Time & Brevity
Book X, 75
Translated by W. R. Paton (1916–18) · From The Greek Anthology (Loeb, vol. IV, 1918)
We live—all who live as this life is—and gaze on the flame of the sun, breathing through our nostrils delicate air; we are organs which receive health as a gift from the life-creating breezes. But if anyone with his hand presses tightly a little of our breath, he robs us of our life and brings us down to Hades. So being nothing we are fed with vanity, pasturing on air drawn from a breath of wind.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Alexandria, Palladas of. “Book X, 75.” Translated by W. R. Paton. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/palladas/79/.
Chicago
Alexandria, Palladas of. “Book X, 75.” Translated by W. R. Paton. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/palladas/79/.
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