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(Father of snow-eyed Dawn, that drivest thy rosy chariot in thy steeds' soaring steps, glorying in thy golden hair, twining thy ever-circling beam about the limitless back of the sky, winding the thread of radiance round the whole earth, while the rivers of thy immortal fire bring the lovely daylight to birth. For thee the serene chorus of the stars dances on Lord Olympus, ever singing a happy song, delighting in Phoebus' lyre, and the pale Moon in front leads time and season on with her white heifers' drawing; and thy benevolent heart is glad as it keeps the richly arrayed universe revolving.) |
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This and the following hymn are stichic texts, each line having the metrical form  or  .8 The diatonic melody follows the word accents with rare exceptions, some of which may be due to miscopying of note-symbols. For further general remarks on these settings see p. 209. |
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The Sun hymn begins and ends on e, which is in general the focal note, though at times g and b take on this role. Almost every line ends on one of these three notes, and all but four begin on one of them. The diagram in Example 10.1, which shows just the first and last notes of each line, may convey some idea of the course steered by Mesomedes overall. Eleven lines end on a higher note than that |
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8 This was a popular verse-form in the 2nd and 3rd c.; see my Greek Metre, 172f. |
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