The first poem is the Ode to Aphrodite which was cited by Dionysius of Halicarnassus for its finished and brilliant style,—the style used by Euripides among the tragedians and by Isocrates among the orators. Though the rhythm, ardor, terseness, and noble simplicity can be given in no translation,[73] nearly every lover of Greek lyrics has tried his hand at it. Ambrose Philips made thirty-four words out of the first stanza which in the Greek has only sixteen; Merivale found forty-three words necessary; but Tucker and Leonard with strict compression and simplicity manage to translate with twenty-three; Gildersleeve in an unpublished version which I also quote here, and Fairclough use twenty-four:
Broidered-throned goddess, O Aphrodite,
Child of Zeus, craft-weaving, I do beseech thee,
Do not crush my soul with distress and sorrow,
Wholly my mistress.
Rather come, if ever didst come aforetime,
Hearkening to my cry from afar in mercy;
And didst leave the palace of thine own father
Golden and gorgeous;
And didst yoke thy chariot, swift thy sparrows