Waiting | Cleophantis lingers long; and the third lamp now begins to give a

Translation by John (or Jack) William Mackail (1859 - 1945)

Ληθύνει Κλεόφαντις˙ ὁ δὲ τρίτος ἄρχεται...

Language: Greek (Ελληνικά)

Our translations: ITA

Ληθύνει Κλεόφαντις˙ ὁ δὲ τρίτος ἄρχεται ἤδη
   λύχνος ὑποκλάζειν ἦκα μαραινόμενος .

Αἴθε δὲ καὶ κραδίης πυρσὸς συναπέσβεθο λύχνῳ
  μηδέ μ ’ ὑπ ’ ἀγρύπνοις δηρὸν ἔκαιε πόθοις .

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• G. Pritchard

G. Pritchard sets stanza 2

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Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

by Paul the Silentiary (d. 575?80), "Λύχνος", Palatine Anthology, V, 279 [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 Gwyn Pritchard (b. 1948), "Luchnos", 2007, first performed 2007, stanza 2 [ 2 sopranos, contralto, tenor, baritone, and bass a cappella ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (John (or Jack) William Mackail) , "Waiting"
ENG English (William Roger Paton)
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Lucerna", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2010-01-27
Line count: 4
Word count: 29

Waiting

Language: English after the Greek (Ελληνικά)

Cleophantis lingers long; and the third lamp now begins to give a
broken glimmer as it silently wastes away. And would that the
firebrand in my heart too were quenched with the lamp, and did not
burn me long in wakeful desires. Ah how often she swore by the
Cytherean that she would be here at evenfall; but she recks not of
either men or gods.

Confirmed with Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology by J. W. Mackail

Text Authorship:

by John (or Jack) William Mackail (1859 - 1945), "Waiting" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Greek (Ελληνικά) by Paul the Silentiary (d. 575?80), "Λύχνος", Palatine Anthology, V, 279
- 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: 2023-08-14
Line count: 6
Word count: 66