Braggart Soldier

The insouciant deserter

The “Warrior Vase”, Mycenae, 13-12th century BC.

Ancient Greek warriors were taught that abandoning one’s shield to escape battle was the height of dishonour. “Come back with your shield - or on it” goes the alleged command of the Spartan mother to her son.

The soldier-poet Archilochus wrote an epigram (c. 650 BC) mocking the idea. I’ve translated it anew, as I think my earlier translations (and others’) have not represented its daringly cheeky register sufficiently well.

𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒏’𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 -- 
𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅, 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒐𝒅.
𝑺𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝑰 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚. 𝑺𝒐 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 --
𝑰’𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒖𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅.

In Greek:

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.


Notes:
1 - “going whoopee with” gets the barbarian exuberance of ἀγάλλεται better than the standard translation “delights in”.
2 - ‘poor thing’ translates ἀμώμητον, literally “blameless” or “innocent’.
3 - ‘I had to…’ - the Greek says ‘I did it unwilling’
4 - ‘I’ll buy’ for κτήσομαι (I’ll acquire) reinforces the mock-derision: the shield is simply a replaceable object.