On himself | The women say

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by Anacreon (c582BCE - c485BCE)

Translation © by Lawrence Sisk

Λέγουσιν αἱ γυναῖκες·

Language: Greek (Ελληνικά)

Our translations: ENG

Λέγουσιν αἱ γυναῖκες·
«Ἀνάκρεον, γέρων εἶ,
λαβὼν ἔσοπτρον ἄθρει
κόμας μὲν οὐκ ἔτ᾽ οὔσας,
ψιλὸν δέ σευ μέτωπον.»
ἐγὼ δὲ τὰς κόμας μέν,
εἴτ᾽ εἰσὶν εἴτ᾽ ἀπῆλθον,
οὐκ οἶδα· τοῦτο δ᾽ οἶδα,
ὡς τῷ γέροντι μᾶλλον
πρέπει τὸ τερπνὰ παίζειν,
ὅσῳ πέλας τὰ Μοίρης.

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Text Authorship:

by Anacreon (c582BCE - c485BCE), "Εις εαυτον", appears in Odes, no. 11 [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):

by Henry Lawes (c1595 - 1662), "Anacreons Ode concerning himselfe", published 1655 [ voice and continuo ], from The Second Book of Ayres, and Dialogues, no. 39, Confirmed with The Second Book of Ayres and Dialogues, for One, Two, and Three, by Henry Lawes, John Playford, London 1655, Page 39. [sung text checked 1 time]
by Carl Loewe (1796 - 1869), "Εις εαυτον", 1815?, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Carl Loewe.
- Go to the text.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Stefan Stocker.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Lawrence Sisk) , "On himself", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English [singable] (John Berkenhead, Sir)
FRE French (Français) (Ernest Falconnet) , "Sur lui-même", first published 1847

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 11
Word count: 44

On himself

Language: English after the Greek (Ελληνικά)

The women say:
"Anacreon, you are old.
Look at yourself in a mirror;
Your hair is gone;
Your forehead is bald."
But whether the hairs are there,
Or they have gone away,
I do not know. But this I know:
It is better for an old man
To sing and dance 
His way to his fate.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Greek (Ελληνικά) to English copyright © 2019 by Lawrence Sisk, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in Greek (Ελληνικά) by Anacreon (c582BCE - c485BCE), "Εις εαυτον", appears in Odes, no. 11
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2019-12-10
Line count: 11
Word count: 56