Three Odes of Anacreon

by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918)

1. Away, away, you men of rules  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Away, away, ye men of rules,
What have I do with schools?
They'd make me learn, they'd make me think,
But would they make me love and drink?
Teach me this, and let me swim
My soul upon the goblet's brim;
Teach me this, and let me twine
Some fond, responsive heart to mine,
For, age begins to blanch my brow,
I've time for naught but pleasure now.

Fly, and cool, my goblet's glow
At yonder fountain's gelid flow;
I'll quaff, my boy, and calmly sink
This soul to slumber as I drink.
Soon, too soon, my jocund slave,
You'll deck your master's grassy grave;
And there's an end--for ah, you know
They drink but little wine below!

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Moore's note: "This is doubtless the work of a more modern poet than Anacreon; for at the period when he lived rhetoricians were not known."--DEGEN.

Though this ode is found in the Vatican manuscript, I am much inclined to agree in this argument against its authenticity: for though the dawnings of the art of rhetoric might already have appeared, the first who gave it any celebrity was. Corax of Syracuse, and he flourished in the century after Anacreon.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. Fill me, boy, as deep a draught  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Fill me, boy, as deep a draught,
As e'er was filled, as e'er was quaffed;
But let the water amply flow,
To cool the grape's intemperate glow;1
Let not the fiery god be single,
But with the nymphs in union mingle.
For though the bowl's the grave of sadness,
Ne'er let it be the birth of madness.
No, banish from our board tonight
The revelries of rude delight;
To Scythians leave these wild excesses,
Ours be the joy that soothes and blesses!
And while the temperate bowl we wreathe,
In concert let our voices breathe,
Beguiling every hour along
With harmony of soul and song.

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Moore's note: This ode consists of two fragments, which are to be found in Athenaeus, book x., and which Barnes, from the similarity of their tendency, has combined into one. I think this a very justifiable liberty, and have adopted it in some other fragments of our poet.
1 (from Moore): It was Amphictyon who first taught the Greeks to mix water with their wine; in commemoration of which circumstance they erected altars to Bacchus and the nymphs.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

3. Golden hues of life are fled  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Golden hues of [youth]1 are fled;
Hoary locks deform my head. 
Bloomy graces, dalliance gay,
All the flowers of life decay.
Withering age begins to trace 
Sad memorials o'er my face; 
Time has shed its sweetest bloom,
All the future must be gloom! 
This awakes my hourly sighing;
Dreary is the thought of dying! 
Pluto's is a dark abode,
Sad the journey, sad the road:
And, the gloomy travel o'er, 
Ah! we can return no more!

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Confirmed with The Works of Thomas Moore, Comprehending all his melodies, Ballads, etc., never before published without the accompanying music, Vol. VII, Odes of Anacreon. Little's poems, Paris: A. and W. Galignani, 1823, pages 180-181.

1 Parry: "life"; further changes may exist not shown above.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 301