Monday 25 December 2017

Love and grief

Getting back to our dear old topic, love, we have 5 Sapphic fragments in various meters:

  1. The first one is a combination of Bergk 25-24 | Edmonds 124-22 | Campbell 129(a)-129(b). It appears that this combination, contrary to what I thought when I did it, is not present "only by my fantasy", but is suggested by the source itself, said source being two consecutive quotations by Apollonius Dyscolus' treatise on pronouns, both given as examples of ἐμέθεν, Aeolic genitive of ἐγώ, "I"; I am, however, AFAIK the only one to actually complete a full Sapphic stanza out of this, taking up an addition of μᾶλλον to l. 3, which was Bergk's idea and is reported by Edmonds Campbell and Lobel-Page in the critical notes; I will spare you the details of the manuscript evidence, which you can see in any of the mentioned editions;
    note that «ἔμεθεν δ' ἔχησθα λάθαν» and «ἤ τιν’ ἄλλον / ‹Μᾶλλον› ἀνθρώπων ἐμέθεν φίλησθα;» were translated separately (see trivia at end) somewhere between 13/11/10 and 5/1/11; in fact, we can be more precise, and place these translations after 21/12/10, so I'll assume they date to those Christmas holidays;
    the combo only came into existence between 1/2/11 and 17/5/11; alright, let's get more precision… except none of the "new in Sappho" files have this combo, so all I can say is that it doesn't seem to be mentioned in the 4/5 "missing fragments" file, but then again, the individual fragments were translated way earlier, so maybe I didn't even consider the combo a fragment; sucks to not have any info on this… I guess we have to assume that the last "new in Sappho" file, from 7/5, is missing it because it was not done, so it was from between 7 and 17; or else, it was thought up and instatranslated, thus only ending up in the main-line file which has a gap from 1/2 to 17/5;
    anyway, by the 17/5 file, everything is as in the original form; then I conceived the final last line «Τίς δέ κεν εἴην;» on 19/9/21 at 17:52, so the Italian was turned into the final form at 1:05 on 25/9/21, then the Latin was replaced by the final line at 1:06 the same day, and finally the English «Who could he be?» at 1:07; the he->they change happened on 1/7/23 at 12:48 for gender neutrality; the next day at 13:42, l. 3 took its final form;
  2. The second one, moving from forgetfulness and other lovers, is the "rustic woman" fragment, that is Bergk 75 | Edmonds 98 | Campbell 57. This is rather problematic, because it is a combination of two indirect quotations, one by Athenaeus with ll. 1 & 3, and one by Maximus Tyron with l. 2, and the first two are inmetrical, whereas l. 3 is a perfect greater asclepiad, which suggests placement in book 3 of the Alexandrian edition. Attempts have been made to reconstruct the inmetrical ones: Edmonds tried gl||ascl-||gl||ascl+ (glyconian, lesser asclepiad, glyconian, greater asclepiad), leaving a lacuna at the beginning of the first line, and introducing <τέον> θαλύει which I picked up for my own greater asclepiad reconstruction, whereas Bergk left holes, trying to fit the words from the quotes into the meter. Campbell gives the two lines a pair of cruces, and Lobel-Page does that too and comments "metrum frustra sanare conaberis" (you will try in vain to fix the meter). Back in the days, I reconstructed two lines with iambic rhythm and then the greater asclepiad, obtaining the metrical scheme x–uu–x–x–u–||x–uu–uu–x–u–||xx–uu––uu––uu–u–, which I rendered as u–uu–u–u–u–||u–uu–uu–u–u–||9|7, where the last line is an enneasyllabic and a heptasyllabic rhyming, and the first two rhyme between each other (and by chance at least in the Italian also with the two half-lines). Then I looked back onto it and thought, hm, weird meter, and that enclitic at line start… what about trying to reconstruct asclepiads? And I did, and you will see. The translation of those is from Dec 25 2017 around 23:15. One last thing, a quotation from the Paracritical Note: «Sul fr. 70, i primi due versi paiono inmetrici, ma aggiungendo il <τιν'> si ha un x–uu–uu–x–u–, vagamente giambico, quindi un po’ forzato, ma accettabile. Inoltre il <τιν'>, a pensarci, accresce la connotazione spregiativa: la veste che indossa è una qualunque, una da quattro soldi, neanche una veste di una qualche eleganza seppur rustica, è proprio uno straccio.» (About fr. 70 [this one], the first two lines seem inmetrical, but adding [the toi in l. 1 which came from Greek Wikisource and] the <τιν'> one has x–uu–uu–x–u– [for both lines], vaguely iambic, thus a bit stretched, but acceptable. Moreover the <τιν'>, come to think of it, increases the dispregiative connotation: the garment she's wearing is a random one, a cheap one, not even a garment of some elegance though peasantly, it's really a rag». Btw, ἐπεμμένα is a psilotic form of ἐφέννυμι, "to wear". I note this because I apparently had trouble finding it back in the days and eventually «demordo» (I give up), says the PN.
  3. The third one is funny. What I originally had was a combination of P.Oxy. 1231 fr. 16 with two quotations, Bergk 14 | Edmonds 13 from Etymologicum Magnum, commenting on how θῶ became the uncontracted θέω in Aeolic, and Bergk 92 | Edmonds 15 from Apollonius Dyscolus' treatise on pronouns, commenting on how ἐγών was stressed on the epsilon in Aeolic, and repeated elsewhere in the same book in a different form. The two were combined in Lobel-Page and Campbell on the basis of the P.Oxy., which suggested they could fit into its poem. This got μάλιστα πάντων into the quotation, and caused σίννονται to lose the double nu. The combination we are mentioning had to use that version of the translations of the quotation, with the translations of the other version being «‹–u–x–uu› Quōs ĕn’ īpsă / Māxĭmē cūrō, mĭhĭ dāmnă māxŭ- / mē făcĭūnt ‹x›», «‹–u–x–uu› Quelli ’nfatti / Ch’i͜o di più curo, danno m’ fan ne’ fatti / Più d’ogni altro. / », and «‹–u–x–u› For those indeed / I love the most, those damage me indeed / The most ‹u–x›.». Actually, the integrated version featured a retranslation to English and Italian that kept the rhythm, the originals being identical to the ones given, except the English had «More than all others.» for the last line. Then P.Sapph. Obbink came along, and goodbye quotation 1 here, but quotation 2 was confirmed, and both ended up in Dearest Offspring thanks to P.GC. 105 a few fragments. Yeah those papyri cause quite a lot of havoc in Sapphic texts :). So I have a translation for a holey text completed with both quotations, and then I will have a tab two containing the new text with English only. In any case, these are Sapphic stanzas. Concerning reading uncertainties, I will adopt P.Oxy. X's critical notation, and copy a couple of Lobel-Page notes here. l. 13: ]ε[ vel ]β[ possis, mox ]οτοιϲ[ vel ]ϲτοιϲ[, ut βρότοις legere possis, si velis. l. 15: prima litt[era] fort[asse] β, ε, ϲ, ο, simm. UPDATE: Upon posting this, I left the P.Obbink. version saying only WIP. I then transcribed the papyrus, and on 8/4/18 at 23:20/21 I added the text, with a prose translation in English, aiming at making at least an English poetic translation. Then, on 16/4, I finally got around to doing it. More precisely, stanza 1 was complete by 9:55, and that took ages because I had to figure out what verb ἄσαιτο was; in the end, I concluded it is from ἀάω, glossed by Perseus as "hurt, damage", and interpreted as "torment"; Obbink uses "lament", but none of my three options (ἀάω, ἄω, ἀσάω) give me that; anyway, stanza 2 was complete by 9:59, and by 10 I wrote down the change to the translation of quotation 2 which was originally conceived around 0:29 on 12/4; finally, by 10:01, I conceived and wrote down the change from "For his true love" to "For his loved one".
  4. The fourth one is another quotation, Bergk 40 | Edmonds 52 | Campbell 51, from Chrysippus, Negatives. Bergk Edmods and Campbell agree on my text, but Lobel-Page takes another text, "Aristaenet. Ep. I 6 (p. 16 Mazal)", as Campbell puts it, and reads δίχα, "divided in two", instead of δύο, "two". The meaning is essentially the same. The meter is a single glyconian expanded with 2 dactyls, same as Hector and Andromacha, rendered as –u–uu–uu–uu–u– in Italian and English. The Italian originally read «Non so più ciò che credo: pensier' düe sono in me», which I changed to the present version around 23:30 on Dec 25 2017. Shortly after 19:45 on 25/2/21 I produce a new Italian version for the edition. We then have a modified Latin, the fruit of a discussion with Mattia Calcagno on whatsapp between 20:36 and 24:32 on 17/3/21.
  5. To sum everything up, the last one is an indirect quotation found in Maximus Tyron, which reads «Ἐκβακχεύεται Σωκράτης τῷ Φαίδρῳ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἔρωτος, τῇ δὲ Σαπφοῖ ὁ Ἔρως ἐτίναξεν τὰς φρένας ὡς ἄνεμος κατ' ὄρος δρυσὶν ἐμπεσών», «Socrates is made mad for Phaedrus by love, love shook Sappho's heart like the wind falling down the mountains onto oak trees». This justifies Bergk's choice to only read the glyconian expanded with one dactyl Ἄνεμος κατ' ὄρος δρύσιν ἐμπέσων which is his fr. 44. Edmonds, in fr. 54, e.g.'s this wildly as one and a half glyconians expanded with 2 dactyls. Campbell does what I followed in his fr. 47, i.e. a half and one glyconians expanded with two dactyls. Same thing with Lobel-Page, who comments «sed potest fieri ut totum liberius sit refingendum», «but it could happen that it all need to be remade more freely». The meter is then the same as the previous fragment. The details of manuscript traditions are left to Bergk-Edmonds-Campbell.
So here we go!
[Καλλέλοιπάς μ’. Ὦμ’.] Ἐμέθεν δ’ ἔχησθα
‹ Ἤ σὺ› λάθαν, [φιλτάτα,] ἤ τιν’ ἄλλον
‹Μᾶλλον› ἀνθρώπων ἐμέθεν φίλησθα;
[Εἴ τινα, τίς δέ;]/[Τίς δὲ ὅς ἐστι;]

Τᾷ μόνον φαντασί’ ἔμ’ αὖτ’ ὐπάρχει.


[M’ha͜i lasciata.͜ A͜h͜imé!] ‹Te› di me or torse
Forse͜ obli͜o, [carissima?]͜ O d’altro forse
‹Più› ch’ di me degl’uomini͜ amor ti morse?
[Chi͜ è, s’è qualcuno?]/[Chi͜ è poi costuï?]

Questo sol per mi͜a fantasïa͜ esiste.
[Mē rĕlīquīst’. Ō!] Rĕcŏlīs mĕī nōn
‹Tū› ŭtrūm, [carīssĭmă mī,] ăn āljŭm
Dīlĭgīs quām mē hŏmĭnūm ‹măgīs› tū?
[Sī quĕm, ĭs ēst quĭs?]/[Īstĕ quĭs a͞utĕm?]

Sōlŭm hōc phāntāsĭ’ ădēst mĕāptĕ.


[Me you leave. Ay me!] Now dost ‹thou› of me
Not remember, [darling?] Or ‹more› than me
Someone else of men is beloved by thee?
[Who, if someone?]/[Who may he be?]

This exists but only by my conceit.
[Καλλέλοιπάς μ’. Ὦμ’.] Ἐμέθεν δ’ ἔχησθα
‹ Ἤ σὺ› λάθαν, [φιλτάτα,] ἤ τιν’ ἄλλον
‹Μᾶλλον› ἀνθρώπων ἐμέθεν φίλησθα;
[Τίς δέ κεν εἴην;]

Τᾷ μόνον φαντασί’ ἔμ’ αὖτ’ ὐπάρχει.


[M’ha͜i lasciata.͜ A͜h͜imé!] ‹Te› di me or torse
Forse͜ obli͜o, [carissima?]͜ O d’altro forse
‹Più› ch’ di me degl’uomini͜ amor ti morse?
[Chi sarà maï?]

Questo sol per mi͜a fantasïa͜ esiste.
[Mē rĕlīquīst’. Ō!] Rĕcŏlīs mĕī nōn
‹Tū› ŭtrūm, [carīssĭmă mī,] ăn āljŭm
Dīlĭgīs quām mē hŏmĭnūm ‹măgīs› tū?
[Īllĕ quĭs a͞utĕm?]

Sōlŭm hōc phāntāsĭ’ ădēst mĕāptĕ.


[Me you leave. Ay me!] Now dost ‹thou› of me
Not remember, [darling?] Or ‹more› than me
Is another person beloved by thee?
[Who could they be?]

This exists but only by my conceit.





Τίς δ' ἀγροΐωτίς ‹τοι› θέλγει νόον,
‹Τιν’› ἀγροΐωτιν ἐπεμμένα στόλαν,
οὐκ ἐπισταμένα τὰ βράκε' ἔλκην ἐπὶ τῶν σφύρων;


Qual rustica donna͜ il cuor ‹t›’affascina,
Che rustica veste indossa pessima,
E͜ i stracci suo͜i ritrar non sa      sopr’ i suo͜i piedi? Va’!
Quǣ rūstĭcă pu͞ellă cōrd’ āffāscĭnăt.
Vēstēm quŏquĕ rūstĭc’ hăbēns quāndām sĭbī,
Nēscĭēns quŏquĕ pānnōs sĭbĭ tālōs trăhĕr’ ādsŭpĕr?


What peasantly girl your heart doth conquer now,
Some peasantly clothing a-wearing? Oh! Look how
Those horrid rags she wears above      her ankles she can’t shove!

Τίς ‹σοι› δ' ἀγροΐωτις ‹θαλύει νῦν› νόον, ‹ὄττα δὴ›
Στόλαν ἀγροΐωτιν ‹περιβαίνει τοι› ἐπεμμένα,
Οὐκ ἐπισταμένα τὰ βράκε' ἔλκην ἐπὶ τῶν σφύρων?
Say, what peasatly girl ‹now warms your› heart and your mind ‹as she goes
Around you› wearing that peasantly garment, and 'tis seen she knows
Not at all how to lift those filthy rags higher than ankle height?





. . . . . . . . . ] θαμέω̣[ς ^ – ^
. . . . . . . . ὄ]ττινας γάρ
εὖ θέω, κῆνοί με μάλιστα πά[ντων
δηὖτε] σίνονται.

. . . . . . . . . ] ἀλεμάτ[ων . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . ]γόνωμ[. . . . .
. . . . . . . . . ]ο̣μ’ οὐ πρ[. . . . .
. . . . . . ]αι

. . . . . . . . . ]σέ· θέλω[. . . . .
. . . . . . τοῦ]το πάθη[ν. . . . .
. . . . ]λ̣αν· ἔγων δ’ ἔμ’ αὔται
τοῦτο σύνοιδα

. . . . . . . . ] . [ . ] ὄ̣τοισ[ι . . ] . [
. . . . . . . . . ]ε̣ναμ[. . . . .
. . . . . . . . . ]ε̣[. ] . [ . . .
. . . . . . . . .


[–u–x–uu] spesso [–x
–u–x–uu Q]uell[i ’nfatti
Ch’i͜o più curo, danno mi fan ne’ fatti
Pi͜ù d’ogni altro.

–u–x–u] di van[e –x
–u–x–uu–u–x
–u–x–uu] non [u–x
–uu–x

–u–x–u] te: voglio [–x
–u–x que]sto soffri[r u–x
–u–x–u] ed io medesma
Questo so bene. (Orig. Questo ben vedo.)

[–u–] a’ quali [u–u–x
–u–x–uu–u–x
–u–x–uu–u–x
–uu–x].
[–u–x–uu] sǣpĕ [–x
–u–x–uu quōs ĕn’ īpsă
Māxŭmē cūrō, mĭhĭ dāmnă ōmni͞um
Māxŭmă dānt nūnc.

[–u–x–u] vănû̄m [u–x
–u–x–uu–u–x
–u–x–uu] nōn [u–x
–uu–x

–u–x] tē: cŭpĭō [u–x
–u–x hōc]cĕ păt[ī u–x
–u–x–u] ĕg’ īpsă mīmĕt
Hōc vĭdĕō nūnc.

[–u–x–] quĭbŭ[s –u–x
–u–x–uu–u–x
–u–x–uu–u–x
–uu–x].


[–u–x] often [u–u–x
–u–x–u] For those indeed
I love most, me harm, and do make me bleed
More than all others.

–u–x–u] of vain [u–x
–u–x–uu–u–x
–u–x–uu] not [u–x
–uu–x

–u–x–] thee: I want [u–x
–u–x] sufferin[g th]is [u–x
–u–x–u] and I myself
This full well know. (Original Do this well see.)

[–u] those to whom [uu–u–x
–u–x–uu–u–x
–u–x–uu–u–x
–uu–x].

Πῶς̣ κε δή τις οὐ θαμέω̣ς ἄσαιτο,
Κύπρι, δἐσπο̣ι̣ν̣', ὄττινα̣ +δ+ὴ φίλ̣[ησι
κωὐ] θέλοι μάλιστα πάθ+αν+ χάλ̣[ασσαι;
ποῖ]ον ἔχησθα

νῶν σ]άλοισί μ' ἀλεμάτ̣ως δαΐσδ[ην
ἰμέ]ρ‹ῳ› λύ{ι̣}σαντ̣ι̣ γόν' ὠμ[
]απα . [ . . ]αμμ' οὐ προ̣[
]ν ἔ̣ερθαι

]σέ· θέλω[
τοῦ]το πάθη[ν
]λ̣αν· ἔγω δ' ἔμ' αὔτᾳ
τοῦτο σύνοιδα

]· [.]σ̣τοισ[. . .] . [
]ε̣ναμ[
]ε̣[

Cypris, queen, now tell me: who could there be
That would not torment himself frequently
For his true lov[e, nor] to from pain [be] fre[e]
Wish above all?

[Wha]t would your mind be as you tea[r] through me
Idly with strong shivers, and melt my knee
With [des]ire [u–uu] not [u–
Having been said

–u] you; I want [uu–u–
–u th]is to suffe[r u–u–
–u–u–u]; as I myself
Very well see.









Οὐκ οἶδ' ὄττι θέω· δύο μοι τὰ νοήματα.


Non so più che pensar: due pensieri vi sono in me.


Che pensare non so: due pensieri mi stanno in cuor.



                 Ἔρος δ᾽ ἐτίναξέ ‹μοι›
φρένας, ὠς ἄνεμος κὰτ ὄρος δρύσιν ἐμπέτων.


                 L’Amore͜ a me scosso ha
’L cuore, com’ giù dal monte il vento͜ alle querce fa.
Quǣ crĕdam ha͞udquĕ scĭo ātquĕ dŭplēx mĭhi ŏpīnĭō.


I don’t know what to think, for I have two opinïons.


Quīd dīcam ha͞ud hăbĕō: mĭhĭ cūră dŭplēx nŭm ēst.



                 Ămōr mĭhĭ quāssāvĭt
Cŏr, ūt mōntĭbŭs a͞urăquĕ quērcŭbŭs īncĭdēns.


                 Love to me gave a blow
In the heart, like the wind down a mount ’gainst the oaks does blow.



Trivia for completeness
Since my files originally took the texts from Wikisource Greek, I had parts of the third poem above as separate fragments, one of them in a different version. The latter got its "version B" from the Oxyrhynchus Papyri volume, I suppose. I present them and their translations below for the sake of completeness (more like for the sake of the chronological index so that I can forget about the two oldest things soon enough and avoid having to put poem three as started super early because of these separate pieces of it :) ).
I also had parts of the first poem separate, and in fact the combination is wholly my work, although others had thought about it before (cfr. intro to the poem). These parts are fragments c and bb below (yeah, the numbering in my files was fricking weird, because I used Greek Wikisource numbering, and then added a bunch of fragments from Bibliotheca Augustana and had to use letters for those).


Απόσπασμα ιβʹ
‹–u–x–uu›      Ὄττινας γὰρ
Eὖ θέω, κῆνοί με μάλιστα σίννον-
ται ‹uu–x›.

Frammento 12
‹–u–x–uu›      Quelli ’nfatti
Ch’i͜o di più curo, danno m’ fan ne’ fatti
Più d’ogni altro.



Απόσπασμα ιβʹ B
‹–u–x–uu›      Ὄττινας γὰρ
Εὖ θέω, κῆνοί με μά]λιστα πά[ντων
Δηῦτε] σίνονται.

Frammento 12B
‹–u–x–uu›      [Quelli ’nfatti
Ch’i͜o di più curo, danno m’ fan ne’ fatti
P]iù d’og[ni altro].



Απόσπασμα ιεʹ
‹–u–x–u›      Ἔγων δ' ἐμαύτᾳ
τοῦτο σύνοιδα.

Frammento 15
‹–u–x–u›      Ed io medesma
Questo ben vedo.



Απόσπασμα γ
‹–u–x–uu›      ἤ τιν ̓ ἄλλον
‹μᾶλλον› ἀνθρώπων ἔμεθεν φίλησθα;

Frammento c
‹–u–x–uu›      d’altro forse
‹Più› ch’ di me degl’uomini amor ti morse?



Απόσπασμα βζ
ἔμεθεν δ' ἔχηισθα λάθαν.

Frammento bb
Ma di me l’oblio t’ha presa.
Fragmentum XII
‹–u–x–uu›      Quōs ĕn’ īpsă
Māxĭmē cūrō, mĭhĭ dāmnă māxŭ-
mē făcĭūnt ‹x›.

Fragment 12
‹–u–x–uu›      For those indeed
I love the most, those damage me indeed
The most ‹u–x›.



Fragmentum XII B
‹–u–x–uu›      [Quōs ĕn’ īpsă
Māxĭmē cūrō, mĭhĭ dāmnă] ōm[ni͞um
Mā]xŭmă [dānt nūnc.]

Fragment 12
‹–u–x–uu›      [For those indeed
I love the most, those damage me indeed
M]ore than a[ll others.]



Fragmentum XV
‹–u–x–u›      Ĕg’ īpsă mīmĕt
Hōc vĭdĕō nūnc.

Fragment 15
‹–u–x–u›      And I myself
Do this well see.



Fragmentum c
‹–u–x–uu–›      ăn āljŭm
Dīlĭgīs quām mē hŏmĭnūm măgīs tū?

Fragment c
‹–u–x–u›      or ‹more› than me
Someone else of men is beloved by thee?



Fragmentum bb
Rĕcŏlīsquĕ mē tămēn nōn.

Frammento bb
But of me thou hast forgotten.

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