Panteleius is an epic fragment in Heitsch, GDRK I² pp. 81–82 (Canon: PANTELEIUS Epic., a. A.D. 5). A speaker addresses empty toil and fruitless war: what shall we say to our king? “King, why send me against immortal warriors? We strike, they do not fall; we wound, they do not fear. One man has spoiled the whole army; in the midst stands a bloody image of untiring Ares, like a tree under iron blows that will not fall, and soon he comes inside the ships.” A second line: “Loose, helmsman — let us flee the threats of the corpse.”
The scene is a bronze or statue-warrior that will not die, and a ship trying to get away from a corpse’s menace.
Late-antique epic spectacle, not a missing poet’s empty page.
Available Works
Warrior of Unyielding Bronze
Ἀπόσπασμα
2 passages
Also published as PDF.