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                 Poems from the Classical Greek of 

                                      RUFINUS

            first published in the Penguin version of the

               Greek Anthology, edited by Peter Jay


The numbers at the end of each piece, e.g. 5.19 (688), indicate the book and poem-number in the Anthology and (in brackets) the poem-number in Jays presentation for Penguin Classics.

 

Few of these pieces have titles, so the menu below is of first lines.


a silver-toed virgin

boy-mad no longer

dear Love you’d better know

did I not say we grow old

Europa’s kiss

Felucca and Pinnace

her eyes are gold

here Rhodoklea is a garland

I do not enjoy an extortionate night

I hate an easy woman

I have armoured my feelings

if girls were nice

lay neither the scrawny nor thick

let us wash each other’s body

Melissa where is the golden

Melissias denies she’s I love

my sweetest Elpis

Pallas and golden-shoed Hera

Rhodope is so stuck up

Rhodope, Melite and Rhodoklea contested

so it’s hullo now

when Prodike seemed alone

where is Praxiteles

who flogged you and threw you out

you have Hera’s eyes Melite


1

boy-mad no longer

             as once before

                       I am called

woman-mad now

                       from scabbard to thimble

instead of boys’ unalloyed skin

                                          I go in for

chalky complexions

                     and the added crusts

                                            of cochineal.

dolphins shall pasture

                           in the Black Forest

and nervous deer

                           in the grey sea                              5.19(688)

 

(translated by Alan Marshfield)                                     (back)

 

2

a silver-toed virgin

    was washing her body

    drenching the golden

apples of her breasts

    their flesh like yogurt

the plump cheeks of her bum

    tossed against one another

as she swung about

    flesh as lithe as water

a hand spread down

    to cover

             much swollen

    the fair-flowing conduit

not the whole thing

    but as much as she could                                     5.60(689)

  

(translated by Alan Marshfield)                                     (back)

  

3

Europa’s kiss

    even if

       brushing the lips

is sweet

    even if

       reaching the outer mouth

but she does not reach

    with outer lips

       her grappling

tongue

    drags the soul

       out of your fingers                                            5.14

 

(translated by Alan Marshfield)                                     (back)

 

4

Pallas and

       golden-shoed Hera

took one glance

       at Maionis

and from the roots of their souls

       cried

no more

       will we take off our clothes

let one bum verdict

       suffice

it is not nice

               to be not nice

                               twice                                       5.69(691)

 

(translated by Alan Marshfield)                                     (back)

 

5

dear Love you’d better know

    that the virgin Amymone

        mulled my vitals

           no end

she would flirt with me

till at the critical moment

           I dared to

  

           she blushed

           what else

       she felt that pain

I managing with some trouble

    now I am told she is pregnant

        what next

    do I go or stay?                                                  5.75(692)

  

(translated by Alan Marshfield)                                     (back)

  

6

my sweetest Elpis

                           I you much joy

if any without me

                           is possible

by your eyes

                 I can bear no longer

                                              this asceticism

this lonely

                           dismemberment from you

always tear-wet I visit

                           Koressos Hill

or the temple

                           of Artemis the Great

but tomorrow I shall be

                           back home and I’ll fly

to your eyes bestowing unnumbered

                           good wishes

                                                Rufinus                   5.9(693)

 

(translated by Alan Marshfield)                                     (back)

 

7

when Prodike seemed

                           alone I begged for it

holding her

                           marvellous knees

I said save a man

                           almost utterly gone

allow me life’s

                           vanishing breath

my words brought a tear

                           but she dried it

and with a fastidious linger

                             gradually withdrew

                                                      her hands          5.66(694)

 

(translated by Alan Marshfield)                                     (back)

 

8

let us wash each other’s body

           Prodike

        and crown ourselves

    and swill neat wine

        from bigger cans

life’s joy is miniscule

        then age mars

           the residue

and at last death                                                      5.12(695)

 

(translated by Alan Marshfield)                                     (back)

 

9

did I not say we grow old

        Prodike

did I not foretell

    solvents of love

should quickly come

    wrinkles grey hair

tattered body

    a mouth with none

of its gone charm

 

    does anyone

unctuous and pleading

    visit you now

high-minded lady

    no you’re like

a burial mound

    that we pass by                                                   5.21(696)

 

(translated by Alan Marshfield)                                     (back)

 

10

so it’s hullo now

the bright face you

were frugal with

is devilled away

 

so you flirt now

that you’ve dismantled

the hair that once

stirred at your throat

 

high-minded lady

press no more

I do not take

spikes for flowers                                                    5.28(697)

  

(translated by Alan Marshfield)                                     (back)

  

11

Melissias denies she’s in love

                                      but her body screams

she has absorbed

                            a quiver of darts

her walk is fitful

                            and her breath fitful

while her eyes have gone into

                                   smitten hollows

by your dam

                       the chapleted Kypris

you tiny Lusts

                       hot up this girl

till the strict thing cries

                                 I’m on heat                            5.87(698)

 

(translated by Alan Marshfield)                                     (back)

 

12

Felucca and Pinnace

               those two whores

are always blockading

               the harbour of Samos

fly boys all such

               vikings of lust

the man who grapples

               and goes down on them

               gets sucked right in                                   5.44(699)

 

(translated by Alan Marshfield)                                     (back)

 

13

where is Praxiteles where

                              the hands of Polykleitos

that gave life

                              to the old masterpieces

who will fabricate Melite’s

                              fragrant hair her burning

eyes and the marvel

                              that is her neck

where are the sculptors

                       where are the masons

                                                       such a shape

like the effigy of a god

                              deserves a temple                      5.15(700)

 

(translated by Alan Marshfield)                                     (back)

 

14

you have Hera’s eyes Melite

       the hands of Athene

the breasts of the Paphian

       the ankles of Thetis

wealthy the man who sees you

       thrice prosperous who hears you

a demigod who kisses

       and a god who makes you his wife                   5.94(701)

 

(translated by Alan Marshfield)                                     (back)

 

15

Rhodope is so stuck up

                                because of her beauty

if I ever say hi

                                she acknowledges

with an arched eyebrow

                                if I let a bouquet

hang at her door

                                she tracks it to earth

with an angry foot

                                wrinkles and ruthless age

            pst

                     come quickly

do you at least

                         prevail upon

                                             Rhodope                    5.92(702)

 

(translated by Alan Marshfield)                                     (back)

 

16

here Rhodoklea

               is a garland

a braid of delicate

               flowers laced

with my own hands

               there are lilies

roses

               moist anemones

soft narcissus

               dark-gleaming violets

wear it

               cease to be haughty

both flowers and you

               will cease one day                                    5.74(703)

 

(translated by Alan Marshfield)                                     (back)

 

17

Rhodope, Melite and Rhodoklea

                                                  contested

to see who possessed

                               the best quim

I was the judge

                   and like those three

                                             famous seraphs

they stood naked

                            damp with wine

between Rhodope’s thighs

                                   gleamed the one eye

like a rosepatch cut

                            by a foaming stream

(and Melite’s

                       like watered silk

between frills folded

                       an aching dark)

while Rhodoklea’s

                       was like clear glass

                                              its wet surface

like a newly minted

                                   temple carving

but I knew what Paris