“Where was your sculptor from?” “Sicyon.” “What did they call him? “Lysippos.”
…………..“Speaking of names, what is yours?” “Time, the All-Conquering Force.”
“Why do you tiptoe?” “I’m sprinting—as always.” “And what are your wings for?
…………..Each of your feet has a pair.” “Wind-borne, I flit here and there.”
“Why does your hand hold a razor?” “To be a reminder for humans.
…………..This is my likeness in life— keen as the sharpest-edged knife.”
“Why is your hair in your face?” “To be seized by the ones who approach me.”
…………..“Why, then, by Zeus, do you lack any at all at the back?”
“Once I have passed on my swift-flying feet, I’ll be captured by no one
…………..longing to make me rewind, reeling me in from behind.
“Why, and for whom, did the craftsman create you?” “My lesson’s for your sake,
…………..stranger. For you I was made. Here, on his porch, I’m displayed.”
*
ΠΟΣΕΙΔΙΠΠΟΥ
Εἰς ἄγαλμα τοῦ Καιροῦ
α. Τίς πόθεν ὁ πλάστης; β. Σικυώνιος. α. Οὔνομα δὴ τίς;
…………..β. Λύσιππος. α. Σὺ δὲ τίς; β. Καιρὸς ὁ πανδαμάτωρ.
α. Τίπτε δ’ ἐπ’ ἄκρα βέβηκας; β. ’Αεὶ τροχάω. α. Τί δὲ ταρσοὺς
…………..ποσσὶν ἔχεις διφυεῖς; β. Ἳπταμ’ ὑπηνέμιος.
α. Χειρὶ δὲ δεξιτερῇ τί φέρεις ξυρόν; β. Ἀνδράσι δεῖγμα,
…………..ὡς ἀκμῆς πάσης ὀξύτερος τελέθω.
α. Ἡ δὲ κόμη, τί κατ’ ὄψιν; β. Ὑπαντιάαντι λαβέσθαι.
…………..α. Νὴ Δία, τἀξόπιθεν δ’ εἰς τί φαλακρὰ πέλει;
β. Τὸν γὰρ ἄπαξ πτηνοῖσι παραθρέξαντά με ποσσὶν
…………..οὕτις ἔθ’ ἱμείρων δράξεται ἐξόπιθεν.
α. Τοὔνεχ’ ὁ τεχνίτης σε διέπλασεν; β. Εἴνεκεν ὑμέων,
…………..ξεῖνε· καὶ ἐν προθύροις θῆκε διδασκαλίην.
Twenty-three poems by Posidippus of Pella (c. 310 – c. 240 BCE) graced the Greek Anthology, one of which was this epigram for a statue in front of the home or studio of the sculptor Lysippos (390 – 300 BCE). In his Ekphrases (Descriptions) of fourteen statues, the third-century BCE writer Callistratus gave an eyewitness account that Lysippos’s Kairos figure was shown alighting atop a ball—not mentioned in this poem, but perhaps inspiring the wheel in later representations of Opportunity or Fortune.
The original elegiac couplets do not use rhyme, but in this English translation, rhyme emphasizes the even-numbered lines’s caesurae.