Richly loaded ocean ships that sail down the Hellespont

by Meleager of Gadara (flourished 1st century BCE)

Translation by William Roger Paton (1857 - 1921)

Εὔφορτοι νᾶες πελαγίτιδες, αἳ πόρον...

Language: Greek (Ελληνικά)

Εὔφορτοι νᾶες πελαγίτιδες, αἳ πόρον Ἕλλης
  πλεῖτε, καλὸν κόλποις δεξάμεναι Βορέην,
ἤν που ἐπ᾽ ἠιόνων Κῴαν κατὰ νᾶσον ἴδητε
  Φανίον εἰς χαροπὸν δερκομεναν πέλαγος,
τοῦτ᾽ ἔπος ἀγγείλαιτε, καλαὶ νέες, ὥς με κομίζει
  ἵμερος οὐ ναύταν, ποσσὶ δὲ πεζοπόρον.
εἰ γὰρ τοῦτ᾽ εἴποιτ᾽, εὐάγγελοι, αὐτίκα καὶ Ζεὺς
  οὔριος ὑμετέρας πνεύσεται εἰς ὀθόνας.

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Text Authorship:

by Meleager of Gadara (flourished 1st century BCE), Epigram 12.53 [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 Andrew Lang (1844 - 1912) , "To the ships" ; composed by Amy Elise Horrocks.

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

ENG English (William Roger Paton) , no title

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2023-07-25
Line count: 8
Word count: 51

Richly loaded ocean ships that sail down...

Language: English after the Greek (Ελληνικά)

Richly loaded ocean ships that sail down the Hellespont, 
taking to your bosoms the good North Wind, 
if haply ye see on the beach of Cos Phanion 
gazing at the blue sea, give her this message, 
good ships, that Desire carries me there 
not on shipboard, but faring on my feet. 
For if you tell her this, ye bearers of good tidings, 
straight shall Zeus also breathe 
the gale of his favour into your sails.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by William Roger Paton (1857 - 1921), no title [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), Epigram 12.53
- 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):

[ None yet in the database ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2023-07-26
Line count: 9
Word count: 75