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To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

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by Anacreon (c582BCE - c485BCE)
Translation © by Lawrence Sisk

Εις εαυτον
Language: Greek (Ελληνικά) 
Our translations:  ENG
Ἐπειδὴ βροτὸσ ἐτύχθην
βιότου τρίβον ὁβεύειν,
χρόνον ἔγνων, δν παρῆλθον,
δν δ ̓ ἔχω δραμεῖν, οὐχ οἴδα.
Μέθετ ̓ οὔν με φροντίδεσ δή,
μηδε’ν μοι χαὶ ὑμῖν ἔστω.
Πρὶν ἐμὲ φθάσῃ τὸ τέλοσ,
παίξω, γελάσω, χορεύσω,
μετὰτοῦ χαλοῦ Λυαίου.

See also Ronsard's Imitation d'Anacreon.


Show a transliteration: DIN | ISO 843

Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

  • by Anacreon (c582BCE - c485BCE), "Εις εαυτον", appears in Odes, no. 24 [author's text not yet checked 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 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 French (Français), a translation by Rémy Belleau (1527/8 - 1577) , "De vivre gayement" ; composed by Jacques-Michel Zoubaloff.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , "An sich selbst" ; composed by Carl Loewe.
    • Go to the text.

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
  • 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: 9
Word count: 39

On himself
Language: English  after the Greek (Ελληνικά) 
As I, a mortal, happened
to travel the road of life,
I came to know time, which passed.
How far I still have to run, I do not know.
Release me, wine, from my cares;
Let them be nothing to me and you.
Before I reach the end
I shall play, laugh and dance
with the handsome Lyaeus.

Translator's note for line -1: Lyaeus is an epithet of Dionysus, who frees men from cares.


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. 24
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2019-12-10
Line count: 9
Word count: 58

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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