Dangerous Beauty: Flee, Daphnis! Greek Anthology IX.338.1-4, 6

CONTENT WARNING: attempted sexual assault

The common denominator in assault myths is not the victim's gender, but their beauty. 

εὕδεις φυλλοστρῶτι πέδῳ, Δάφνι, σῶμα κεκμακὸς

ἀμπαύων στάλικες δ᾽ ἀρτιπαγεῖς ἀν᾽ ὄρη.

ἀγρεύει δέ τυ Πάν, καὶ ὁ τὸν κροκόεντα Πρίηπος

κισσὸν ἐφ᾽ ἱμερτῷ κρατὶ καθαπτόμενος,

... ἀλλὰ τὺ φεῦγε,

φεῦγε, μεθεὶς ὕπνου κῶμα καταρχόμενον.

 

Dum vari in summis stant montibus, aequore campi

Frondibus instrato te sopor altus habet,

Daphni [pastor], Faunus te capta[bi]t & ipse Priapus,

Tempora sub crocea cui titubant hedera,

... effuge Daphni,

effuge, nec somno mergere, sed vigila.

 

--Theocritus, Greek Anthology IX.388.1-4, 6; Translated into Latin by Eoranus Hess, 1781

Daphnis,

You are worn out

And sleeping

on a leafy bed

with your snares set

on the mountaintop.

But Pan is hunting you,

And Priapus, too, with his crown woven with ivy & crocuses...

Flee! Shake off your sleep and wake up!

THEOCRITUS	MAP:
Name:  Theocritus Date:  3rd c. BCE Works:   Bucolics Idylls	REGION  1
BIO:	Timeline:
Little is known about the life of Theocritus except that he was a 3rd century BCE Greek poet from Sicily. He was a prolific writer, and many of his works are still extant. His pastoral poetry influenced the works of Virgil.	HELLENISTIC GREEK