Читать книгу Yale Classics - Ancient Greek Literature - Anacreon - Страница 120

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In Sparta once Aristodemus,

So the story ran,

A maxim full of wisdom uttered:

“Money makes the man.”

For valour leaves the wretch that’s poor,

And honour shuns the pauper’s door.

A grievous weight, too heavy to endure,

Bitter, and full of woe,

Is Poverty, who, with her sister, Want,

Cripples the people so.

’T is beautiful with pleasures gone

To put away desires,

For neither man nor maid can quench

Their all-consuming fires.

What bird is this from ocean,

From ends of earth remote,

With wings wide-spread in motion,

And many-coloured throat?

Child of the aged rocks,

Child of the hoary sea,

Thou fillest with joy

The heart of the boy,

O cockle from the sea.

If you must freely utter

Whatever things you will,

Be then prepared to listen

To things that please you ill.