their chests, the convention of the serenade in a new
and dust now lies not on the living flesh of setting and a new tone to comment on both
javelineers, the urban and the rustic attitudes in the
but on the vivid remnantsof lifeless bodies situation. This has its bearing on Roman
[BARNSTONE]. erotic poetry and on French and English
Barnstone's book contains five very attrac- pastoral.
tive passages from Theocritus, who is de- B. WALKER
scribed as a sophisticated writer to whom Blackburn
Picasso and Ravel are indebted as well as
Virgil. A student who had enjoyed this The Faith of Epicurus. By BENJAMIN FARRING-
fragmentary contact with Theocritus might TON. New York: Basic Books, Inc., Pub-
profitably go on to Lawall's book, which is lishers, 1967. Pp. xiii+ 160. $4.95.
addressed to all who are interested in European Epicurus.By GEORGE A. PANICHAS. (" Twayne's
poetry though it is a book for specialist World Authors Series," No. 17.) New
scholars as well. (Most of the translations York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1967.
quoted by Lawall are based on the Loeb Pp. 181.
version of William Paton.) L. examines the These two books are curiously similar in
first seven Idylls from the point of view of scope and purpose; both are addressed to
structure, thematic material, and poetic "the contemporary reader," who may have
techniques, and argues that these seven poems no knowledge of Greek, and who will study
present a unity so distinct and so subtly com- Epicurus primarily to understand the bearing
posed that they must be regarded as a collec- of Epicurean ideas upon modern thought and
tion apart from his other work, written on modern society. Both follow the same general
Cos and published about 270 B.C. The plan: a brief account of Epicurus' life, followed

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