Social Commentaries
Book XI, 412
Translated by W. R. Paton (1916–18) · From The Greek Anthology (Loeb, vol. IV, 1918)
To paint the soul is difficult, to sketch the outward shape is easy, but in your case both are just the opposite. For Nature, bringing outside the perversity of your soul, has wrought so that it is a visible object ; but as for the tumult of your person and the offensiveness of your body, how could one paint it when one does not even wish to look on it?
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Antiochus. “Book XI, 412.” Translated by W. R. Paton. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/antiochus/0/.
Chicago
Antiochus. “Book XI, 412.” Translated by W. R. Paton. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/antiochus/0/.
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