Translator’s Notes:
I have compiled
a complete verse collection of Palladas in English for several reasons. First, of course, the merits of the best
lines speak for themselves and much of this is lost in prose translation. Second, almost all that is known of Palladas
comes from his verse. Much like the
historical search for the identities of Shakespeare’s young man and dark lady
in his sonnets, Palladas’s epigrams provide most of the fodder for speculation
about the poet himself. This of course
cannot be done as fully in the absence of every available epigram and therefore
requires inclusion of his lesser lines.
Third, this sort of inquiry applies to characters in the epigrams
themselves such as Hypatia and the wife of Palladas. Fourth, the epigrams show the fascinating
state of the world as the Greek gods gave way to the god of Christianity. Finally, the epigrams show the fate of a
grammarian who would have lived solely by his art but had to abandon that art
in the face of starvation. This perhaps
gives some comfort to other poets who have chosen a trade as well as a poet’s
life.
