Lament for BaukisἈποσπάσματα
Erinna of Telos Lament for Baukis PDF
The Lament for Baukis is a fragmentary epicedium, or funeral song, composed in the fourth century BCE by the poet Erinna of Telos. Written in dactylic hexameter, the meter of epic poetry, the work is a personal lament mourning the untimely death of the poet’s childhood friend Baukis shortly after her marriage. The poem’s language is a literary blend, primarily employing the Doric dialect with admixtures of Aeolic and Homeric Greek. Its text survives only in fragments, approximately thirty-four in number, preserved through later ancient quotations and on papyrus. These fragments indicate a poem that intertwined vivid, tactile recollections of shared childhood—such as games with dolls and play at the seaside—with expressions of profound, immediate grief, creating a poignant contrast between the warmth of memory and the finality of loss.
Erinna’s composition is regarded by modern scholarship as a significant innovation within the Hellenistic literary landscape. By adopting the stately hexameter, traditionally reserved for epic and didactic poetry, for an intimate, female-authored lament focused on private emotion and domestic life, she created a novel bridge between public literary tradition and personal experience. The work provides a rare and valuable window into the spheres of female friendship and socialization in the ancient Greek world, as well as the emotional impact of marriage and mortality. Highly esteemed in antiquity, Erinna was compared by contemporaries such as Asclepiades to Sappho. However, the poem did not survive intact through the medieval manuscript tradition, and its modern appreciation depends on the careful reconstruction of its evocative fragments.
| book 1a | τουτόθεν εἰς Ἀίδαν κενεὰ διανήχεται ἀχώ· σιγὰ δ’ ἐν νεκύεσσι, τὸ δὲ σκότος ὄσσε κατέρρει |
| book 1b.1 | col I huius columnae perierunt sex uersus.[ln_1][].κ[ ] [–⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏑ ] ἐοίσ̣[α]ς [–⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏑ ]ε κώρας [–⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏑ ]σ̣ι νύμφαι·[ln_5][–⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏑ ] χελύνναν [–⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏑ σ]ελάννα· [–⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏑ χε]λ̣ύννα· [–⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏑ ]τ̣ε̣ λῆσ[⏒] [–⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏑⏑ ]ώ̣ι̣κ̣ει·[ln_10][–⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏑ ]α φύλλοις [–⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏑ μ]α̣λάσσ̣ει· [–⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏑ σε]λ̣άνναν [–⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏔ ἀμ]νίδ̣α πέξα[ι] [–⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏔ ἐς βαθ]|ὺ̣ κῦμα[ln_15n]col. II[ln_15][λε]υκᾶν μαινομέν[οισιν ἐσάλατο π]ο̣σ̣σ̣ὶ̣ν̣ ἀφ’ ἵ[π]π̣ω̣[ν]·‘ ‘[..]λ̣ισχ̣ω‘ μ̣έγ̣’ ἄϋσα· φ[ ⏑ –⏔ –⏑] χ̣ελύννα [ἁλ]λ̣ομένα μεγάλας̣ [μαλακὸν |
| book 1b.2 | περὶ] χορτίον αὐλᾶς. [τα]ῦ̣τά τῠ, Βαυκὶ τάλαι[να, βαρὺ στονα]χεῖσα γόημ[ι]· [τα]ῦτά μοι ἐν κρα[δίαι ⏔ –⏔] παίχνια κεῖται[ln_20]θέρμ’ ἔτι· τῆν[α δὲ τοῖσιν ἀθ]ύ̣ρ̣ομες ἄνθρακες ἤδη, δαγύ[δ]ων |
| book 1b.3 | τε χ̣[ ⏑ –⏔ – ]ί̣δε̣ς ἐν θαλάμοισι νύμ[φαι]σιν [⏔ –⏔ – ]έες· ἅ τε πὸτ ὄρθρον μάτηρ ἀε̣[ίδοισα ⏑ –⏔ ]οισιν ἐρεί̣θο̣ις τ̣ήνας ἦλθ[ε ⏑ –⏔ – μέ]ν̣α ἀμφ’ ἁλίπαστον, |
| book 1b.1 | [ln_25]ἇι̣ μικρᾶι |
| book 1b.2 | στ[ ⏔ –⏔ – ]ν̣ φόβον ἄ̄γαγε Μο[ρ]μώ, [τᾶ]ς̣ ἐν μὲν κο[ρυφᾶι μεγάλ’ ὤ]ατα, ποσσὶ δὲ φοιτῆι [τέ]τ̣ρ̣[α]σιν· ἐκ δ’ [ἑτέρας ἑτέραν] μετεβάλλετ’ ὀπωπάν. ἁνίκα δ’ ἐς [λ]έχος [ἀνδρὸς ἔβας, τ]ό̣κα πάν̣τ̣’ ἐλέλασο, ἅσς’ ἔτι̣ νηπιάσα̣[σα] τ[εᾶς |
| book 1b.3 | παρὰ] ματρὸς ἄκουσας,[ln_30][Β]αυκὶ φίλα· λάθα[ν...] ε[ (–)⏔ –] Ἀφρο[δ]ίτα. τῷ τῠ κατακλαίοισα |
| book 1b.4 | τα̣[ –⏔ – ].... λείπω· ο̣ὐ̣ [γ]άρ μοι πόδες [ἐντὶ λιπῆν] ἄ̣π̣ο δῶμα βέβαλοι, οὐ̣δ̣’ ἐσιδῆν |
| book 1b.5 | φαέε[σσι θέλω νέ]κυν, οὐδὲ γοᾶσαι γυμναῖσιν |
| book 1b.6 | χαίταισιν, [ἐπεὶ φο]ινίκεος αἰδώς[ln_35n]col. III[ln_35]δρύπτε[ι] μ’ ἀμφι̣[χ]υ[θεῖσα ⏑ –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒] αἰε̣[ὶ] δὲ προπάροιθ[ε ⏑ –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒] ἐννεα[και]δέκατος [⏔ –⏔ – ἐνιαυτός] Ἠρ̣ίνν̣α̣[ι τ]ε φίλᾱι π[ ⏔ –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒] ἀλακάταν ἐ[σ]ορεῖ̣[σα ⏑ –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒][ln_40]γνῶθ’ ὅτι |
| book 1b.7 | τοι κ[ ⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒] ἀμφ[έ]λ̣ικε̣ς γελ̣[ ⏑ –⏔ –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒]. |
| book 1b.1 | ταῦτ’ αἰδώς μ’ [⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒] παρθε̣[ν]ίοισι̣[ ⏑ –⏔ –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒] δερκομένα δ’ ἐγ̣[ (⏑) –⏔ –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒][ln_45]καὶ χαίταν̣ αν̣[ (⏑) –⏔ –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒] πραϋλόγοι |
| book 1b.2 | πο̣[⸤λιαί, ταὶ γήραος ἄνθεα θνατοῖσ⸥]· τῷ̣ τῠ, φίλα, φο̣[ (⏑) –⏔ –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒] Βαυκί, κατακλα̣[ί –⏔ –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒], ἃν |
| book 1b.3 | φλόγα μι̣ν τ̣[ ⏔ –⏔ –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒] ὠρυγᾶς ἀΐοισα̣ ο[ (⏑) –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒]. ὦ πολλὰν Ὑμέν̣[αιε ⏑ –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒] πολλὰ δ’ ἐπιψαύ[οισα ⏑ –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒] [π]ά̣νθ̣’ ἑνός, ὦ Ὑμ[έναιε, ⏑ –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒] αἰαῖ, Βαυκὶ τάλαιν[α, ⏑ –⏔ –⏑⏑ –⏒]. |
| book 2.1 | [ln_1]Πομπίλε, ναύταισιν πέμπων |
| book 2.2 | πλόον εὔπλοον, ἰχθύ, πομπεύσαις |
| book 2.3 | πρύμναθεν ἐμὰν ἁδεῖαν ἑταίραν. |
| book 3.1 | Ἐξ ἀταλᾶν |
| book 3.2 | χειρῶν τάδε γράμματα, λῶιστε |
| book 3.3 | Προμαθεῦ, [para]ἐντὶ καὶ ἄνθρωποι τὶν ὁμαλοὶ σοφίαν. ταύταν γοῦν ἐτύμως τὰν |
| book 3.4 | παρθένον ὅστις ἔγραψεν, [para]αἰ καὐδὰν |
| book 3.5 | ποτέθηκ’, ἦς κ’ Ἀγαθαρχὶς ὅλα. |
| book 4.1 | Νύμφας Βαυκίδος εἰμί. πολυκλαύταν δὲ παρέρπων [para]στάλαν τῶι κατὰ γᾶς |
| book 4.2 | τοῦτο λέγοις Ἀίδαι· ‘βάσκανος ἔσς’, Ἀίδα.‘ τὰ δέ τοι καλὰ σάμαθ’ ὁρῶντι [para]ὠμοτάταν Βαυκοῦς ἀγγελέοντι τύχαν,[ln_5]ὡς τὰν |
| book 4.3 | παῖδ’, ὑμέναιος ἐφ’ αἷς ἀείδετο |
| book 4.4 | πεύκαις, [para]τᾶσδ’ ἐπὶ καδεστὰς ἔφλεγε |
| book 4.5 | πυρκαϊᾶς. καὶ σὺ μέν, ὦ Ὑμέναιε, γάμων μολπαῖον ἀοιδάν [para]ἐς θρήνων γοερὸν |
| book 4.6 | φθέγμα μεθαρμόσαο. |
| book 5.1 | Στᾶλαι καὶ σειρῆνες ἐμαὶ καὶ πένθιμε κρωσσέ, ὅστις ἔχεις Ἀίδα τὰν ὀλίγαν |
| book 5.2 | σποδιάν, τοῖς ἐμὸν ἐρχομένοισι |
| book 5.3 | παρ’ ἠρίον εἴπατε |
| book 5.4 | χαίρειν, [para]αἴτ’ ἀστοὶ τελέθωντ’, αἴθ’ ἑτεροπτόλιες.[ln_5]χὤτι με νύμφαν εὖσαν ἔχει τάφος, εἴπατε καὶ τό· [para]χὤτι |
| book 5.5 | πατήρ μ’ ἐκάλει Βαυκίδα, χὤτι γένος |
| book 5.6 | Τηλία, ὡς εἰδῶντι, καὶ ὅττι μοι ἁ συνεταιρίς Ἤρινν’ ἐν τύμβωι γράμμ’ ἐχάραξε τόδε. |