EPIGRAMS XIV-XV
powder all the pots inside. And you, too, daughter of the Sun, Circe the witch, come and cast cruel spells; hurt both these men and their handiwork. Let Chiron also come and bring many Centaurs—all that escaped the hands of Heracles and all that were destroyed: let them make sad havoc of the pots and overthrow the kiln, and let the potters see the mischief and be grieved; but I will gloat as I behold their luckless craft. And if anyone of them stoops to peer in, let all his face be burned up, that all men may learn to deal honestly.
XV[1]
Let us betake us to the house of some man of great power,—one who bears great power and is greatly prosperous always. Open of yourselves, you doors, for mighty Wealth will enter in, and with Wealth comes jolly Mirth and gentle Peace. May all the corn-bins be full and the mass of dough always overflow the kneading-trough. Now (set before us) cheerful barley-pottage, full of sesame...
Your son's wife, driving to this house with strong-hoofed mules, shall dismount from her carriage to greet you; may she be shod with golden shoes as she stands weaving at the loom.
I come, and I come yearly, like the swallow that perches light-footed in the fore-part of your house. But quickly bring...
- ↑ This song is called by pseudo-Herodotus Εἰρησιώνη. The word properly indicates a garland wound with wool which was worn at harvest-festivals, but came to be applied first to the harvest song and then to any begging song. The present is akin to the Swallow-Song (Χελιδόνισμα), sung at the beginning of spring, and answering to the still surviving English May-Day songs. Cp. Athenaeus, viii. 360 b.
