Pindar and Anacreon/Anacreon/Ode 33

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Pindar and Anacreon
translated by Thomas Bourne

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4290638Pindar and Anacreon — Ode 33Thomas BourneAnacreon

ODE XXXIII.—ON A SWALLOW.

Pretty, twittering, fickle guest,
Here you build your summer nest;
But, ere storms deface the sky,
Back to warmer worlds you fly;^[1]

To Memphis, or the banks of Nile,
Where bright suns for ever smile.
But, alas! nor peace nor rest
Dwells within my hapless breast:
Love still builds and hatches there,
Full-fledged loves for flight prepare;
Some, unhatch'd, yet quiet dwell,
Some just struggling through the shell,
While their ceaseless chirping noise
Every hope of peace destroys.
Some usurp the parent's care,
And the younger nestlings rear;
These, when grown, will young ones breed;
Others still to them succeed.
Thus, alas! what hope remains—
What can ease my bosom's pains,
Since within its secret cell
Loves innumerable dwell?

↑ "Since the days of Anacreon to our own, this is a problem in natural history which has never been solved. Among the ancients it was a generally received opinion that swallows and other birds, on the approach of winter, crossed the sea in search of warmer climates; but more accurate observers have taught us to doubt the truth of this opinion. Pecklinius, in his book 'De Aëris et Elementi defectu, et Vita sub Aquis,' assures us that swallows retire to the bottom of the water during the winter; and that it is common for the fishermen on the coasts of the Baltic to take them in their nets in large knots, clinging together by their bills and claws; and that on their being brought into a warm room, they will separate, and begin to flutter about as in spring. Kircher, in his book 'De Mundus Subterraneus,' affirms the same, and that in the northern countries they hide themselves under ground in the winter, whence they are often dug out."—Longuepierre.

If the reader be desirous of further information on this point, he may consult Buffon's Natural History, or Goldsmith's Animated Nature.

[p42-1] "Since the days of Anacreon to our own, this is a problem in natural history which has never been solved. Among the ancients it was a generally received opinion that swallows and other birds, on the approach of winter, crossed the sea in search of warmer climates; but more accurate observers have taught us to doubt the truth of this opinion. Pecklinius, in his book 'De Aëris et Elementi defectu, et Vita sub Aquis,' assures us that swallows retire to the bottom of the water during the winter; and that it is common for the fishermen on the coasts of the Baltic to take them in their nets in large knots, clinging together by their bills and claws; and that on their being brought into a warm room, they will separate, and begin to flutter about as in spring. Kircher, in his book 'De Mundus Subterraneus,' affirms the same, and that in the northern countries they hide themselves under ground in the winter, whence they are often dug out."—Longuepierre.

If the reader be desirous of further information on this point, he may consult Buffon's Natural History, or Goldsmith's Animated Nature.

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