Pausanias Analysis

Passage 1.2.3

← 1.2.2 1.2.4 →

Passage 1.2.3: Poets accompanying kings.

Mythic Skeptical

Greek Text

συνῆσαν δὲ ἄρα καὶ τότε τοῖς βασιλεῦσι ποιηταὶ καὶ πρότερον ἔτι καὶ Πολυκράτει Σάμου τυραννοῦντι Ἀνακρέων παρῆν καὶ ἐς Συρακούσας πρὸς Ἱέρωνα Αἰσχύλος καὶ Σιμωνίδης ἐστάλησαν· Διονυσίῳ δέ, ὃς ὕστερον ἐτυράννησεν ἐν Σικελίᾳ, Φιλόξενος παρῆν καὶ Ἀντιγόνῳ Μακεδόνων ἄρχοντι Ἀνταγόρας Ῥόδιος καὶ Σολεὺς Ἄρατος. Ἡσίοδος δὲ καὶ Ὅμηρος ἢ συγγενέσθαι βασιλεῦσιν ἠτύχησαν ἢ καὶ ἑκόντες ὠλιγώρησαν, ὁ μὲν ἀγροικίᾳ καὶ ὄκνῳ πλάνης, Ὅμηρος δὲ ἀποδημήσας ἐπὶ μακρότατον καὶ τὴν ὠφέλειαν τὴν ἐς χρήματα παρὰ τῶν δυνατῶν ὑστέραν θέμενος τῆς παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς δόξης, ἐπεὶ καὶ Ὁμήρῳ πεποιημένα ἐστὶν Ἀλκίνῳ παρεῖναι Δημόδοκον καὶ ὡς Ἀγαμέμνων καταλείποι τινὰ παρὰ τῇ γυναικὶ ποιητήν. ---ἔστι δὲ τάφος οὐ πόρρω τῶν πυλῶν, ἐπίθημα ἔχων στρατιώτην ἵππῳ παρεστηκότα· ὅντινα μέν, οὐκ οἶδα, Πραξιτέλης δὲ καὶ τὸν ἵππον καὶ τὸν στρατιώτην ἐποίησεν.

English Translation

At that time too, then, poets accompanied kings, just as even earlier Anacreon had attended Polycrates when he was tyrant of Samos, and Aeschylus and Simonides were sent to Hieron at Syracuse. Philoxenus was present with Dionysius, who later became tyrant in Sicily, and Antagoras of Rhodes and Aratus of Soli stayed with Antigonus, ruler of the Macedonians. Hesiod and Homer either had no good fortune to associate with kings or deliberately neglected it, Hesiod through his rusticity and reluctance to travel, and Homer because he ventured abroad very widely indeed, preferring fame among the people above the profit of wealth from the powerful. Indeed, Homer himself described how Demodocus attended Alcinous, and how Agamemnon left a certain poet behind with his wife. Close by the city gates there is a tomb bearing the relief of a soldier standing beside a horse; who this man is I do not know, but Praxiteles made both the horse and the soldier.

Proper Nouns

Macedonians (Μακεδόνες) other
Aeschylus (Αἰσχύλος) person Q40939
Demodocus (Δημόδοκος) person Q3558606
Also in: 3.18.11
Dionysios (Διονύσιος) person
Polykrates (Πολυκράτης) person
Also in: 6.17.9 8.14.8
Praxiteles (Πραξιτέλης) person
Simonides (Σιμωνίδης) person
Also in: 3.8.2 6.9.9 9.2.5
Philoxenus (Φιλόξενος) person
Also in: 2.33.4
Agamemnon (Ἀγαμέμνων) person
Alcinous (Ἀλκίνους) person
Anacreon (Ἀνακρέων) person
Also in: 1.25.1
Antigonus (Ἀντίγονος) person
Antagoras (Ἀνταγόρας) person
Also in: 3.4.9
Aratus (Ἄρατος) person
Hesiod (Ἡσίοδος) person
Hieron (Ἱέρων) person
Homer (Ὅμηρος) person
Samos (Σάμος) place Q13580795
Sicily (Σικελία) place Q1460
Syracuse (Συρακοῦσαι) place Q4420718
Soli (Σόλοι) place Q656954
Rhodes (Ῥόδος) place Q13533316
← 1.2.2 1.2.4 →