The Mosquito | Fly to her swiftly fly

by Meleager of Gadara (flourished 1st century BCE)

Translation by Dudley Fitts (1903 - 1968)

Πταίης μοι, κώνωψ, ταχὺς ἄγγελος, οὔασι...

Language: Greek (Ελληνικά)

Πταίης μοι, κώνωψ, ταχὺς ἄγγελος, οὔασι δ᾽ ἄκροις
Ζηνοφίλας ψαύσας προσψιθύριζε τάδε:
ἄγρυπνος
μίμνει σε: σὺ δ᾽, ὦ λήθαργε φιλούντων,
εὕδεις.
εἶα, πέτευ; ναί, φιλόμουσε, πέτευ:
ἥσυχα δὲ φθέγξαι, μὴ καὶ σύγκοιτον ἐγείρας
κινήσῃς ἐπ᾽ ἐμοὶ ζηλοτύπους ὀδύνας,
ἢν δ᾽ ἀγάγῃς τὴν παῖδα, δορᾷ στέψω σε λέοντος,
κώνωψ, καὶ δώσω χειρὶ φέρειν ῥόπαλον.

About the headline (FAQ)

Show a transliteration: DIN | ISO 843

Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

by Meleager of Gadara (flourished 1st century BCE), no title, Epigram 5.152 [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 Dudley Fitts (1903 - 1968) ; composed by Geoffrey Bush.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2023-07-25
Line count: 10
Word count: 53

The Mosquito

Language: English after the Greek (Ελληνικά)

Fly to her swiftly fly
Mosquito, bearing my greeting:
Perch on the tip of her ear, and whisper it to her:
Say "He lies waking, waking, longing for you:
And you sleeping, sleeping, sleeping.
O shameless girl! have never a thought for who loves you!"
Buzz! Chirr! Off to her, sweetest Musician!
Yet speak to her softly, lest her bedfellow wake
and hurt her because of my love.
Or bring me the girl herself, Mosquito,
and I will crown your head with the lion's mane
and give you strong Heracles' bludgeon
to brandish in your paw.

Text Authorship:

by Dudley Fitts (1903 - 1968) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Greek (Ελληνικά) by Meleager of Gadara (flourished 1st century BCE), no title, Epigram 5.152
- 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):

by Geoffrey Bush (1920 - 1998), "The Mosquito", 1964 [ baritone and piano ], from Seven Greek Love Songs, no. 4, Confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2019-09-16
Line count: 13
Word count: 96