M/M: Be My King: Dionysus & Ampelos, Nonnos, Dion. X.193-216

Name:  Nonnos of Panopolis Date:   4th - 5th century CE Region:  [modern Egypt] Citation:  Dionysiaca 10.193-216

Bacchus hid his immortal form from the youth

And approached him as a mortal, flirting with him

with these words: “Who’s your father?

What immortal womb gave you life?

What Grace raised you? Admit it—Apollo’s your father!

Tell me, darling (amice), don’t hide your lineage.

You act like you’re some wingless Cupid, but without weapons and a bow.

What god courted Venus to create you?

For I hesitate to call Venus your mother,

Since Vulcan or Mars can’t be your father.

Or are you the god they call Mercury?

Then show me your feathers, and the wings on your ankles.

Your long hair flows down your neck, but you don’t have a cithara.

Are you Phoebus, shaking his long wavy hair—but without your signature bow?

If Jupiter is my father, but you are mortal-born,

A short-lived satyr with cow-like horns,

Be king alongside me, equal to equal, a god and a mortal together,

For no one would question your godhood

While you were by my side.

Oh! I recognize your lineage—the one you’re trying to hide!

The Moon herself is your mother, having united with the Sun,

You’re as beautiful as Narcissus. For you have the same

Heavenly form as the moon—you both have horns!”

τὸν μὲν ἔχων Διόνυσος ὁμέψιον, ἁβρὸν ἀθύρων,  
εἴρετο θαμβαλέην προχέων ἐπὶ κάλλεϊ φωνὴν
ὡς βροτός, ἀθανάτην δὲ δολοπλόκος ἔκρυφε μορφήν:

‘Τίς σε πατὴρ ἐφύτευσε; τίς οὐρανίη τέκε γαστήρ;
τίς Χαρίτων σε λόχευσε; τίς ἤροσε καλός Ἀπόλλων;
εἰπέ, φίλος, μὴ κρύπτε τεὸν γένος: εἰ μὲν ἱκάνεις
ἄπτερος ἄλλος Ἔρως βελέων δίχα, νόσφι φαρέτρης,
τίς μακάρων σε φύτευσε παρευνάζων Ἀφροδίτῃ;
καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ τρομέω σέο μητέρα Κύπριν ἐνίψαι,
μὴ γενέτην Ἥφαιστον ἢ Ἄρεα σεῖο καλέσσω.
εἰ δὲ σύ, τὸν καλέουσιν, ἀπ᾽ αἰθέρος ἤλυθες Ἑρμῆς,
δεῖξον ἐμοὶ πτερὰ κοῦφα καὶ ἔμπνοα ταρσὰ πεδίλων.
πῶς μεθέπεις ἄτμητον ἐπήορον αὐχένι χαίτην;
μὴ σύ μοι αὐτὸς ἵκανες ἄτερ κιθάρης, δίχα τόξου,
Φοῖβος ἀκερσικόμης κεχαλασμένα βόστρυχα σείων;
εἰ Κρονίδης με φύτευσε, σὺ δὲ χθονίης ἀπὸ φύτλης
βουκεράων Σατύρων μινυώριον αἷμα κομίζεις,
ἶσον ἐμοὶ βασίλευε, θεῷ βροτός: οὐ γὰρ ἐλέγξει
οὐράνιον τεὸν εἶδος Ὀλύμπιον αἷμα Λυαίου.
ἀλλὰ τί κικλήσκω σε μινυνθαδίης ἀπὸ φύτλης;
γινώσκω τεὸν αἷμα, καὶ εἰ κρύπτειν μενεαίνεις:
ἠελίῳ σε λόχευσε παρευνηθεῖσα Σελήνη
Ναρκίσσῳ χαρίεντι πανείκελον: αἰθέριον γὰρ
εἴκελον εἶδος ἔχεις, κεραῆς ἴνδαλμα Σελήνης.’

Hunc quidem habens Bacchus consobrinum mollis ludens

querebat admirantem profundens ob pulchritudinem, vocem

tamquam mortalis: immortale v. dolosus abscondebat formam:

"Quis te pater plantavit? Quis caelestis (te) genuit venter?

Que Charitum te enixa? quis (te) aravit pulcher Apollo?

Dic amice, non absconde tuum genus. Siquidem venis

non alatus alter Cupido, telis sine, absque pharetra.

quis deorum te plantavit concumbens cum Venere?

namque ego formido tuam matrem, Cyprin dicere.

Ne genitorem Vulcanum aut Martem tuum dicam, 

sin vero tu, quem vocant ab aethere venisti Mercurius,

ostende mihi pennas leves, et vinas alas talarlium

qui habes intonsam sublimem super cervice comam

nisi mihi ipse veneris sine cithara. sine arcu

phoebus intonsus demissos cincinnos vibrans.

Si vero Saturnius me plantavit. Tu vero terrestri agenere

boum cornua habentium Satyrorum brevis qui sanguine fers,

aequaliter mihi regna deo mortalis, non enim arguet 

caelestem tuam imaginem caelestis sanguis Bacchi

sed quid voco te ex exigua aliqua familia.

Cognosco tuum sanguinem, quamvis tegere studes.

solite peperit concumbens Luna,

Narcisso gratioso prorsus similem. Caelestem enim

consimilem imaginem habes cornutae simulacrum lunae.

tale verbum dixit.

Translated into Latin from the Greek by Eilhard Lubin

Nonnus of Panopolis [4th - 5th century CE] was an Egyptian born Roman citizen who composed the Dionysiaca, a massive 48 volume epic about the life of the god Dionysus.

Equal to Men: Quintus of Smyrna, Posthomerica 1.407-434

Name:  Quintus of Smyrna Date:  4th century CE Region:   Smyrna [modern Greece] Citation: Posthomerica 1.407-434

Inspired by the Amazon Penthesilea's Fighting, Tisiphone Encourages the Trojan Women to Join Their Men in Battle 

"Friends, instill courage into your hearts,
like our husbands, who never waiver in their fight against the enemy to keep us safe.
Come on, now,
let us take up the mantle of bravery, let us join the fight alongside them!
For we are not so different from these men in strength; we also have strength in our bodies. Our eyes are the same, our knees are the same, everything is the same!
We share the same daylight, the same fresh air, the same food. What difference has God given to them, to make them so much better than us?
So let's not shirk our role in this fight.
[Look at the Amazon Penthesilea fighting:]
Don't you see this lone woman holding her own against men on the battlefield? She's not doing this for her family or neighbors. She's not even fighting for her homeland; she's merely fighting as a mercenary for a foreign king, just for her own personal benefit.  She doesn't care whom she fights, she's not afraid, she has virtue in her heart, and a fearless mind. 
But we and other women
are groveling and beset with misery, while our dear children and husbands die in front of us. Some of us weep for parents no longer alive,  some of us weep for a dead brother or neighbor. No one here is free from this wretched suffering.
  And what's more, we must fear the life of servitude at war's end.  So let's stop dithering and fight! It is more fulfilling to die in battle than to die as someone's slave!  Compelled by such sorrowful necessity, we would be taken as slaves from our burning homeland, with orphaned infants in our arms, their fathers dead upon the ground."

‘ὦ φίλαι, ἄλκιμον ἦτορ ἐνὶ στέρνοισι λαβοῦσαι
ἀνδράσιν ἡμετέροισιν ὁμοίιον, οἳ περὶ πάτρης
δυσμενέσιν μάρνανται ὑπὲρ τεκέων τε καὶ ἡμέων,
οὔποτ᾽ ἀναπνείοντες ὀϊζύος—ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐταὶ
παρθέμεναι φρεσὶ θυμὸν ἴσης μνησώμεθα χάρμης:
οὐ γὰρ ἀπόπροθέν εἰμεν ἐϋσθενέων αἰζηῶν,
ἀλλ᾽ οἷον κείνοισι πέλει μένος ἔστι καὶ ἡμῖν:
ἶσοι δ᾽ ὀφθαλμοὶ καὶ γούνατα, πάντα δ᾽ ὁμοῖα,
ξυνὸν δ᾽ αὖ πάντεσσι φάος καὶ νήχυτος ἀήρ,
φορβὴ δ᾽ οὐχ ἑτέρη: δί δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἀνδράσι λώιον ἄλλο
θῆκε θεός; τῷ μή τι φεβώμεθα δηιοτῆτα.
ἢ οὐχ ὁράατε γυναῖκα μέγ᾽ αἰζηῶν προφέρουσαν
ἀγχεμάχων; τῆς δ᾽ οὔτι πέλει σχεδὸν οὔτε γενέθλη
οὔτ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἑὸν πτολίεθρον, ὑπὲρ ξείνοιο δ᾽ ἄνακτος
μάρναται ἐκ θυμοῖο καὶ οὐκ ἐμπάζεται ἀνδρῶν
ἐνθεμένη φρεσὶ θάρσος ἀταρτηρόν τε νόημα:
ἡμῖν δ᾽ ἄλλοθεν ἄλλα παραὶ ποσὶν ἄλγεα κεῖται:
τῇς μὲν γὰρ φίλα τέκνα καὶ ἀνέρες ἀμφὶ πόληι
ὤλλυνθ᾽, αἱ δὲ τοκῆας ὀδυρόμεθ᾽ οὐκέτ᾽ ἐόντας:
ἄλλαι δ᾽ αὖτ᾽ ἀκάχηνται ἀδελφειῶν ἐπ᾽ ὀλέθρῳ
καὶ πηῶν: οὐ γάρ τις ὀϊζυρῆς κακότητος
ἄμμορος: ἐλπωρὴ δὲ πέλει καὶ δούλιον ἦμαρ
εἰσιδέειν: τῷ μή τις ἔτ᾽ ἀμβολίη πολέμοιο
εἴη τειρομένῃσιν: ἔοικε γὰρ ἐν δαῒ μᾶλλον
τεθνάμεν ἢ μετόπισθεν ὑπ᾽ ἀλλοδαποῖσιν ἄγεσθαι
νηπιάχοις ἅμα παισὶν ἀνιηρῇ ὑπ᾽ ἀνάγκῃ
ἄστεος αἰθομένοιο καὶ ἀνδρῶν οὐκέτ᾽ ἐόντων.’

“Amicae, fortem pectoribus animum infigite,

Non minus quam viri nostri, qui pro patria

Contra hostes parentum et nostrae salutis causa propugnant,

Nunquam ab aerumnis respirantes, Agedum et ipsae,

Indita pectoribus fiducia, ad similem nos pugnam accingamus!

Non enim multum a iuvenibus absumus robustis,

Sed quale ipsis est robur, nobis etiam est,

Paresque oculi, et genua, et omnia similia:

Lux etiam omnibus communis, et liquidus aer,

Nec diversum est nutrimentum. Et quid aliud viris, Quo nos praecellant,

Adposuit Deus? Ideo certamen hostile nequaquam defugiamus.

Nonne videtis feminam viris longe praestare

Bellacibus? Cuius neque familia in propinquo est,

Neque urbs sua: sed pro rege externo,

Ex animo belligeratur. Nec magnifacit viros,

Eam pectore virtutem, tam imperterritum complexa est animum.

Nobis autem aliunde aliae ante pedes miseriae obiectae sunt,

Aliis enim cari liberi et mariti ante urbem

Perierunt. Aliae parentes deploramus non ultra superstites,

Aliae ob fratrum et propinquorum necem

Animi se discruciant. Nulla enim a calamitosissima infelicitate

Immunis est. Addite, quod metuendum, ne diem servitute gravem

Videamus. Ideo nulla pugnandi mora

Sit tantopere adflictis. Satius est in proelio

Occumbere , quam ab alienigenis postmodum, necessitate

Tristi coactas, una cum infantibus liberis abduci

Urbe incendio absumta, et viris e medio sublatis.”
Translated into Latin by Laurentius Rhodomannus


Quintus of Smyrna was a Greek poet who lived during the 4^th century CE. His epic poem, the Posthomerica, was a fourteen volume epic depicting the events of the later half of the Trojan War; this epic preserves many literary sources that are no longer extant.