Venice masks

Tuesday, 25 September 2012

Beauty - Anacreon

Horns to bulls wise Nature lends;
Horses she with hoofs defends;
Hares with nimble feet relieves;
Dreadful teeth to lions gives;
Fishes learn through streams to slide;
Birds through yielding air to glide;
Men to courage she supplies;
But to women these denies.
What then give she? Beauty, this
Both their arms and armor is:
She, that can this weapon use,
Fire and sword with ease subdues.

Anacreon [or Anakreon] (c. 582 – 485 BC) Turkey (Ancient Greece)
Translated by Thomas Stanley

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