Love's Martyr | Evermore in my ears eddies the sound of Love

by Meleager of Gadara (flourished 1st century BCE)

Translation by John (or Jack) William Mackail (1859 - 1945)

αἰεί μοι δινεῖ μὲν ἐν οὔασιν ἦχος Ἔρωτος

Language: Greek (Ελληνικά)

αἰεί μοι δινεῖ μὲν ἐν οὔασιν ἦχος Ἔρωτος,
ὄμμα δὲ σῖγα Πόθοις τὸ γλυκὺ δάκρυ φέρει:
οὐδ᾽ ἡ νύξ, οὐ φέγγος ἐκοίμισεν, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὸ φίλτρων
ἤδη που κραδίᾳ γνωστὸς ἔνεστι τύπος.
ὦ πτανοί, μὴ καὶ ποτ᾽ ἐφίπτασθαι μέν, Ἔρωτες,
οἴδατ᾽, ἀποπτῆναι δ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὅσον ἰσχύετε;

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Text Authorship:

by Meleager of Gadara (flourished 1st century BCE), no title, Epigram 5.212 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

[ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in English, a translation by John (or Jack) William Mackail (1859 - 1945) , "Love's Martyr" ; composed by Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2023-07-25
Line count: 6
Word count: 45

Love's Martyr

Language: English after the Greek (Ελληνικά)

Evermore in my ears eddies the sound of Love, 
and my eye silently carries sweet tears for the Desires; 
nor does night nor light let me rest, but already 
my enchanted heart bears the well-known imprint. 
Ah winged Loves, surely you know how to fly towards me, 
but have no whit of strength to fly away.

Confirmed with J. W. Mackail, Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology, Longmans, Green, and Co., 1890. Note: this is a prose text. Line-breaks have been added arbitrarily.

Text Authorship:

by John (or Jack) William Mackail (1859 - 1945), "Love's Martyr" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Greek (Ελληνικά) by Meleager of Gadara (flourished 1st century BCE), no title, Epigram 5.212
- Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Granville Ransome Bantock, Sir (1868 - 1946), "Love's Martyr", 1922 [ voice and harp or lyre ], from The Garland of Meleager, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2023-02-11
Line count: 6
Word count: 56