Archilocus and Florence

“Repining at painful sorrows, Perikles, no one among our citizens,

no, nor the city itself, will find pleasure in festivities:

such were the men whom the waves of the loud-loaring sea

washed over, and we struggle in our distress

with swollen lungs. But for evils that have no cure,

my friend, the gods have ordained stern endurance

as remedy. These things go by turns: now it is to us

that they have shifted, and we groan at the bloody wound,

but soon they will pass to others, Come now, with all speed

endure, and thrust aside this womanish grief” (Archilochus 2,3)

In these lines, Archilochus is talking about the distress at the death of some people. At first, I thought Perikles is the one who’s dead because the following fragment says that he is “no one among our citizens” (because he’s dead). But then, when this phrase is put together with the following line, it means that nobody in the city will have fun at the festival. Probably it is just what Archilochus is thinking. Some people are still going to enjoy the festival. It almost seems like he wants or demands the city to be respectful and mournful for those who died in the sea.

I don’t get what “swollen lungs” means from the line “we struggle in our distress with swollen lungs,” but it gives me an image of the lungs moving up and down (and maybe swollen) when wailing, or the lungs filled with water as those men were drowning. Archilochus is saying that endurance is the only way they can deal with the evil that cannot be cured, or the tremendous sadness that doesn’t seem like going away. He is saying that enduring is not their choice, but it’s ordained by gods. They must endure it as worriers. He is not going to try to find pleasure from festival or forget about the sadness but keep it in, feel the pain, and endure it. “These things” or the injuries/pains/death will take turns. From those who were in the sea, now it is to Archilochus and his friends. It seems like they are in a war or some kind of a fight that they “groan at the bloody wound.” He knows that his pain will last only for certain period of time and more severe pain will come to the others as his is going away. So, Archilochus is ready to confront those pain or “evils” coming fast with its “all speed” even if it may bring destructive outcome. Archilochus thinks that being trapped in sorrow or grief is “womanish.” So, he says put those grief away and endure it like a man, like a worrier.

The poem starts as a sad but reserved and calm tone and slowly explode to a more firm, strong, determined, and forcefully(?) encouraging voice.

“And I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't
So here's to drinks in the dark at the end of my road
And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope
It's a shot in the dark aimed right at my throat
'Cause looking for heaven, found the devil in me
Looking for heaven, found the devil in me
Well what the hell I'm gonna let it happen to me, yeah” (from Shake it Out)

From these lines, I can see that Florence is putting two contradicting elements within a line. It seems like he doesn't know what to do and confused because he sees two contradicting things at one situation. That could be one reason he is drinking. He uses repetition to emphasize a few phrases such as "looking for heaven, found the devil in me." At the end he give up on figuring out what's going on withing the confusing, contradiction situation and just let it go and let it be as it is.