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lovers of gold; flee from the tombs, if you have strength, you who are dead. 8.233 Why do you disturb me? I bear only the feeble heads of the dead; the bones of the tombs are all the wealth. 8.234 Avoid the spirits who possess me; for I, the tomb, have nothing else; the bones of the tombs are all the wealth. 8.235 If the whole tomb were a house of gold, O lover of gold, it would never be right to lay such a hand on the dead. 8.236 Oblivion and silence are the prize of the dead; but this man, having plundered it, has made my tomb a song for many. 8.237 You have everything, O living ones, but for me, the dead one, are a few dear stones; spare your own corpse. 8.238 I am not a house of gold. Why am I being cut open? I myself am the tomb which you are disturbing; my wealth is corpses. 8.239 I, a tomb, was the glory of the people dwelling around; but now I am a monument of a most wicked hand. 8.240 If you have a heart too fond of gold, dig for other gold; for I have nothing but the burial gifts of the dead. 8.241 Do not show a naked corpse to mortals, or another will strip you naked; and gold is often a dream. 8.242 Was it not enough for mortals to lay hands upon mortals, but you also hasten to take gold from the dead. 8.243 Help your own tombs, you who see how much this monument has been ravaged. Stone the tomb-robber. 8.244 Who showed me, a poor corpse hidden for an age by immovable stones, to mortals? 8.245 Why did you plunder my tomb, wretch? So may God plunder your life, O curse that loves gold. 8.246 Tartarus must be a myth, since this man would not have opened the tomb. Alas, how slow-footed you are, Justice. 8.247 How slow-footed you are, Justice, and Tartarus is no longer terrible. For this man would not have opened this tomb. 8.248 I have sworn by the dead and I have sworn by Tartarus itself never to look with a kindly eye upon tomb-robbers. 8.249 O mountains and headlands, weep for my tomb as for a companion, and may every stone fall on the one who cut it. 8.250 I am a rich pauper; great in my tomb, but goldless within; know that you are insulting a most unplunderable corpse. 8.251 And if you dig through my hiding-places down to the very bottom, your toil in the end will have only bones. 8.252 Cut, cut here; for the tomb is rich in gold for those who desire stones; but all the rest is dust. 8.253 Dear Earth, do not receive into your bosom when he is dead the one who delights in the profits of tomb-robbing. 8.254 An insolent iron tool came upon me, who am not living, and desiring gold, it found a poor corpse.
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φιλόχρυσοι· φεύγετε ἐκ τύμβων, εἰ σθένος, οἱ φθίμενοι. 8.233 Τίπτε μ' ἀνοχλίζεις; νεκύων ἀμενηνὰ κάρηνα μοῦνα φέρω· τύμβων ὀστέα πλοῦτος ἅπας. 8.234 ∆αίμονας, οἵ με ἔχουσιν, ἀλεύεο· οὔτι γὰρ ἄλλο τύμβος ἔχω· τύμβων ὀστέα πλοῦτος ἅπας. 8.235 Εἰ χρυσοῦ δόμος ἦεν ὅλος τάφος, ὦ φιλόχρυσε, οὔποτ' ἔδει τοίην χεῖρα φέρειν φθιμένοις. 8.236 Λήθη καὶ σιγὴ νεκύων γέρας· ὡς δ' ἀλαπάξας οὗτος ἐμὸν πολλοῖς θῆκεν ἄεισμα τάφον. 8.237 Πάντ' ἔχετε, ζώοντες, ἐμοὶ δ' ὀλίγοι τε φίλοι τε λᾶες τῷ φθιμένῳ· φείδεο σοῦ νέκυος. 8.238 Οὐ χρυσοῦ δόμος εἰμί. τί τέμνομαι; αὐτὸς ἔγωγε τύμβος, ὃν ὀχλίζεις· πλοῦτος ἐμοῦ νέκυες. 8.239 Τύμβος ἐγὼ κλέος ἦα περικτιόνων ἀνθρώπων· νῦν δ' εἰμὶ στήλη χειρὸς ἀλιτροτάτης. 8.240 Εἰ λίην φιλόχρυσον ἔχεις κέαρ, ἄλλον ὀρύσσειν χρυσόν· ἐμοὶ δ' οὐδὲν πλὴν φθιμένων κτερέων. 8.241 Μὴ δείξῃς μερόπεσσι γυμνὸν νέκυν, ἤ σε γυμνώσει ἄλλος· ὁ δὲ χρυσὸς πολλάκις ἐστὶν ὄναρ. 8.242 Οὐχ ἅλις ἦε βροτοῖσι βροτοὺς ἐπὶ χεῖρας ἰάλλειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ νεκύων σπεύδετε χρυσὸν ἔχειν. 8.243 Ὑμετέροις τύμβοισιν ἀρήξατε, οἱ τόδ' ὁρῶντες σῆμα δαϊχθὲν ὅσον. λεύσατε τυμβολέτην. 8.244 Τίς με τὸν ἐξ αἰῶνος ἀκινήτοισι λίθοισι κευθόμενον θνητοῖς δεῖξε πένητα νέκυν; 8.245 Τίπτε τάφον διέκερσας ἐμόν, τάλαν; ὣς διακέρσαι σοί γε Θεὸς βιοτήν, ὦ φιλόχρυσον ἄγος. 8.246 Μῦθος Τάρταρος ἦεν, ἐπεὶ τάφον οὐκ ἂν ἔῳξεν οὗτος ἀνήρ. οἴμοι, ὡς βραδύπους σύ, ∆ίκη. 8.247 Ὡς βραδύπους σύ, ∆ίκη, καὶ Τάρταρος οὐκέτι δεινός. οὐ γὰρ ἂν οὗτος ἀνὴρ τόνδ' ἀνέῳξε τάφον. 8.248 Ὤμοσα τοὺς φθιμένους καὶ ὤμοσα Τάρταρον αὐτὸν μήποτε τυμβολέταις εὐμενὲς ὄμμα φέρειν. 8.249 Οὔρεα καὶ πρῶνες, τὸν ἐμὸν τάφον ὥς τιν' ἑταῖρον κλαύσατε, πᾶς δὲ πέσοι τῷ σφε τεμόντι λίθος. 8.250 Πλούσιός εἰμι πένης· τύμβῳ πολύς, ἔνδον ἄχρυσος· ἴσθι καθυβρίζων νεκρὸν ἀσυλότατον. 8.251 Κἂν στῇς πυθμένος ἄχρις ἐμοὺς κευθμῶνας ὀρύσσων, μόχθος σοὶ τὸ πέρας ὀστέα μοῦνον ἔχει. 8.252 Τέμνετε, τέμνετε ὧδε· πολύχρυσος γὰρ ὁ τύμβος τοῖς ποθέουσι λίθους· τἆλλα δὲ πάντα κόνις. 8.253 Γαῖα φίλη, μὴ σοῖσι θανόνθ' ὑποδέχνυσο κόλποις τὸν τυμβωρυχίης κέρδεσι τερπόμενον. 8.254 Ὑβριστὴς ἐπ' ἔμ' ἦλθε τὸν οὐ ζώοντα σίδηρος καὶ χρυσὸν ποθέων εὗρε πένητα νέκυν.