The Life of Delicate-Hearted Girls; Agathias, Greek Anthology 5.297

The Life of Tender-Hearted Girls

Name: Agathias Date:    536 – 582 CE Region:    Mysia [modern Turkey] Citation: Greek Anthology 5.297

In this poem, Agathias provides a sympathetic view of the life of women in his society.

 

It isn’t as hard to be a man as it is to be one of us delicate-hearted girls.

Men have buddies whom they can vent their stress to;

They have sports, and can see art whenever they want.

We can’t even go outside, but stay locked away indoors,

Locked in a dungeon of our own anxiety.

The Life of Tender-Hearted Girls

Ἠϊθέοις οὐκ ἔστι τόσος πόνος, ὁππόσος ἡμῖν ταῖς ἀταλοψύχοις ἔχραε θηλυτέραις. τοῖς μὲν γὰρ παρέασιν ὁμήλικες, οἷς τὰ μερίμνης ἄλγεα μυθεῦνται φθέγματι θαρσαλέῳ, παίγνιὰ τ᾽ ἀμφιέπουσι παρήγορα, καὶ κατ᾽ ἀγυιὰς πλάζονται γραφίδων χρώμασι ῥεμβόμενοι ἡμῖν δ᾽ οὐδὲ φάος λεύσσειν θέμις, ἀλλὰ μελάθροις κρυπτόμεθα, ζοφεραῖς φροντίσι τηκόμεναι.

Non tanti iuvenum divexant corda labores, Heu quanti miseras nos muliebre genus. Sunt illis aequaeva cohors, quorum audet in aures libera vox curas exonerare suas; sunt varii lusus: & nunc per compita cursant, nunc animos ad se picta tabella vocat. Nobis nec lucem fas cernere: condimur intra claustra domus, tabes non ubi caeca vorat. Translated into Latin by Hugo Grotius

Agathias [Agathias Scholasticus; 530 – 594 CE, modern Turkey] was a 6th century poet and scholar from Mysia [western coast of modern Turkey]. His most famous work, The Histories, records the reign of the Roman Emperor Justinian I.   Several of his poems are preserved in The Greek Anthology.