Love

To Aphrodite

by Bion of Smyrna fl. c. 100 BC

Translated by J. M. Edmonds (1912) · From The Greek Bucolic Poets (Loeb, 1912)

Love

Gentle Dame of Cyprus, be'st thou child of Zeus, or child of the sea, pray tell me why wast so unkind alike unto Gods and men – nay, I'll say more, why so hateful unto thyself, as to bring forth so great and universal a mischief as this Love, so cruel, so heartless, so all unlike in ways and looks? and wherefore also these wings and archeries that we may not escape him when he oppresseth us?

This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.

MLA

Smyrna, Bion of. “To Aphrodite.” Translated by J. M. Edmonds. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/bion/9/.

Chicago

Smyrna, Bion of. “To Aphrodite.” Translated by J. M. Edmonds. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/bion/9/.

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