My name, my country, what are they to thee?
What, whether proud or bare my pedigree?
Perhaps I far surpassed all other men;
Perhaps I fell below them all. What then?
Suffice it, stranger, that thou seest a tomb.
Thou knowest its use. It hides—no matter whom.

Translation of William Cowper.


RESIGNATION

Joannes Barbucallus (Sixth Century A.D.)

Gazing upon my husband as my last thread was spun, I praised the gods of death, and I praised the gods of marriage,—those, that I left my husband alive, and these, that he was even such an one; but may he remain, a father for our children.

Translation of J.W. Mackail.


THE HOUSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS

Macedonius (Sixth Century A.D.)

Righteousness has raised this house from the first foundation even to the lofty roof; for Macedonius fashioned not his wealth by heaping up from the possessions of others with plundering sword, nor has any poor man here wept over his vain and profitless toil, being robbed of his most just hire; and as rest from labor is kept inviolate by the just man, so let the works of pious mortals endure.

Translation of J. W. Mackail.


LOVE'S FERRIAGE

Agathias (527-565 A.D.)

Since she was watched and could not kiss me closely,
Divine Rhodanthe cast her maiden zone
From off her waist, and holding it thus loosely
By the one end, she put a kiss thereon;
Then I—Love's stream as through a channel taking—
My lips upon the other end did press
And drew the kisses in, while ceaseless making,
Thus from afar, reply to her caress.
So the sweet girdle did beguile our pain,
Being a ferry for our kisses twain.

Translation of Alma Strettell.

[The following are undetermined in date.]


ON A FOWLER

Isidorus

With reeds and bird-lime from the desert air
Eumelus gathered free though scanty fare.
No lordly patron's hand he deign'd to kiss,
Nor luxury knew, save liberty, nor bliss.
Thrice thirty years he lived, and to his heirs
His reeds bequeathed, his bird-lime, and his snares.

Translation of William Cowper.


YOUTH AND RICHES

Anonymous

I was young, but poor; now in old age I am rich: alas, alone of all men pitiable in both, who then could enjoy when I had nothing, and now have when I cannot enjoy.

Translation of J. W. Mackail.


THE SINGING REED

Anonymous

I the reed was a useless plant; for out of me grow not figs, nor apple, nor grape cluster: but man consecrated me a daughter of Helicon, piercing my delicate lips and making me the channel of a narrow stream; and thenceforth whenever I sip black drink, like one inspired I speak all words with this voiceless mouth.

Translation of J.W. Mackail.


FIRST LOVE AGAIN REMEMBERED

Anonymous

While yet the grapes were green thou didst refuse me;
When they were ripe, didst proudly pass me by:
But do not grudge me still a single cluster,
Now that the grapes are withering and dry.

Translation of Alma Strettell.


SLAVE AND PHILOSOPHER

Anonymous

I Epictetus was a slave while here,
Deformed in body, and like Irus poor,
Yet to the gods immortal I was dear.

Translation of Lilla Cabot Perry, by permission of the American Publishers' Corporation.


GOOD-BY TO CHILDHOOD

Anonymous

Her tambourines and pretty ball, and the net that confined her hair, and her dolls and dolls' dresses, Timareta dedicates before her marriage to Artemis of Limnæ,—a maiden to a maiden, as is fit; do thou, daughter of Leto, laying thine hand over the girl Timareta, preserve her purely in her purity.

Translation of J.W. Mackail.


WISHING

Anonymous

It's oh! to be a wild wind, when my lady's in the sun:
She'd just unbind her neckerchief, and take me breathing in.
It's oh! to be a red rose, just a faintly blushing one,
So she'd pull me with her hand, and to her snowy breast I'd win.

Translation of William M. Hardinge.


HOPE AND EXPERIENCE

Anonymous

Whoso has married once and seeks a second wedding, is a shipwrecked man who sails twice through a difficult gulf.

Translation of J.W. Mackail.


THE SERVICE OF GOD

Anonymous

Me, Chelidon, priestess of Zeus, who knew well in old age how to make offering on the altars of the immortals, happy in my children, free from grief, the tomb holds; for with no shadow in their eyes the gods saw my piety.

Translation of J.W. Mackail.


THE PURE IN HEART

Anonymous

He who enters the incense-filled temple must be holy; and holiness is to have a pure mind.

Translation of J.W. Mackail.


THE WATER OF PURITY

Anonymous

Hallowed in soul, O stranger, come even into the precinct of a pure god, touching thyself with the virgin water: for the good a few drops are set; but a wicked man the whole ocean cannot wash in its waters.

Translation of J.W. Mackail.


ROSE AND THORN

Anonymous

The rose is at her prime a little while; which once past, thou wilt find when thou seekest, no rose, but a thorn.

Translation of J.W. Mackail.


A LIFE'S WANDERING

Anonymous

Know ye the flowery fields of the Cappadocian nation? Thence I was born of good parents: since I left them I have wandered to the sunset and the dawn; my name was Glaphyrus, and like my mind. I lived out my sixtieth year in perfect freedom; I know both the favor of fortune and the bitterness of life.

Translation of J.W. Mackail.


FOOTNOTES

[A] The story of King Lear and his three daughters.

[B] The story of the three caskets in 'The Merchant of Venice.'

[C] Five hundred and thirty-seven miles from Seleucia, two hundred and three from the nearest coast of Syria, according to Pliny.

[D] Potter [detests] potter.

[E] "Whoever sees God must die."

[F] Oblómof is the genitive plural of the word oblóm or oblám, a term expressive of anything broken or almost useless, or even bad; a rude, awkward, unfinished man.


TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

1. Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest paragraph break. And footnotes have been moved to the end of the text in this html version.

2. Some selections for Richard Watson Gilder are different from those mentioned in the Table of Contents.

3. The frontispiece "The Alexander Romance" and the photogravure "The Bride's Toilet" mentioned in the "Full-Page Illustrations" list are missing from this html version.

4. The original text includes Greek characters. For this html version these letters have been replaced with transliterations.

5. Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in spelling, punctuation, hyphenation, and ligature usage have been retained.