Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AN EPILOGUE TO POLYCRATES, by IBYCUS


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AN EPILOGUE TO POLYCRATES, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: They sailed from argos, and brought down
Last Line: With my song and my fame.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ibykos


THEY sailed from Argos, and brought down
Dardanian Priam's happy town,
Far-famed. Its doom fulfilled
What mighty Zeus had willed.

For bright-haired Helen's beauty, long
Came war and tears, -- 'tis told in song, --
A curse on patient Troy
Sent Cypris, to destory.

No trickster Paris suits my lay,
Nought of Cassandra shall I say,
The slender-ankled, nor
Of Priam's sons of yore,

Nought of the day which none may name
When Troy's tall towers passed in flame.
No deeds shall I repeat
Of those the well-built fleet

Of hollow warships brought to Troy,
Fine heroes banded to destroy:
Them Agamemnon led,
A prince of princes bred.

Them might the subtle muses tell,
The Heliconian sisters, well:
No mortal man may trace
Each vessel in its place,

How Menelaus set his sail
From Grecian Aulis to prevail
In Dardan pasture-land
With his bronze-shielded band,

Achaeans all! First in the fight
Achilles showed his fleet-foot might,
And Ajax, mighty one,
Strong son of Telamon . . .

And one there was surpassing fair,
Whom golden-girdled Hyllis bare.
But Greeks and Trojans less
Admired his loveliness,

When set by Troilus, side by side;
Like virgin gold thrice purified
Compared with common brass
His grace of body was.

Loveliness still belongs to these;
And with them you, Polycrates,
Shall have an endless name
With my song and my fame.





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