Living
Maxims of Theognis: Wine is not drunk by
Translated by Rev. J. Banks (Bohn, 1856) · From Hesiod, Callimachus and Theognis (Bohn, 1856)
Wine is not drunk by me, since with a tender maiden, another man, far meaner than I, has the upper hand. Cold water to my sorrow her dear parents drink with her, so that she at the same time fetches water and bears me groaningly. Then having clasped the damsel round, I kissed her neck, and she spake tenderly with her lips.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Codex Note
Literal prose translation by the Rev. J. Banks (Bohn, 1856), printed as prose: the plain-sense companion to Frere’s verse version. Banks’s hyphenated compounds are his own.
Cite this poem
MLA
Megara, Theognis of. “Maxims of Theognis: Wine is not drunk by.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/150/.
Chicago
Megara, Theognis of. “Maxims of Theognis: Wine is not drunk by.” Translated by Rev. J. Banks. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/theognis/150/.
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