Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IDYLL 8. FRIENDSHIP by BION

First Line: HAPPY IS LOVE OR FRIENDSHIP WHEN RETURNED
Last Line: HIM LIVING LOVED, FOR HIS SAKE GLADLY DIED!
Subject(s): FRIENDSHIP;
HAPPY is love or friendship when returned—
The lovers whose pure flames have equal burned;
Happy was Theseus, e'en in Tartarus,
With his true heart-friend, good Pirithous.
His Pylades Orestes lorn did bless
Amid th' inhospitable Chalybes.
Blest was Achilles in a friend long tried;
Him living loved, for his sake gladly died!



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