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  1. Jan 2019
  2. www.poetryfoundation.org www.poetryfoundation.org
    1. Archilochus

      Archilocus employs the motif of the abandoned shield in his poems. "In one famous poem, Archilochus tells, without embarrassment or regret, of throwing his shield away in battle. ('I saved my life. What do I care about my shield? The hell with it! I’ll buy another just as good.') The motif of the abandoned shield appears again in the lyric poems of Alcaeus and Anacreon, in a parody by Aristophanes (Peace), and in a learned variation by the Latin poet Horace (Carmina)." Here is an example in Greek: Ἀσπίδι μὲν Σαΐων τις ἀγάλλεται, ἥν παρὰ θάμνῳ ἔντος ἀμώμητον κάλλιπον οὐκ ἐθέλων· αὐτὸν δ' ἔκ μ' ἐσάωσα· τί μοι μέλει ἀσπὶς ἐκείνη; Ἐρρέτω· ἐξαῦτις κτήσομαι οὐ κακίω. Translation: Some Saian (Thracian tribe) is glorying over my shield, an impeccable itemOf gear that I had to leave under a bush.But I got out alive, who gives a fig for that shield?Let it go to hell. I’ll buy a new one, no worse.