20. Isokrates: see D.H. pp. 18, 20-22, 41, etc., and Demetr. pp. 8-11, 47, etc.
Ποικιλόθρον’, ἀθάνατ’ Ἀφροδίτα,
παῖ Δίος, δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε,
μή μ’ ἄσαισι μηδ’ ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
πότνια, θῦμον·
ἀλλὰ τυῖδ’ ἔλθ’, αἴ ποτα κἀτέρωτα 5
τᾶς ἔμας αὔδως ἀίοισα πήλυι
ἔκλυες, πάτρος δὲ δόμον λίποισα
χρύσιον ἦλθες
ἄρμ’ ὐπασδεύξαισα. κάλοι δέ σ’ ἆγον
ὠκέες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας 10
πύκνα διννῆντες πτέρ’ ἀπ’ ὠράνω αἴθε-
ρος διὰ μέσσω.
αἶψα δ’ ἐξίκοντο· τὺ δ’, ὦ μάκαιρα,
μειδιάσαισ’ ἀθανάτῳ προσώπῳ,
ἤρε’, ὄττι δηὖτε πέπονθα κὤττι 15
δηὖτε κάλημι·
κὤττι ἔμῳ μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι
μαινόλᾳ θύμῳ· τίνα δηὖτε πείθω
μαῖς ἄγην ἐς σὰν φιλότατα, τίς σ’, ὦ
Ψάπφ’, ἀδικήει; 20
καὶ γὰρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει,
αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ’, ἀλλὰ δώσει,
αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει, ταχέως φιλήσει
κωὐκ ἐθέλοισα.
Rainbow-throned immortal one, Aphrodite,
Child of Zeus, spell-weaver, I bow before thee—
Harrow not my spirit with anguish, mighty
Queen, I implore thee!
Nay, come hither, even as once thou, bending
Down from far to hearken my cry, didst hear me,
From thy Father’s palace of gold descending
Drewest anear me
Chariot-wafted: far over midnight-sleeping
Earth, thy fair fleet sparrows, through cloudland riven
Wide by multitudinous wings, came sweeping
Down from thine heaven,
Swiftly came: thou, smiling with those undying
Lips and star-eyes, Blessed One, smiling me-ward,
Said’st, “What ails thee?—wherefore uprose thy crying
Calling me thee-ward?
Say for what boon most with a frenzied longing
Yearns thy soul—say whom shall my glamour chaining
Hale thy love’s thrall, Sappho—and who is wronging
Thee with disdaining?
Who avoids thee soon shall be thy pursuer:
Aye, the gift-rejecter the giver shall now be:
Aye, the loveless now shall become the wooer,
Scornful shalt thou be!”
2 διὸς δολοπλόκε FP 4 θυμὸν FP 5 τυδ’ ἐλθε ποκα κατ ἔρωτα P: τὺ δ’ ὲ|||λ’|||θε||| ποτὲ κατ’ έρωτα F 6 ἀΐοισ ἀπόλυ P 8 χρύσειον FP 9 ἀρμύ πᾶσδευξαισα F: ἁρμα ὑποζεύξασα P 10 γ(ας) P: τὰς F 11 διννῆν τεσ F: δινῆντες P || πτερα· πτωρανω θερος F: πτὲρ’ ἀπ’ ὠρανὼ· θέρο σ P 12 διαμέσω F: δ’ άμεσ πω P 13 αἶψαδ’ F: ἀῖψ’ ἄλλ’ P || τὺ δ’ ὦ μάκαιρα P: συ δῶμα καιρα F 14 ἀθανάτω προσώπω FP sine iota (item vv. 17, 18 F) 15 ἤρε’ ὅττι δ ῆυ (ἦν E) τὸ P, E 16 δ’ ηυτε καλημμι P: δευρο καλλημμι F 17 κωττε μω F: κ’ όττ’ ἐμῶι P 18 μαινολαθυμῶι P: λαιθυμω F || δηϋτε πειθω F: δ’ ἐυτεπεί θω P 19 μαι (βαι corr.) σαγηνεσσαν P: καὶ σαγήνεσσαν FE: μαῖς Bergkius 20 ἀδικήει Gaisfordius ex Etym. Magn. 485. 41: τισ σωψαπφα δίκη· P: τισ ω ψαπφα δίκησ· F 24 κωϋ κεθέλουσα F: κ’ ώυ κ’ ἐθέλοισ, P
1. To Dionysius here, and to the de Sublimitate c. x., we owe the preservation of the two most considerable extant fragments of Sappho’s poetry. The Ode to Anactoria is quoted by ‘Longinus’ as a picture of παθῶν σύνοδος: it is imitated in Catullus li. Ad Lesbiam (“Ille mi par esse deo videtur”). The Hymn to Aphrodite has been rendered repeatedly into English: some eight versions are printed in H. T. Wharton’s Sappho pp. 51-64. Two recent English translations are of special interest: (1) that of the late Dr. Walter Headlam—immatura eheu morte praerepti—in his Book of Greek Verse pp. 6-9; (2) that of Dr. Arthur Way, which is printed in the present volume. Dr. Way has, it will be observed, succeeded in maintaining a double rhyme throughout.
24. “Bloomfeld’s ἐθέλοισαν was strenuously defended by Welcker RM 11. 266, who held that the subject of φιλήσει was a man. No MS. whose readings were known before 1892 settled the dispute. Now Piccolomini’s VL show ἐθέλουσα (Hermes 27),” Weir Smyth Greek Lyric Poets p. 233. Notes on the entire ode will be found in Weir Smyth op. cit. pp. 230-3, and in G. S. Farnell’s Greek Lyric Poetry pp. 327-9, and a few also in W. G. Headlam’s Book of Greek Verse pp. 265-7.