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
In the Egyptian Museum at Berlin there are some ancient manuscripts which
were bought in the summer of 1879, and which are believed to have come from
Medînet-el-Fayûm in Central Egypt, near the ancient Arsinoë or
Crocodilopolis. A tiny scrap of parchment among these was deciphered by
Professor F. Blass of Kiel, and described by him with much minuteness in
the _Rheinisches Museum_ for 1880, vol. xxxv. pp. 287-290. Through the
kindness of Dr. Erman, the Director of the Museum, and Professor of
Egyptian Archæology in the University, I have been favoured with
photographs of each side of this piece of parchment, exactly the size of
the original. These have been reproduced in facsimile by the Autotype
Company upon the accompanying plate. Some of the minutiæ of the manuscript
are lost in the copy, but it gives a fair general idea of the precious
relic, and exhibits the manner in which it has been torn and perforated and
defaced. It also shows some of the difficulties with which those who
decipher ancient manuscripts have to contend. Few, at the first glance,
would guess how much could be made out of so little.
The letters on each side of the parchment are clearly written, punctuated,
and accented. They appear to belong to the eighth century A.D., so that the
writing is at least a thousand years old. The actual letters are these,
those which are not decipherable with certainty being marked off by
brackets:--
(A.) [Greek: dôsên]
[Greek: ytônment' ep]
[Greek: alôn kaslôn; (s]
[Greek: ; lois. lytês te m]
5 [Greek: m' oneidos]
[Greek: oidêsais. epi t (a]
[Greek: ia(nasaio. to gar]
[Greek: m) onouk' outô (m]
[Greek: diakêtai;]
10 [Greek: m (êd]
(B.) [Greek: thethymom]
[Greek: mipampan]
[Greek: dynamai]
5 [Greek: askenêmoi]
[Greek: s) antilampên]
[Greek: lonprosôpon]
[Greek: nchroistheis]
10 [Greek: ... (ros]
The two fragments, distinguished by Blass as A. and B., occur, the one on
the front, the other on the back of the scrap of parchment. They were
edited by Bergk, in the fourth (posthumous) edition of his _Poetae Lyrici
Graeci_, 1882, vol. iii. pp. 704, 705. Blass ascribed the verses to Sappho,
and he is still of opinion that they are hers, from the metre, the dialect,
and 'the colour of the diction,' to use his own expression in a letter to
me.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Indeed, every word of them makes one feel that no poet or poetess save
Sappho could have so exquisitely combined simplicity and beauty. Bergk,
however, prints them as of uncertain origin, _fragmenta adespota_ (56 A.,
56 B). He agrees with Blass that they are in the Lesbian dialect and the
Sapphic metre, but he thinks that they may have been written by Alcaeus.
Bergk's decision partly rests upon the statement of Suidas, that Horapollo,
the Greek grammarian, who first taught at Alexandria and afterwards at
Constantinople, in the reign of Theodosius, about 400 A.D., wrote a
commentary on Alcaeus; but he gives no reason for believing that these
Fayum manuscripts necessarily come from Alexandria: their history is very
uncertain. Blass thinks that the greater fame, especially in later times,
of Sappho, strongly favours his own view. To my mind there is little doubt
that we have herein none but her very words.
A restoration of such imperfect fragments must needs be guess-work. Bergk
has, however, attempted it in part, and he has accepted the emendations of
Blass in lines 3-5 of fragment A. Bücheler, one of the editors of the
_Rheinisches Museum_, has also expressed his views with regard to some of
the lines; but they are not endorsed by the authority of Bergk. According
to the latter distinguished scholar, fragment A may have run thus:--
1 - v - v - [Greek: dokimois charin moi ouk apydôsên;]
- [Greek: klytôn men t' epterygês] v - v
- [Greek: kalôn kaslôn] v v - v - v
[Greek: philois, lypês te me kaporiptês]
5 [Greek: eis em' oneidos.]
[Greek: ê ken oidêsais, epi t' aig' amelgôn]
[Greek: Skyrian asaio; to gar noêma]
[Greek: tômon ouk outô malakophron, echthrôs]
[Greek: tois diakêtai.]
10 - v [Greek: mêd'] v - v v - v - v
In which case it might have had this meaning:--
Thou seemest not to care _to return_ my favour; and _indeed_ thou didst fly
away from famous ... _of_ the fair _and noble_ ... to thy friends, _and
painest me_, and castest _reproach_ at _me._ Truly _thou mayst swell, and
sate thyself_ with milking a goat of Scyros. _For_ my mood is _not so_
soft-hearted to those soever to whom _it is disposed_ unfriendly ... _nor_
....
The words which are here italicised are those which alone are extant in
full in the manuscript; the others are only plausible guesses, though some
of them are indicated by the existence of accents and portions of letters.
Bergk's ingenious restoration of lines 6 and 7 is founded on a fragment of
Alcaeus (fr. 110), wherein Chrysippus explains [Greek: aix Skyria], a goat
of Scyros, as a proverb of those who spoil kindness ([Greek: epi tôn tas
euergesias anatrepontôn]), as a goat upsets her milking pail ([Greek:
epeidê pollakis ta angeia anatrepei hê aix]). Blass would, however,
complete the phrase thus:--
[Greek: epi t (a te lôba]
[Greek: kard) ian asaio],
_And with the outrage sate thy heart._
Disappointing as this is, the restoration of fragment B. is yet more
hopeless. Authorities are agreed as to the position of the words in the
Sapphic stanza, thus:--
- v - v - v v - [Greek: the thymon]
- v - v - v v - [Greek: mi pampan]
- v - v - v v - [Greek: dynamai]
- v v - v
5 - v - v - v v [Greek: as ken ê moi]
- v - v - v v [Greek: antilampên]
- v - v - v [Greek: ka) lon prosôpon]
- v v - v
- v - v - v v [Greek: sy) nchroistheis]
10 - v - v - v v - [Greek: etai) ros].
The only additions hazarded by Bergk, or accepted by him from Blass, are
given on the left of the brackets. Bergk says that [Greek: dynamai] (as if
v - - ; cf. fr. 13) is an old form of the conjunctive for [Greek: dynômai].
He reads line 5, [Greek: as ken ê moi], comparing Theocritus, 29, 20,
[Greek: as ken erês], 'as long as thou lovest': Bergk and Blass alike
consider [Greek: ê] as a later form of [Greek: ê]. The words may mean:
_... soul ... altogether ... I should be able ... as long indeed as to me
... to flash back ... fair face ... stained over ... friend._
But in the absence of any context the very meaning of the separate words is
uncertain.
Bergk thinks that the fragments belong to different poems, unless we read
fragment A. after fragment B.; there is nothing on the parchment to
indicate sequence.
In fragment B. it will be seen that a space occurs in each place where the
last (or Adonic) verses of each Sapphic stanza would have been, as if they
had been written more to the left in the manuscript; they probably
therefore ranged with the long lines, of which we have only some of the
last syllables preserved. Indenting the shorter verses is a modern fashion;
the ancient way was to begin each one at the same distance from the margin.
SAPPHO TO PHAON
A TRANSLATION OF OVID'S HEROIC EPISTLE, XV.
BY ALEXANDER POPE, 1707
Say, lovely youth that dost my heart command,
Can Phaon's eyes forget his Sappho's hand?
Must then her name the wretched writer prove,
To thy remembrance lost as to thy love?
Ask not the cause that I new numbers choose,
The lute neglected and the lyric Muse:
Love taught my tears in sadder notes to flow,
And tuned my heart to elegies of woe.
I burn, I burn, as when through ripened corn
By driving winds the spreading flames are borne.
Phaon to Aetna's scorching fields retires,
While I consume with more than Aetna's fires.
No more my soul a charm in music finds;
Music has charms alone for peaceful minds:
Soft scenes of solitude no more can please;
Love enters there, and I'm my own disease.
No more the Lesbian dames my passion move,
Once the dear objects of my guilty love:[9]
All other loves are lost in only thine,
Ah, youth ungrateful to a flame like mine!
Whom would not all those blooming charms surprise,
Those heavenly looks and dear deluding eyes?
The harp and bow would you like Phoebus bear,
A brighter Phoebus Phaon might appear.
Would you with ivy wreathe your flowing hair,
Not Bacchus' self with Phaon could compare:
Yet Phoebus loved, and Bacchus felt the flame;
One Daphne warmed and one the Cretan dame;
Nymphs that in verse no more could rival me
Than e'en those gods contend in charms with thee.
The Muses teach me all their softest lays,
And the wide world resounds with Sappho's praise.
Though great Alcaeus more sublimely sings,
And strikes with bolder rage the sounding strings,
No less renown attends the moving lyre
Which Venus tunes and all her Loves inspire.
To me what Nature has in charms denied
Is well by wit's more lasting flames supplied.
Though short my stature, yet my name extends
To heaven itself and earth's remotest ends:
Brown as I am, an Aethiopian dame
Inspired young Perseus with a generous flame:
Turtles and doves of different hue unite,
And glossy jet is paired with shining white.
If to no charms thou wilt thy heart resign
But such as merit, such as equal thine,
By none, alas, by none thou canst be moved;
Phaon alone by Phaon must be loved.
Yet once thy Sappho could thy cares employ;
Once in her arms you centred all your joy:
No time the dear remembrance can remove,
For oh how vast a memory has love!
My music then you could for ever hear,
And all my words were music to your ear:
You stopt with kisses my enchanting tongue,
And found my kisses sweeter than my song.
In all I pleased, but most in what was best;
And the last joy was dearer than the rest:
Then with each word, each glance, each motion fired,
You still enjoyed, and yet you still desired,
Till all dissolving in the trance we lay,
And in tumultuous raptures died away.
The fair Sicilians now thy soul inflame:
Why was I born, ye gods, a Lesbian dame?
But ah, beware, Sicilian nymphs, nor boast
That wandering heart which I so lately lost;
Nor be with all those tempting words abused:
Those tempting words were all to Sappho used.
And you that rule Sicilia's happy plains,
Have pity, Venus, on your poet's pains.