We only have fragments of Archilochus' lyric poetry (ie accompanied by a lyre), which have been found over the years on shreds of papyrus. Here are a few of those fragments:
- My one great talent lies in making
those who wrong me suffer horribly.
- I am the servant of Ares, Lord of Battle,
and I know the lovely gift of the Muses.
- Some Thracian is delighted with the shield, which beside a bush
I left unwillingly, an excellent and perfect armament.
Myself I saved! Why should that shield be important to me?
The hell with it! I'll get another, just as good.
- Not many bowstrings will be stretched nor slingshot
flying thick, when Ares makes his killing field
on the plain. Then it will be the grievous work of the sword.
They are the Lords of this kind of battle -
The spear-famed Lords of Euboea.
- I long for a fight with you, just as a thirsty man longs for drink.
- The fox knows many things,
but the hedgehog knows one big thing.
- There is no country fair and desirable
or lovely, like that around the banks of the Siris.
- I have no interest in the business of Gyges and all his gold,
nor has such envy ever grasped me, nor do I feel envious
of the works of the gods, nor have I love for high rulership,
for all these things are very far from my eyes.
Archilochus, the first great Greek poet we know after Homer and Hesiod, is thought to have been a soldier, maybe a mercenary, possibly of the nobility - and the inventor if iambic verse. He was a master of meter, and seems to have been a cranky and vengeful SOB who never got over not being permitted to marry the gal he wanted. His vengeance drove her family to suicide. He died in battle, as he no doubt would have wanted to do. Not the type to die in a bed.
Here's a brief piece on his poetry.
Here's a brief bit on Greek lyric poetry.
Here are the types of Greek lyric poetry. Most names quite familiar to us.
