A Soldier's Tale

Two ancient Greek epigrams

The first of the lyric poets of Greece - poets whose works speak in personal terms of their experiences and feelings - was Archilochus of Paros, who lived during the seventh century BC. He was an active soldier, and some of his surviving epigrams tell of his attitudes to fighting and warfare. A group from his native island of Paros created a settlement on Thasos, where they fought with the indigenous Thracians. In the first of the epigrams I’ve translated, Archilochus expresses his feelings all too believably about the kind of commander that wins his trust:

I don’t care for a colonel who struts tall
with curls and beard, and fancies himself fit;
give me a little guy with bandy legs
and sturdy gait, chock-full of heart and grit!

οὐ φιλέω μέγαν στρατηγὸν οὐδὲ διαπεπλιγμένον
οὐδὲ βοστρύχοισι γαῦρον οὐδ’ ὑπεξυρημένον,
ἀλλά μοι σμικρός τις εἴη καὶ περὶ κνήμας ἰδεῖν
ῥοικός, ἀσφαλέως βεβηκὼς ποσσί, καρδίης πλέως.

Another epigram indicates the Archilochus threw away his shield and ran from battle, something Greeks of his day would have considered a cowardly act. Whether believable or not, it's an opportunity for deliberate self-deprecating humour. Archilochus retorts that he saved his life in so doing – and after all, a shield is just a shield:

Some Thracian is delighting with my shield,
   which I left undefended in a wood.
I saved my skin, so what’s that shield to me?
   Get lost! I’ll buy another just as good.

ἀσπίδι μὲν Σαΐων τις ἀγάλλεται, ἣν παρὰ θάμνῳ, 
   ἔντος ἀμώμητον, κάλλιπον οὐκ ἐθέλων·
αὐτὸν δ᾿ ἐξεσάωσα. τί μοι μέλει ἀσπὶς ἐκείνη;
   ἐρρέτω· ἐξαῦτις κτήσομαι οὐ κακίω.