From Bride to Groom: Greek Anthology 9.602

From Bride to Groom

Name:      Evenus Date:        5th century BCE Region:    Paros [modern Greece] Citation:  Greek Anthology 9.602

I, who once raised my virgin hands

In worship of Aphrodite,

I, who often prayed

For a wedding and a pregnancy,

I, who laid aside my wedding gown

and entered a marriage bed,

I—suddenly transformed into a man’s body 

And now I am called “groom,” not “bride.”

And I no longer worship Aphrodite, but

Ares and Hercules!

Long ago, the Thebans told the story of Tiresias;

Now Chalcis will tell my story,

Who went from ball gown to baseball cap.

ἅ ποτε παρθενικαῖσιν ἱλασκομένα παλάμῃσιν Κύπριδα, σὺν πεύκαις καὶ γάμον εὐξαμένα,  κουριδίους ἤδη θαλάμῳ λύσασα χιτῶνας, ἀνδρὸς ἄφαρ μηρῶν ἐξελόχευσα τύπους: νυμφίος ἐκ νύμφης δὲ κικλήσκομαι, ἐκ δ᾽ Ἀφροδίτης Ἄρεα καὶ βωμοὺς ἔστεφον Ἡρακλέους. Θῆβαι Τειρεσίην ἔλεγόν ποτε: νῦν δέ με Χαλκὶς τὴν πάρος ἐν μίτραις ἠσπάσατ᾽ ἐν χλαμύδι.

Quae olim virgineis propitiabam palmis Cypriam, et cum taedis etiam prolem precabar, nuptiales iam thalamo solvens tunicas, viri statim e femoribus edidi formas: ac sponsus ex sponsa vocor, et post Aphroditam Martem et aras redimio Herculis. Thebae Tiresiam narrabant olim; nunc vero me Chalcis illam prius in mitra salutavit in chlamyde. Translated into Latin by Johann Friedrich Duebner

Evenus of Paros [5th century BCE, modern Greece] was a Greek poet whose works were preserved in the Greek Anthology. Little is known about him, although it is suggested that this author is the same poet mentioned by Plato.