Simonides Excerpt 12
One thing the Chian Poet said very well indeed: “Like the generation of leaves is the generation of
men.”
Yet few
among mortals who hear this with their ears lay it away in their hearts,
for each man has Hope,
Hope which grows by nature in the hearts of the young.
So long
as a man possesses the much desired flower of youth,
his
spirit is light and foolish, and he thinks to no purpose;
for he
has no expectation of growing old or of dying, nor, while he is healthy, does he
entertain thoughts of pain.
Childish
and vain are those who think thus and do not know
how
brief is the time of youth and life for mortals.
But you heed
what I say as you move
toward life’s boundary:
stand firm in endurance taking delight in all good things.
Chian poet: This is in reference to Homer. The island of Chios was one of the places
that claimed to be Homer’s birthplace.
“Like the generation of leaves is the generation of men”-
This is a quote from Homer that implies that life is short.
“few among mortals…hearts”- this part of the poem is saying
that although what Homer said is a valuable message, most people do not listen
to it and truly understand the meaning.
Hope- Hope is capitalized here so it is likely a reference
to Elpis, the greed goddess of hope. The
story with Elpis is that when Pandora’s Box was opened and all of the chaos was
let out, she remained in the box to serve as a comfort to mankind. In the case of this poem, hope is something
all young people have that everything will be okay even though they do not
always think their actions through.
“So long as man possesses…pain”- As long as somebody is
young they do not worry about the future because they are ambitious and only
care about the present. It is comparable
to how now people often say that people in their teens and twenties think they
are invincible and can do what ever they want without consequences.
“Childish and
vain…mortals”- It is ignorant to not consider the future and only think
about the present and those who do not understand that don’t realize that
people are not young forever and youth needs to be cherished. The brevity of human life is the main point
that Simonides is trying to make in this poem,
“But you…boundary”-
The “you” is in italics here, it could mean that Simonides is talking to a
specific person who isn’t mentioned by name or he is just referring to anyone
who is reading the poem. If it is the
latter, then it is saying that people who are not reading this poem and
ignorant and do not know the correct way to live life and cherish youth, but
the reader of the poem has an advantage over the others because he or she now
understands what Homer meant in the Iliad
Sources:
Greek Lyric
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