Living

Two Eternities (Mackail)

by Leonidas of Tarentum fl. early 3rd century BC

Translated by J. W. Mackail (1890) · From Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology (1890)

Living

Infinite, O man, was the foretime until thou camest to thy dawn, and what remains is infinite on through Hades: what share is left for life but the bigness of a pinprick, and tinier than a pinprick if such there be? Little is thy life and afflicted; for not even so it is sweet, but more loathed than hateful death.

This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.

MLA

Tarentum, Leonidas of. “Two Eternities (Mackail).” Translated by J. W. Mackail. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/leonidas-tarentum/111/.

Chicago

Tarentum, Leonidas of. “Two Eternities (Mackail).” Translated by J. W. Mackail. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/leonidas-tarentum/111/.

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