Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams

Poet

John Tzetzes (12th c.) - PBW: Ioannes/459/

• Prometheus
• Zeus

• O wee, Prometheus, roep maar luid: o wee o wee!
  Omwille van de mensen heb je Zeus bedrogen,
  en zonder dat hij ’t wist heb je het vuur gestolen.
  En dan, al hing je aan het kruis, heb je geweigerd
  te zeggen wie de troon van Zeus omver zou stoten.
  Daarom trof jou een bliksem uit de hoge hemel,
  en maakte jou, ellendeling, tot één brok puin.
  Dus huil nu maar, want dat is al wat je nog kunt.

  Language

  Dutch

  Source(s)

  K. Demoen 2019, Ioannes Tzetzes en anoniem, Poëtische reacties op Aischylos’ Prometheus, in J. Papy (ed.), In Vestigiis Magistri. Verjaardagsboek ter ere van professor Andries Welkenhuysen, Leuven, 28-29: 29

• Oh, oh, Prometheus, cry now deeply, woe to you;
  For the sake of mankind you deceived Zeus
  And how you have stolen the fire without him knowing?
  And after that you have not obeyed, even though crucified,
  To tell the name of the one dethroning Zeus.
  That is why a lightning, rushing down from heaven,
  Is crushing you much, you wretch.
  Therefore weep now; for this is all you can do.

  Language

  English

  Source(s)

  D. Rasljic 2022, Two Greek Paratext Poems from the Manuscript Q No. 2 of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Philologia Classica, 17(1), 113-124: 122

• Oh woe, Prometheus, shout aloud: oh woe oh woe!
  For the sake of mortals, you have cheated Zeus,
  and unknown to him, you stole fire.
  even crucified, you refused
  to reveal who would overthrow Zeus from throne.
  That is why you have been struck by thunderbolt from the high sky,
  that reduce you, wretched, to rubbles.
  So now cry, because that's all you can do.

  Language

  English

  Source(s)

  L. Spyridonova, A. Kurbanov 2021, The Book Epigrams on Prometheus, Ascribed to John Tzetzes, ΣΧΟΛΗ, 15(2), 524-537: 529

• Woe, Prometheus, cry out, woe you, cry out loud,
  since you cheated on Zeus for the sake of mankind;
  and how, without him knowing, you stole the fire,
  and after that were you not persuaded, even though crucified,
  to speak of the one who would dethrone Zeus?
  That is why lightning brought down from heaven,
  turns you, poor wretch, into a piece of ruin.
  Now keep groaning, since that is in your power.

  Language

  English

  Source(s)

  M. Tomadaki, E. van Opstall 2019, The Tragedians from a Byzantine Perspective: Book Epigrams on Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, Medioevo Greco. Rivista di storia e filologia bizantina. (MEG), 19, 193-220: 198-199

• Vae, Prometheu garriens, vae tibi magnum dico:
  mortalium causa nempe decepisti Jovem,
  et clam eum quodam modo ignem surripueras:
  deinde non credidisti, quamvis esses crucificus,
  eum qui detruserat solio Jovem, dicere:
  Cui sane fulmen jam pridem redditum
  opificium facit contritionis te miserum.
  Lamentare ergo, hoc enim tibi datur.

  Language

  Latin

  Source(s)

  E. Cougny, 1890, Epigrammatum Anthologia Palatina cum Planudeis et Appendice nova epigrammatum veterum ex libris et marmoribus ductorum (vol. 3), Paris: 414

• [3434] Ἀνθ’ ὧν τὸ πῦρ δέδωκας ἀνθρώπων γένει (5 verses) (Same cycle)
• [3436] Αἰσχύλε, τί φῇς; τοὺς θεούς σου προσφέρεις (5 verses) (Same cycle)
• [6213] Κλέψας τὸ πῦρ παρέσχε τοῖς θνητοῖς γέρα (4 verses) (Same cycle)

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