Ancient Greek | Fragment | Poetry
November, 2018This fragment, from the seventh century BCE, starts off as a typical warrior song. Like heroes from Homeric epic, the singer addresses his thymos, his heart—the seat of his emotion—asking for courage amid the battle. But then the poem turns to universals, the proper ways to behave in glory and defeat, in joy and in sadness, the importance of avoiding extremes—the last of which was commemorated upon the Temple of Apollo at Delphi: “nothing in excess.” The fluctuating rhythm of human life that concludes the poem is ultimately what sets us apart from the unchanging gods. What starts as a male fighter’s self-exhortation ends as a poem that crystalizes what is both terrifying and beautiful in human life—all human life.
- Stephanie McCarter
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