Death & Dying

Book XIV, 25: Enigma

by Anonymous (Greek Anthology) various, 7th c. BC – 10th c. AD

Translated by W. R. Paton (1916–18) · From The Greek Anthology (Loeb, vol. V, 1918)

Death & Dying

I miss the eyes of Scylla, which the Sun himself and the Moon extinguished. My father feared me when I was a girl, and now dead I am washed by two perennial rivers which my head sends forth on the rugged hill.

This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.

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Answer: Niobe. By the eyes she means her twelve children slain by Apollo (the Sun) and Artemis (the Moon). They are called the eyes of Scylla because Scylla was supposed to have six heads.

MLA

Anonymous (Greek Anthology). “Book XIV, 25: Enigma.” Translated by W. R. Paton. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-greek-anthology/826/.

Chicago

Anonymous (Greek Anthology). “Book XIV, 25: Enigma.” Translated by W. R. Paton. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-greek-anthology/826/.

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