Anna's lament over her early death and mourning family

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The work opens with a first-person epigram spoken by Anna (or a persona speaking as Anna), who laments that death cut short her life at twenty-three, leaving her widowed, childless, and mourned by her aged parents and noble brothers.

Even though swift doom quenched the lamp of my life and stripped my torch of its light, the evil spirit, in the frenzy of his malice, still managed to make my whole life wretched. He made me a widow when my breast had only begun to rise, and I never looked on a lovely child at play, a sweet delight to its parents, held in their arms. So unbearable grief overcame me with the fierce fire of wasting. In my twenty-third year this tomb, which hosts our family, took me in. Here my aged parents wove a lament for all to hear, tearing their grey hair, and the company of noble brothers groaned, fondly remembering the splendor of Anna's beauty.

Greek

ΑΡΕΘΑ ∆ΙΑΚΟΝΟΥ Εἰ καί μοι λύχνον αἰῶνος ταχὺς ἔσβεσεν οἶτος λαμπάδος ἡμετέρης φέγγος ἀμερσάμενος, ἀλλά γ' ἄρ' ἤρκεσε λύσσῃ ἑῆς κακότητος ὁ δαίμων πᾶσαν ἐμὴν τελέσαι στυγναλέην βιοτήν· θῆκέ με χήρην ἐγγὺς ἀειρομένου μοι μαζοῦ, οὐδ' ἐπὶ τέκνον ἴδον καλὸν ἀθυρόμενον, ἡδὺ τοκεῦσιν ἄγαλμα παραγκάς· τῷ γέ με πένθος ἄτλητον μαλερῷ τηκεδόνος δάμασε πυρσῷ· τρεῖς πρὸς ἐείκοσ' ἐποιχομένην ἐνιαυτοὺς ἔσχεν τύμβος ὅδε ξεινοδόκος γενέθλης ἡμετέρης· ἔνθ' ὕφηνον γενετῆρες ἅπασι γηραλέοι θρῆνον τιλλόμενοι πολιὴν καὶ χορὸς εὐγενέων στενάχοντες ἀδελφῶν Ἄννης μνώμενοι ἀσπασίως εἴδεος ἀγλαΐης.

About this text

Verse epitaphs by Arethas: a young widow named Anna mourns her early death and is praised, and a woman named Febronia is remembered for her kindness to the poor.

Arethas of Caesarea, a deacon and later archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, wrote these three short commemorative pieces. He lived from about 860 to about 940, was born at Patrae in Greece, and was a disciple of Photius. The epigrams were preserved as fragments in a manuscript of his commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.

The pieces commemorate two deceased women, Anna and Febronia. The first is a first-person lament spoken by Anna herself, who died at twenty-three, leaving her aged parents and noble brothers to mourn her. She was made a widow while still a girl and was childless, never seeing a child of her own at play. The second epigram praises Anna's character, her obedience to parents, her noble lineage, and her distinction as a woman married to one husband, arguing that her grave cannot obscure these because her life was a lesson and the inscription will speak if all else is silent. The third epigram praises Febronia for her compassion to the poor and her consecration as a bride of Christ, and suggests that even the dead remember her beneficence.

A reader should know that 'married to one husband' reflects a virtue praised in Anna, and 'widowhood' describes her faithful state before her own death. The 'bridal chamber' is used metaphorically for Febronia's consecration as a bride of Christ, and the 'lamp of purity' is a symbol of life and of the virginal lamp kept burning for Christ. The epigrams contain no direct scriptural citations.

Printed text used

Translated from PG 106 (Greek)

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