Πέντε ποιήματα

The poems here represent some of Stesichorus’s most famous work. From the Geryoneis (Γηρυονηΐς), we have fragments S7 and S15 (column ii), describing the mythical characters Eurytion and Geryon. Geryon—the titular character of Stesichorus’s narrative poem—is a monster who owns a herd of red cattle, and Eurytion is his herdsman. The hero Heracles, to complete his tenth labor, kills Geryon and takes his cattle. Stesichorus’s “Palinode” (Παλινῳδία) is effectively a poetic apology, issued to Helen of Troy after she supposedly blinded him for saying she caused the Trojan War. Stesichorus’s “Sack of Troy” (Ἰλίου πέρσις) details the events of the Trojan War; fragment S88 (col. ii) shows Trojans debating what to do with the Horse, and S107 is a conversation between Helen and her husband Menelaus, in medias res.

Translating Stesichorus is an almost synesthetic experience. As an author, he has a way of bringing lofty narratives down into the light; at the climax of the battle between Geryon and Heracles, Stesichorus brings the reader close, until the noise of the scene fades away and we are left with a single image: the slump of dying Geryon’s head, like a wilting poppy. Such an intimate perspective is undeniably moving, but it makes for difficult translating when the text is full of lacunae. As such, the work of translation turns into stringing together a garland of beautiful images with little in between, and it is up to the translator to ensure these images are rendered starkly enough that they can stand on their own.

Enter specificity. This is the key to translating Stesichorus. The river Tartessus is not just silver (argyrorizos) but it is silver from metallic deposits in its banks. A rock is not just hollow (keythmón) but a hiding place; blood is not just purple (porphyreos) but plum, and so on. Just as Stesichorus was willing to give standard Homeric epithets a fresh coat of paint, the translator must be willing to do the same with our even more limited English. This may mean splitting the Greek open and salvaging its parts. At the end of the day, perhaps the most important characteristic of Stesichorus’s poetry—a playful, almost daring love of language—must be preserved, and this is what I have tried to do.