… already old age is wrinkling my
skin and my hair is turning from black
to grey; my knees begin to tremble
and my legs no longer carry me …
oh but once, once we were like young deer
… what can I do? …
… it is not possible
to return to my youth; for even
Eös,‡ the dawn – whose arms are roses,
who brings light to the ends of the earth –
found that old age embraced Tithonus,‡
her immortal lover …
… I know I must die …
yet I love the intensity of life
and this and desire keep me here in
the brightness and beauty of the sun
[and not with Hades …]
*****
† The text of the poem is very fragmentary and much of this translation is conjectural. For a translation of the recently-discovered, more complete text of this fragment, see No.128.
‡ Eös, Tithonus: Eös, the dawn goddess, fell in love with Tithonus, a mortal. She asked Zeus to give him immortality but forgot to ask for eternal youth. Eventually he became old and shrivelled and talked endlessly. Eös looked after him and finally turned him into the cicada.