Chapter X: Miscellaneous 152 (3)

Quoted by Hephaestion, and presumed to be Sappho's from a passage in Pausanias, where he says she learnt the name of the mythological personage Oetol[)i]nus (as if [Greek: oitos Linou], 'the death of Linus'), from the poems of Pamph[=o]s, a mythical poet of Attica earlier than Homer, and so to her Adonis was just like Oetolinus. The Linus-song was a very ancient dirge or lamentation, of which a version (or rather a late rendering, apparently Alexandrian) has been preserved by a Scholiast on Homer (_Iliad_, xviii. 569), running thus: 'O Linus, honoured by all the gods, for to thee first they gave to sing a song to men in clear sweet sounds; Phoebus in envy slew thee, but the Muses lament thee.' A charming example of what the Linus-song was in the third century B.C., remains for us in Bion's _Lament for Adonis_.

The dirge was chiefly sung by the Greek peasants at vintage-time, and so may have arisen from a mythical personification of Apollo, as the burning sun of summer suddenly slaying the life and bloom of nature. It is said to have been of Phoenician origin, and to have derived its name from the words _ai le nu_, 'woe is us,' which may have been the burden of the song. The word [Greek: ailinos], so frequent a refrain in the mournful choral odes of the Greek tragic poets, seems to indicate that the personality of Linus was the invention of a time when the meaning of the burden had been forgotten.

63

[Greek: Ô ton Adônin.]

_Ah for Adonis!_

From Marius Plotius, about 600 A.D. It seems to be the refrain of the ode to Adonis. Cf. fr. 108.

Ah for Adonis! So
The virgins cry in woe:
Ah, for the spring, the spring,
And all fleet blossoming.
MICHAEL FIELD, 1889.

64

[Greek: Elthont' ex oranô porphyrian [echonta] perthemenon]
[Greek: chlamyn.]

_Coming from heaven wearing a purple mantle._

From heaven he came,
And round him the red chlamys burned like flame.
J. A. SYMONDS.

_He came from heaven in purple mantle clad._
FREDERICK TENNYSON.

Quoted by Pollux, about 180 A.D., who says that Sappho, in her ode to Eros, out of which this verse probably came, was the first to use the word [Greek: chlamys], a short mantle fastened by a brooch on the right shoulder, so as to hang in a curve across the body.

65

[Greek: Brodopachees agnai Charites, deute Dios korai.]

_Come, rosy-armed pure Graces, daughters of Zeus._

Theocritus' _Idyl 28_, _On a Distaff_, according to the argument prefixed to it, was written in the dialect and metre of this fragment. And Philostr[)a]tus, about 220 A.D., says 'Sappho loves the rose, and always crowns it with some praise, likening to it the beauty of her maidens; she likens it also to the arms of the Graces, when she describes their elbows bare.' Cf. fr. 146.

66

- v - [Greek: O d' Areus phaisi ken Aphaiston agên bia.]

_But Ares says he would drag Hephaestus by force._

From Priscian, late in the fifth century A.D.

67

- v - v v - - v v - [Greek: Polla d' anarithma]
[Greek: potêria kalaiphis.]

_Many thousand cups thou drainest._

Quoted by Athenaeus when descanting on drinking-cups.

68

[Greek: Katthanoisa de keiseai pota, kôu mnamosyna sethen]
[Greek: esset' oute tot' out' ysteron; ou gar pedecheis brodôn]
[Greek: tôn ek Pierias, all' aphanês kên Aida domois]
[Greek: phoitaseis ped' amaurôn nekyôn ekpepotamena.]

_But thou shalt ever lie dead, nor shall there be any remembrance of thee then or thereafter, for thou hast not of the roses of Pieria; but thou shalt wander obscure even in the house of Hades, flitting among the shadowy dead._

In the cold grave where thou shalt lie
All memory too of thee shall die,
Who in this life's auspicious hours
Disdained Pieria's genial flowers;
And in the mansions of the dead,
With the vile crowd of ghosts, thy shade,
While nobler spirits point with scorn,
Shall flit neglected and forlorn.
? FELTON.

Unknown, unheeded, shalt thou die,
And no memorial shall proclaim
That once beneath the upper sky
Thou hadst a being and a name.

For never to the Muses' bowers
Didst thou with glowing heart repair,
Nor ever intertwine the flowers
That fancy strews unnumbered there.

Doom'd o'er that dreary realm, alone,
Shunn'd by the gentler shades, to go,
Nor friend shall soothe, nor parent own
The child of sloth, the Muses' foe.
REV. R. BLAND, 1813.

Thee too the years shall cover; thou shalt be
As the rose born of one same blood with thee,
As a song sung, as a word said, and fall
Flower-wise, and be not any more at all,
Nor any memory of thee anywhere;
For never Muse has bound above thine hair
The high Pierian flowers whose graft outgrows
All Summer kinship of the mortal rose
And colour of deciduous days, nor shed
Reflex and flush of heaven about thine head, _etc_.
SWINBURNE, _Anactoria_.

Woman dead, lie there;
No record of thee
Shall there ever be,
Since thou dost not share
Roses in Pieria grown.
In the deathful cave,
With the feeble troop
Of the folk that droop,
Lurk and flit and crave,
Woman severed and far-flown.
WILLIAM CORY, 1858.

Thou liest dead, and there will be no memory left behind
Of thee or thine in all the earth, for never didst thou bind
The roses of Pierian streams upon thy brow; thy doom
Is writ to flit with unknown ghosts in cold and nameless gloom.
EDWIN ARNOLD, 1869.

Yea, thou shalt die,
And lie
Dumb in the silent tomb;
Nor of thy name
Shall there be any fame
In ages yet to be or years to come:
For of the flowering Rose,
Which on Pieria blows,
Thou hast no share:
But in sad Hades' house,
Unknown, inglorious,
'Mid the dim shades that wander there
Shalt thou flit forth and haunt the filmy air.
J. A. SYMONDS, 1883.

When thou fallest in death, dead shalt thou lie, nor shall thy memory
Henceforth ever again be heard then or in days to be,
Since no flowers upon earth ever were thine, plucked from Pieria's
spring,
Unknown also 'mid hell's shadowy throng thou shalt go wandering.
ANON., _Love in Idleness_, 1883.

From Stobaeus, about 500 A.D., as addressed to an uneducated woman. Plutarch quotes the fragment as written to a certain rich lady; but in another work he says the crown of roses was assigned to the Muses, for he remembered Sappho's having said to some unpolished and uneducated woman these same words. Arist[=i]des, about 150 A.D., speaks of Sappho's boastfully saying to some well-to-do woman, 'that the Muses made her blest and worthy of honour, and that she should not die and be forgotten;' though this may refer to fr. 10.

69

[Greek: Oud' ian dokimoimi prosidoisan phaos aliô]
[Greek: essesthai sophian parthenon eis oudena pô chronon]
[Greek: toiautan.]

_No one maiden I think shall at any time see the sunlight that shall be as wise as thou._

Methinks no maiden ever
Will live beneath the sun
Who is as wise as thou art,--
Not e'en till Time is done.

Quoted by Chrysippus. It is probably out of the same ode as the preceding.

70

[Greek: Tis d' agroiôtis toi thelgei noon,]
[Greek: ouk epistamena ta brake' elkên epi tôn sphyrôn?]

_What country girl bewitches thy heart, who knows not how to draw her dress about her ankles?_

What country maiden charms thee,
However fair her face,
Who knows not how to gather
Her dress with artless grace?

Athenaeus, speaking of the care which the ancients bestowed upon dress, says Sappho thus jests upon Andromeda. Three other authors quote the same lines.

71

[Greek: Êrôn exedidax' ek Gyarôn tan tanysidromon.]

_I taught Hero of Gyara, the swift runner._

Quoted by Choeroboscus, to show the Aeolic accusative.

72

- v [Greek: Alla tis ouk emmi palinkotôn]
[Greek: organ, all' abakên tan phren' echô] v -

_I am not of a malignant nature, but have a quiet temper._

Quoted in the _Etymologicum Magnum_ to show the meaning of [Greek: abakês], 'childlike, innocent.'

73

- v [Greek: Autar oraiai stephanêplokeun.]

_But charming_ [maidens] _plaited garlands._

Quoted by the Scholiast on Aristophanes _Thesmophoriazusae_ 401, to show that plaiting wreaths was a sign of being in love.

74

- v - [Greek: Su te kamos therapôn Eros.]

_Thou and my servant Love._

Quoted by Maximus Tyrius to show that Sappho agreed with Diotima when the latter said to Socrates (Plato, _Sympos._, p. 328) that Love is not the son, but the attendant and servant, of Aphrodite. Cf. fr. 132.

75

[Greek: All' eôn philos ammin [allo]]
[Greek: lechos arnyso neôteron;]
[Greek: ou gar tlasom' egô xynoikên]
[Greek: neô g' essa geraitera.]

_But if thou lovest us, choose another and a younger bed-fellow; for I will not brook to live with thee, old woman with young man._

From Stobaeus' _Anthology_, and Apostolius.

76

[Greek: Eumorphotera Mnasidika tas apalas Gyrinnôs.]

_Mnasidica is more shapely than the tender Gyrinno._

Quoted by Hephaestion as an example of metre (cf. p. 24).

77

[Greek: Asaroteras oudam' ep', ô ranna, sethen tychoisa.]

_Scornfuler than thee, Eranna, have I nowhere found._

Quoted by Hephaestion with the foregoing. The MSS. do not agree; perhaps [Greek: ô ranna] is an adjective, for [Greek: ô erateinê], _O lovely--_.

78

[Greek: Sy de stephanois, ô Dika, perthesth' eratais phobaisin,]
[Greek: orpakas anêtoio synerrais' apalaisi chersin;]
[Greek: euanthesin ek gar peletai kai charitos makairan]
[Greek: mallon proterên; astephanôtoisi d' apystrephontai.]

_Do thou, Dica, set garlands round thy lovely hair, twining shoots of dill together with soft hands: for those who have fair flowers may best stand first, even in the favour of Goddesses; who turn their face away from those who lack garlands._

Here, fairest Rhodope, recline,
And 'mid thy bright locks intertwine,
With fingers soft as softest down,
The ever verdant parsley crown.
The Gods are pleased with flowers that bloom
And leaves that shed divine perfume,
But, if ungarlanded, despise
The richest offered sacrifice.
J. H. MERIVALE.

But place those garlands on thy lovely hair,
Twining the tender sprouts of anise green
With skilful hand; for offerings and flowers
Are pleasing to the Gods, who hate all those
Who come before them with uncrowned heads.
C. D. YONGE.

Of foliage and flowers love-laden
Twine wreaths for thy flowing hair,
With thine own soft fingers, maiden.
Weave garlands of parsley fair;

For flowers are sweet, and the Graces
On suppliants wreathed with may
Look down from their heavenly places,
But turn from the crownless away.
J. A. SYMONDS, 1883.

Mr. J. A. Symonds has also thus expanded the lines into a sonnet (1883):--

Bring summer flowers, bring pansy, violet,
Moss-rose and sweet-briar and blue columbine;
Bring loveliest leaves, rathe privet, eglantine,
Brown myrtles with the dews of morning wet:
Twine thou a wreath upon thy brows to set;
With thy soft hands the wayward tendrils twine;
Then place them, maiden, on those curls of thine,
Those curls too fair for gems or coronet.

Sweet is the breath of blossoms, and the Graces,
When suppliants through Love's temple wend their way,
Look down with smiles from their celestial places
On maidens wreathed with chaplets of the may;
But from the crownless choir they hide their faces,
Nor heed them when they sing nor when they pray.

Athenaeus, quoting this fragment, says:--'Sappho gives a more simple reason for our wearing garlands, speaking as follows ... in which lines she enjoins all who offer sacrifice to wear garlands on their heads, as they are beautiful things and acceptable to the Gods.'

79

[Greek: Egô de philêm' abrosynan, kai moi to lampron]
[Greek: eros] v [Greek: aeliô kai to kalon lelonchen.]

_I love delicacy, and for me Love has the sun's splendour and beauty._

In speaking of perfumes, Athenaeus, quoting Clearchus, says:--'Sappho, being a thorough woman and a poetess besides, was ashamed to separate honour from elegance, and speaks thus ... making it evident to everybody that the desire of life that she confessed had brilliancy and honour in it; and these things especially belong to virtue.'

80

[Greek: Kam men te tylan kaspoleô.]

_And down I set the cushion._

Quoted by Herodian, along with fr. 50.

81

[Greek: Ô ploutos aneu seu g' areta 'st' ouk asinês paroikos]
[Greek: [ê d' ex amphoteron krasis eudaimonias echei to akron].]

_Wealth without thee, Worth, is no safe neighbour_ [_but the mixture of both is the height of happiness_].

Wealth without virtue is a dangerous guest;
Who holds them mingled is supremely blest.
J. H. MERIVALE.

From the Scholiast on Pindar. The second line appears to be the gloss of the commentator, though Blass believes it is Sappho's.

VI

IN VARIOUS METRES

82

[Greek: Auta de sy Kalliopa.]

_And thou thyself, Calliope._

Quoted by Hephaestion when he is analysing a metre invented by Archilochus.

83

[Greek: Dauois apalas etaras]
[Greek: en stêthesin] - v v - .

_Sleep thou in the bosom of thy tender girlfriend._

From the _Etymologicum Magnum_. Blass thinks that the proper place for this fragment is among the _Epithalamia._

84

[Greek: Deuro dêute Moisai, chrysion lipoisai.]

_Hither now, Muses, leaving golden_ ...

Quoted by Hephaestion as an example of a verse made of two Ithyphallics.

85

[Greek: Esti moi kala pais, chrysioisin anthemoisin]
[Greek: empherên echoisa morphan, Klêis' agapata,]
[Greek: anti tas egô oude Lydian paisan oud' erannan.]

_I have a fair daughter with a form like a golden flower, Cleïs the beloved, above whom I_ [prize] _nor all Lydia nor lovely_ [Lesbos]....

I have a child, a lovely one,
In beauty like the golden sun,
Or like sweet flowers of earliest bloom;
And Claïs is her name, for whom
I Lydia's treasures, were they mine,
Would glad resign.
J. H. MERIVALE.

A lovely little girl is ours,
Kleïs the beloved,
Kleïs is her name,
Whose beauty is as the golden flowers.
FREDERICK TENNYSON.

Quoted and elaborately scanned by Hephaestion, although Bergk regards the lines as merely trochaic.

86

[Greek: Polla moi tan]
[Greek: Pôlyanaktida paida chairên.]

_All joy to thee, daughter of Polyanax._

From Maximus Tyrius. It seems to be addressed to either Gorgo or Andromeda.

VII

IN THE IONIC _A MINORE_ METRE

87

[Greek: Za d' elexaman onar Kyprogenêa.]

_In a dream I spake with the daughter of Cyprus._

_I.e._ Aphrodite. From Hephaestion.

88

[Greek: Ti me Pandionis ô ranna chelidôn?]

_Why, lovely swallow, daughter of Pand[=i]on,_ [weary] _me?_

From Hephaestion, who says Sappho wrote whole songs in this metre. [Greek: Ô ranna] is Is. Vossius' emendation; [Greek: ôrana] is the ordinary reading, which Hesychius explains as perhaps an epithet of the swallow 'dwelling under the roof.'

Ah, Procne, wherefore dost thou weary me?
Thus flitting out and flitting in ...
Tease not the air with this tumultuous wing.
MICHAEL FIELD, 1889.

89

[Greek: ... Amphi d' abrois lasiois eu we pykassen.]

_She wrapped herself well in delicate hairy ..._

From Pollux, who says the line refers to fine closely-woven linen.

90

[Greek: Glykeia mater, outoi dynamai krekên ton iston,]
[Greek: pothô dameisa paidos bradinan di' Aphroditan.]

_Sweet Mother, I cannot weave my web, broken as I am by longing for a boy, at soft Aphrodite's will._

[As o'er her loom the Lesbian maid
In love-sick languor hung her head,
Unknowing where her fingers strayed
She weeping turned away and said--]

'Oh, my sweet mother, 'tis in vain,
I cannot weave as once I wove,
So wildered is my heart and brain
With thinking of that youth I love.'
T. MOORE, _Evenings in_
_Greece_, p. 18.

Mother, I cannot mind my wheel;
My fingers ache, my lips are dry:
Oh, if you felt the pain I feel!
But oh, who ever felt as I?
W. S. LANDOR, _Simonidea_, 1807.

Sweet mother, I can spin no more,
Nor ply the loom as heretofore,
For love of him.
FREDERICK TENNYSON.

Sweet mother, I the web
Can weave no more;
Keen yearning for my love
Subdues me sore,
And tender Aphrodite
Thrills my heart's core.
M. J. WALHOUSE.

Cf. Mrs. John Hunter's 'My mother bids me bind my hair,' etc.

From Hephaestion, as an example of metre.

VIII

EPITHALAMIA, BRIDAL SONGS

91

[Greek: Ipsoi dê to melathron]
[Greek: Ymênaon]
[Greek: aerrete tektontes andres;]
[Greek: Ymênaon]
[Greek: gambros erchetai isos Areui,]
[Greek: [Ymênaon]]
[Greek: andros megalô poly meizôn;]
[Greek: [Ymênaon]]

_Raise high the roof-beam, carpenters. (Hymenaeus!) Like Ares comes the bridegroom, (Hymenaeus!) taller far than a tall man. (Hymenaeus!)_

Artists, raise the rafters high!
Ample scope and stately plan--
Mars-like comes the bridegroom nigh,
Loftier than a lofty man.
ANON., _Edinb. Rev._, 1832, p. 109.

High lift the beams of the chamber,
Workmen, on high;
Like Arés in step comes the Bridegroom;
Like him of the song of Terpander,
Like him in majesty.
F. T. PALGRAVE, 1854.

Quoted by Hephaestion as an example of a _mes-hymnic_ poem, where the refrain follows each line. The hymenaeus or wedding-song was sung by the bride's attendants as they led her to the bridegroom's house, addressing Hymen the god of marriage. The metre seems, says Professor Mahaffy (_Hist. of Class. Greek Lit._, i., p. 20, 1880), to be the same as that of the Linus song; cf. fr. 62.

92

[Greek: Perrochos, ôs ot' aoidos o Lesbios allodapoisin.]

_Towering, as the Lesbian singer towers among men of other lands._

Quoted by Demetrius, about 150 A.D. It is uncertain what 'Lesbian singer' is here referred to; probably Terpander, but Neue thinks it may mean the whole Lesbian race, from their pre-eminence in poetry.

93

[Greek: Oion to glykymalon ereuthetai akrô ep' ysdô]
[Greek: akron ep' akrotatô; lelathonto de malodropêes,]
[Greek: ou man eklelathont', all' ouk edynant' epikesthai.]

_As the sweet-apple blushes on the end of the bough, the very end of the bough, which the gatherers overlooked, nay overlooked not but could not reach._

--O fair--O sweet!
As the sweet apple blooms high on the bough,
High as the highest, forgot of the gatherers:
So thou:--
Yet not so: nor forgot of the gatherers;
High o'er their reach in the golden air,
--O sweet--O fair!
F. T. PALGRAVE, 1854.

Quoted by the Scholiast on Hermogenes, and by others, to explain the word [Greek: glykymalon], 'sweet-apple,' an apple grafted on a quince; it is used as a term of endearment by Theocritus (_Idyl_ xi. 39), 'Of thee, my love, my sweet-apple, I sing.' Himerius, writing about 360 A.D., says: 'Aphrodite's orgies we leave to Sappho of Lesbos, to sing to the lyre and make the bride-chamber her theme. She enters the chamber after the games, makes the room, spreads Homer's bed, assembles the maidens, leads them into the apartment with Aphrodite in the Graces' car and a band of Loves for playmates. Binding her tresses with hyacinth, except what is parted to fringe her forehead, she lets the rest wave to the wind if it chance to strike them. Their wings and curls she decks with gold, and drives them in procession before the car as they shake the torch on high.' And particularly this: 'It was for Sappho to liken the maiden to an apple, allowing to those who would pluck before the time to touch not even with the finger-tip, but to him who was to gather the apple in season to watch its ripe beauty; to compare the bridegroom with Achilles, to match the youth's deeds with the hero's.' Further on he says: 'Come then, we will lead him into the bride-chamber and persuade him to meet the beauty of the bride. O fair and lovely, the Lesbian's praises appertain to thee: thy play-mates are rosy-ankled Graces and golden Aphrodite, and the Seasons make the meadows bloom.' These last words especially--

[Greek: Ô kala, ô chariessa.]

_O fair, O lovely ..._

seem taken out of one of Sappho's hymeneal odes, although they also occur in Theocritus, _Idyl_ xviii. 38.

94

[Greek: Oian tan yakinthon en ouresi poimenes andres]
[Greek: possi katasteiboisi, chamai d' epiporphyrei anthos.]

_As on the hills the shepherds trample the hyacinth under foot, and the flower darkens on the ground._

Compare Catullus, xi. 21-24:--

Think not henceforth, thou, to recall Catullus'
Love; thy own sin slew it, as on the meadow's
Verge declines, un-gently beneath the ploughshare
Stricken, a flower.
(ROBINSON ELLIS.)

And Vergil, _Aeneid_, ix. 435, of Euryalus dying:--

And like the purple flower the plough cuts down
He droops and dies.

Pines she like to the hyacinth out on the path by the hill top;
Shepherds tread it aside, and its purples lie lost on the herbage.
EDWIN ARNOLD, 1869.

ONE GIRL.

(_A combination from Sappho._)

I.

Like the sweet apple which reddens upon the topmost bough,
A-top on the topmost twig,--which the pluckers forgot, somehow,--
Forgot it not, nay, but got it not, for none could get it till now.

II.

Like the wild hyacinth flower which on the hills is found,
Which the passing feet of the shepherds for ever tear and wound,
Until the purple blossom is trodden into the ground.
D. G. ROSSETTI, 1870;

in 1881 he altered the title to _Beauty_. (_A combination from Sappho._)

Quoted by Demetrius, as an example of the ornament and beauty proper to a concluding sentence. Bergk first attributed the lines to Sappho.

95

[Greek: Wespere, panta pherôn, osa phainolis eskedas' auôs,]
[Greek: phereis oin, pheres aiga, phereis apy materi paida.]

_Evening, thou that bringest all that bright morning scattered; thou bringest the sheep, the goat, the child back to her mother._

Thus imitated by Byron:--

O Hesperus, thou bringest all good things--
Home to the weary, to the hungry cheer,
To the young bird the parent's brooding wings,
The welcome stall to the o'erlaboured steer;
Whate'er of peace about our hearthstone clings,
Whate'er our household gods protect of dear,
Are gathered round us by thy look of rest;
Thou bring'st the child too to its mother's breast.
_Don Juan_, iii. 107.

And by Tennyson:--

The ancient poetess singeth, that Hesperus all things bringeth,
Smoothing the wearied mind: bring me my love, Rosalind.
Thou comest morning or even; she cometh not morning or evening.
False-eyed Hesper, unkind, where is my sweet Rosalind?
_Leonine Elegiacs_, 1830-1884.

Hesperus brings all things back
Which the daylight made us lack,
Brings the sheep and goats to rest,
Brings the baby to the breast.
EDWIN ARNOLD, 1869.

Hesper, thou bringest back again
All that the gaudy daybeams part,
The sheep, the goat, back to their pen,
The child home to his mother's heart.
FREDERICK TENNYSON, 1890.

Evening, all things thou bringest
Which dawn spread apart from each other;
The lamb and the kid thou bringest,
Thou bringest the boy to his mother.
J. A. SYMONDS, 1883.

Hesper, whom the poet call'd the Bringer home of all good things.
TENNYSON, _Locksley Hall Sixty Years After_, 1886.

From the _Etymologicum Magnum_, where it is adduced to show the meaning of [Greek: auôs], 'dawn.' The fragment occurs also in Demetrius, as an example of Sappho's grace. One cannot but believe that Catullus had in his mind some such hymeneal ode of Sappho's as that in which this fragment must have occurred when he wrote his _Vesper adest, juvenes, consurgite: Vesper Olympo_, etc. (lxii.), part of which was imitated in the colloquy between Opinion and Truth in Ben Jonson's _The Barriers_.

96

[Greek: Aiparthenos essomai.]

_I shall be ever maiden._

From a Parisian MS. edited by Cramer, adduced to show the Aeolic form of [Greek: aei], 'ever.'

97

[Greek: Dôsomen, êsi patêr.]

_We will give, says the father ..._

From a Parisian MS. edited by Cramer.

98

[Greek: Thyrôrô podes eptoroguioi,]
[Greek: ta de sambala pempeboêa,]
[Greek: pisyngoi de dek' exeponasan.]

_To the doorkeeper feet seven fathoms long, and sandals of five bulls' hides, the work of ten cobblers._

From Hephaestion, as an example of metre. Demetrius says: 'And elsewhere Sappho girds at the rustic bridegroom and the doorkeeper ready for the wedding, in prosaic rather than poetic phrase, as if she were reasoning rather than singing, using words out of harmony with dance and song.'

99

[Greek: Olbie gambre, soi men dê gamos, ôs arao,]
[Greek: ektetelest', echês de parthenon, an arao.]

_Happy bridegroom, now is thy wedding come to thy desire, and thou hast the maiden of thy desire._

Happy bridegroom, thou art blest
With blisses far beyond the rest,
For thou hast won
The chosen one,
The girl thou lovest best.
FREDERICK TENNYSON.

Quoted by Hephaestion, along with the following, to exemplify metres; both fragments seem to belong to the same ode.

100

[Greek: Mellichios d' ep' imertô kechytai prosôpô.]

_And a soft_ [paleness] _is spread over the lovely face._

In the National Library of Madrid there is a MS. of an epithalamium by Choricius, a rhetorician of Gaza, who flourished about 520 A.D., in which the lamented Ch. Graux (_Revue de Philologie_, 1880, p. 81) found a quotation from Sappho which is partly identical with this fragment preserved by Hephaestion. H. Weil thus attempts to restore the passage:--

[Greek: Soi charien men eidos, oppata d'] - v - =
[Greek: mellichr', eros d' ep' imertô]
[Greek: kechytai prosôpô;]
- v [Greek: tetimak' exocha s' Aphrodita.]

_Well favoured is thy form, and thine eyes ... honeyed, and love is spread over thy fair face ... Aphrodite has honoured thee above all._

Two apparent imitations by Catullus are quoted by Weil to confirm his restoration of Sappho's verses; viz., _mellitos oculos_, honeyed eyes (48, 1), and _pulcher es, neque te Venus negligit_, fair thou art, nor does Venus neglect thee (61, 194).

101

[Greek: O men gar kalos, osson idên, peletai [agathos],]
[Greek: o de kagathos autika kai kalos essetai.]

_He who is fair to look upon is_ [good], _and he who is good will soon be fair also._

Beauty, fair flower, upon the surface lies;
But worth with beauty e'en in aspect vies.
? FELTON.

Galen, the physician, writing about 160 A.D., says: 'It is better therefore, knowing that the beauty of youth is like Spring flowers, its pleasure lasting but a little while, to approve of what the Lesbian [here] says, and to believe Solon when he points out the same.'

102

[Greek: Êr' eti parthenias epiballomai?]

_Do I still long for maidenhood?_

Quoted by Apollonius, and by the Scholiast on Dionysius of Thrace, to illustrate the interrogative particle [Greek: ara], Aeolic [Greek: êra], and as an example of the catalectic iambic.

103

[Greek: Chairoisa nympha, chairetô d' o gambros.]

_The bride_ [comes] _rejoicing; let the bridegroom rejoice._

From Hephaestion, as a catalectic iambic.

104

[Greek: Tiô s', ô phile gambre, kalôs eikasdô?]
[Greek: orpaki bradinô se kalist' eikasdô.]

_Whereunto may I well liken thee, dear bridegroom? To a soft shoot may I best liken thee._

From Hephaestion, as an example of metre.

105

[Greek: ... Chaire, nympha,]
[Greek: chaire, timie gambre, polla.]

_Hail, bride! noble bridegroom, all hail!_

Quoted by Servius, about 390 A.D., on Vergil, _Georg._ i. 31; also referred to by Pollux and Julian.

106

[Greek: Ou gar ên atera pais, ô gambre, toiauta.]

_For there was no other girl, O bridegroom, like her._

From Dionysius of Halicarnassus.

107, 108

[Greek: Espet' Ymênaon.]
[Greek: Ô ton Adônion.]

_Sing Hymenaeus!_
_Ah for Adonis!_

From Plotius, about the fifth or sixth century A.D., to show the metre of Sappho's hymeneal odes. The text is corrupt; the first verse is thus emended by Bergk, the second by Scaliger. Cf. fr. 63.

109

A. [Greek: Parthenia, parthenia, poi me lipois' apoichê?]
B. [Greek: Ouketi hêxô pros se, ouketi hêxô.]

A. _Maidenhood, maidenhood, whither art thou gone away from me?_
B. _Never again will I come to thee, never again._

'Sweet Rose of May, sweet Rose of May,
Whither, ah whither fled away?'
'What's gone no time can e'er restore--
I come no more, I come no more.'
J. H. MERIVALE.

From Demetrius, who quoted the fragment to show the grace of Sappho's style and the beauty of repetition.

110

[Greek: Allan mê kamesteran phrena.]

_Fool, faint not thou in thy strong heart._

From a very corrupt passage in Herodian. The translation is from Bergk's former emendation--

[Greek: Alla mê kame ty sterean phrena.]

111

[Greek: Phainetai woi kênos.]

_To himself he seems ..._

From Apollonius, to show that the Aeolians used the digamma, [Greek: w]. Bergk says this fragment does not belong to fr. 2.

112

[Greek: Ôiô poly leukoteron.]

_Much whiter than an egg._

From Athenaeus; cf. frs. 56 and 122.

113

[Greek: Mêt' emoi meli mête melissa]

_Neither honey nor bee for me._

A proverb quoted by many late authors, referring to those who wish for good unmixed with evil. They seem to be the words of the bride. This, and the second line of fr. 62, and many other verses, show Sappho's fondness for alliteration; frs. 4 and 5, among several others, show that she did not ignore the charm of assonance.

114

[Greek: Mê kinê cheradas.]

_Stir not the shingle._

Quoted by the Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius to show that [Greek: cherades] were 'little heaps of stones.'

115

[Greek: Optais amme.]

_Thou burnest us._

Compare Swinburne's--

My life is bitter with thy love; thine eyes
Blind me, thy tresses burn me, thy sharp sighs
Divide my flesh and spirit with soft sound, _etc._
_Anactoria_.

Quoted by Apollonius to show the Aeolic form of [Greek: hêmas], 'us.'

116

[Greek: Êmitybion stalasson.]

_A napkin dripping._

From the Scholiast on Aristophanes' _Plutus_, quoted to show the meaning of [Greek: hêmitybion], 'a half worn out shred of linen with which to wipe the hands.'

117

[Greek: Ton won paida kalei.]

_She called him her son._

Quoted by Apollonius to show the Aeolic use of the digamma.

IX

EPIGRAMS

All three are preserved only in the _Greek Anthology_. The authenticity of the last, fr. 120, is doubtful. To none of them does Bergk restore the form of the Aeolic dialect.

118

[Greek: Paides, aphônos eoisa tod' ennepô, ai tis erêtai,]
[Greek: phônan akamatan katthemena pro podôn;]
[Greek: Aithopia me kora Latous anethêken Arista]
[Greek: Hermokleidaia tô Saonaiada,]
[Greek: sa propolos, despoina gunaikôn; ha sy chareisa]
[Greek: prophrôn hameteran eukleison genean.]

_Maidens, dumb as I am, I speak thus, if any ask, and set before your feet a tireless voice: To Leto's daughter Aethopia was I dedicated by Arista daughter of Hermocleides son of Saonaïades, thy servant, O queen of women; whom bless thou, and deign to glorify our house._

ON A PRIESTESS OF DIANA.

Does any ask? I answer from the dead;
A voice that lives is graven o'er my head:
To dark-eyed Dian, ere my days begun,
Aristo vowed me, wife of Saon's son:
Then hear thy priestess, hear, O virgin Power,
And thy best gifts on Saon's lineage shower.
R.

The goddess here invoked as the 'queen of women' appears to have been Art[)e]mis, the Diana of the Romans.

119

[Greek: Timados hade konis, tan dê pro gamoio thanousan]
[Greek: dexato Phersephonas kyaneos thalamos,]
[Greek: has kai apophthimenas pasai neothagi sidarô]
[Greek: alikes himertan kratos ethento koman.]

_This is the dust of Timas, whom Persephone's dark chamber received, dead before her wedding; when she perished, all her fellows dressed with sharpened steel the lovely tresses of their heads._

This dust was Timas'; ere her bridal hour
She lies in Proserpina's gloomy bower;
Her virgin playmates from each lovely head
Cut with sharp steel their locks, their strewments for the dead.
SIR CHARLES A. ELTON.

This is the dust of Timas, whom unwed
Persephone locked in her darksome bed:
For her the maids who were her fellows shore
Their curls, and to her tomb this tribute bore.
J. A. SYMONDS.

120

[Greek: Tô gripei Pelagôni patêr epethêke Meniskos]
[Greek: kyrton kai kôpan, mnama kakozoias.]

_Over the fisherman Pelagon his father Meniscus set weel and oar, memorial of a luckless life._

ON A FISHERMAN.

This oar and net and fisher's wickered snare
Meniscus placed above his buried son--
Memorials of the lot in life he bare,
The hard and needy life of Pelagon.
SIR CHARLES A. ELTON.

Here, to the fisher Pelagon, his sire Meniscus laid
A wicker-net and oar, to show his weary life and trade.
LORD NEAVES.

Above a fisher's tomb
Were set his withy-basket and his oar,
The tokens of his doom,
Of how in life his labour had been sore:
A father put them up above his son,
Meniscus over luckless Pelagon.
MICHAEL FIELD, 1889.

Bergk sees no reason to accept the voice of tradition in attributing this epigram to Sappho.

X

MISCELLANEOUS

121

Athenaeus says:--

'It is something natural that people who fancy themselves beautiful and elegant should be fond of flowers; on which account the companions of Persephone are represented as gathering flowers. And Sappho says she saw--

[Greek: anthe' amergousan paid' agan hapalan,]

'_A maiden full tender plucking flowers._'

122, 123

[Greek: Poly paktidos adymelestera, chrysô chrysotera.]

_Far sweeter of tone than harp, more golden than gold._

Quoted by Demetrius as an example of hyperbolic phrase. A commentator on Hermogenes the rhetorician says: 'These things basely flatter the ear, like the erotic phrases which Anacreon and Sappho use, [Greek: galaktos leukotera] _whiter than milk_, [Greek: hydatos hapalôtera] _fresher than water_, [Greek: pêktidôn emmelestera] _more musical than the harp_, [Greek: hippou gaurotera] _more skittish than a horse_, [Greek: rhodôn habrotera] _more delicate than the rose_, [Greek: himatiou heanou malakôtera] _softer than a fine robe_, [Greek: chrysou timiôtera] _more precious than gold_.'

124

Demetrius says:--

'Wherefore also Sappho is eloquent and sweet when she sings of Beauty, and of Love and Spring and the Kingfisher; and every beautiful expression is woven into her poetry, besides what she herself invented.'

125

Maximus Tyrius says:--

'Diotima says that Love flourishes in prosperity, but dies in adversity; a sentiment which Sappho comprehends when she calls Love [Greek: glykipikros] _bitter-sweet_ [cf. fr. 40] and [Greek: algesidôros] giver of pain. Socrates calls Love the wizard, Sappho [Greek: mythoplokos] _the weaver of fictions_.'

126

[Greek: To melêma toumon.]

_My darling._

Quoted by Julian, and by Theodoras Hyrtacenus in the twelfth century A.D., as of 'the wise Sappho.' Bergk says Sappho would have written [Greek: to melêma ômon] in her own dialect.

127

Aristides says:--

[Greek: To ganos] _the brightness_ standing over the whole city, [Greek: ou diaphtheiron tas opseis] _not destroying the sight_, as Sappho says, but developing at once and crowning and watering with cheerfulness; in no way [Greek: hyakinthinô anthei homoion] _like a hyacinth-flower_, but such as earth and sun never yet showed to men.'

128

Pollux writes:--

'Anacreon ... says they are crowned also with _dill_, as both Sappho [cf. fr. 78] and Alcaeus say; though these also say [Greek: selinois] _with parsley_.'

129

Philostratus says:--

'Thus contend [the maidens] [Greek: rhodopêcheis kai helikôpides kai kalliparêoi kai meliphônoi] _with rosy arms and glancing eyes and fair cheeks and honeyed voices_--this indeed is Sappho's sweet salutation.'

And Aristaen[)e]tus:--

'Before the porch the most musical and [Greek: meilichophônoi] _soft-voiced_ of the maidens sang the hymeneal song; this indeed is Sappho's sweetest utterance.'

Antipater of Sidon, _Anthol. Pal._ ix. 66, and others, call Sappho _sweet-voiced_.

130

Libanius the rhetorician, about the fourth century A.D., says:--

'If therefore nought prevented Sappho the Lesbian from praying [Greek: nykta autê genesthai diplasian] _that the night might be doubled for her_, let me also ask for something similar. Time, father of year and months, stretch out this very year for us as far as may be, as, when Herakles was born, thou didst prolong the night.'

Bergk thinks that Sappho probably prayed for [Greek: nykta triplasian] _a night thrice as long_ as an ordinary night, in reference to the myth of Jupiter and Alcmene, the mother of Hercules.

131

Strabo says:--

'A hundred furlongs further (from Elaea, a city in Aeolis) is Cané, the promontory opposite to Lectum, and forming the Gulf of Adramyttium, of which the Elaïtic Gulf is a part. Canae is a small city of the Locrians of Cynus, over against the most southerly extremity of Lesbos, situated in the Canaean territory, which extends to Arginusae and the overhanging cliff which some call _Aega_, as if "a goat," but the second syllable should be pronounced long, Aeg[=a], like [Greek: akta] and [Greek: archa], for this was the name of the whole mountain which at present is called Cané or Canae ... and the promontory itself seems afterwards to have been called _Aega_, as Sappho says the rest Can[=e] or Canae.'

132

The Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius says:--

'Apollonius calls Love the son of Aphrodite, Sappho _of Earth and Heaven_.'

But the Argument prefixed to Theocritus, _Idyl_ xiii., says:--

'Sappho called _Love the child of Aphrodite and Heaven_.'

And Pausanias, about 180 A.D., says:--

'On Love Sappho the Lesbian sang many things which do not agree with one another.' Cf. fr. 74.

133

Himerius says:--

'Thou art, I think, an evening-star, of all stars the fairest: this is Sappho's song to Hesperus.' And again: 'Now thou didst appear like that fairest of all stars; for the Athenians call thee Hesperus.'

Bergk thinks Sappho's line ran thus:--

[Greek: Asterôn pantôn ho kalistos ...]

_Of all stars the fairest._

Elsewhere Himerius refers to what seems an imitation of Sappho, and says: 'If an ode had been wanted, I should have given him such an ode as this--

[Greek: Nympha rhodeôn erôtôn bryousa, Nympha Paphiês agalma kalliston, ithi pros eunên, ithi pros lechos meilicha paizousa, glykeia nymphiô; Hesperos s' hekousan agoi, argyrothronon zygian Hêran thaumazousan.']

_Bride teeming with rosy loves, bride, fairest image of the goddess of Paphos, go to the couch, go to the bed, softly sporting, sweet to the bridegroom. May Hesperus lead thee rejoicing, honouring Hera of the silver throne, goddess of marriage._

Bride, in whose breast haunt rosy loves!
Bride, fairest of the Paphian groves!
Hence, to thy marriage rise, and go!
Hence, to thy bed, where thou shalt show
With honeyed play thy wedded charms,
Thy sweetness in the bridegroom's arms!
Let Hesper lead thee forth, a wife,
Willing and worshipping for life,
The silver-throned, the wedlock dame,
Queen Hera, wanton without shame!
J. A. SYMONDS, 1883.

134

The Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius says:--

'The story of the love of Sel[=e]n[=e] is told by Sappho, and by Nicander in the second book of his _Europa_; and it is said that Selene came to Endymion in the same cave' (on Mount Latmus in Caria).

135

The Scholiast on Hesiod, _Op. et D._, 74, says:--

'Sappho calls Persuasion [Greek: Aphroditês thygatera] _Daughter of Aphrodite_.' Cf. fr. 141.

136

Maximus Tyrius says:--

'Socrates blames Xanthippe for lamenting his death, as Sappho blames her daughter--

[Greek: Ou gar themis en mousopolôn oikia thrênon einai; ouk ammi prepei tade.]

_For lamentation may not be in a poet's house: such things befit not us.'_

In the home of the Muses 'tis bootless to mourn.
FREDERICK TENNYSON.

137

Aristotle, in his _Rhetoric_, ii. 23, writes:--

[Greek: ê hôsper Sapphô, hoti to apothnêskein kakon; hoi theoi gar houtô kekrikasin; apethnêskon gar an.]

Gregory, commenting on Hermogenes, also quotes the same saying:--

[Greek: hoion phêsin hê Sapphô, hoti to apothnêskein kakon; hoi theoi gar houtô kekrikasin; apethnêskon gar an, eiper ên kalon to apothnêskein.]

Several attempts have been made to restore these words to a metrical form, and this of Hartung's appears to be the simplest:--

[Greek: To thnaskein kakon; houtô kekrikasi theoi;]
[Greek: ethnaskon gar an eiper kalon ên tode.]

_Death is evil; the Gods have so judged: had it been good, they would die._

The preceding fragment (136) seems to have formed part of the same ode as the present. Perhaps it was this ode, which Sappho sent to her daughter forbidding her to lament her mother's death, that Solon is said to have so highly praised. The story is quoted from Aelian by Stobaeus thus: 'Solon the Athenian [who died about 558 B.C.], son of Execest[)i]des, on his nephew's singing an ode of Sappho's over their wine, was pleased with it, and bade the boy teach it him; and when some one asked why he took the trouble, he said, [Greek: hina mathôn auto apothanô]. 'That I may not die before I have learned it.'

138

Athenaeus says:--

'Naucratis has produced some celebrated courtesans of exceeding beauty; as D[=o]richa, who was beloved by Charaxus, brother of the beautiful Sappho, when he went to Naucratis on business, and whom she accuses in her poetry of having robbed him of much. Herodotus calls her Rhod[=o]pis, not knowing that Rhodopis was different from the Doricha who dedicated the famous spits at Delphi.'

Herodotus, about 440 B.C., said:--

'Rhodopis came to Egypt with Xanthes of Samos; and having come to make money, she was ransomed for a large sum by Charaxus of Mitylene, son of Scamandronymus and brother of Sappho the poetess. Thus Rhodopis was made free, and continued in Egypt, and being very lovely acquired great riches for a Rhodopis, though no way sufficient to erect such a pyramid [as Mycer[=i]nus'] with. For as any one who wishes may to this day see the tenth of her wealth, there is no need to attribute any great wealth to her. For Rhodopis was desirous of leaving a monument to herself in Greece, and having had such a work made as no one ever yet devised and dedicated in a temple, to offer it at Delphi as a memorial of herself: having therefore made from the tenth of her wealth a great number of iron spits for roasting oxen, as far as the tenth allowed, she sent them to Delphi; and they are still piled up behind the altar which the Chians dedicated, and opposite the temple itself. The courtesans of Naucratis are generally very lovely: for in the first place this one, of whom this account is given, became so famous that all the Greeks became familiar with the name Rhodopis; and in the next place, after her another whose name was Archid[)i]ce became celebrated throughout Greece, though less talked about than the former. As for Charaxus, after ransoming Rhodopis he returned to Mitylene, where Sappho ridiculed him bitterly in an ode.'

And Strabo:--

'It is said that the tomb of the courtesan was erected by her lovers: Sappho the lyric poet calls her _D[=o]richa_. She was beloved by Sappho's brother Charaxus, who traded to the port of Naucratis with Lesbian wine. Others call her Rhodopis.'

And another writer (_Appendix Prov._, iv. 51) says:--

'The beautiful courtesan Rhodopis, whom Sappho and Herodotus commemorate, was of Naucratis in Egypt.'

139

Athenaeus says:--

'The beautiful Sappho in several places celebrates her brother, Lar[)i]chus, as cup-bearer to the Mitylenaeans in the town-hall.'

The Scholiast on the _Iliad_, xx. 234, says:--

'It was the custom, as Sappho also says, for well-born and beautiful youths to pour out wine.'

Cf. fr. 5.

140

Palaeph[)a]tus, probably an Alexandrian Greek, says:--

'Phaon gained his livelihood by a boat and the sea; the sea was crossed by a ferry; and no complaint was made by any one, since he was just, and only took from those who had means. He was a wonder among the Lesbians for his character. The goddess--they call Aphrodite "the goddess"--commends the man, and having put on the appearance of a woman now grown old, asks Phaon about sailing; he was swift to wait on her and carry her across and demand nothing. What thereupon does the goddess do? They say she transformed the man and restored him to youth and beauty. This is that Phaon, her love for whom Sappho several times made into a song.'

The story is repeated by many writers. Cf. fr. 29.

141

[Fr. 141 now appears as fr. 57A, _q.v._]

142

Pausanias says:--

'Yet that gold does not contract rust the Lesbian poetess is a witness, and gold itself shows it.'

And the Scholiast on Pindar, _Pyth._, iv. 407:--

'But gold is indestructible; and so says Sappho,

[Greek: Dios pais ho chrysos, keinon ou sês oude kis daptei],

_Gold is son of Zeus, no moth nor worm devours it._'

Sappho's own phrase is lost.

143

Aulus Gellius, about 160 A.D., writes:--

'Homer says Niobe had six sons and six daughters, Euripides seven of each, Sappho _nine_, Bacchylides and Pindar ten.'

Cf. fr. 31, the only line extant from the ode here referred to.

144

Servius, commenting on Vergil, _Aeneid_, vi. 21, says:--

'Some would have it believed that Theseus rescued along with himself seven boys and seven maidens, as Plato says in his _Phaedo_, and Sappho in her lyrics, and Bacchylides in his dithyrambics, and Euripides in his _Hercules_.'

No such passage from Sappho has been preserved.

145

Servius, commenting on Vergil, _Eclog._, vi. 42, says:--

'Prometheus, son of Iap[)e]tus and Clym[)e]ne, after he had created man, is said to have ascended to heaven by help of Minerva, and having applied a small torch [or perhaps 'wand'] to the sun's wheel, he stole fire and showed it to men. The Gods being angered hereby sent two evils upon the earth, fevers and disease [the text is here obviously corrupt; it ought to be 'women and disease' or 'fevers and women'], as Sappho and Hesiod tell.'

146

Philostratus says:--

'Sappho loves the Rose, and always crowns it with some praise, likening beautiful maidens to it.'

This remark seems to have led some of the earlier collectors of Sappho's fragments to include the 'pleasing song in commendation of the Rose' quoted by Achilles Tatius in his love-story _Clitophon and Leucippe_, but there is no reason to attribute it to Sappho. Mrs. E. B. Browning thus translated it:--

SONG OF THE ROSE.

If Zeus chose us a king of the flowers in his mirth,
He would call to the Rose and would royally crown it,
For the Rose, ho, the Rose, is the grace of the earth,
Is the light of the plants that are growing upon it.

For the Rose, ho, the Rose, is the eye of the flowers,
Is the blush of the meadows that feel themselves fair--
Is the lightning of beauty that strikes through the bowers
On pale lovers who sit in the glow unaware.

Ho, the Rose breathes of love! Ho, the Rose lifts the cup
To the red lips of Cypris invoked for a guest!
Ho, the Rose, having curled its sweet leaves for the world,
Takes delight in the motion its petals keep up,
As they laugh to the wind as it laughs from the west!

And Mr. J. A. Symonds (1883):--

THE PRAISE OF ROSES.

If Zeus had willed it so
That o'er the flowers one flower should reign a queen,
I know, ah well I know
The rose, the rose, that royal flower had been!
She is of earth the gem,
Of flowers the diadem;
And with her flush
The meadows blush:
Nay, she is beauty's self that brightens
In Summer, when the warm air lightens!
Her breath's the breath of Love,
Wherewith he lures the dove
Of the fair Cyprian queen;
Her petals are a screen
Of pink and quivering green,
For Cupid when he sleeps,
Or for mild Zephyrus, who laughs and weeps.

'Sappho loves flowers with a personal sympathy,' writes Professor F. T. Palgrave. "Cretan girls," she says, "with their soft feet dancing lay flat the tender bloom of the grass" [fr. 54]: she feels for the hyacinth "which shepherds on the mountain tread under foot, and the purple flower is on the ground" [fr. 94]: she pities the wood-doves (apparently) as their "life grows cold and their wings fall" before the archer' [fr. 16].

147

Himerius says:--

'These gifts of yours must now be likened to those of the leader of the Muses himself, as Sappho and Pindar, in an ode, adorn him with golden hair and lyres, and attend him with a team of swans to Helicon while he dances with Muses and Graces; or as poets inspired by the Muses crown the Bacchanal (for thus the lyre calls him, meaning Dion[=y]sos), when Spring has just flashed out for the first time, with Spring flowers and ivy-clusters, and lead him, now to the topmost heights of Caucasus and vales of Lydia, now to the cliffs of Parnassus and the rock of Delphi, while he leaps and gives his female followers the note for the Evian tune.'

148

Eustathius says:--

'There is, we see, a vagabond friendship, as Sappho would say, [Greek: kalon dêmosion], _a public blessing_.'

This appears to have been said against Rhodopis. Cf. fr. 138.

149

The _Lexicon Seguerianum_ defines--

'[Greek: Akakos] _one who has no experience of ill_, not, one who is good-natured. So Sappho uses the word.'

150

The _Etymologicum Magnum_ defines--

[Greek: Amamaxys] _a vine trained on long poles_, and says Sappho makes the plural [Greek: amamaxydes]. So Choeroboscus, late in the sixth century A.D., says 'the occurrence of the genitive [Greek: amamaxydos] [the usual form being [Greek: amamaxyos]] in Sappho is strange.'

151

The _Etymologicum Magnum_ says of [Greek: Amara], _a trench for watering meadows_, 'because it is raised by a water-bucket, [Greek: amê] being a mason's instrument'--that it is a word Sappho seems to have used; and Orion, about the fifth century A.D., also explains the word similarly, and says Sappho used it.

152

Apollonius says:--

'And in this way metaplasms of words [_i.e._, tenses or cases formed from non-existent presents or nominatives] arise, like [Greek: erysarmates] [chariot-drawing], [Greek: lita] [cloths], and in Sappho [Greek: to aua], Dawn.'

And the _Etymologicum Magnum_ says:--

'We find [Greek: para tên auan] [during the morning] in Aeolic, for "during the day."'

153

The _Etymologicum Magnum_ says:--

'[Greek: Auôs] or [Greek: êôs], that is, the day; thus we read in Aeolic. Sappho has--

[Greek: potnia auôs],

_Queen Dawn_.'

The solemn Dawn.
FREDERICK TENNYSON.

154

Athenaeus says:--

'The [Greek: barômos] [_baromos_] and [Greek: sarbitos] [_sarb[)i]tos_], both of which are mentioned by Sappho and Anacreon, and the Mag[)a]dis and the Triangles and the Samb[=u]cae, are all ancient instruments.'

Athenaeus in another place, apparently more correctly, gives the name of the first as [Greek: barmos] [_barmos_].

What these instruments precisely were is unknown. Cf. p. 46.

155

Pollux says:--

'Sappho used the word [Greek: beudos] for _a woman's dress_, a _kimber[)i]con_, a kind of short transparent frock.'

156

Phryn[)i]chus the grammarian, about 180 A.D., says:--

'Sappho calls _a woman's dressing-case_, where she keeps her scents and such things, [Greek: grytê].'

157

Hesychius, about 370 A.D., says Sappho called Zeus [Greek: Hektôr], _Hector_, _i.e._ 'holding fast.'

158

A Parisian MS. edited by Cramer says:--

'Among the Aeolians [Greek: z] is used for [Greek: d], as when Sappho says [Greek: zabaton] for [Greek: diabaton], _fordable_.'

159

A Scholiast on Homer quotes [Greek: agagoiên], _may I lead_, from Sappho.

160

Eustathius, commenting on the _Iliad_, quotes the grammarian Aristophanes [about 260 B.C.] saying that Sappho calls a wind that is as if twisted up and descending, a cyclone, [Greek: anemon katarê], _a wind rushing from above_.

Nauck would restore the epithet to verse 2 of fr. 42.

161

Choeroboscus says:--

'Sappho makes the accusative of [Greek: kindynos] _danger_ [Greek: kindyn].'

Another writer, in the _Codex Marc._, says:--

'Sappho makes the accusative [Greek: kindyna].'

162

Joannes Alexandrinus, about the seventh century A.D., says:--

'The acute accent falls either on the last syllable or the last but one or the last but two, but never on the last but three; the accent of [Greek: Mêdeia] [_Medeia_ the sorceress, wife of Jason] in Sappho is allowed by supposing the [Greek: ei] to form a diphthong.'

163

An unknown author, in _Antiatticista_, says:--

'Sappho, in her second book, calls [Greek: smirna] _myrrh_ [Greek: myrra].'

164

A treatise on grammar edited by Cramer says:--

'The genitive plural of [Greek: Mousa] is [Greek: Môsaôn] among the Laconians, [Greek: Moisaôn] _of the Muses_ in Sappho.'

165

Phrynichus says:--

[Greek: Nitron] _natron_ (carbonate of soda) is the form 'an Aeolian would use, such as Sappho, with a [Greek: n]; but,' he goes on, 'an Athenian would spell it with a [Greek: l], [Greek: litron].'

166

A Scholiast on Homer, _Iliad_, iii. 219, says:--

'Sappho said [Greek: polyidridi] _of much knowledge_ as the dative of [Greek: polyidris].'

167

Photius, in his _Lexicon_, about the ninth century A.D., says:--

'[Greek: Thapsos] is a wood with which they dye wool and hair yellow, which Sappho calls [Greek: Skythikon xylon] _Scythian wood_.'

And the Scholiast on Theocritus, _Idyl_ ii. 88, says:--

'[Greek: Thapsos] is a kind of wood which is also called [Greek: skytharion] or Scythian wood, as Sappho says; and in this they dip fleeces and make them of a quince-yellow, and dye their hair yellow; among us it is called [Greek: chrysoxylon] _gold-wood_.'

Ahrens thinks that here the Scholiast quoted Sappho, and he thus restores the verses:--

- v - [Greek: Zkythikon xylon,]
[Greek: tô baptoisi te têria]
[Greek: poieisi de malina]
[Greek: xanthisdoisi te tas trichas.]

_Scythian wood, in which they dip fleeces and make them quince-coloured, and dye their hair yellow._

_Thapsus_ may have been box-wood, but it is quite uncertain.

168

The _Etymologicum Magnum_ says:--

'The Aeolians say [Greek: Tioisin ophthalmoisin] _with what eyes_ ... [using [Greek: tioisi] for [Greek: tisi], the dative plural of [Greek: tis]] as Sappho does.'

169

Orion of Thebes, the grammarian, about 450 A.D., says:--

'In Sappho [Greek: chelônê] is [Greek: chelynê] _a tortoise_'; which is better written [Greek: chelyna], or rather [Greek: chelyna], as other writers imply.

170

Pollux says:--

'Bowls with a boss in the middle are called [Greek: balaneiomphaloi], circular-bottomed, from their shape, [Greek: chrysomphaloi], gold-bottomed, from the material, like Sappho's [Greek: chrysastragaloi], _with golden ankles_.'

Some few other fragments are attributed to Sappho, but Bergk admits none as genuine. Above is to be seen every word which he considered hers. An account of some which have recently been brought to light is given on the succeeding pages.

THE FAYUM FRAGMENTS