by Bion of Smyrna (flourished 100 BCE)
Translation by Andrew Lang (1844 - 1912)
Great Cypris stood beside me, while...
Language: English  after the Greek (Ελληνικά)
Great Cypris stood beside me, while still I slumbered, and with her beautiful hand she led the child Love, whose head was earthward bowed. This word she spake to me, "Dear herdsman, prithee take Love, and teach him to sing." So said she, and departed, and I -- my store of pastoral song I taught to Love, in my innocence, as if he had been fain to learn. I taught him how the cross-flute was invented by Pan, and the flute by Athene, and by Hermes the tortoise-shell lyre, and the harp by sweet Apollo. All these things I taught him as best I might; but he, not heeding my words, himself would sing me ditties of love, and taught me the desires of mortals and immortals, and all the deeds of his mother. And I clean forgot the lore I was teaching to Love, but what Love taught me, and his love ditties, I learned them all.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Theocritus, Bion and Moschus. Rendered into English Prose with an Introductory Essay by A. Lang, M. A., Lately Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, London, MacMillan and Co., Limited, 1896, pages 179-180. Note: this is a prose text. We have added line-breaks arbitrarily.
Authorship:
- by Andrew Lang (1844 - 1912), "The Tutor of Love" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Greek (Ελληνικά) by Bion of Smyrna (flourished 100 BCE) [text unavailable]
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), "Great Cypris stood", published 1927 [ voice and flute with optional cello ], from Three Idylls from the Greek Anthology, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2021-04-23
Line count: 14
Word count: 157