The Tragic Story of Petale, Greek Anthology 9.245

Name:   Antiphanes of Macedon Date:      1st century BCE Region:      Macedon [modern Greece] Citation:     Greek Anthology 9.245

Not Hymenaeos [1], but Hades

Attended Petale’s ill-fated wedding night.

For when the newlywed bride fled in fear

Through the darkness

From her first taste of love

[A common fear for maidens],

Guard dogs tore her limb from limb.

The hope we had in seeing her wed

Is now undone by her corpse.  

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[1] Hymen/Hymenaeos was the personification of weddings and marriage.

Δυσμοίρων θαλάμων ἐπὶ παστάσιν οὐχ Ὑμέναιος, ἀλλ᾽ Ἀίδης ἔστη πικρογάμου Πετάλης. δείματι γὰρ μούνην πρωτόζυγα Κύπριν ἀν᾽ ὄρφνην φεύγουσαν, ξυνὸν παρθενικαῖσι φόβον, φρουροδόμοι νηλεῖς κύνες ἔκτανον: ἣν δὲ γυναῖκα ἐλπὶς ἰδεῖν, ἄφνως ἔσχομεν οὐδὲ νέκυν.

Infaustorum thalamorum ad torum non Hymenaeus, sed Pluto adstitit amare-nuptae Petales. Prae timore enim sola quum primam Venerem per noctem fugeret, communem virginibus metum, vero uxorem eam domus-custodes immites canes occiderunt: quam sperabamus videre, illico habuimus ne mortuam quidem. Translated into Latin  by Johann Friedrich Duebner

Antiphanes of Macedon [1st century BCE] Little is known about this author, but he lived during the 1st century BCE and several poems of his are preserved in the Greek Anthology.