A Proud Mama Bear
Name: Antipater of Sidon Date: 2nd – 1st century BCE Region: Sidon [modern Lebanon] Citation: Greek Anthology 7.743 |
I, Hermocratea, have given birth to twenty-nine
children, and none of them have died!
Apollo has not struck down my sons;
Artemis has not snatched away my weeping daughters!
Instead, Artemis has blessed each of my times in
childbirth,
And Apollo has raised my children into manhood
illness-free.
In this way I am better than Niobe,[1]
both in [the amount of] my children and in a more modest tongue.
[1] According to mythology, Niobe
bragged that she was better than Leto [the mother of Apollo and Artemis]
because she birthed seven times as many children. Enraged, Apollo murdered all
of her sons, and Artemis murdered all of her daughters.
εἴκοσιν Ἑρμοκράτεια
καὶ ἐννέα τέκνα τεκοῦσα οὔθ’ ἑνὸς οὔτε
μιᾶς αὐγασάμην θάνατον. οὐ γὰρ
ἀπωίστευσεν ἐμοὺς υἱῆας Ἀπόλλων, οὐ
βαρυπενθήτους Ἄρτεμις εἷλε κόρας: ἔμπαλι δ᾽ ἁ μὲν
ἔλυσεν ἐμῶν ὠδῖνα μολοῦσα, Φοῖβος δ᾽ εἰς
ἥβαν ἄρσενας ἀγάγετο ἀβλαβέας
νούσοισιν. ἴδ᾽ ὡς νίκημι δικαίως παισὶν καὶ
γλώσσῃ σώφρονι Τανταλίδα. |
Viginti
Hermocratea et novem liberos enixa neque unum
neque unam vidi mortuam. Non enim
sagittis-configit meos filios Apollo, non
graviter-lugendas Diana rapuit puellas: sed contra haec
quidem solvit mearum partus adveniena Phoebus autem
ad pubertatem mares duxit illaesos
morbis. En quomodo vinco nec-immerito liberis et lingua modesta
Tantalidem. Translated into Latin by Hugo Grotius |
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