ARCHILOCHOS

THREE POEMS











            








 23

 Attribute all to the gods.
 They pick a man up,
 Stretched on the black loam,
 And set him on his two feet,
 Firm, and then again
 Shake solid men until
 They fall backward
 Into the worst of luck,
 Wandering hungry,
 Wild of mind.

























86

Everything,
Perikles,
A man has
The Fates
Gave him.

 










113

 
There’s nothing now
We can’t expect to happen!
Anything at all, you can bet,
Is ready to jump out at us.

No need to wonder over it.
Father Zeus has turned

Noon to night, blotting out
The sunshine utterly,
Putting cold terror

At the back of the throat.
Let’s believe all we hear.
Even that dolphins and cows

Change place porpoises and goats,

Rams booming along in the offing,
Mackerel nibbling in the hill pastures.
I wouldn’t be surprised,
I wouldn’t be surprised
.