Social Commentaries
Book XI, 408
Translated by W. R. Paton (1916–18) · From The Greek Anthology (Loeb, vol. IV, 1918)
Social Commentaries
You dye your hair, but you will never dye your old age, or smooth out the wrinkles of your cheeks. Then don’t plaster all your face with white lead, so that you have not a face, but a mask; for it serves no purpose. Why are you out of your wits? Rouge and paste will never turn Hecuba into Helen.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Lucian. “Book XI, 408.” Translated by W. R. Paton. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/lucian/23/.
Chicago
Lucian. “Book XI, 408.” Translated by W. R. Paton. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/lucian/23/.
Read this poem with the Codex →