Guy Davenport (translator), 7 Greeks Reviews

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It has no sense to tell you that 7 Greeks is very good and you ought to read it. Instead I'll give a short introduction to each poet and a short example of their work. So you can judge by yourself if it is interesting enough.
I
The first poet is Archilochos. He lived in the seventh century B.C. He was born on the island of Paros, one of the cyclades. He left it for good when he became a mercenary.
He was at his best as a satirist. His work came to us in fragments (like for many poets in this collection).
(# 36)
"He comes in bed,
As copiously as
A Prilnian ass
And is equipped
Like a stallion."
II
Sappho! Who doesn't know her, at least from hearsay!
If we can believe Plato she was the tenth Muze and someone called her poetry "as refreshing as a morning breeze."
(# 18)
"With eyes like that, stand still,
Gaze with a candor from that beauty,
Bold as friends before each other."
III
Alkman lived also in the 7th century B.C. He was born in Sparta. Only a few fragments survived and a 'Partheneion', a song for a girl's choir.
(# 35)
"My hearth is cold but the day will come
When a rich pot of red bean soup
Is on the table, the kind Alkman loves.
Good peasant cooking, nothing fine
The first day of autumn, you shall be my guest."
IV
Anakreon lived in the 6th century B.C. His poems are about wine, love and getting old. They are easy to read thanks to his humor, vivid expressions and originality. For hundreds of years after the dead of Anakreon there were a lot of anonymous imitators who wrote poems called the 'Anakreontea'.
(# 53)
"And now my hair is thin and white,
Grizzled the locks above my ears.
Youth's gone, and with it, all delight.
My teeth are going with the years
..."
V
Herakleitos (ca.500B.C.) a philosopher, was from Ephesus and his nickname was 'The obscure'. He was called that way because his main work 'De Natura' consists of about 120 sayings, a lot of them as hard to understand as the oracles of Delphi.
(# 2)
"Let us therefore notice that understanding is common
to all men. Understanding is common to all, yet each man acts as if his intelligence was private and all his own".
VI
From Diogenes, the Cynic (= 'who lives like a dog'), nothing survived. The sayings ascribed to him are from the 2nd century B.C.
(# 112)
" A lecher is a fig tree on a cliff: crows get the figs."
The legend goes that when Alexander The Great went to see Diogenes and asked him if there was anything he could do to help him, Diogenes answered:"Step aside please, you're blocking the sunlight!".
VII
Herondas (3th century B.C.) wrote dialogues that were satiric and were often performed for the public in the streets.
An excerpt from 'The Dream':
"Get up, Psylla! Get up, girl!
...
You sleep so hard it makes you tired. Get up!
Light the lamps. Put the pig out to pasture.
She's driving me crazy. Grumble and scratch!"