Alcaeus

Alcaeus (Alceo) – Castore e Polluce / To Castor and Pollux

Ernst Ferdinand Oehme (1797-1855), Thunderstorm in the area of the village Kaditz Come hither, ye mighty sons of Zeus and Leda; Olympus leave behind, your flashing home. With gladsome mind, Castor and Pollux, appear to us. Ye who traverse the whole expanse of the earth and over the spacious seas on your swift-footed steeds, ye …

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Alcaeus (Alceo) – Non decifro la furia dei venti / The winds’ fierce strife

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, 1633 The winds’ fierce strife I understand no longer; the rolling billows e’er are towering stronger, now here, now there. We, tempest-tossed, in the black ship between are lost. Great rifts in every sail are torn, to shreds our slackening cables worn. Non decifro la …

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Alcaeus (Alceo) – Bevi e inebriati con me, Melanippo / Ah, Melanippus, why dost thou lament to me?

Luca Giordano, The Boat of Charon , 1686 Ah, Melanippus, why dost thou lament to me? How canst thou think once more the sun’s pure light to see, when over Acheron’s whirling stream thou wilt have crossed? Come, seek not after lofty things: recall the boast of Aeolus’ son, King Sisyphus, of men most sly, …

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Alcaeus (Alceo) – Non cedere a desolazione / In grief

Guido Reni, Drinking Bacchus, 1623 Nay, give not up to grief, it profits nothing,  nor do we remedy our ills by loathing. O Bacchus, best our cares to still it is to drink of wine our fill. Non cedere a desolazione: è imperativo. Non progrediremo lagrimando, Bicchis. Eroica medicina, vino a fiotti e stordimento. Go …

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