Hybrias

Hybrias (Greek: Ὑβρίας; fl. 6th century BC) was a Cretan mercenary and lyric poet. He was the author of a highly esteemed skolion (drinking song) called the "Spear-song", which has been preserved by Athenaeus, Eustathius of Thessalonica, and the Analecta Veterum Poetarum Graecorum.

Quotes

My wealth's a burly spear and brand,
And a right good shield of hides untann'd,
Which on my arm I buckle:
With these I plough, I reap, I sow,
With these I make the sweet vintage flow,
And all around me truckle.

But your wights that take no pride to wield
A massy spear and well-made shield,
Nor joy to draw the sword:
Oh, I bring those heartless, hapless drones,
Down in a trice on their marrow-bones,
To call me King and Lord.

• Ἔστι μοι πλοῦτος μέγας δόρυ καὶ ξίφος
  καὶ τὸ καλὸν λαισήιον, πρόβλημα χρωτός·
  τούτῳ γὰρ ἀρῶ, τούτῳ θερίζω,
  τούτῳ πατέω τὸν ἁδὺν οἶνον ἀπ᾿ ἀμπέλω,
  τούτῳ δέσποτα μνοιΐας κέκλημαι.
  τοὶ δὲ μὴ τολμῶντ᾽ ἔχειν δόρυ καὶ ξίφος
  καὶ τὸ καλὸν λαισήιον, πρόβλημα χρωτός,
  πάντες γονὺ πεπτηῶτες <ἀμφὶ
  ἀμὸν> κυνέοντι δεσπόταν <ἐμὲ δεσποτᾶν>
  καὶ μέγαν βασιλῆα φωνέοντι.
  • My wealth's a burly spear and brand,
    And a right good shield of hides untann'd,
      Which on my arm I buckle:
    With these I plough, I reap, I sow,
    With these I make the sweet vintage flow,
      And all around me truckle.
    But your wights that take no pride to wield
    A massy spear and well-made shield,
      Nor joy to draw the sword:
    Oh, I bring those heartless, hapless drones,
    Down in a trice on their marrow-bones,
      To call me King and Lord.
  • Edited by J. M. Edmonds, Lyra Græca, vol. 3 (1927) pp. 572–3. Poetic translation by Thomas Campbell, in The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, vol. 2 (London: Henry Colburn and Co, 1821) "Lectures on Poetry", lecture 5, part 1, p. 438, footnote. Other translations:
    • John Leyden, Poetical Remains, edited by James Morton (London: Strahan and Spottiswoode, 1819) p. 205
    • Christopher North, [John Herman] Merivale, Sir Daniel Sandford, and William Hay, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, vol. 34, no. 211 (August 1833) pp. 268–9
    • Gilbert Murray, quoted in Toynbee's A Study of History, vol. 2 (2nd ed. 1935) p. 87, note, and in The Oxford Book of Greek Verse in Translation (1938) p. 700, note
    • J. Lodge, in The Classical Review, vol. 28, no. 8 (1914) p. 286
    • F. L. Lucas, Greek Poetry for Everyman (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1951) p. 258
    • Peter Jones, "Ancient and Modern: The mercenaries of IS and ancient Greece", The Spectator (16 January 2016)
    • "Hybrias 'spear song'", faculty.fairfield.edu (14 August 2013)

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Hybrias on Wikipedia