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Callimachus Quotes (-310--240)
Poet
About Callimachus
Callimachus of Cyrene (c. 310 BC – c. 240 BC) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar, and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works, most of which do not survive, in a wide variety of genres. He espoused an aesthetic philosophy, known as Callimacheanism, which exerted a strong influence on the poets of the Roman Empire and, through them, on all subsequent Western literature.
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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Callimachus quotes.
“Nothing unattested do I sing.”
“Set a thief to catch a thief.”
“Here sleeps Saon, of Acanthus, son of Dicon, a holy sleep: say not that the good die.”
“Ὅμηρον ἐξ Ὁμήρου σαφηνίζειν
• To explain Homer with Homer”
• To explain Homer with Homer”
“A big book is a big misfortune.
• Variant translation: A great book is like great evil.”
• Variant translation: A great book is like great evil.”
“The Graces, three erewhile, are three no more;
A fourth is come with perfume sprinkled o'er.
'Tis Berenice blest and fair; were she
Away the Graces would no Graces be.”
A fourth is come with perfume sprinkled o'er.
'Tis Berenice blest and fair; were she
Away the Graces would no Graces be.”
“Two goddesses now must Cyprus adore;
The Muses are ten, and the Graces are four;
Stella's wit is so charming, so sweet her fair face,
She shines a new Venus, a Muse, and a Grace.”
The Muses are ten, and the Graces are four;
Stella's wit is so charming, so sweet her fair face,
She shines a new Venus, a Muse, and a Grace.”
“Two goddesses now must Cyprus adore;
The Muses are ten, the Graces are four;
Stella's wit is so charming, so sweet her fair face;
She shines a new Venus, a Muse, and a Grace.”
The Muses are ten, the Graces are four;
Stella's wit is so charming, so sweet her fair face;
She shines a new Venus, a Muse, and a Grace.”
“O Charidas, what of the under world? Great darkness. And what of the resurrection? A lie. And Pluto? A fable; we perish utterly.”
“His blend of sensitivity and detachment, elegance, wit, and learning, had a profound influence on later Roman poets, especially Catullus, Ovid, and Propertius (the last thought of himself as the Roman Callimachus), and through them on the whole European literary tradition.”
“The most outstanding intellect of this generation, the greatest poet that the Hellenistic age produced, and historically one of the most important figures in the development of Graeco-Roman (and hence European) literature.”
“Εἰπέ τις, Ἡράκλειτε, τεὸν μόρον ἐς δέ με δάκρυ
ἤγαγεν ἐμνήσθην δ᾿ ὁσσάκις ἀμφότεροι
ἠέλιον λέσχῃ κατεδύσαμεν. ...
• They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead,
They brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed.
I wept, as I remembered, how often you and I
Had tired the sun with talking and sent him down the sky.And now that thou art lying, my dear old Carian guest,
A handful of grey ashes, long, long ago at rest,
Still are thy pleasant voices, thy nightingales, awake;
For Death, he taketh all away, but them he cannot take.”
ἤγαγεν ἐμνήσθην δ᾿ ὁσσάκις ἀμφότεροι
ἠέλιον λέσχῃ κατεδύσαμεν. ...
• They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead,
They brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed.
I wept, as I remembered, how often you and I
Had tired the sun with talking and sent him down the sky.And now that thou art lying, my dear old Carian guest,
A handful of grey ashes, long, long ago at rest,
Still are thy pleasant voices, thy nightingales, awake;
For Death, he taketh all away, but them he cannot take.”
“[...] ὅσσα τ' ὀδόντωνἔνδοθι νείαιράν τ' εἰς ἀχάριστον ἔδυ,
καὶ τῶν οὐδὲν ἔμεινεν ἐς αὔριον· ὅσσα δ' ἀκουαῖς
εἰσεθέμην, ἔτι μοι μοῦνα πάρεστι τάδε.
• "and of all that passed my teeth
and plunged into my ungrateful belly,
of these too nothing remained into the morning; but only this
do I still possess, what I put into my ears."
• variant translation: All that I have given to my stomach has disappeared, and I have retained all the fodder that I gave to my spirit. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/did2222.0000.665/--gluttony?rgn=main;view=fulltext”
καὶ τῶν οὐδὲν ἔμεινεν ἐς αὔριον· ὅσσα δ' ἀκουαῖς
εἰσεθέμην, ἔτι μοι μοῦνα πάρεστι τάδε.
• "and of all that passed my teeth
and plunged into my ungrateful belly,
of these too nothing remained into the morning; but only this
do I still possess, what I put into my ears."
• variant translation: All that I have given to my stomach has disappeared, and I have retained all the fodder that I gave to my spirit. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/did2222.0000.665/--gluttony?rgn=main;view=fulltext”
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Callimachus on Deity 2 quotes
“The Graces, three erewhile, are three no more; A fourth is come with perfume sprinkled o'er. 'Tis Berenice blest and fair; were she Away the Graces would no Graces be.”
Callimachus on Mortality
“"O Charidas, what of the underworld?" "Great darkness." "And what of the resurrection?" "A lie." "And Pluto?" "A fable; we perish utterly."”
About Callimachus
Callimachus of Cyrene (c. 310 BC – c. 240 BC) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar, and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works, most of which do not survive, in a wide variety of genres. He espoused an aesthetic philosophy, known as Callimacheanism, which exerted a strong influence on the poets of the Roman Empire and, through them, on all subsequent Western literature.
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