Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite (The Goddess Loves Anchises, and Leaves Him in a Wreck)

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Aphrodite on a swan: tondo from an Attic white-ground kylix, by Pistoxenos Painter, c. 460 BC, found in Tomb F43 in Kameiros (Rhodes): image by Marie-Lan Nguyen, 2007 (British Museum)

And so he took her hand,

and she, Aphrodite, Laughterlover,

turned aside her face

and cast her eyes on the ground,

and she walked, slowly, to the bed,

and the bed was set with smooth cloths

and with the skins of bears and lions

.................he had killed, in the mountains, on the high slopes,

and they went up into the bed,

and he loosed her flashing jewelry,

her pins, and her twisted brooches,

....................................and her earrings, and her necklaces,

and he loosed her sash and her shimmering robe

and folded them and set them on a silver-studded chair,

and he lay with her,

Anchises,

a man with a goddess,

for it was the will of gods and fate, and he knew not clearly,

he knew not clearly.

And at the time when the herdsmen

round up the cattle and sheep and urge them home from the pastures

she poured sweet sleep on Anchises

and she dressed,

and she stood in the doorway,

and her head was high as the roof-beam,

and from her cheeks

........................shone beauty,

unearthly beauty, the beauty of Kytheria.

And she woke him, and said:

........Trojan, you sleep so soundly!

........Tell me,

........Do I still look the same

....................................as when you first saw me?

And he woke, and he heard,

and he saw the throat and dark eyes of the goddess.

Homeric Hymn V: excerpt (lines 155-184), translated by John P. Niles, in Arion volume 8 number 3, Autumn 1969

ὣς εἰπὼν λάβε χεῖρα: φιλομμειδὴς δ' Ἀφροδίτη
ἕρπε μεταστρεφθεῖσα κατ' ὄμματα καλὰ βαλοῦσα
ἐς λέχος εὔστρωτον, ὅθι περ πάρος ἔσκεν ἄνακτι
χλαίνῃσιν μαλακῇς ἐστρωμένον: αὐτὰρ ὕπερθεν
ἄρκτων δέρματ' ἔκειτο βαρυφθόγγων τε λεόντων,
τοὺς αὐτὸς κατέπεφνεν ἐν οὔρεσιν ὑψηλοῖσιν.
οἳ δ' ἐπεὶ οὖν λεχέων εὐποιήτων ἐπέβησαν,
κόσμον μέν οἱ πρῶτον ἀπὸ χροὸς εἷλε φαεινόν,
πόρπας τε γναμπτάς θ' ἕλικας κάλυκάς τε καὶ ὅρμους.
λῦσε δέ οἱ ζώνην ἰδὲ εἵματα σιγαλόεντα
ἔκδυε καὶ κατέθηκεν ἐπὶ θρόνου ἀργυροήλου
Ἀγχίσης: ὃ δ' ἔπειτα θεῶν ἰότητι καὶ αἴσῃ
ἀθανάτῃ παρέλεκτο θεᾷ βροτός, οὐ σάφα εἰδώς.

ἦμος δ' ἂψ εἰς αὖλιν ἀποκλίνουσι νομῆες
βοῦς τε καὶ ἴφια μῆλα νομῶν ἐξ ἀνθεμοέντων:
τῆμος ἄρ' Ἀγχίσῃ μὲν ἐπὶ γλυκὺν ὕπνον ἔχευε
νήδυμον, αὐτὴ δὲ χροὶ̈ ἕννυτο εἵματα καλά.
ἑσσαμένη δ' εὖ πάντα περὶ χροὶ̈ δῖα θεάων
ἔστη πὰρ κλισίῃ, κεὐποιήτοιο μελάθρου
κῦρε κάρη: κάλλος δὲ παρειάων ἀπέλαμπεν
ἄμβροτον, οἷόν τ' ἐστὶν ἐυστεφάνου Κυθερείης,
ἐξ ὕπνου τ' ἀνέγειρεν ἔπος τ' ἔφατ' ἔκ τ' ὀνόμαζεν:

ὄρσεο, Δαρδανίδη: τί νυ νήγρετον ὕπνον ἰαύεις;
καὶ φράσαι, εἴ τοι ὁμοίη ἐγὼν ἰνδάλλομαι εἶναι,
οἵην δή με τὸ πρῶτον ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖσι νόησας;

ὣς φάθ': ὃ δ' ἐξ ὕπνοιο μάλ' ἐμμαπέως ὑπάκουσεν.
ὡς δὲ ἴδεν δειρήν τε καὶ ὄμματα κάλ' Ἀφροδίτης,
τάρβησέν τε καὶ ὄσσε παρακλιδὸν ἔτραπεν ἄλλῃ:
ἂψ δ' αὖτις χλαίνῃ τε καλύψατο καλὰ πρόσωπα
καί μιν λισσόμενος ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα:

Homeric Hymn V: excerpt (lines 155-184), Greek text (c. 6th-7th c. BC) edited by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, in Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica, Loeb Classical Library Volume 57, 1914

So speaking, he caught her by the hand. And laughter-loving Aphrodite, with face turned away and lovely eyes downcast, crept to the well-spread couch which was already laid with soft coverings for the hero; and upon it lay skins of bears and deep-roaring lions which he himself had slain in the high mountains. And when they had gone up upon the well-fitted bed, first Anchises took off her bright jewelry of pins and twisted brooches and earrings and necklaces, and loosed her girdle and stripped off her bright garments and laid them down upon a silver-studded seat. Then by the will of the gods and destiny he lay with her, a mortal man with an immortal goddess, not clearly knowing what he did.

But at the time when the herdsmen drive their oxen and hardy sheep back to the fold from the flowery pastures, even then Aphrodite poured soft sleep upon Anchises, but herself put on her rich raiment. And when the bright goddess had fully clothed herself, she stood by the couch, and her head reached to the well-hewn roof-tree; from her cheeks shone unearthly beauty such as belongs to rich-crowned Cytherea. Then she aroused him from sleep and opened her mouth and said:

'Up, son of Dardanus! -- why sleep you so heavily? -- and consider whether I look as I did when first you saw me with your eyes.'

So she spake. And he awoke in a moment and obeyed her. But when he saw the neck and lovely eyes of Aphrodite, he was afraid and turned his eyes aside another way, hiding his comely face with his cloak.

Homeric Hymn V: excerpt (lines 155-184), translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, in Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica, Loeb Classical Library Volume 57, 1914

Rusting wreck east of the port of Diakofti, Cythera, Greece [in ancient mythology the isle of Kythera, sacred to Aphrodite, "the Kytherian"]: photo by Khayman, 1 June 2008