Blessed Are those in love! Bion fr. 8

 

Name: Bion Date:  c. 2nd – 1st century BCE Region: Smyrna [modern Turkey] Citation:  Fragment 8

Blessed are those who are in love,

Especially when it is reciprocated!

Theseus was happy with Pirithous by his side,

Even when he descended into the inescapable halls of Hades.

Orestes was blessed even in the harsh land of his enemies

As long as Pylades was traveling by his side.

Achilles was blessed for as long as his companion Patroclus lived;

And once he died, Achilles returned to his blessed state,

For he used his death to avenge his lover’s.

 

Ὄλβιοι οἱ φιλέοντες, ἐπὴν ἴσον ἀντεράωνται. ὄλβιος ἦν Θησεὺς τῶ Πειριθόω παρεόντος, εἰ καὶ ἀμειλίκτοιο κατήλυθεν εἰς Ἀΐδαο. ὄλβιος ἦν χαλεποῖσιν ἐν Ἀξείνοισιν Ὀρέστας, ὥνεκά οἱ ξυνὰς Πυλάδας ᾄρητο κελεύθως. ἦν μάκαρ Αἰακίδας ἑτάρω ζώοντος Ἀχιλλεύς: ὄλβιος ἦν θνᾴσκων, ὅτι οἱ μόρον αἰνὸν ἄμυνεν.

Beati sunt qui amant, quum pariter redamantur.  Beatus erat Theseus, quum Pirithous adesset, etsi descendit in implacabilis Plutonis domum. Beatus erat inter asperos barbaros Orestes, quoties cum eo communia Pylades susceperat itinerat. Erat felix Aeacides socio vivente Achilles beatus erat moriens, quod ei mortem infelicem ulciscebatur. Translated into Latin by  Franz Siegfried Lehrs

Bion of Smyrna [c. 2nd to 1st century BCE; modern Turkey] was a Greek poet from Smyrna [modern Turkey]. Little is known about his life, and only fragments remain of his poetry, but he was considered to be one of the best and most influential bucolic poets of ancient Greek and Roman literature.