Raiders of the Nile

It irks me that Eurypyle, so glamorous,

For boorish Artemon has cravings amorous.

He used to go out shabby and threadbare

With wooden earrings poking from his hair.

Wrapped in a smelly oxhide cloak

Repurposed from a shield, he was a joke,

A good-for-nothing crook and a bore,

Seen now with cook, now with whore,

Making a criminal living.

Often I saw him in the stocks, giving

A yelp as he was slapped about

And had his hair and beard plucked out.

But now the son of Kyke appears

In a chariot, with gold rings in his ears,

Carrying an ivory sunshade-

Worthy of a pretty maid?

— ANACREON, C. 500 B.C. P OETAE M ELICI G RAECI 43