Ace Allies Living Together in Honor and Joy: Callimachus, In Delos 291-299

πρῶταί τοι τάδ᾽ ἔνεικαν ἀπὸ ξανθῶν Ἀριμασπῶν

Οὖπίς τε Λοξώ τε καὶ εὐαίων Ἑκαέργη,

θυγατέρες Βορέαο, καὶ ἄρσενες οἱ τότ᾽ ἄριστοι

ἠιθέων: οὐδ᾽ οἵ γε παλιμπετὲς οἴκαδ᾽ ἵκοντο,

295εὔμοιροι δ᾽ ἐγένοντο, καὶ ἀκλέες οὔποτ᾽ ἐκεῖνοι.

ἦ τοι Δηλιάδες μέν, ὅτ᾽ εὐήχης ὑμέναιος

ἤθεα κουράων μορμύσσεται, ἥλικα χαίτην

παρθενικαῖς, παῖδες δὲ θέρος τὸ πρῶτον ἰούλων

ἄρσενες ἠιθέοισιν ἀπαρχόμενοι φορέουσιν.

Primae hos tibi tulerunt fulvis ab Arimaspis

Upis & Loxo, felix aevi Hecaerge,

filiae Boreae, & mares, qui tum optimi

iuvenum: neque illo retro domum rediere.

Beati autem facti, nec unquam illi inglorii futuri sunt.

Nam Deliades quidem, cum sonorus Hymenaeus

Thalamos puellarum terret, aequaevam comam

virgines; pueri aute primam lanuginis messem

iuvenibus primitias ferunt.

--Callimachus, Hymn to Delos 291-299; Translated into Latin by Jo. Augustus Ernest

The first to [worship] you from golden Thule

Were the daughters of Boreas,

 Upis and Loxo, and happy-in-life Hecaerge,

Along with the best [unmarried] men.

They never returned home,

But they got their happily-ever-afters,

And are never forgotten in memory.

For whenever sweet-singing Hymenaeus*

Terrifies the hearts of maidens

[i.e, before their wedding day],

young women offer a lock of their hair to these immortal maidens,

And young men offer their first sprouts of facial hair

To these immortal youths.

 

 *Hymenaeus was the personification of Weddings & Marriage

 

CALLIMACHUS / Καλλίμαχος	MAP:
Name:  Callimachus Date:  305 – 240 BCE Works:  Aitia (Causes)               Hymns              Pinakes (Table of Contents)	REGION  3 / 4
BIO:	Timeline:
Callimachus is often regarded as one of the best Alexandrian [Greek] poets. Born in raised in Cyrene, Libya, he spent a majority of his career at the famous Library of Alexandria, where he used the resources there to create refined, artful poetry. Although much of his poetry is lost, the fragments that remain are a testament to both his talent as an artist and his erudition as a scholar.	HELLENISTIC AGE