Book 10
81
But Neoptolemus the Parian, in his treatise on Inscriptions, says that this inscription is engraved on the tomb of Thrasymachus the sophist at Chalcedon— My name is Theta, ro, alpha, and san, Upsilon, mu, alpha, chi, ou, san again: Chalcedon was my home, wisdom my trade. And there is a poem of this kind upon Pan, by Castorion the Solensian, as Clearchus says: every footThere is probably some corruption in the text here. consists of one entire word, and so every line has its feet in pairs, so that they may either precede or follow each other; as for instance— σὲ τὸν βόλοις νιφοκτύποις δυσχείμερον ναίονθ’ ἕδος, θηρονόμε πὰν, χθόν’ Ἀρκάδων, κλήσω γραφῇ τῇδ’ ἐν σοφῇ, πάγκψειτ’ ἔπη συνθεὶς, ἄναξ, δύσγνωστα μὴ σοφοῖς κλύειν, μουσοπόλε θὴρ, κηρόχυτον ὅς μείλιγμ’ ἱεῖς. [Which may be translated thus— O thou that dwellest on the lofty plain, Stormy with deep loud-sounding falls of snow, Th' Arcadian land,—lord of the forest kinds, Thee, mighty Pan, will I invoke in this Sagacious writing, carefully compounding Words difficult for ignorant men to know, Or rightly understand. Hail, friend o' the Muse, Who pourest forth sweet sounds from waxen flute.] And so on in the same manner. And in whatever order you place each of these pairs of feet it will give the same metre; as you may, for instance, transpose the first line, and instead of— σὲ, τὸν βόλοις νιφοκτύποις δυσχείμερον, you may read it— νιφοκτύποις σὲ τὸν βόλοις δυσχείμερον. You may also remark that each pair of feet consists of tenThere is some mistake here, for they consist of eleven. letters; and you may produce the same effect not in this way, but in a different one, so as to have many ways of putting one line; for instead you may read— μέτρον φράσον μοι, τῶν ποδῶν μέτρον λαβών· or this way— λαβὼν μέτρον μοι τῶν ποδῶν, μέτρον φράσον. [And you may take this line too—] οὐ βούλομαι γὰρ τῶν ποδῶν μέτρον λαβεῖν, [and transpose it thus—] λαβεῖν μέτρον γὰρ τῶν ποδῶν οὐ βούλομαι.
