In the last two posts, we had a lot of Sappho. Now, in one fragment in the last post, the ending «I won't marry you 'cos I'm too old» suggests some nostalgia for youth, and another fragment from the post before that, the one we only have line endings of, mentions sweet singing and a violet-bosomed girl, which also seem to hint at youth. So today I'm bringing you 5 poems, 2 of which certainly express nostalgia for youth, whereas of the other three, one also does in some versions, and the other two do in this particular completion (which is AFAIK the only completion that was made, since besides Edmonds people tend not to complete so much). The critical notes are, with one exceptions, short enough to be made right before the poems. The exception has a huge critical note, and is why I prepared this post on July 5-6 2017 as a draft. That draft has since been edited on March 1 2018 because I created the papyri transcriptions post in the meantime so the exception may not have the incredibly long critical note I mention. "You were also a tender young child" has its Italian version featured in a 2/5/11 file with alternate l. 9 «Per il grande Olimpo non v'è una via». The same file also features the Italian version of "Remember: we did those things too", with the variant l. 2 «Quel che quasi vecchie si ha in pensiero» and the comment «καί γ᾽ ἂρ» indicating a different word division of l. 3, probably matched by the translations. Let's get to those poems though.
Weaving garlands
This is fragment Bergk 34 [66], Edmonds 67, Campbell 125. It is a quotation by a scholar on Aristophanes (full abbreviated referece Schol. Aritsoph. Thesmoph. v. 400). According to Bergk, tradition has the passage as «Πρὸς τὸ ἔθος ὅτι ἐστεφαναπλόκουν αἱ παλαιαί· Σαπφώ· αὐτάορα αἰστεφαναπλόκουν». The part before the quotation says «Concerning the custom whereby the ancients wove garlands; Sappho». The passage is blatantly immetrical and corrupted. Various restorations exist. Bergk reads «αὔτα γὰρ ὠράα στεφαναπλόκουν», «for I myself, in my youth, wove garlands», similar to the solution I adopted back then, but making it an Alcaic hendecasyllabic, hence probably part of an Alcaic stanza. Edmonds reads «αἴ τ' ὀράαι στεφαναπλόκην», translating to «and the maids ripe for wedlock wove garlands»; this makes it look like a dactylic tripody, or maybe some Aeolic dactylic line (compare Hector and Anromacha) we only have the end of, and makes the meaning completely different from Bergk and me. Campbell leaves it as locus disperatus, reading «†αυταόρα† ἐστεφαναπλόκην», and translating to «(I myself in my youth?) used to weave garlands». Bibliotheca Augustana reads «...αὔτα / ὠράα στεφαναπλόκην»; the meter is incomprehensible, since the last line is evidently a glyconian, but the first one ends in a double long syllable, which is not how a glyconian ends. safopoemas only has «όραΤαι», presumably meaning «ὀραῖαι», «young (plural feminine)», but translates «y ellas, hermosas, tejen guirnaldas», «and they, beautiful, weave garlands», rendering evident how horrible that document is. Greek Wikisource has «Αὐτὰρ ὀραῖαι στεφανηπλόκευν», which would be what I'd probably choose now, since it's closest to the tradition. It does, however, suppose a single missing syllable at the start, or maybe a whole 5 syllables, depending on which meter you choose. Back in the days, I didn't have Bergk, I didn't look at Edmonds because «non ho un indice per ricerca veloce e la navigazione del pdf è molto lenta» («I don't have an index for quick search and navigation of the pdf is very slow», and it more or less still is, though I now made myself that index), so I completed B.A. in two ways, either «Ὡς πλεῖσταί γε, καὶ] αὔτα ‹ἦ / Ὠ›ράα στεφαναπλόκην», i.e. «Like most women indeed, even] I ‹actually, / In› my youth, wove garlands», or the below fashion. In fact, I suspect the below is from somewhere, but I can't trace where. My Paracritical Note from those days makes no mention of The Complete Poems of Sappho, but says that the only one amending save for safopoemas, Edmonds, and Greek Wikisource is BA, so I assume TCPOS doesn't amend either.
The completion and translations all date to between May 2010 and Dec 30 2010, I guess closer to the former than the latter. In fact, all the work on this fragment besides the Italian remake were done in December 2010, since the text is not fixed in a Dec 2010 printout of the fragments. The translations specifically can be placed past 21/12/10, since a "new in Sappho" file of that date has none of them.The Italian original didn't really have the right rhythm and was thus remade at 10:52 on 13/9/21.
Moreover, the Latin «‹Ōlīm› cūm, iŭvĕnīs t’ ĕrăm.» featured a "cum" that seems shoehorned, so at 15:12 on 18/5/23 I fixed it as below.
Greek Αὔτα ‹καὶ γὰρ ἔγω ποτὰ Ὠ›ράα̣ στεφαναπλόκην. Italian ‹Io› stessa ͜‹un tempo›, giovane, Ghirlande intrecciavo, sì. Italian ‹Anch'io›͜‹un tempo›, da giovane, Intrecciavo ghirlande, sì. | Latin Cōrōnās făcĭēbăm īps’ ‹Ĕg' ōlīm›, iŭvĕnīs c’ ĕrăm. English ‹I› myself ‹once› did garlands make, In my young age, for beauty’s sake. |
Beautiful gifts of the Muses
This is Bergk 80 [43], Edmonds 118, Campbell 58, and the one with the huge-ass critical note. Same dating info for the translations. I report the P.Oxy. 1787 lines with blank lines between what should be different poems, then I add the poem that P.Köln has before the Tithonus part, as completed by Obbink's article. That poem will only have an English prose translation for the moment, because I never knew it existed up till I looked further into the sources, but I report it because IIRC it is still thought to be Sappho, and who knows if I will one day make a translation into poetry. Group 6 of The Rest of Sappho has different restorations and/or more completions for many of the below.
Now for the history.
Now for the history.
- In the 2/11/10 file, the Greek text is missing some parts (see the text put in the manuscripts tab below), and the translations are completely absent;
- The presumably 3/11/10 printout has manuscripts for the parts from the 13/11 file, then the pages of that file inserted in it with manuscripts of the rest and overlays with the rest; the manuscripts below are a combination of all the manuscripts in this printout; also, the integration πολυώνυμόν is from between 2/11 and 13/11, and annotated on the Greek, and the translation to Latin of that line is on top of the rest of the manuscript of the 13/11 parts, as well as in the manuscript in the form given below; l. 24 has manu «eg'ipsaqu'amo» in the original pages, and the form below in the inserted pages;
- The diary only says a translation was almost completed on 12/11, and since the file from the next day has only the Italian in a "nearly complete" state (in fact, it's complete), a big chunk of Italian must have been done that day;
- By the 13/11 file, the Italian is complete, the Latin has ll. 1-9 (plus an extra blank line I expunged from all translations at the beginning of the texts) 17 22-23, and the English is absent; the following differences can be seen:
- L. 18 Latin has cūm in place of nām;
- L. 4 Italian has ella in place of lei;
- L. 11 Italian has soave instead söave, and ends with a period instead of a semicolon;
- L. 13 Italian has «Diventat'è» in place of «Diventata è»;
- L. 14 Italian has «E il cuor» instead of «E 'l cuor»;
- L. 15 Italian is «Che ugualmente ai fauni erando un tempo rapide a danzare»;
- L. 19 Italian has the typo "portanto;
- The 17/11 diary says I translated ll. 12-13 and 21, and reports the below final forms;
- The 19/11 says «traducto anglice "ὔμμες πεδὰ Μοίσαν", quod demum abrelinquere possum, exeo» (having translated "ὔμμες πεδὰ Μοίσαν" [i.e. this fragment] to English, which I can finally leave behind, I go out [of the classroom I suppose]), so that's that; also, it mentions I printed these translations out, so I assume this is when the overlays in the presumably 3/11 printout were made, which match the 5/1/11 file; note how the Italian manuscript is missing ll. 10-13; those were probably the first I did, who knows where; probably directly on computer;
- In this file, we see the missing parts appear, and items i, iv-v, and vii get fixed; now, the appearing parts (which also get translated btw) are probably from the holidays, where I believe I discussed the fragment in the Paracritical Note; indeed, the overlays mentioned above, while fixing those errors, do not add the parts; thus, the errors were fixed within 19/11;
- This leaves us with ii, iii, and vi to fix, plus the following extra things:
- Latin l. 14 «Gravisque mihi factu' cor est»;
- English l. 13 has «hath it stolen»;
- English ll. 18-19 «Indeed it is said that Tithon once the rosy-armèd Dawn did, / Conquered by his love, go bringing out unto this earth’s extreme en[ds]»;
- Out of those, only ii gets fixed in the files, more specifically in the 17/5/11 file, putting it between 7/5 and 17/5;
- iii appears to be a blog-time change, but the old intro didn't mention it, so it was probably done upon writing the draft for this, which happened I'm not sure when, but within the posting date of 1/5/18 and after Jun 2017 when I opened the blog;
- 「On 21/8/21 at 15:19 I notice «Grāvīsquĕ mĭhī fāctŭ’ [c]ŏr ēst» misgenders "cor", so I fix it as below」, and this is a;
- 「At 15:24 I fix «Che͜ ugualmente͜ a’ fauni͜» as per below」, and this is vi;
- 「The lines «Indeed it is said that Tithon o[n]ce the rosy-armèd Dawn did, / C̣ọṇq̣ụẹṛed by his love, go bringing out unto this earth’s extreme ends» were also touched that day. At 15:28 I start with «that Tithonus did once the rosy-armed Dawn», because that is the name. Then, at 15:28 still, I make the current version」, and that's c;
- Finally, 「"Beautiful gifts of the Muses" got a fix to English l. 14 at 13:05 of 13/9/21, where "hath it stolen" became "hath all stolen"」, and that is b;
- Note that the overlay for the English has an annotation «Caught by love for him», which was apparently ignored or missed.
- successum ad ora donat -> successum ad ora donet (12/10/24 16:06) -> bonum ōrīs donet exitum illa (14/10/24 0:34) -> bonum ōrīs donet exitum ill* (0:35) in the last line of the pre-Ymmes lines;
- consumptam is apputatque -> consumptam i' reputatque (12/10/24 16:06) -> consumptam eam putatque (16:07);
- alla bocca dà successo -> alla bocca dia successo, 12/10/24 16:07;
- Beauty, yes, and splendour very soon th' love for the sun did earn me -> Beauty, yes, and splendour my great love for the bright sun hath earnt me, 12/10/24 16:09; this original version given here is the one from SP5 and the SP4 overlay, and is in no OS; SP5 seems to have been printed on 17/12 based on the diary, and OS9 whic doesn't have it is from 9/12, so that would be the range.
P.Oxy. lines, Greek
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .οἶ]δα[–x
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ].α
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . φ]ύγοισα[.]
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ιδ' ἄχθην 5
. . . . . . . . . . . . ]χυ θ[.]οι[.]αλλ[. . . . . . α]ὔταν
. . . . . . . . . . . . . ]αχθο[. .]α τί.[. . . . .]εισα
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]μένα τὰν [πολυώ]νυμόν σε
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]νι θῆται στ[ύ]μα[τι] πρόκοψιν.
῎Υμμες πεδὰ Μοίσαν ἰ]ọκ[ό]πων κάλα δῶρα, παῖδες, 10
σπουδάσδετε καὶ τὰ]ν̣ φιλάοιδον λιγύραν χελύνναν·[
Ἔμοι δ’ ἄπαλον πρίν] π̣οτ’ [ἔ]ọντα χρόα γῆρας ἤδη
Ἐπέλλαβε, λεῦκαι δ’ ἐγ]ένοντο τρίχες ἐκ μελαίναν,
Βάρυς δὲ μ’ ὀ [θ]ῦμος̣ πεπόηται, γόνα δ᾽ [ο]ὐ φέροισι,
Τὰ δή ποτα λαίψηρ’ ἔον ὄρχησθ’ ἴσα νεβρίοισιν. 15
Τὰ ‹μὲν› στεναχίσδω θαμέως· ἀλλὰ τί κεν ποείην;
Ἀγήραον ἄνθρωπον ἔοντ’ οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι.
Καὶ γὰρ π̣[ο]τ̣α̣ Τίθωνον ἔφαντο βροδόπαχυν Αὔων,
Ἔρῳ φ. ..α̣θ̣ε̣ισαν, βάμεν’ εἰς ἔσχατα γᾶς φέροισα[ν,
Ἔοντα̣ [κ]ά̣λ̣ο̣ν καὶ νέον, ἀλλ’ αὖτον ὔμως ἔμαρψε[ν 20
Χρόνῳ π̣ό̣λ̣ι̣ο̣ν̣ γῆρας, ἔχ[ο]ν̣τ̣’ ἀθανάταν ἄκοιτιν.
^ – ^ ^ – – ^ ^ – ἐκ φθ]ιμέναν νομίσδει
^ – ^ ^ – – ^ ^ – – ^ ^]αις ὀπάσδοι.
Ἐγὼ δὲ φίλημμ' ἀβροσύναν, [ἴστε δὲ] τοῦτο, καί μοι
Τὸ λάμπρον ἔρως ἀελίω καὶ τὸ κάλον λέλογχε.
P.Oxy. lines, Latin
[x–uu – –uu, – –uu, –s]cĭō [x
x–uu, – –uu, – –uu, –u–x]ă
[x–uu, –]cūmqu’ ĕă fūgīssĕt [u, –u–x
x–uu, – –uu, – –uu,] ēss’ ŏnūst[x
x–uu, – –uu, – –] ălĭ[–u] īllăm
[x–uu, – –]ŏnŭs[– –u]quĭd[–u–]ă
[x–uu, – –uu – –uu] nōmĕn [–] tē
[x–uu, – –uu,] sūccēssŭm ăd ōră dōnăt.
Mūs’ ād bŏnă dōn’ ēt quŏquĕ pūlchr’ āpprŏpĕrātĕ, pu͞ellǣ,
Sīnū vĭŏlû̄m, cāntăqu
Pri͞us mōllĕ mĭhī cōrpŭs ĕrāt, nūnc tămĕn īpsŭm ǣtās
Cārpsītquĕ, mĭh’ ālb’ ābquĕ nĭgrīs fāct’ ĕquĭdēm căpīllī
Grāvīsquĕ mĭhī fāctŭ' cŏr ēst, āc gĕnŭ’ ha͞ud fĕrūnt mē,
Qu’ olim saliebant rapide pari
Sæpe querer ist’
Æternum cum
Ti
Ivisse ferens finem ad orbis, quid’ amore c「apt」a,
Pulchrum iuvenemqu’
Spōns’ ēts’ ĭs hăbēt lōng’ ăb ĕ’, ōb tēmpŭ’ cănū「t」’, ŏbītū.
[x–uu, – –uu cōnsū]mptăm ĭs āppŭtātquĕ
[x–uu, – –uu, – –uu]āsquĕ āddēt.
Ātqu’ īps’ ĕg’ ămō mōllĭtĭām, scītĕquĕ hōccĕ,
Sōlīs mĭh’ ămōr pūlchră dĕdĭt cūm quŏquĕ lūmĭnōsīs. -> lūmĭnĭcōs’ āddĭdĭt ātquĕ pūlchră
P.Oxy. lines, Italian
…
…
…
…a
[x‒uu, ‒ ‒u] avendo ella fuggito [‒x
x‒uu, ‒ ‒uu, ‒ ‒uu,] esser carco
x‒uu, ‒ ‒uu, ‒] altr[uu, ‒u] ella
x‒uu, ‒ ‒] peso [‒ –]
[x‒uu, ‒ ‒u] la [‒ ‒uu –]nimo te
[x‒uu, ‒ ‒uu] alla bocca dà successo.
<4v.
feci
(usqu'ad
ἐκ μελαίναν)>
E il cuor m'è pesante, e le ginocchia su più non mi tengon,
Che ugualmente ai fauni erano un tempo rapide a danzare.
Questo io lamento di frequente; ma che debbo fare?
Gl’uomini di essere immortali occasion non tengon.
E infatti si dice che Titon l’Aurora braccia d’oro,
Presa dall’Amore, andò portando ai confin di terra,
Bello e giovin, ma lui prese per il tempo che rinserra
[x–uu, – –uu] crede lei cons
[x–uu, – –uu, – –u] potrebbe dare.
La delicatezza amo io, sappiate po' anche questo:
Del sole l’amor bello splendor mi ha donato presto.
P.Oxy. lines, English
I know [x]
having she then fled [–x]
to be loaded [–x]
… … … … x–uu, – –uu, – –] other [–u s]he [x
weight [–u] what [–u–x
you of names so many
[x–uu, – –uu] success to the mouth a-giving.
You all to the violet-bosomed Muses’ pretty gifts, o
Hasten, and the sweet song-loving lyre, clear-singing and melodious;̣
Once my body tender was indeed, but now old age already
Hath it stolen, and, from black it was, my hair all white has turnèd,
And heavy my heart has now become, my knees no longer hold me,
Th
Someone who’s a man can ne’er become
Indeed it is said that Tithon once the rosy-armèd Dawn did,
As he still was young and handsome, but h
Gray-hairèd in time, by older age, e’en with a wife immortal.
… her consumed belive does
… he might give.
For delicacy indeed I love, and you<->know this thing as well:
Beauty, yes, and splendour very soon the love for th' sun did earn me.
P.Oxy. lines, Greek
. . . . . . κά]λ̣εσσα [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ο]ἶ̣δα [–x
. . . .] ̣πέρι̣[
. . .] ̣εικε ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̣α [
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . φ]ύγοισα̣[
] ̣[.] ̣[. . . . . ~12 letters . . . . .] ̣δ' ἄχθην̣ 5
. . . . . . . . . . . . ]χ̣υ̣θ[.] ̣[.]ω̣[. . . . . ~8 letters . . . . . α]ὔτα̣ν
. . . . . . . . . . . . . ] ἄχ̣θο[ς .]ατι . [......]ọισα
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]μένα τὰν [πολυ]‹ώ›νυμόν σ̤ε̤
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̤ι θῆται στ̣[ύ]μα̤[τι] πρ̣όκοψιν̣
ὔμμες πεδὰ Μοίσαν ἰο]κόλ̤πων κάλα δῶρα παῖδες 10
σπουδάσδετε καὶ τὰ]ν φιλἄοιδον λιγύραν χελύνναν·[
ἔμοι δ' ἄπαλον πρίν] ποτ' [ἔ]οντα χρόα γῆρας ἤδη
ἐπέλλαβε, λεῦκαι δ' ἐ]γένοντο τρίχες ἐκ μελαίναν,
βάρυς δέ μ' ὀ θῦμ[ο]ς πεπόηται, γόνα δ' οὐ φέροισι,
τὰ δή ποτα λαίψηρ' ἔον ὄρ̣χησθ' ἴσα νεβρίοισιν. 15
τα]‹ῦ›τα στεναχί‹σδ›ω θαμέως ἀλλὰ τί κεν ποείην;
ἀγή̣ραον ἄνθρωπον ἔοντ' οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι·
καὶ γάρ π[ο]τα Τίθωνον ἔφαντο βροδόπαχυν Αὔων
ἔρῳ δ̣α̤[..]αθεισαν βάμεν εἰς ἔσχατα γᾶς φέροισα[ν
ἔοντα [κ]ά̤λ̤ο̤ν καὶ νέον, ἀλλ' αὖτ̣ον ὔμως ἔμαρψε[ 20
χρόνω̣‹ι› π̣[ό]λιον̤ γ̤ῆ̤ρας ἔ[χοντ'] ἀθ[α]νάταν ἄκοιτιν.[
xx^^ ––^^ – ἐκφθ]ίμέναν νομίσδει
xx^^ – –^^ – –^^]αις ὀπάσδοι.
ἔγω δὲ φίλημμ' ἀβροσύναν, [ἴστε δὲ] τοῦτο· καί μοι
τὸ λάμπρον ἔρ‹ω›ς ἀέλιω καὶ τὸ κάλον λέλογχε 25
] ̣πιν[ ] . [...] . σ .́ .[
]φίλει ̣[
]κ̣αιν̤[
P.Oxy. lines, Latin
[x–u vŏ]cāvī [uu, – –uu, –s]cĭō [x
x–uu,] cīrcā [uu, – –uu, –u–x
x–uu, – –uu, – –uu, –u–x]
[x–uu, –]cūmqu’ ĕă [f]ūgīssĕt [u, –u–x
x–uu, – –uu, – –uu,] ēss’ ŏnūst[x
x–uu, – –uu, – –] ălĭ[–u ī]llăm
[x–uu, – –]ŏnŭ[s – –u] quĭd [–u–]ă
[x–uu, – –uu plūrūm uu] nōmĭnūm tē
[x–uu, – –u] bŏn' ōrīs dŏnĕt ēxĭt' īll*̆.
[Mūs’] ād bŏnă dōn’ ēt quŏquĕ pūlchr’ [āpprŏpĕrātĕ], pu͞ellǣ,
[Sī]nū [vĭŏlû̄m], cāntăqu’ ămāntēm ly̆răm ēt sŭāvĕm;
[Pri͞us mōllĕ mĭhī] cōrpŭs [ĕr]āt, nūnc tămĕn īpsŭm ǣtās
[Cārpsītquĕ,] mĭh’ [ālb]’ ābquĕ nĭgrīs [fā]ct’ ĕquĭdēm căpīllī,
Fāctūmquĕ mĭhī grāvĕ [c]ŏr ēst, āc gĕnŭ’ [ha͞]͞ud fĕrūnt mē,
Qu’ ōlīm sălĭēbānt răpĭ[dē] pārĭ’ ĕīspsĕ fa͞unīs.
Sǣpē quĕrŏr īst’, āt pŏtĕ quīdnām mĭhĭ īps’ hăbe͞am d’ hīs?
[Ǣt]ērnŭs hŏmō nām fĭĕrī nōn pŏtĕ ūmquăm ūllŭs.
Tīthōnŭm ĕnīm dīcĭtŭr A͞urōră brăchīs rŏsātīs
Īvīssĕ fĕrēns fīnĕm ăd ōrbīs, quĭd’ ămōrĕ c̣ạ̄p̣tă,
[P]ūlchrūm iŭvĕnēmqu’ ōlĭm, ăt īllūmps’ ĕquĭdēmquĕ cārpsĭ[t],
Spōns’ ēts’ ĭs hă[bēt] lōng’ ăb ĕ’, ōb tēmpŭ’ cănūt’, ŏb[ī]tū.
[x–uu, – –uu] cōnsūmptăm ĕām pŭtātquĕ
[x–uu, – –uu, – –uu]āsquĕ āddēt.
Ātqu’ īps’ ĕg’ ămō mōllĭtĭām, [scītĕquĕ] hōccĕ, ātquĕ
Sōlīs mĭh’ ămōr lūmĭnĭcōs’ āddĭdĭt ātquĕ pūlchră.
……………………
Ămāt [
Ĕt [
P.Oxy. lines, Italian
[x–u chia]ma͜i [–uu, – –uu, –u] so [x
x–u] intorno [uu, – –uu, –u–x
x–uu, – –uu, – –uu, –u–]a
[x–uu, – –u] avendo le͜i [f]uggito [–x
x–uu, – –uu, – –uu,] esser carco 5
x–uu, – –uu, –] altr[uu, –u e]lla
x–uu, – –] pes[o –] che cosa, [–u–]a
[x–uu, – –uu, – –] te dai molti nomi
[x–uu, – –uu] alla b[o]cc[a] dia successo.
[Verso]͜ i doni belli [delle Muse s]en [di viola], donne, 10
[V’affrettate, e la] söave͜ amante del cantar, la lira;
[A me] la vecchiaia già [il corpo, giovin pria, rubònne,
Diven]tata ͜[è bianca] la mia chioma da com’era nera,
E ’l [c]uor m’è pesante,͜ e le ginocchia su più [n]on mi tengon,
Che sì come fauni͜ erano un tempo rapi[de]͜ a danzare. 15
Questo io lamento di frequente; ma che debbo fare?
Gl’uomini di essere ͜[im]mortali͜ occasïon non tengon.
E͜ infatti si dice che Titon l’Aurora braccia d’ rosa,
P̣ṛẹsa dall’Amore, andò portando ai confin di terra,
[B]ello͜ e giovin, ma lui pres[e] per il tempo che rinserra 20
L’avanzata͜ età, canuto,͜ av[ente] un’imm[o]rtale sposa.
[x–uu, – –uu] crede le͜i [con]sunta stare
[x–uu, – –uu, – –u] potrebbe dare.
La delicatezza amo i͜o, [sappiate po’]͜ anche questo:
Del sole l’amor bello splendor mi ha donato presto. 25
………………
Ama [
E [
P.Oxy. lines, English
[x–u I ca]lled [–uu, – –uu, –] I [k]now [x
x–u] around [–uu, – –uu, –u–x
x–uu, – –uu, – –uu, –u–x
x–uu, – –uu, –] having she [f]led [u–x
x–uu, – –uu, – –] to be loaded [–x
… … … … x–uu, – –uu, – –] other [–u s]he [x
x–uu, – –uu] weigh[t –u] what [–u–x
x–uu, – –uu, – –] you of names [so many]
[x–uu, – –uu] success to the m[o]ut[h] a-giving.
[Ye all to the violet-bos]omed [Muses’] pretty gifts, o maidens,
[Hasten, and the] sweet song-loving lyre, clear-singing and melodious;
[Once my] body [tender w]as indeed, but now old age already
[Hath all stolen, and,] from black it was, my hair all [white has tur]nèd,
And heavy my [h]ea[r]t has now become, my knees [n]o longer hold me,
Which once very qui[ck] did dance, as light as fawns indeed in dancing.
These things very often I lament; what should I do about them?
Someone who’s a man can ne’er become one who can [stop] his [a]geing.
Indeed it is said that rosy-armed Dawn once did lead Tithonus,
C̣ọṇq̣ụẹṛed by his love, all the way out unto this earth’s extreme ends
As he still was young and [ha]ndsome, but he anyway was take[n],
Gray-hairèd in time, by older age, e’en wi[th] a wife imm[o]rtal.
[x–uu, – –uu, – –] her [con]sumed beliveth
[x–uu, – –uu, – –uu, –] he might give.
For delicacy indeed I love, [and know ye] this thing also:
Beauty, yes, and splendour my great love for the bright sun hath earnt me.
…………
Loves [
And [
Köln extras, Greek
] . οὐ[
] ε̣ὐχο̣μ̣[
] . νῦν θαλ[ί]α̣ [παρέστω
] νέρθε δὲ γᾶς περ[ίσχ]οι
κλέος μέγα μοίσει]ον ἔχοι̣σα‹ν› γέρας ὠς̣ [ἔ]ο̣ικε̣ν
πάντᾳ δέ με θαυμά]ζοιε̣ν̣ ἆς νῦν ἐπὶ γᾶς ἔοισαν
κάλεισι χελίδω] λιγύρ̤α̤ν [αἴ] κεν ἔλοισα πᾶκτιν[
ἤ βάρβιτον ἤ τάνδε χέ]λ̣υ̣ν̣ναν̣ θαλάμοισ' ἀε̣ίδω
Köln extras, English
] . not(?)[
] pray [
] . now [let] Thal[i]a [be present
] under earth may (who?) h[av]e
the great glory of the muses], having spoils as is [a]ppropriate
and everywhere] they would [marve]l [at me] while I am on earth
they call (me)] a shrill [swallow if], having taken the harp,
or the barbiton or that l]yre, I sing to wedding beds
I would marry, but I'm old
This is Edmonds 42 and Campbell 21. The source for this is P.Oxy. 1231 fr. 10, a scrap of papyrus of considerable size found in Oxyrhynchus – yep, we've already heard this place in Hector and Andromacha, and we will hear it again many many times. That papyrus is discussed at the transcriptions post. I follow Edmonds' reconstruction. I must admit I have no idea why my original file assumed a whole missing stanza before this. Campbell's line numbering suggests an extra lost line was visible in the papyrus. I'll just ignore that. After all, no point having 4 empty lines when we don't even know if that extra line actually belonged to the same poem (which is not an easy thing to determine, as we will see in the huge-ass note to the previous poem). So I'm just dropping that assumption. Two completions are justified by two quotations. One is at l. 8, where the Dissertations of Maxymus of Tyre (full reference in Bergk Maximus Tyr. XXIV) tell us that «Διοτίμα λέγει, ὅτι θάλλει μὲν Ἔρως εὐπορῶν, ἀποθνήσκει δὲ ἀπορῶν· τοῦτο Σαπφὼ ξυλλαβοῦσα εἶπε γλυκύπικρον καὶ ἀλγεσίδωρον· τὸν Ἔρωτα Σωκράτης σοφιστὴν λέγει, Σαπφὼ μυθόπλοκον» (Diotima says that love blooms when it has much and dies when it has little; gathering this, Sappho called [love] "sweet-sour" and "giver of pains" [the adjective in l. 8]; Socrates calls love a sophist, Sappho a "weaver of tales"). One might object that the quote has an accusative and the completion a nominative, however the quote is just "hey Sappho described love as X", so it's just telling us Sappho used that adjective, and nothing about what case it was in, IMO. The other one is l. 12. In this case, it is Apollonius Dyscolus in his treatise on pronouns (full Campbell reference Ap. Dysc. Pron. 124b (l. 67 Schneider)) who tells us that «τὰ γὰρ παρ' Αἰολεῦσιν ἕνεκα τῆς συντάξεως πολλάκις ἀποβάλλει τὸ ν δι' εὐφονίαν· ἄεισον ἄμμι τὰν ἰόκολπον· αἰ δέ κ' ἄμμι Ζεῦς τελέσση νόημμα, Ἀλκαῖος.» («[pronouns] which in Aeolian writers' works often lose the nu for euphony due to the context: sing to us of the violet-bosomed; but if Zeus should fulfill our plan, Alcaeus», where τελέσση must be amended to τελέση for reasons of meter). That quotation doesn't make it clear if the fragment was by Sappho or Alcaeus, and indeed Bergk ascribed it to Alcaeus and gave it number 12, but in the light of P.Oxy. 1231 we are brought to reconsider this. By the way, the excerpt quotes another line, which is Bergk Alcaeus 73, and which is Alcaeus 361 in Campbell.
The translation of this I remember as one I made around Easter 2010. In particular, I remember myself doing the Italian one while on the bus that took me to the Angelus with the pope that year. Aaaand that memory is incorrect. The ones done on the bus going "ad beatificationem Karoli Wojtyłæ», as the folia poematum put it, were in fact the next fragment here, and Let's sing for the couple. This was translated to Italian on 26/4/11 and to English on 7/5/11, as per "nova Sapphus" files, then to Latin on 17/5/11, as referenced in the folia. The Italian originally started «Se il mi͜o sen] pote[sse͜ ancor latt]e dare, / E il mi͜o] ventre ͜[adatto͜ a bambin]i [fare / Fosse͜ ancor, allor mi vedreste͜ andare,]», and was fixed to the below form at 1:20 on 1/5/22.
Greek [Αἰ δέ μοι γάλακτο]ς ἐπάβολ' ἦσ[κε τωὔθατ' ἢ παίδ]ων δολόφυν [ποήσ]ε[ι ἀρμένα, τότ' οὐ] τρομέροις πρ[ὸς ἄ]λλα [λέκτρα κε πόσσι 4 ἐρχόμαν· νῦν δὲ] χρόα γῆρας ἤδη [μυρίαν ἄμμων ῤύτι]ν ἀμφιβάσκει [κωὐ πρὸς ἄμμ' Ἔρως] πέταται διώκων [ἀλγε]σ̣ί[δωρος· ] τᾶς ἀγαύας ] . α· λάβοισα [δ' ἀδύφωον πᾶκτιν] ἄεισον ἄμμι [τὰν ἰόκολπον. ἔ]ρων μά̣λ̣ιστα ] ἆ̣ς π[λά]ναται̣ [................ ................] Italian Se il mi͜o sen] pote[sse͜ ancor latt]e dare, E il mi͜o] ventre ͜ancor fosse [adatto͜ a fare [Figl]i,͜ allora voi mi vedreste͜ andare,] Certa [di piede,] 8 Ver[so͜ un altro talamo; ma͜ or] vecchi͜ai͜a M’empi͜e͜ il corpo [con rugh]e [a migliaia, Né] volando͜ inseguemi ͜[Amo]r, [che rai͜a Duol che non cede. 12 –u–x–] dell’illustre [–x –u–x–u; la melodi͜osa Arpa] prendi,͜ e cantami [della sposa Seno di vi͜ola. 16 Degl’[a]mor più ch’altro u–u–x –u–x–uu] finché v[a]ga [–u–x–uu–u–x –uu–x] 20 | Latin Sī mĕō sĭnū lă]c [ădhūc] mănēret [A͞ut ĕī pŏt’ ēssĕt hăbē]rĕ [fīli͞o]s, [Tūnc] ă[d āljūm pāssŭbŭ’ lēct’ ĕg’ ha͞ud] trĕ- māntĭbŭs [īrĕm; 8 Sēd] sĕnēctūs [nūnc mĕŭm] ēxrĕplēt [pĕr Plūrĭmās rūgā]s quĭdĕm ōmnĕ mēmbrŭm, [Nēc] vŏlāns [nōs] īnsĕquĭtūrv’ [Ămō]r iăm [Dātvĕ dŏlōrēs. 12 –u] Īllūstrīs [uu–u–x –u–x–uu] prēndĕrīs cŭm [Vōcĕ dūlc’ hārpām] mĭhĭ cāntă nūnc [sĭ- nū vĭŏl’ īllăm. 16 –u–] prǣsērtĭm [ă]mōrŭm [–x –u–x–uu] dūm văgātŭr [–u–x–uu–u–x –uu–x] 20 English If my bosom] sti[ll] had [some mil]k to feed, [Or] my womb [had power to babie]s [bre]ed, [Then you’d see my steps going, su]re indeed, To a new [bed 8 And new wedding; now] doth the old-age ill [With a thousand wrinkl]es my body fill, [Nor doth Lov]e pursue [me] in flight, [which ill Always has bred. 12 –u–x–] of the noble [– –u–x–uu] out now take [Th’ harp, o’ th’ violet-bosomed] a song now make [With her sweet voice. 16 –u–x–] of the [l]oves o’er all [–u–x] long as she wanders [– –u–x–uu–u– –uu–] 20 |
Remember: we did those things too
Without P.Oxy. 2166(a)7a: old translations
This is Edmonds 43 and Campbell 24(a). The sources are two Oxyrhynchus papyri, P.Oxy. 1231 fr. 13 and P.Oxy. 2166(a)7a. Edmonds only had the first one at his disposal when he published his Lyra Graeca. Unfortunately, back in the days, I didn't know that, apparently, so I ignored Campbell completely and just followed Edmonds' completion, save for preferring the to my eyes equally valid completion of Campbell for l. 4 to the weird Edmonds long-υ συνεπόημμεν. The papyrus is discussed at the transcriptions post, and the more recent fragment destroys Edmonds' completion of stanza 2, while still allowing that of stanza 1. Along with the transcriptions, I present my own completion of the combination, mostly a rehash of Edmonds.
The translations of this probably date around the same period as those of the previous poem. Kind of. I mean, that period goes from "before 26/4" to "before 7/5" to "exactly 17/5", so yes, these translations probably did date to that period. The Italian at least, in its original form, was made in the night between 30/4/11 and 1/5/11, just after the Italian of this one, then by 7/5 it was almost in blog form, save for «[Quel che quasi vecchie s]i ha in pensiero» at l. 2, which was fixed between 24/5 and 9/6/11. The Latin originally had īstă in l. 3, but then on 20/9/21 at 19:37 I realized it didn't really fit, and presumably changed it to īllă, a change that was definitely on my mind on 25/9/21 at 1:16/17 as I typed this sentence.Greek Αἶσ’ ἔγων ἔφ]αν· “ Ἄγα[ναι γύναικες, οἶα μ]εμνάσεσθ’ ἄ̣[ϊ μέχρι γήρᾱς, κ]αί γ’ ἂρ ἄμμες ἐν νεό̣[τατι λάμπρᾳ ταῦτ’ ἐ]π̣όημ̣μεν· 4 [ἄγνα μ]ὲν γὰρ καὶ κά[λα πόλλ’ ἐν αὔτᾳ δράσα]μεν, πόλι̣[ν δ’ ἀπυλιμπανοίσᾱν σφῶϊν] ὀ[ξ]είαις δ̣[άκεν ἴμμερός μοι θῦμον ἄσαισι”]. 8 Italian [Dis]si [lor]: “O tenere donne, invero [Ciò che quasi vecchie s]i ha ’n pensiero, [A]nche noi negli’an[ni splendenti] – è vero – Fatto [l’a]bbiamo: [Molte pure] e bel[le] azioni [in essa Fatte abbi]amo, [ed or che lasciate] dess[a Voi, l’amore] m[ordemi ’l cuor con ressa Di dolor] g[r]amo. Italian [Dis]si ͜[a lor]: “O tenere donne,͜ invero [Quel che fino͜ a vecchi͜e s]i ha͜ in pensi͜ero Giovin[ezza splendida f]atto ͜– è vero – Da no͜i [l’]ha visto: 4 [Molte pure]͜ e bel[le] azioni ͜[in essa Fatte͜ abbi]amo, ͜[ed or che lasciate] dess[a Voi, l’amore] m[ordemi ’l cuor con ressa Di dolor] m[e]sto”. 8 | Latin [F]āt’ [ĕg’ ād quās]: «Ō tĕn[ĕrǣ mŭli͞erēs, Qu’ ād sĕnēctūtēm m]ĕmĭnīssĕ vōbīs Ēst pŏt’, īllă] nōs iŭv[ĕnēs] quĭdēm [qu]ŏqu’ [Ē]gĭmŭs ōlĭm; 4 [Pūr’] ĕnīm [pērmūltă] tŭm ātquĕ pūl[chră Fēcĭ]mūs, nūnc ūrbĕ c’ ăbītĭs a͞utĕm Fōrtĭbūs dŏlōrĭbŭ’ mōrdĕt ād mē Cōrdă cŭpīdō]». 8 English Unto them I sa]id: “Ten[der women, you, Till old age, t]hink of [what you wish to do; But remember:] in your [bright] yo[uth] did you [Those things] not do? Many [pure] and beau[tiful] things [did we Then get] done, [and now] you [leave] tow[n, to me Th’ love for you] d[evours the heart, ay me!, To] s[h]arp [pains due]”. |
With P.Oxy. 2166(a)7a: new Latin
Deeming all but the Latin translation above as badslations, I decided the Sicilian episode for this fragment would be a Latin crossover, which meant I had to fix this up, because the Sicilian had accepted the extra papyrus fragment, of course. Well, the anthology accepted it, the translation doesn't exist yet as I type. So anyway, on 19/7/24 I came to this and, between 19:42 and 20:22 I made a bunch more tweaks. The text I based my translation on is completion 2 found at A few papyri transcribed, with ἐκπονήσαμεν integrated in l. 2, but with all the double underdots and underlinings replaced with underdots, because those two have no clear definition and I will remove them from my Italian edition as well, replacing then with underdots, eventually.I also realized, looking at Edmonds, that l. 2 was misinterpreted back in the day. It does not say "What you can remember near old age", but "As you will remember until old age". So I fixed that too. I'm left with a little meter problem, in that I had to assume I can use juventūtī as an archaic ablative when the regular one would be in -e. I asked Calcagno about it, but he hasn't replied it. I tried to fix it on 20/7/24 at 19:21 via «In juventūte luminōsā ea ipsæ / Fēcimu' quoque», which is badly non-scanning and doesn't help. I did, however, on that day at 13:07, fix the damn mūljerēs to fēminæ, which doesn't require turning an i into a semiconsonant to lengthen the first syllable. Now, as I contacted him about this, I also suggested the change «fāt[a ipsa ad eās» -> «dīx[ī ipsa tum eīs», but apparently this was lost in the messages. It was from 20:41 on 19/7/24.
Αἶσ' ἔγων ἔ]φ̣α̣ν· ἄγα̣[ναι γύναικες, Ο]ἶ̣[α μ]εμνάσεσθ' ἄ̣[ϊ μέχρι γῆρας, κ]αὶ γ̣' ἄρ' ἄμμες ἐν νεό̣[τατι λάμπρᾳ Ταῦ̣τ' ἐ̣π̣όημ̣μεν. Πό̣λ̣λ̣α̣ [μ]ὲν γὰρ γαὶ κά[λα κἄγν' ἐν αὔτᾳ [Ἐκ]πο̣νήσ[α]μεν· πόλι[ν αὖ λιποίσαις ῎Υ]μμε̣ ὀ[ξ]είαις δ[άκε μοι βλεποίσᾳ Θ]ῦ̣μ̣[ο]ν̣ ἄ̣[σαισι Ἴμμερος». |
«Fēminæ»,] dīx[ī ipsa tum eīs,] «ten[ellæ, Sī]c[ut ad senēs r]ecolēti' se[mper], Nōs [q]uoque illa fēcimus in juv[entū- tī luminōsā. Pūra] enim permulta tum atque pul[chra F]ēc[i]mus quidem. [Cum ab] urb[e abīsse Vīderim v]ōs, nunc [mihi c]or[d]a m[ordet] F[o]rtibu' p[œnīs Stūdium». |
You were also a tender young child
This is Edmonds 46 and Campbell 27. According to Campbell, the sources for this are a whopping 7 papyrus fragments: P.Oxy. 1231 frr. 50-54, and P.Oxy. 2166(a) frr. 5a-5b, the last two of which weren't available to Edmonds, giving the completely different reconstruction he gives. In fact, Edmonds only used fr. 50 as a source, because the 2166(a)5 linked the other 1231 fragments to fr. 50 (except for fr. 53 which Edmonds ignored for some reason, maybe the combination hadn't been thought up yet), and without that link there weren't compelling arguments for the combination. Moreover, Edmonds used a transcription which the new fragments revealed to have incorrect letters. Anyways, I discarded Edmonds' completion, because either I knew about the papyri or I wanted a complete first line, or maybe both, who knows. I will report the fragment collage from the discussion in the transcriptions post at the end, before the big critical note, using colors to mark origin fragment, as I will specify just before the collage. Joining fr. 52 and fr. 50 was, by the way, a possibility already for Grenfell and Hunt. Edmonds' version fits perfectly with fr. 50, modulo swallowing a iota from l.3 in his ζαλέξα. One last thing: it appears that, for my completion to work, I tampered with part of l. 14. More precisely, the original GH transcription reads ]α̣ικ.[, so I saw that uncertain alpha and arbitrarily reinterpreted it as an omicron. Back in the days, I probably thought they would look similar, because I imagined shapes close to the printed ones, whereas uncials are not so, and indeed this change was totally unjustified and wrong. But I have to come back to the text I translated, so I'll keep that bad change. One last thing: Group 6 in The Rest of Sappho has both the Edmonds version and the different restoration of this Italian anthology.
Greek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]λ̣αιγ̣[. . . . . . . . . . ]ν̣οσ[. . . . . – ^ ^ – ]σι·[. . . . . 4 ἦσθ]α καὶ γὰρ δὴ σὺ̣ πάϊς ποτ' [ἄβρα ἐξ]ί̣κ̣ης μέλπεσθ' ἄγι ταῦτα [πάντα σοὶ] ζ̣ἄλεξαι κἄ̣μμ' ἀπὺ τῶδε κ[ῆρος ἄ]δρα χάρισσαι σ]τείχομεν γὰρ ἐς γάμον· εὖ δέ [γ' οἶσθα κα]ὶ σὺ τοῦτ'· ἀλλ' ὄττι τάχιστ̣ά [σ' ἔστι πα]ρ[θ]ένοις ἄπ[π]εμπε, θέοι [ . . κε]ν ἔ̣̣χοιεν̣ οὐ γάρ ἐστ'] ὄ̣δος μ[έ]γαν εἰς Ὄλ̣[υμπον κἄμμιν ἀ]νθρω[ποισιν ἄν]‹ο›ικτ' [ἔοισα [................ ................] Italian [–u–x–uu–u–x –u–x–uu–u–x –u–x–uu–u–x –uu–x] 4 Ch’anche tu [se͜i tenera] bimba [st]ata, [V]i͜eni, [tutto] questo, deh, canta, ͜[e]͜ amata Fa’ conversazione, e grazi͜a [l]ata Dacci, ti prego: A sposarci ͜[a]ndi͜amo; tu [pu]r lo [saï] Ben, ma manda quanto pi͜ù ’n fretta [saï Le fa]n[c]i͜ulle vïa, gli dei [u–x] Abbi͜ano [–x]; 12 Verso ’l g[r]ande͜ Ol[impo non v’è]͜ una vïa [Ch’anche per no͜i u]͜omi[ni͜ ap]ert[a sia; –u–x–uu–u–x –uu–x] 16 | Latin [–u–x–uu–u– –u–x–uu–u– –u–x–uu–u– –uu– 4 Ēt t’ ĕnīm pŭēllŭl’ [ĕr]ās [tĕnēllă, Ād]vĕnī, quǣsō, cănĕqu’ [ōmnĭ’] hǣccĕ, Dīc[quĕ], grātĭāsquĕ ăb hōccĕ c[ōrdĕ M]āxŭmă dōnā: 8 Nūptĭās [a]dīmŭs ĕnīm; bĕn’ [ē]t tū Hōccĕ [scīs], sēd quām răpĭdīssĭm’ [īn tē’st Vī]r[g]ĭnēs nūnc mī[t]tĕ, dĕī [u–x –] hăbĕānt [x 12 Nāmqu’ ăbēst] ād m[ā]gnŭm Ŏl[ȳmpŭm] ītĕr [Quǣ sĭt ētj’ ād nōs] h[ŏmĭ]nēs [ă]pērtă [–u–x–uu–u–x –uu–x] 16 English [–u–x–uu–u– –u–x–uu–u– –u–x–uu–u– –uu– 4 Once] you [wer]e a [tender] young child, you too, [C]ome to me to sing [all] of this, please do, [And] to talk, and to us [g]reat favours do Out of your [h]eart: 8 For we’re [g]etting married; and well you [know] This yourself, as fast [as you can] now, though, S[e]nd the [m]a[i]ds away, may the gods [u–] Have [uu–] 12 To the g[r]eat Ol[ympus there is no] way [That for us m]e[n also may open stay; –u–x-uu–u– –uu–] 16 |
Fragment collage
So finally we combine the text, marking fr. 50 as black, fr. 51 as blue, fr. 52 as red, fr. 53 as brown, fr. 54 as purple, fr. 5a as cyan, and fr. 5b as pink (what a lot of colors :) ). Hopefully the terribly holey first stanza didn't change excessively since I first collaged this way back in July, so I adapted the colors and kept the rest as was, given it is omitted from the collage in the transcriptions post.
]λ̣αιγ̣[ ]ν̣οσ[ ]σι· ἦσθ]α καὶ γὰρ δὴ σὺ̣ πάϊς ποτ' [ἄβρα ἐξ]ί̣κ̣ης μέλπεσθ' ἄγι ταῦτα [πάντα σοὶ] ζ̣ἄλεξαι κἄ̣μμ' ἀπὺ τῶδε κ[ῆρος ἄ]δρα χάρισσαι σ]τείχομεν γὰρ ἐς γάμον· εὖ δέ [γ' οἶσθα κα]ὶ σὺ τοῦτ'· ἀλλ' ὄττι τάχιστ̣α [ πα]ρ[θ]ένοις ἄπ[π]εμπε, θέοι [ κε]ν ἔ̣̣χοιεν̣ οὐ γάρ ἐστ'] ὄ̣δος μ[έ]γαν εἰς Ὄλ̣[υμπον ἀ]νθρω[π ]αικ . [ |
Critical note to "beautiful gifts of the muses"
This poem (or these poems?) is very controversial. Indeed, it is not even universally agreed upon where the poems break. But we'll get to that later as we analyze the sources.
The first source (in a chronological sense), and the only source available for Bergk (fr. 80 [43]) and Edmonds (fr. 118) is Athenaeus's Deipnosophistae (another name we will hear very many times, and that we have heard in Hector and Andromacha), which, in book XV, say «ὑμεῖς δε οἴεσθε τὴν ἁβρότητα χωρὶς ἀρετῆς ἔχειν τι τερπνόν; καίτοι Σαπφώ, γυνὴ μὲν πρὸς ἀλήθειαν αὖσα καὶ ποιήτρια, ὅμως ᾐδέσθη τὸ καλὸν τῆς ἁβρότητος ἀφελεῖν λέγουσα ὧδε· Ἐγὼ δὲ φίλημμι ἁβροσύναν καί μοι τὸ λάμπρον ἔρος ἀέλιω καὶ τὸ κάλον λέλογχε, φανερὸν ποιοῦσα πᾶσιν ὡς ἡ τοῦ ζῆν ἐπιθυμία τὸ λαμπρὸν καὶ τὸ καλὸν εἶχεν αὐτῇ. ταῦτα δέ ἐστὶν οἰκεῖα τῆς ἀρετῆς.» (thus some codices, others start the quote with «ἐγὼ δὲ φιλήμμα βροσύναν»), which Edmonds translates to «Do you think that delicacy or refinement without virtue is a thing to be desired? Why, Sappho, who was a woman out and out and a poetess, too, hesitated nevertheless to separate refinement from honour, for she says: But I love delicacy, and the bright and the beautiful belong for me to the desire of the sunlight; making it clear that the desire to live comprehended for her the bright or famous and the beautiful or honourable; and these belong to virtue.». Bergk proposes his own emendation in the footnotes, «Ἔγω δὲ φίλημμ' ἀβροσύναν, καὶ γὰρ ἔμοι τὸ λάμπρον / ἔρος γλυκίρω ἀελίω καὶ τὸ κάλον λέλογχε». Outside the footnotes, however, he prints pretty much my text, save for having «ἀβροσύναν .... καί μοι». This means he accepts someone else's suggestion to emend ἔρος to ἔρως for metrical reasons. Edmonds has his own line-breaking to solve the same problem.
Then, Oxyrhynchus happened. Yes, that name again. Told you it was gonna pop up often :). Oxyrhynchus offered one big scrap of papyrus that definitely linked to this quotation, and two micro-scraps that possibly linked to the big one, though the link is doubtful. All of that is discussed at the papyri transcriptions post, where the following collage of the three scraps is presented, with fr. 1 uncolored, fr. 2 and 2a red (top is 2a, bottom 2, so no ambiguity), and the Athenaeus quote cyan:
The first source (in a chronological sense), and the only source available for Bergk (fr. 80 [43]) and Edmonds (fr. 118) is Athenaeus's Deipnosophistae (another name we will hear very many times, and that we have heard in Hector and Andromacha), which, in book XV, say «ὑμεῖς δε οἴεσθε τὴν ἁβρότητα χωρὶς ἀρετῆς ἔχειν τι τερπνόν; καίτοι Σαπφώ, γυνὴ μὲν πρὸς ἀλήθειαν αὖσα καὶ ποιήτρια, ὅμως ᾐδέσθη τὸ καλὸν τῆς ἁβρότητος ἀφελεῖν λέγουσα ὧδε· Ἐγὼ δὲ φίλημμι ἁβροσύναν καί μοι τὸ λάμπρον ἔρος ἀέλιω καὶ τὸ κάλον λέλογχε, φανερὸν ποιοῦσα πᾶσιν ὡς ἡ τοῦ ζῆν ἐπιθυμία τὸ λαμπρὸν καὶ τὸ καλὸν εἶχεν αὐτῇ. ταῦτα δέ ἐστὶν οἰκεῖα τῆς ἀρετῆς.» (thus some codices, others start the quote with «ἐγὼ δὲ φιλήμμα βροσύναν»), which Edmonds translates to «Do you think that delicacy or refinement without virtue is a thing to be desired? Why, Sappho, who was a woman out and out and a poetess, too, hesitated nevertheless to separate refinement from honour, for she says: But I love delicacy, and the bright and the beautiful belong for me to the desire of the sunlight; making it clear that the desire to live comprehended for her the bright or famous and the beautiful or honourable; and these belong to virtue.». Bergk proposes his own emendation in the footnotes, «Ἔγω δὲ φίλημμ' ἀβροσύναν, καὶ γὰρ ἔμοι τὸ λάμπρον / ἔρος γλυκίρω ἀελίω καὶ τὸ κάλον λέλογχε». Outside the footnotes, however, he prints pretty much my text, save for having «ἀβροσύναν .... καί μοι». This means he accepts someone else's suggestion to emend ἔρος to ἔρως for metrical reasons. Edmonds has his own line-breaking to solve the same problem.
Then, Oxyrhynchus happened. Yes, that name again. Told you it was gonna pop up often :). Oxyrhynchus offered one big scrap of papyrus that definitely linked to this quotation, and two micro-scraps that possibly linked to the big one, though the link is doubtful. All of that is discussed at the papyri transcriptions post, where the following collage of the three scraps is presented, with fr. 1 uncolored, fr. 2 and 2a red (top is 2a, bottom 2, so no ambiguity), and the Athenaeus quote cyan:
κά]λ̣εσσα [ ο]ἶ̣δα [
] ̣πέρι̣[
] ̣εικε ̣[ ]η̣α [
φ]ύγοισα̣[
] ̣[.] ̣[ ~12 letters ] ̣δ' ἄχθην̣ 5
]χ̣υ̣θ[.] ̣[.]ω̣[ ~8 letters α]ὔτα̣ν
]ἄχ̣θο[ς .]ατι ̣[......]ọισα
]μένα τὰν [πολυ]ώνυμόν σ̤ε̤
]ν̤ι θῆται στ̣[ύ]μα̤[τι] πρ̣όκοψιν̣
]πων κάλα δῶρα παῖδες 10
] φίλ' ἄοιδον λιγύραν χελύνναν[
] ̣τα χρόα γῆρας ἤδη
]ντο τρίχες ἐκ μελαίναν
]α̣ι γόνα δ' [ο]ὐ̣ φέροισι
]ησθ' ἴσα̣ νεβρίοισιν 15
ἀ]λλὰ τί κεν ποείην
] οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι
] β̣ροδόπαχυν Αὔων
] ̣ατα γᾶς φέροισα
] ̣ν ὔμως ἔμαρψε[ 20
]άταν ἄκοιτιν[
ἐκφθ]ίμέναν νομίσδει
]αις ὀπάσδοι
ἔγω δὲ φίλημμ' ἀβροσύναν [] τοῦτο καί μοι
τὸ λάμπρον ἔρ‹ω›ς ἀέλιω καὶ τὸ κάλον λέλογχε 25
] ̣πιν[ ] . [...] . σ .́ .[
]φίλει ̣[
]κ̣αιν̤[
Then, in 2002+ (meaning after Campbell, whose Sappho and Alcaeus book dates to 1952), a number of papyri were acquired by some institution in Cologne from some guy who possessed them. They were analyzed, and a number of them stuck out. All of those are discussed… wait for it… I bet you know… in the transcriptions post, where two combinations are presented. Indeed, the overlap is blatant (the only reason to combine the Köln material, in fact, besides it being from the same cartonage -- right?), but only starts at the κάλα δῶρα παῖδες line, so the rest of the lines in the Oxyrhynchus collage and in the Köln fragments are other poems – surprise motherEFFers! Anyway, here comes the combined text. The left column integrates the previous Oxyrhynchus collage with the Köln material, using blue for fr. 1, pink for fr. 2, and purple for fr. inv. 21376, keeping the non-common lines from Oxyrhynchus. The right column, on top of exactly the same integration, keeps the lines from Köln, thus using cyan for fr. 1b, and leaves the end of the fragments alone because it is not by Sappho so we don't care about it.
κά]λ̣εσσα [ ο]ἶ̣δα [ ] ̣πέρι̣[ ] ̣εικε ̣[ ]η̣α [ φ]ύγοισα̣[ ] ̣[.] ̣[ ~12 letters ] ̣δ' ἄχθην̣ ]χ̣υ̣θ[.] ̣[.]ω̣[ ~8 letters α]ὔτα̣ν ]ἄχ̣θο[ς .]ατι ̣[......]ọισα ]μένα τὰν [πολυ]ώνυμόν σ̤ε̤ ]ν̤ι θῆται στ̣[ύ]μα̤[τι] πρ̣όκοψιν̣ [ὔμμες πεδὰ Μοίσαν ἰο]κόλ̣πων κάλα δῶρα παῖδες σπουδάσδετε καὶ τὰ]ν φίλάοιδον λιγύραν χελύνναν[ ἔμοι δ' ἄπαλο πρίν] ποτ̣' [ἔ]ο̣ντα χρόα γῆρας ἤδη ἐπέλλαβε λεῦκάι τ' ἐγ]ένοντο τρίχες ἐκ μελαίναν βάρυς δέ μ' ὀ θῦμ[ο]ς πεπόητα̣ι γόνα δ' οὐ̣ φέροισι τὰ δή ποτα λαίψηρ' ἔον ὄρχησθ' ἴσα̣ νεβρίοισιν [ταῦ]τα στεναχί‹σδ›ω θαμέως, ἀλλὰ τί κεν ποείην ἀγή̣ραον ἄθρωπον ἔοντ' οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι καὶ γάρ π[ο]τα Τίθωνον ἔφαντο βροδόπαχυν Αὔων Ἔρῳ δ̣α̤[..]αθεισαν βάμεν εἰς ἔσχατα γᾶς φέροισα ἔοντα [κ]ά̤λ̤ο̤ν καὶ έον ἀλλ' αὖτ̣ον ὔμως ἔμαρψε[ χρόνω̣ι π̣[ό[λιον̤ γ̤ῆ̣ρας ἔ[χοντ'] ἀθανάταν ἄκοιτιν[ ἐκφθ]ίμέναν νομίσδει ]αις ὀπάσδοι ἔγω δὲ φίλημμ' ἀβροσύναν [] τοῦτο καί μοι τὸ λάμπρον ἔρ‹ω›ς ἀέλιω καὶ τὸ κάλον λέλογχε ] ̣πιν[ ] . [...] . σ .́ .[ ]φίλει ̣[ ]κ̣αιν̤[ |
] . ν̣όε̣[ισαι ] πῆμ[α ]φατ̤[ ]λ̣[ ]ιυ[ [Several lines lost] ] . οὐ[ ] ε̣ὐχο̣μ̣[ ] . νῦν θαλ[ί]α̣[ ] . ερθε δὲ γᾶς περ[ίσχ]οι ]ο ἔχοι̣σαι γέρας ὠς̣ [ἔ]ο̣ικε̣ν ]ζοιε̣ν̣ ἆς νῦν ἐπὶ γᾶς ἔοισαν ] λιγύρ̤α̤ν [αἴ] κεν ἔλοισα πᾶκτιν[ χέ]λ̣υ̣ν̣ναν̣ θαλάμοισ' ἀε̣ίδω [ὔμμες πεδὰ Μοίσαν ἰο]κόλ̣πων κάλα δῶρα παῖδες σπουδάσδετε καὶ τὰ]ν φίλάοιδον λιγύραν χελύνναν[ ἔμοι δ' ἄπαλο πρίν] ποτ̣' [ἔ]ο̣ντα χρόα γῆρας ἤδη ἐπέλλαβε λεῦκάι τ' ἐγ]ένοντο τρίχες ἐκ μελαίναν βάρυς δέ μ' ὀ θῦμ[ο]ς πεπόητα̣ι γόνα δ' οὐ̣ φέροισι τὰ δή ποτα λαίψηρ' ἔον ὄρχησθ' ἴσα̣ νεβρίοισιν [ταῦ]τα στεναχί‹σδ›ω θαμέως, ἀλλὰ τί κεν ποείην ἀγή̣ραον ἄθρωπον ἔοντ' οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι καὶ γάρ π[ο]τα Τίθωνον ἔφαντο βροδόπαχυν Αὔων Ἔρῳ δ̣α̤[..]αθεισαν βάμεν εἰς ἔσχατα γᾶς φέροισα ἔοντα [κ]ά̤λ̤ο̤ν καὶ έον ἀλλ' αὖτ̣ον ὔμως ἔμαρψε[ χρόνω̣ι π̣[ό[λιον̤ γ̤ῆ̣ρας ἔ[χοντ'] ἀθανάταν ἄκοιτιν[ [Poem not by Sappho omitted] |
More on the lines in "Beautiful gifts of the muses" that come before the Köln part in the Oxyrhynchus papyrus
In this section, I want to narrate my interactions with that part. which brought me to a crazy completions (basically "pulling an Edmonds" on this fragment). I am following the relation of this I made to Calcagno in the evening of 24/6/24, injecting the dates and timestamps of the integrations made by me as found in my self-chat where I annotated them. I started with basically the papyrus text:
. . . . . . κά]λ̣εσσα [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ιδᾱ̀ [–x
. . . .] . πέρι̣[
. . .] . εικε ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̣α [
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ] . γοισα̣[
] ̣[. .] . . [. . . . . . . . . . . . .] . δᾱ́χ[.]θην̣ 5
. . . . . . . . . . ]χ̣υ̣θ[.] . . [. .] . λ̣λ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . . ]ύτα̣[]ν
. . . . . . . . . . . . . ] . χ̣θο[. .]ατι . [.....]εισα
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]μενᾱταν[. . . .] .́ νυμόν σ̣ε̣
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̤ιθῆταιστ̣[.]μα̤[. .]πρ̣ .́ κοψιν̣
Here is the papyrus, which then goes on for a bunch more with more poems, as we have seen. The image, differently from the above text, is lacking fr. 2a (whence κάλεσσα, πέρι, εικε), which I don't know what became of it as it seems to have vanished from Sappho after the Grenfell-Hunt transcription. Both have an extra fragment first published by Lobel and dubbed L.Σ.μ. IV 1, which I never knew existed until blog times, and which I somehow thought might be fr. 2a at some point. This seems to transcribe «].[. .] . .[ / ]χ̣υ̣θ[.] . . [ / ] . χ̣θο[ / ]μ», and it inserts into ll. 5-9 of the above text.
A couple simple integrations bring us to:
. . . . . . κά]λ̣εσσα [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ο]ἶδα [–x
. . . .] . πέρι̣[
. . .] . εικε ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̣α [
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ] . γοισα̣[
] ̣[. .] . . [. . . . . . . . . . . . .] . δᾱ́χ[.]θην̣
. . . . . . . . . . ]χ̣υ̣θ[.] . . [. .] . λ̣λ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . α]ὔτα̣ν
. . . . . . . . . . . . . ] . χ̣θο[. .]ατι . [.....]εισα
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]μενᾱ τὰν [. . . .] .́ νυμόν σ̣ε̣
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̤ι θῆται στ̣[ύ]μα̤[. ι] πρ̣όκοψιν̣
φύγοισα(ν) and δάχθην require a word. The former sees an uncertain Y initially taken for an I, which is no wonder for a trace that is basically a dot plus an acute accent (yes, that is indeed in the papyrus). As for the latter, the first editors (aka Grenfell and Hunt) thought of δ' ἄχθην (as I had back in the days), but it looks like they had a thing for apostrophes since they even took the οἶδα for ιδ'α, though I see no sign of an apostrophe in either case.
Another thing that would come spontaneous is [πολυ]ώνυμόν σε, or the like. In effect I also ended up taking that up, but looking at the papyrus that trace does not seem compatible with ω, and the proposal of ]άνυμόν of the editors seems more likely. Cannot explain why they end up with ]αν ὐμο . . though.
στύματι or στύμασι? The latter would fit the gap better, because sigma is narrower than tau. Let's go with the former though, maybe that ]νι agrees with it.
Before the δάχθην there is a dot, which could be read e.g. as I.
We thus arrive at:
. . . . . . κά]λ̣εσσα [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ο]ἶδα [–x
. . . .] . πέρι̣[
. . .] . εικε ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̣α [
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . φ]ύ̣γοισα̣[
] ̣[. .] . . [. . . . . . . . . . . . .]ι̣ δᾱ́χθην̣
. . . . . . . . . . ]χ̣υ̣θ[.] . . [. .] . λ̣λ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . α]ὔτα̣ν
. . . . . . . . . . . . . ] . χ̣θο[. .]ατι . [.....]εισα
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]μενᾱ τὰν [πολυ]‹ώ›νυμόν σ̣ε̣
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̤ι θῆται στ̣[ύ]μα̤[τι] πρ̣όκοψιν̣
At this point, let the critics intervene. First off, that φύγοισα could be an accusative, maybe in the object clause of a verbum dicendi (cfr. φαῖσι δή ποτα Λήδαν ... εὔρην, or the ἔφαντο βροδόπαχυν Αὔων / ... βάμεν εἰς ἔσχατα γᾶς φέροισαν in the part below, the Tithonus part). So someone involved in a fleeing act has been bitten. It could be Eurydice, so before δάχθην we want ἐχίδνας ὄδοντι. At which point I swoop in and complete even more:
x–uu φαῖσ' Εὐρυδίκαν φ]ύ̣γοισα̣[ν
θήρηντά γ' Ἀρίσ]τ̣[αι]ο̣ν̣ [ἐχίδνας ποτ' ὄδοντ]ι̣ δᾱ́χθην̣
L. 1 was completed 23/6/24 19:23, l. 2 was done 20:44 («Ἀρίσταιον is hard to integrate in x–u ἐχίδνας] ̣[.] ̣[uu––u ὄδοντ]ι ̣δάχθην̣, given that the first vestige is either Γ Ι Ρ Τ Υ Φ Ψ, so maybe the rho or T… maybe Ἀρίσ]τ̣[αι]ο̣ν̣ [ἐχίδνας μὲν ὄδοντ]ι ̣δάχθην̣», I wrote) except the first word which came at 23:42, and the ποτ' coming in place of μὲν at 23:45. That ]τ̣[ is admittedly a bit of a stretch, it looks more like ]ρ[, and that verb θήρηντά for "(Aristaios) who was chasing (her)" may not really fit.
Now we need to talk about the next line, . . . . . . . . . . ]χ̣υ̣θ[.] . . [. .] . λ̣λ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . α]ὔτα̣ν. «θ[.] . .» looks more like «θ [.] ε̣ι̣», or maybe the ε̣ is an ό. Maybe θ[ε]όι = θ[έ]οι, where the scribe accented the diphthong instead of the epsilon because they didn't know Aeolic too well :). The gap could be of one letter, we could read [Κ]άλλ[ιόπα, σὺ δ' in that place. We would thus have:
. . . . . . . . . . ]χ̣υ̣ θ[έ]οι [Κ]α̣λ̣λ̣[ιόπα, σὺ δ' α]ὔτα̣ν
That ]χ̣υ̣ could be πάγ]χυ, or Idk what else. Always taking from the myth, we could integrate Δύσθυμοι ἔον, (the gods) were sad, because Orpheus, once he learned his wife was dead, sang in such a way that he made all the gods cry. I actually started with «x–uu– πάγ]χ̣υ̣ θ[έ]ο̣ι· [Κ]α̣λλ̣[οόπα, σὺ δ' α]ὔτα̣ν -> Καὔτταν κλαΐην πάγ]χ̣υ̣ θ[έ]ο̣ι· [Κ]α̣λλ̣[οόπα, σὺ δ' α]ὔτα̣ν not good because it's supposed to be in the myth, so aorist or perfect infinitive, not present.» (20:10), then considered «I guess Κλαύσασθ' ἐπὶ τὰν could do? Doesn't link to previous, uses tàn as pronoun… hmm…» (20:14), then «Κ'ησαν ταλανοι/ες παγχυ θεοί?» (21:24, but it's ἔον not ἔσαν/ἦσαν), and finally got to the integration given here at 23:51, where I also considered «Γένοντ' ἄτυχες», discarded at 23:52: «Second one is no-go because it should have ἀτύχεες». Thus, putting everything together:
. . . . . . κά]λ̣εσσα [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ο]ἶδα [–x
. . . .] . πέρι̣[
. . .] . εικε ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̣α [
x–uu– –uu φαῖσ' Εὐρυδίκαν φ]ύ̣γοισα̣[ν
θήρηντά γ' Ἀρίσ]τ̣[αι]ο̣ν̣ [ἐχίδνας ποτ' ὄδοντ]ι̣ δᾱ́χθην̣,
Δύσθυμοι ἔον πάγ]χ̣υ̣ θ[έ]οι· [Κ]α̣λ̣λ̣[ιόπα, σὺ δ' α]ὔτα̣ν
. . . . . . . . . . . . . ] . χ̣θο[. .]ατι . [.....]εισα
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]μενᾱ τὰν [πολυώ]νυμόν σ̣ε̣
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̤ι θῆται στ̣[ύ]μα̤[τι] πρ̣όκοψιν̣
For the penultimate line I took up, at least temporarily, the proposal of those who say that the apparent trace before the ν is not part of a letter, of which only the acute accent would remain. As if, after the putative ω, the scribe had gone down to the base of the ν, and this descent were the trace in question.
OK, I skipped a line, but I just went to the next one that I can integrate. Indeed at the start of the part we have of this lane we can integrare κεκλο]μένα. As an adjective with στύματι we can put κρέσσονι.
At this point we must discuss θῆται πρόκοψιν. Until relatively recent times, πρόκοψιν was taken as equal to προκοπήν, and the translation was something like "success is given to the mouth". Which obviously isn't very good, as that is a subjunctive, so "May success be given to the [better?] mouth", i.e. "May the better singer win" (my original idea for the Japanese translation, cfr. the English at the Sicilian anthology and the older version at the Chôka anthology). Instead, Benelli translates «che realizzi una prestazione con una voce migliore» (may (s)he make a performance with a better voice). Oh goodie, and where does this translation pop out of? Aside from mouth->voice, which is conceivable, he takes θῆται πρόκοψιν as a turn of words, and as the original sense of that very rare noun, and in fact of all the compounds of προ- and *κόψις (πρόκοψις, προκόπτω, προκοπή), he gives me «"stirare, distendere" (to stretch, to extend), whence "procedere, avanzare, progredire" (proceed, advance, progress) and, thuss, "svilupparsi, migliorarsi" (develop, improve)». Thus "to place a distension/stretch / progress / an improvement" = "make a performance"? Sounds like a stretch (ha!), maybe if you guys look at Luca Benelli's Il «Quarto Libro» delle Odi di Saffo you can understand it better, especially if you're more expert in Greek than me :).
For the penultimate line, I did consider «Κήνα δέ τε νῦν sounds like dé te might be unjustified, and also, who is kēna? Eurydice again? Is Sappho praying for Eurydice to perform well in the underworld or to come back to life?» at 23:58, but couldn't find any satisfactory alternative.
The last integration comes in roundabout ways. Basically, at this point I started remaking the Japanese, and I was missing a line. Thus, with the inspiration of the moment, I thought "according to his/her wish", which I was able to fit in the Japanese meter, and thus Κὰτ ὄττι θέλει in Greek (conceived at 1:34 the following night), with the same subject as θῆται, i.e. the one who called upon the Goddess of many names (κεκλο]μένα τὰν [πολυώ]νυμόν σ̣ε̣), which is Calliope btw, which is another reason to integrate Calliope two lines above. And thus, the final text:
. . . . . . κά]λ̣εσσα [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ο]ἶδα [–x
. . . .] . πέρι̣[
. . .] . εικε ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̣α [
x–uu– –uu φαῖσ' Εὐρυδίκαν φ]ύ̣γοισα̣[ν
θήρηντά γ' Ἀρίσ]τ̣[αι]ο̣ν̣ [ἐχίδνας ποτ' ὄδοντ]ι̣ δᾱ́χθην̣,
Δύσθυμοι ἔον πάγ]χ̣υ̣ θ[έ]οι· [Κ]α̣λ̣λ̣[ιόπα, σὺ δ' α]ὔτα̣ν
. . . . . . . . . . . . . ] . χ̣θο[. .]ατι . [.....]εισα
. . . . . . . . . κεκλο]μένα τὰν [πολυώ]νυμόν σ̣ε̣,
κάτ ὄττι θέλει, κρέσσο]ν̤ι θῆται στ̣[ύ]μα̤[τι] πρ̣όκοψιν̣
And the English version I added into the Chôka anthology:
… I called …
… around …
…
… they say Eurydice,] having fled
[Aristæus who was chasing her,] was bitten [by the tooth of a snake
(And)] the gods [were wholly sad; but you, o Calliope,] her
…
… having called] unto you of [many] names,
[As she wishes, may she] perform with a [better] voice.
I am still uncertain if that φύγοισαν Ἀρίσταιον is correct, or if it should be Φυγοισαν απ' Αρισραιου, a doubt that came to me 27/4/24 10:14.
References
. . . . . . κά]λ̣εσσα [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ιδᾱ̀ [–x
. . . .] . πέρι̣[
. . .] . εικε ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̣α [
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ] . γοισα̣[
] ̣[. .] . . [. . . . . . . . . . . . .] . δᾱ́χ[.]θην̣ 5
. . . . . . . . . . ]χ̣υ̣θ[.] . . [. .] . λ̣λ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . . ]ύτα̣[]ν
. . . . . . . . . . . . . ] . χ̣θο[. .]ατι . [.....]εισα
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]μενᾱταν[. . . .] .́ νυμόν σ̣ε̣
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̤ιθῆταιστ̣[.]μα̤[. .]πρ̣ .́ κοψιν̣
Here is the papyrus, which then goes on for a bunch more with more poems, as we have seen. The image, differently from the above text, is lacking fr. 2a (whence κάλεσσα, πέρι, εικε), which I don't know what became of it as it seems to have vanished from Sappho after the Grenfell-Hunt transcription. Both have an extra fragment first published by Lobel and dubbed L.Σ.μ. IV 1, which I never knew existed until blog times, and which I somehow thought might be fr. 2a at some point. This seems to transcribe «].[. .] . .[ / ]χ̣υ̣θ[.] . . [ / ] . χ̣θο[ / ]μ», and it inserts into ll. 5-9 of the above text.
A couple simple integrations bring us to:
. . . . . . κά]λ̣εσσα [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ο]ἶδα [–x
. . . .] . πέρι̣[
. . .] . εικε ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̣α [
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ] . γοισα̣[
] ̣[. .] . . [. . . . . . . . . . . . .] . δᾱ́χ[.]θην̣
. . . . . . . . . . ]χ̣υ̣θ[.] . . [. .] . λ̣λ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . α]ὔτα̣ν
. . . . . . . . . . . . . ] . χ̣θο[. .]ατι . [.....]εισα
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]μενᾱ τὰν [. . . .] .́ νυμόν σ̣ε̣
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̤ι θῆται στ̣[ύ]μα̤[. ι] πρ̣όκοψιν̣
φύγοισα(ν) and δάχθην require a word. The former sees an uncertain Y initially taken for an I, which is no wonder for a trace that is basically a dot plus an acute accent (yes, that is indeed in the papyrus). As for the latter, the first editors (aka Grenfell and Hunt) thought of δ' ἄχθην (as I had back in the days), but it looks like they had a thing for apostrophes since they even took the οἶδα for ιδ'α, though I see no sign of an apostrophe in either case.
Another thing that would come spontaneous is [πολυ]ώνυμόν σε, or the like. In effect I also ended up taking that up, but looking at the papyrus that trace does not seem compatible with ω, and the proposal of ]άνυμόν of the editors seems more likely. Cannot explain why they end up with ]αν ὐμο . . though.
στύματι or στύμασι? The latter would fit the gap better, because sigma is narrower than tau. Let's go with the former though, maybe that ]νι agrees with it.
Before the δάχθην there is a dot, which could be read e.g. as I.
We thus arrive at:
. . . . . . κά]λ̣εσσα [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ο]ἶδα [–x
. . . .] . πέρι̣[
. . .] . εικε ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̣α [
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . φ]ύ̣γοισα̣[
] ̣[. .] . . [. . . . . . . . . . . . .]ι̣ δᾱ́χθην̣
. . . . . . . . . . ]χ̣υ̣θ[.] . . [. .] . λ̣λ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . α]ὔτα̣ν
. . . . . . . . . . . . . ] . χ̣θο[. .]ατι . [.....]εισα
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]μενᾱ τὰν [πολυ]‹ώ›νυμόν σ̣ε̣
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̤ι θῆται στ̣[ύ]μα̤[τι] πρ̣όκοψιν̣
At this point, let the critics intervene. First off, that φύγοισα could be an accusative, maybe in the object clause of a verbum dicendi (cfr. φαῖσι δή ποτα Λήδαν ... εὔρην, or the ἔφαντο βροδόπαχυν Αὔων / ... βάμεν εἰς ἔσχατα γᾶς φέροισαν in the part below, the Tithonus part). So someone involved in a fleeing act has been bitten. It could be Eurydice, so before δάχθην we want ἐχίδνας ὄδοντι. At which point I swoop in and complete even more:
x–uu φαῖσ' Εὐρυδίκαν φ]ύ̣γοισα̣[ν
θήρηντά γ' Ἀρίσ]τ̣[αι]ο̣ν̣ [ἐχίδνας ποτ' ὄδοντ]ι̣ δᾱ́χθην̣
L. 1 was completed 23/6/24 19:23, l. 2 was done 20:44 («Ἀρίσταιον is hard to integrate in x–u ἐχίδνας] ̣[.] ̣[uu––u ὄδοντ]ι ̣δάχθην̣, given that the first vestige is either Γ Ι Ρ Τ Υ Φ Ψ, so maybe the rho or T… maybe Ἀρίσ]τ̣[αι]ο̣ν̣ [ἐχίδνας μὲν ὄδοντ]ι ̣δάχθην̣», I wrote) except the first word which came at 23:42, and the ποτ' coming in place of μὲν at 23:45. That ]τ̣[ is admittedly a bit of a stretch, it looks more like ]ρ[, and that verb θήρηντά for "(Aristaios) who was chasing (her)" may not really fit.
Now we need to talk about the next line, . . . . . . . . . . ]χ̣υ̣θ[.] . . [. .] . λ̣λ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . α]ὔτα̣ν. «θ[.] . .» looks more like «θ [.] ε̣ι̣», or maybe the ε̣ is an ό. Maybe θ[ε]όι = θ[έ]οι, where the scribe accented the diphthong instead of the epsilon because they didn't know Aeolic too well :). The gap could be of one letter, we could read [Κ]άλλ[ιόπα, σὺ δ' in that place. We would thus have:
. . . . . . . . . . ]χ̣υ̣ θ[έ]οι [Κ]α̣λ̣λ̣[ιόπα, σὺ δ' α]ὔτα̣ν
That ]χ̣υ̣ could be πάγ]χυ, or Idk what else. Always taking from the myth, we could integrate Δύσθυμοι ἔον, (the gods) were sad, because Orpheus, once he learned his wife was dead, sang in such a way that he made all the gods cry. I actually started with «x–uu– πάγ]χ̣υ̣ θ[έ]ο̣ι· [Κ]α̣λλ̣[οόπα, σὺ δ' α]ὔτα̣ν -> Καὔτταν κλαΐην πάγ]χ̣υ̣ θ[έ]ο̣ι· [Κ]α̣λλ̣[οόπα, σὺ δ' α]ὔτα̣ν not good because it's supposed to be in the myth, so aorist or perfect infinitive, not present.» (20:10), then considered «I guess Κλαύσασθ' ἐπὶ τὰν could do? Doesn't link to previous, uses tàn as pronoun… hmm…» (20:14), then «Κ'ησαν ταλανοι/ες παγχυ θεοί?» (21:24, but it's ἔον not ἔσαν/ἦσαν), and finally got to the integration given here at 23:51, where I also considered «Γένοντ' ἄτυχες», discarded at 23:52: «Second one is no-go because it should have ἀτύχεες». Thus, putting everything together:
. . . . . . κά]λ̣εσσα [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ο]ἶδα [–x
. . . .] . πέρι̣[
. . .] . εικε ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̣α [
x–uu– –uu φαῖσ' Εὐρυδίκαν φ]ύ̣γοισα̣[ν
θήρηντά γ' Ἀρίσ]τ̣[αι]ο̣ν̣ [ἐχίδνας ποτ' ὄδοντ]ι̣ δᾱ́χθην̣,
Δύσθυμοι ἔον πάγ]χ̣υ̣ θ[έ]οι· [Κ]α̣λ̣λ̣[ιόπα, σὺ δ' α]ὔτα̣ν
. . . . . . . . . . . . . ] . χ̣θο[. .]ατι . [.....]εισα
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]μενᾱ τὰν [πολυώ]νυμόν σ̣ε̣
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̤ι θῆται στ̣[ύ]μα̤[τι] πρ̣όκοψιν̣
For the penultimate line I took up, at least temporarily, the proposal of those who say that the apparent trace before the ν is not part of a letter, of which only the acute accent would remain. As if, after the putative ω, the scribe had gone down to the base of the ν, and this descent were the trace in question.
OK, I skipped a line, but I just went to the next one that I can integrate. Indeed at the start of the part we have of this lane we can integrare κεκλο]μένα. As an adjective with στύματι we can put κρέσσονι.
At this point we must discuss θῆται πρόκοψιν. Until relatively recent times, πρόκοψιν was taken as equal to προκοπήν, and the translation was something like "success is given to the mouth". Which obviously isn't very good, as that is a subjunctive, so "May success be given to the [better?] mouth", i.e. "May the better singer win" (my original idea for the Japanese translation, cfr. the English at the Sicilian anthology and the older version at the Chôka anthology). Instead, Benelli translates «che realizzi una prestazione con una voce migliore» (may (s)he make a performance with a better voice). Oh goodie, and where does this translation pop out of? Aside from mouth->voice, which is conceivable, he takes θῆται πρόκοψιν as a turn of words, and as the original sense of that very rare noun, and in fact of all the compounds of προ- and *κόψις (πρόκοψις, προκόπτω, προκοπή), he gives me «"stirare, distendere" (to stretch, to extend), whence "procedere, avanzare, progredire" (proceed, advance, progress) and, thuss, "svilupparsi, migliorarsi" (develop, improve)». Thus "to place a distension/stretch / progress / an improvement" = "make a performance"? Sounds like a stretch (ha!), maybe if you guys look at Luca Benelli's Il «Quarto Libro» delle Odi di Saffo you can understand it better, especially if you're more expert in Greek than me :).
For the penultimate line, I did consider «Κήνα δέ τε νῦν sounds like dé te might be unjustified, and also, who is kēna? Eurydice again? Is Sappho praying for Eurydice to perform well in the underworld or to come back to life?» at 23:58, but couldn't find any satisfactory alternative.
The last integration comes in roundabout ways. Basically, at this point I started remaking the Japanese, and I was missing a line. Thus, with the inspiration of the moment, I thought "according to his/her wish", which I was able to fit in the Japanese meter, and thus Κὰτ ὄττι θέλει in Greek (conceived at 1:34 the following night), with the same subject as θῆται, i.e. the one who called upon the Goddess of many names (κεκλο]μένα τὰν [πολυώ]νυμόν σ̣ε̣), which is Calliope btw, which is another reason to integrate Calliope two lines above. And thus, the final text:
. . . . . . κά]λ̣εσσα [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ο]ἶδα [–x
. . . .] . πέρι̣[
. . .] . εικε ̣[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]ν̣α [
x–uu– –uu φαῖσ' Εὐρυδίκαν φ]ύ̣γοισα̣[ν
θήρηντά γ' Ἀρίσ]τ̣[αι]ο̣ν̣ [ἐχίδνας ποτ' ὄδοντ]ι̣ δᾱ́χθην̣,
Δύσθυμοι ἔον πάγ]χ̣υ̣ θ[έ]οι· [Κ]α̣λ̣λ̣[ιόπα, σὺ δ' α]ὔτα̣ν
. . . . . . . . . . . . . ] . χ̣θο[. .]ατι . [.....]εισα
. . . . . . . . . κεκλο]μένα τὰν [πολυώ]νυμόν σ̣ε̣,
κάτ ὄττι θέλει, κρέσσο]ν̤ι θῆται στ̣[ύ]μα̤[τι] πρ̣όκοψιν̣
And the English version I added into the Chôka anthology:
… I called …
… around …
…
… they say Eurydice,] having fled
[Aristæus who was chasing her,] was bitten [by the tooth of a snake
(And)] the gods [were wholly sad; but you, o Calliope,] her
…
… having called] unto you of [many] names,
[As she wishes, may she] perform with a [better] voice.
I am still uncertain if that φύγοισαν Ἀρίσταιον is correct, or if it should be Φυγοισαν απ' Αρισραιου, a doubt that came to me 27/4/24 10:14.
References
- Grenfell and Hunt on Oxyrhynchus papyri;
- Edmonds' edition of Sappho;
- Campbell's edition of Sappho;
- Bergk's edition of Sappho;
- Diehls' Supplementum Lyricum;
- Greek Wikisource;
- Other Greek Wikisource link;
- Wharton's edition of Sappho;
- SaffoComm1.doc;
- safopoemas;
- S.B. Palmer's The Complete Poems Of Sappho;
- Bibliotheca Augustana;
- Carson's edition of Sappho (not available online).
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