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| Vincent van Gogh Two Cottages at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer 1888 drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Vincent van Gogh Three White Cottages in Saintes-Maries 1888 oil on canvas Kunsthaus, Zürich |
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| Vincent van Gogh Cottages 1890 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Who wrote this? – It was Sophronius – Where is he from?
From Phoenice – Which Phoenice? – The crown of Lebanon.
Where did he live? – In Damascus – Are his parents alive?
No, they're not. Both are dead. – What were their names?
His mother was called Myro, his father was called Plynthas.
Did he have a sweet marriage, did he have many children?
He had neither marriage nor children. He remained unwed.
What land was his monastery, under which roof did he live?
In the land that bore our Lord, in the hills around Jerusalem,
in the august monastery of our great monk, Saint Theodosius.
And for whom did he write and dedicate this wondrous hymn?
For Saint Cyrus and Saint John, the devout and pious martyrs.
Why did Sophronius submit himself to such hard mental labor?
– Among their many miracles they managed to heal his eyes.
– written in Greek by Sophronius (ca. 560-638), translated by Peter Constantine
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| Vincent van Gogh Patch of Grass 1887 oil on canvas Kröller-Müller Museum, Netherlands |
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| Vincent van Gogh Landscape with Bog Trunks (Travaux aux Champs) 1883 drawing Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
When you're moved to find out who you are,
study the graves you encounter as you pass by.
Inside rest the bones and weightless dust
of men once kings and tyrants, wise men, and those
who took pride in their noble minds, or wealth,
their fame, or their beautiful bodies.
Yet what good was any of that against time?
All mortals come to know Hades in the end.
Look toward these to know who you are.
– written in Greek by Menander (ca. 344-292 BC), translated by Edmund Keeley
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| Vincent van Gogh Wheat-field with Cornflowers 1890 oil on canvas Fondation Beyeler, Switzerland |
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| Vincent van Gogh Wheat-field in Rain 1889 oil on canvas Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| Vincent van Gogh Undergrowth with Two Figures 1890 oil on canvas Cincinnati Art Museum |
The gold booty of Gyges means nothing to me.
I don't envy that Lydian king, nor am I jealous
of what gods can do, nor of the tyrants' great
powers. All these are realms beyond my vision.
– written in Greek by Archilochus (7th century BC), translated by Willis Barnstone
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| Vincent van Gogh Plain of Auvers 1890 oil on canvas Galerie Belvedere, Vienna |
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| Vincent van Gogh Olive Orchard 1889 oil on canvas Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City |
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| Vincent van Gogh Olive Trees 1889 oil on canvas Museum of Modern Art, New York |
I did not drink the blood of the fawn that I tore with my claws
like a lion sure of its strength from its mother the hind.
I climbed the towering walls but did not sack the town.
I yoked the steeds but did not mount the car.
Acting, I did not act. Completing, I did not complete.
Achieving, I did not achieve. Doing, I didn't.
– written in Greek by Theognis (ca. 550 BC), translated by Barbara Hughes Fowler
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| Vincent van Gogh Garden at Arles 1888 oil on canvas Gemeentemuseum, The Hague |
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| Vincent van Gogh Landscape from Saint-Rémy 1889 oil on canvas Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen |
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| Vincent van Gogh Les Vessenots in Auvers 1890 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
Fear us, mortal man!
Our power is from the ancient gods;
The portion of fate is ours,
Willed by the ages. Honour us!
We live beneath the earth
In sunless slime,
The haunts of darkness.
– from the Furies' Song in the play Eumenides by Aeschylus, translated by Kenneth McLeish and Frederic Raphael