Fragment 91 (Voigt 111)
91 · Voigt 111Raise high the roof-beam, carpenters. (Hymenaeus!) Like Ares comes the bridegroom, (Hymenaeus!) taller far than a tall man. (Hymenaeus!)
Ἴψοι δὴ τὸ μέλαθρον
᾿Υμήναον
ἀέρρετε τέκτοντες ἄνδρες·
᾿Υμήναον
γάμβρος ἔρχεται ἶσος Ἄρευϊ,
[᾿Υμήναον]
ἄνδρος μεγάλω πόλυ μείζων·
[᾿Υμήναον]
Artists, raise the rafters high!
Ample scope and stately plan—
Mars-like comes the bridegroom nigh,
Loftier than a lofty man.
— Anon., Edinb. Rev., 1832, p. 109.
High lift the beams of the chamber,
Workmen, on high;
Like Arés in step comes the Bridegroom;
Like him of the song of Terpander,
Like him in majesty.
— F. T. Palgrave, 1854.
Quoted by Hephaestion as an example of a mes-hymnic poem, where the refrain follows each line. The hymenaeus or wedding-song was sung by the bride’s attendants as they led her to the bridegroom’s house, addressing Hymen the god of marriage. The metre seems, says Professor Mahaffy (Hist. of Class. Greek Lit., i., p. 20, 1880), to be the same as that of the Linus song; cf. fr. 62.