LVII AN INSCRIPTION ON THE VOCAL MEMNON
Italy my native place,
Dillius my father's name,
I, Petronianus, came
With an offering to thee,
Elegiacs—for the grace
Of the god who speaks to me—
Gift of song and singer's fame.
Grant me in return, O king,
Happy length of days to gain!
Many pilgrims come with pain
Seeking Memnon's place, to know
f he still have power to sing,
Wondering if a voice be now
In the limbs that still remain.
As for him upon his throne
Sitting headless, still he sighs,
To his mother still he cries
Shame on fierce Cambyses' hand;
Still of day's return his tone
Tells to all who near him stand,
Soon as sun-shafts pierce the skies.
[_]
Note.—The inscriptions on the legs of the Colossus mostly date
from between the times of Nero and Septimius Severus. Many are in
prose, a few are in verse. The translation above given is of one of the
latter form.—Cf. Mariette Bey's Monuments of Upper Egypt, p. 199.
It is of interest in showing that at the time it was written, Cambyses,
and not the earthquake, was believed to be the destroyer, and that
the Memnon had not yet been repaired.
