Epigrams (Plato)

Twenty-nine epigrams are attributed to Plato, mostly in the Greek Anthology. These are short poems suitable for dedicatory purposes written in the form of elegiac couplets. Their authenticity is disputed.

They include eight "love" or "amatory" epigrams (one commemorative, six erotic, and one funerary); dedicatory epigrams; sepulchral epigrams, and dedicatory or descriptive epigrams.

Typical of ancient Greek literature (and regardless of their Platonic authenticity), the epigrams refer to historical personalities, places in and around ancient Greece, and specific characters of Greek mythology.

The epigrams

The Greek Anthology

Book V (Amatory Epigrams)

• My soul was on my lips as I was kissing Agathon. Poor soul! she came hoping to cross over to him.
  • Agathon, an Athenian tragic poet, appeared in Plato's Symposium. John Madison Cooper remarks that it is "odd to find Plato... speaking in erotic terms of Agathon and Phaedrus as desirable youths" as they were was two decades older than Plato. Greek Anthology, v, 78.
• I throw the apple at thee, and thou, if thou lovest me from thy heart, take it and give me of thy maidenhead; but if thy thoughts be what I pray they are not, take it still and reflect how short-lived is beauty.
  • The first "Apple" epigram. Apples were associated with Aphrodite: to throw an apple to someone was to declare one's love, and to catch and hold it was to show one's acceptance. Greek Anthology, v, 79.
• I am an apple; one who loves thee throws me at thee. But consent, Xanthippe; both thou and I decay.
  • The second "Apple" epigram. The epigram may represent Socrates' courtship of his wife Xanthippe. Greek Anthology, v, 80.

Book VI (Dedicatory Epigrams)

• I, Laïs, whose haughty beauty made mock of Greece, I who once had a swarm of young lovers at my doors, dedicate my mirror to Aphrodite, since I wish not to look on myself as I am, and cannot look on myself as I once was.
  • A reference to either of the courtesans Lais of Corinth or Lais of Hyccara, the two being historically confused in ancient literature, and therefore inextricably linked. Greek Anthology, vi, 1.

• Some traveller, who stilled here his tormenting thirst in the heat, moulded in bronze and dedicated ex voto this servant of the Nymphs, the damp songster who loves the rain, the frog who takes joy in light fountains; for it guided him to the water, as he wandered, singing opportunely with its amphibious mouth from the damp hollow. Then, not deserting the guiding voice, he found the drink he longed for.
  • Greek Anthology, vi, 43.

Book VII (Sepulchral Epigrams)

• Congenial to strangers and dear to his countrymen was this man, Pindar, the servant of the sweet-voiced Muses.
  • To Pindar, a lyric poet, whose association with the Muses is a compliment to his skill. Attributed in the Greek Anthology to Leonidas. Greek Anthology, vii, 35. Included in the Edmonds edition.
• The Fates decreed tears for Hecuba and the Trojan women even at the hour of their birth; and after thou, Dio, hadst triumphed in the accomplishment of noble deeds, the gods spilt all thy far-reaching hopes. But thou liest in thy spacious city, honoured by thy countrymen, Dio, who didst madden my soul with love.
  • To Dion of Syracuse, the political figure of Syracuse whose campaign is discussed at length in the Platonic Epistles, or Letters. The Trojan loss of the Trojan war, as described in the Iliad, explains the decree of tears for Hecuba, Queen of Troy, and the women of Troy at the hands of the Fates, who represent the harsher inevitabilities of the human condition, such as death and destiny. Greek Anthology, vii, 99. Diogenes Laërtius reports this epigram was inscribed on the tomb of Dion at Syracuse.
• Now when I said nothing except just that Alexis is fair, he is looked at everywhere and by everyone when he appears. Why, my heart, dost thou point out bones to dogs and have to sorrow for it afterwards? Was it not thus that I lost Phaedrus?
  • About Alexis, possibly one of a number of already-named ancient personalities, or else a new personality of the same name altogether. Mentions Phaedrus, Plato's contemporary; namesake of the Platonic dialogue of the same name. Greek Anthology, vii, 100.
• I have a mistress, fair Archeanassa of Colophon, on whose very wrinkles sits hot love. O hapless ye who met such beauty on its first voyage, what a flame must have been kindled in you!
  • This version found in Diogenes Laërtius' Life of Plato, translated by Robert Drew Hicks. Also found in the Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus, Book XIII.
  • I hold Archeanassa the courtesan from Colophon even on whose wrinkles sweet Love sat. Ah, ye lovers, who plucked the fresh flowers of her youth in its first piercing brilliance, through what a fiery furnace did you pass!
  • This version is found in the Greek Anthology, which attributes it to Asclepiades, and states "A slightly different version is attributed by Athenaeus to Plato". (Greek Anthology, vii, 217).
• Leaving behind the sounding surge of the Aegean we lie on the midmost of the plains of Ecbatana. Farewell, Eretria, once our glorious country; farewell, Athens, the neighbour of Euboea; farewell, dear Sea.
  • The Eretrians were deported and enslaved by the Persians in 490 BC. Greek Anthology, vii, 256.
• We are Eretrians from Euboea and we lie near Susa, alas! how far from our own land.
  • Greek Anthology, vii, 259.
• I am the tomb of a shipwrecked man, and that opposite is the tomb of a husbandman. So death lies in wait for us alike on sea and land.
  • Greek Anthology, vii, 265.
• I whom ye look upon am a shipwrecked man. The sea pitied me, and was ashamed to bare me of my last vesture. It was a man who with fearless hands stripped me, burdening himself with so heavy a crime for so light a gain. Let him put it on and take it with him to Hades, and let Minos see him wearing my old coat.
  • Greek Anthology, vii, 268.
• Mariners, may ye be safe on sea and land; but know that this tomb ye are passing is a shipwrecked man's.
  • Greek Anthology, vii, 269.
• Thou lookest on the stars, my Star. Would I were heaven, to look on thee with many eyes.
  • The first "Star" epigram, to Aster, a youth with whom Plato studied astronomy (according to Aristippus as quoted by Diogenes Laërtius). Maurice Bowra thought it authentic, writing "the poems quoted are so good that they cannot be the work of a forger." Denys Page argued Aster was not a real person. Greek Anthology, vii, 669.
• Of old among the living thou didst shine the Star of morn; now shinest thou in death the Star of eve.
  • The second "Star" epigram, a funerary epigram. Greek Anthology, vii, 670.

Book IX (Declamatory and Descriptive Epigrams)

• They planted me, a walnut-tree, by the road-side, to amuse passing boys, as a mark for their well-aimed stones. And all my twigs and flourishing shoots are broken, hit as I am by showers of pebbles. It is no advantage for trees to be fruitful. I indeed, poor tree, bore fruit only for my own undoing.
  • Antipater (by some attributed to Plato). Greek Anthology, ix, 3.

• A man finding gold left his halter, but the man who had left the gold and did not find it, hanged himself with the halter he found.
  • Also attributed to Statyllius Flaccus. Greek Anthology, ix, 44.

• Time brings everything; length of years can change names, forms, nature, and fortune.
  • Greek Anthology, ix, 51.

• Some say the Muses are nine, but how carelessly! Look at the tenth, Sappho from Lesbos.
  • Sappho of Lesbos, a female lyric poet, whose skill is complimented by counting her as a tenth Muse, a common appellation for Sappho in the ancient historical record. Greek Anthology, ix, 506.

• The little jasper stone is carved with five cows all looking alive as they feed. Perhaps they would run away, but now the little herd is confined in the golden pen.
  • Greek Anthology, ix, 747. Also attributed to Plato the Younger.

• Let the cliff clothed in greenery of the Dryads keep silence, and the fountains that fall from the rock, and the confused bleating of the ewes newly lambed; for Pan himself plays on his sweet-toned pipe, running his pliant lips over the joined reeds, and around with their fresh feet they have started the dance, the Nymphs, Hydriads, and Hamadryads.
  • Greek Anthology, ix, 823.

• On a Satyr standing by a Well and Love Asleep: A cunning master wrought me, the Satyr, son of Bacchus, divinely inspiring the monolith with breath, I am the playmate of the Nymphs, and instead of purple wine I now pour forth pleasant water. Guide thy steps here in silence, lest thou disturb the boy lapped in soft sleep.
  • Greek Anthology, ix, 826.

Book XVI (Epigrams of the Planudean Anthology not in the Palatine Manuscript)

The Ludovisi Cnidan Aphrodite, a Roman marble copy of the original Aphrodite of Knidos, sculpted by Praxiteles

• Sit down by this high-foliaged vocal pine that quivers in the constant western breeze, and beside my plashing stream Pan's pipe shall bring slumber to thy charmed eyelids.
  • Greek Anthology, xvi, 13. From Book I of the Planudean Anthology, Declamatory Epigrams.

• Paphian Cytherea came through the waves to Cnidus, wishing to see her own image, and having viewed it from all sides in its open shrine, she cried, "Where did Praxiteles see me naked?" Praxiteles did not look on forbidden things, but the steel carved the Paphian as Ares would have her.
  • The goddess Cytherea (Aphrodite) views the sculpture Aphrodite of Knidos (Cnidus), sculpted by Praxiteles, and acknowledges it as a perfect likeness. The sculpture is now lost but was often copied. "Paphian" is a reference to the Aphrodite, who, according to legend, rose from the sea at Paphos, southwestern Cyprus. The W. R. Paton edition of the Greek Anthology states the last couplet is a later edition: "We know from Pliny that the shrine in which the statue stood was open on all sides." Greek Anthology, xvi, 160. From Book IV of the Planudean Anthology, Epigrams on monuments, statues, etc.

• Neither did Praxiteles nor the chisel work thee, but so thou standest as of old when thou camest to judgment.
  • Greek Anthology, xvi, 161. Also attributed to Plato the Younger. From Book IV of the Planudean Anthology, Epigrams on monuments, statues, etc.

• Cypris, seeing Cypris in Cnidus, said, "Alas! alas! where did Praxiteles see me naked?"
  • "Cypris" refers to Aphrodite. This epigrams is considered anonymous by the Paton edition of the Greek Anthology, but J.M. Edmonds considers spurious the previous two on the same subject. Greek Anthology, xvi, 162. From Book IV of the Planudean Anthology, Epigrams on monuments, statues, etc.

• When we entered the deep-shadowed wood we found within it the son of Cytherea, like unto rosy apples. Nor had he the quiver that holds arrows, nor his bent bow, but they were hanging on the leafy trees, and he lay among the rose-blossoms smiling, bound fast by sleep, and above him the tawny bees were sprinkling on his dainty lips honey dripping from the comb.
  • Greek Anthology, xvi, 210. From Book IV of the Planudean Anthology, Epigrams on monuments, statues, etc.

Further epigrams

• The Graces, when they wish’d to find A shrine, that should for ever live, Said, what they sought, alone the mind Of Aristophanes could give.
  • The Graces, representing the happier elements of the human condition, are associated with the playwright Aristophanes. Attributed to Plato by Olympiodorus the Younger in his "Life of Plato", and also by Thomas Magister in his Life of Aristophanes.

Plato the Younger

Plato the Younger, also known as Plato Junior and Plato Epigrammaticus, wrote in the 1st century AD.

• A blind man carried a lame man on his back, lending him his feet and borrowing from him his eyes.
  • Greek Anthology, ix, 13.

• On Dionysus carved on an Amethyst: The stone is amethyst, but I am the toper Dionysus. Either let it teach me to be sober, or learn itself to get drunk.
  • Greek Anthology, ix, 748. Amethyst means "Against drunkeness".

• The stone is Hyacinthus, and on it are Apollo and Daphne. Of which was Apollo rather the lover?
  • Greek Anthology, ix, 751. The stone is made of jacinth.

• On a Satyr chased on a Cup: Droporus did not engrave this Satyr, but sent him to sleep. Prod him and you will wake him up: the silver is asleep.
  • Greek Anthology, xvi, 248. Also attributed to Antipater.

Posidippus or Plato the Comic Poet

• What path of life should one pursue? In the market-place are broils and business difliculties, and at home are anxieties; in the country there is too much labour, and at sea there is fear. In a foreign land there is apprehension if you possess anything, and if you are ill off, life is a burden. You are married? You won't be without cares. You are unmarried? You live a still more lonely life. Children are a trouble, and a childless life is a crippled one. Youth is foolish, and old age again is feeble. There is then, it seems, a choice between two things, either not to be born or to die at once on being born.
  • Greek Anthology, ix, 359. Attributed to Posidippus or Plato the Comic Poet.

External links

• Elegy and Iambus, Volume II, edited by J. M. Edmonds
  • Also at Archive.org.
• Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, Book III, by Diogenes Laërtius

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