imperishable in the world’ (3. 42. 22); kı ̄rtir astu tava ̄ks
̇
ayya ̄‘let your fame be
imperishable’ (3. 77. 26); yas ́o,ks
̇
ayam (8. 738*. 3); with a different adjective,
kı ̄rtim... s ́a ̄s ́vatı ̄m‘continual fame’ (3. 284. 35, 285. 2).
To be famed after death is a kind of immortality. In the preceding pages
I have quoted a number of passages in which a man’s fame is itself said to live,
or not to die (Tyrtaeus, Beowulf, Hávamál, Háttatal, Welsh proverb). In the
Rigveda we find the phrases s ́rávo ámr
̇
tyu‘deathless fame’ (6. 48. 12) and
s ́rávah
̇
... amr ́
̇
tam‘undying fame’ (7. 81. 6 = 8. 13. 12), besides amr ́
̇tam na ̄ ́ma
‘an undying name’ (5. 57. 5, cf. 6. 18. 7). There is no Homeric equivalent
closer than κλο Eφθιτον, but Tyrtaeus in the passage cited (12. 31 f.) says
that the hero’sκλο $σθλο ́ ν and his name never perish (qπο ́ λλυται), and
he himself, albeit below the earth, γνεται qθα ́ νατο, ‘becomes deathless’. In
Simonides and Bacchylides the phrase qθα ́ νατον κλο appears.^107
As in the case of the gods, the idea of not dying is associated with that of
not ageing. Both are combined in RV 3. 53. 15, where the Daughter of the Sun
is said to have spread out among the gods her s ́rávah
̇
that is amr ́
̇tam ajuryám,
‘undying and ageless’. Compare also 1. 126. 2 s ́rávo ajáram, and 1. 117. 4 ná
va ̄m
̇
ju ̄ryanti pu ̄rviya ̄ ́ kr
̇ta ̄ ́ni‘your [the As ́vins’] ancient deeds do not grow old’.
Greek poets speak of κ δο qγ ραον and κλο qγ ρατον (Pind. Pyth.
- 52; Eur. IA 567).^108 In a Norse poem we read
ok munu Írar angr of bíða,
þat er aldri mun ýtum fyrnask.
And the Irish will suffer a woe
that shall never grow old among men,–– that is, one that will never be forgotten.^109
As the height of fame may be represented as reaching the ultimate limit, the
sky, so its duration is occasionally predicted to extend until the end of the
world. Theognis, after telling his friend Cyrnus that ‘even after death you will
not lose your κλο, but have an Eφθιτον name and ever be of interest to
mankind’, goes on to promise that he will be a subject of song for future
generations as long as earth and sun exist (245 f., 251 f.). In the Indian epic
there is talk of fame that will last as long as earth (MBh. 12. 54. 28); the story
of Ra ̄ma will last as long as the mountains and rivers (Rm. 1. 2. 35). I have
already quoted three passages from the northern literatures that show similar
(^107) Simon. eleg. 11. 15 and 28, Bacch. 13. 65. Cf. Schmitt (1967), 69 f.
(^108) Cf. Durante (1962), 35 n. 43; Schmitt (1967), 69 f.
(^109) Darraðarlióð 8. 1–4 (Edd. min. 60). Here, as in RV 1. 117. 4 just quoted, the quality of not
ageing is transferred from the poetic fame to the event itself. There is a very similar transfer
from κλο Eφθιτον in Pindar, Pyth. 1. 94 ο1 φθνει Κροσου φιλφρων qρετα ́, ‘Croesus’
friendly goodness does not fade’.
- Mortality and Fame 409