You may already be wondering: Leopardi is Italian, so why is this post in English? Well, we've been on the moonlight theme lately, so it's a good place to have "Alla luna", by Leopardi, and while we're on his poems, might as well include another one, namely the far more well-known "L'infinito", to avoid either a completely out-of-theme post with just that or a post with just that to be placed who knew where. Here's a list of the translations, with their history, starting from what is reported in a 21/9/12 14:57 collection of translations of poetry by me:
The first translation I made, found in the English notebook, thus made during English class, is the translation of L'infinito to English, dating to 20/9/11, with different lines «Beyond it endless space, and superhuman => more than h.», «Infinity my thinking mind doth drown:» (fixed after the side-by-side English-Italian text), and «’Tis sweet to me to drown inside this sea.»; the reason I made that translation then was apparently a parallel between L'infinito and an English poem being done in the class, presumably this sonnet; any such difference is fixed within the timestamp of the file mentioned above; the last line was «’Tis sweet to me to drown inside this sea.» in the original, then changed to «And sweet to me’s to sink among these waves.» by the time the file rolled around, and thus it stayed until the blog, while the version "And sweet to me is shipwreck in this sea" the old version of this post wondered about is actually from another translation, number [9] here;
Then we have the English translation of Alla luna, which the file dates to «Presumibilmente subito dopo all’altra, certo prima del 15/10» (presumably straight after the other one, certainly before 15/10/11); it appears that the line «My life was then: and ’tis, nor changes style,» dates to «27/8 11:19», but the original is probably lost, as I don't think it was in a notebook and I don't have it on my computer; at any rate, the below translation is the one in the file;
Then we have the Chinese version of L'infinito, which was made on 27/8/12 as the below original version; this also appears in a Google file from Session 118, which is dated 10/3/13, while the previous session 117 is from 5/3/13; I don't know which came first, if this or the other Chinese; however, the poem collection from Aug 2012 puts this one first, and this was also revised first on Dec 19 2017 (intermediate revision), and rerevised first on Dec 26 2017 (latest revision, which affects everything but ll. 3-5, 8, 11, and 14) in this Fb note, so that's the order I'm going with; the changes of the first revision went like this, as per messages in my Fb chat with myself:
Ll. 2-3 at 16:47;
Ll. 4-7 at 16:52, where 6-7 are «Wubian de kongji, he chaoren de jijing / He zui shen de anjing; (bing nali jihu)», i.e. 无边的空间，和超人的寂静 / 和最深的安静；（并那里几乎）, where the parentheses mean that this was not new (i.e. from the previous version), and I'm assuming "kongji" was meant as "kongjian" but, typing on mobile, the 'n' turned to a backspace and deleted the 'a';
L. 7 is fixed at 17:32 in a message including 8-10, l. 9 missing the comma after shasha;
The last line at 17:36;
Ll. 11-14 at 19:25;
As for the revision in the note, here is the history as per screenshots from 26/12/17:
18:33:50 l. 1 is 我从来爱这个孤单的小山, and at 13:34:04 the classifier is about to be fixed;
13:34:42-13:35:08 figuring out the classifier for 树立;
13:39:54 we see kongji typed out as 空间 in l. 6, which still has 寂静;
13:40:04 we see l. 7 with 安静;
13:41:14 we see l. 9 with the original 来 in pinyin, ready to be characterified;
13:46:05 安静 highlighted in l. 7, ready to change to 平静;
13:46:40 寂静 in l. 6 highlighted, probably to change to 沉默;
Between 13:46:40 and 13:48:14 l. 10 got characterified and its 寂静 became 沉默;
13:52:00 we see up to the penult line characterified, and in that line 淹没 is presumably about to be changed; this change was somehow integrated into the intermediate revision, which seems to be incorrect;
Then typing till 13:57:12, when we see the last line being changed, as 在 is highlighted; yes, THAT one changed too, and quite a bit too; 13:57:21 入这沧海里海南为我甜蜜 has 海南为我甜蜜 highlighted; no idea where that 海南 came from; 13:57:36 we see …是的下沉海南为我甜蜜; 13:57:58 we see …俄不会让u / 海南为我甜蜜; 13:58:04 we see 入u这沧海里海南为我甜蜜; 13:58:08 入zu这沧海…; 13:58:31 入这沧海里海南为我甜蜜的下沉; 13:58:35 the spurious 海南为我 is selected, ready for deletion; what a messy history for that line :);
Writing this draft (in a very different form) in the afternoon of Dec 29 2017 brought a couple extra tweaks: 在这些植物来沙沙 => 在这些植物中沙沙, and 而今活着／的而它的声音。我思想这样 => 而今活的／而他的声音。我的思想这样;
Then we have the Chinese translation of Alla luna, which appears in the below "original" version in the file, save for the line 哦我亲亲的月亮。不过回忆, which gets its change between the 24/9/12 21:50 translation collection and the 9/8/13 17:25 file of translations to and from Chinese (why this wasn't in the older Chinese translations files beats me); actually, this last change happens in the Google file from between 5/3 and 10/3/13 I mentioned above, which also changes l. 1 to «哦最亲切的月亮，我才记得», i.e. replacing 优美 with 亲切 which is wrong, and l. 5 to «同就像此刻，满的阐明着它。», i.e. replacing 并满的阐明它 with 满的阐明着它 (the pinyin somehow ended up hybridizing the two, corresponding to 并满的阐明着它); as said above, I revised this on Dec 19 2017 (intermediate revision, which is in a single self-message from 22:45) and further revised on Dec 26 2017 in the afternoon (latest revision, changing only ll. 2-5); here is the screenshot history for the latest revision:
14:00:15 we see l. 2 already changed;
14:00:37 we see l. 3 typed in the intermediate form;
14:02:01 ditto l. 4;
14:02:22 l. 5 was characterified directly in the latest form, with 他 in place of 它;
14:02:56 心 in l. 3 ready to be changed to 内心, 14:05:03 I'm adding ze after 充满, 14:05:08 it's changed to zhe;
14:05:46 I'm typing out l. 6 after fixing l. 4;
14:12:46 the characterification is nearing its end
the 发现->出现 in l. 6 happened in the intermediate revision, but apparently was lost on the way to this note, which contains the final version except for having 发现, which of course I fixed on the blog.
So let's jump in!
O grazïosa luna, io mi rammento
Che, or volge l’anno, sovra questo colle
Io venia pien d’angoscia a rimirarti:
E tu pendevi allor su quella selva
Siccome or fai, che tutta la rischiari.
Ma nebuloso e tremulo dal pianto
Che mi sorgea sul ciglio, alle mie luci
Il tuo volto apparia, che travagliosa
Era mia vita: ed è, né cangia stile,
O mia diletta luna. E pur mi giova
La ricordanza, e il noverar l’etate
Del mio dolore. Oh come grato occorre
Nel tempo giovanil, quando ancor lungo
La speme e breve ha la memoria il corso,
Il rimembrar delle passate cose,
Ancor che triste, e che l’affanno duri!
O moon so full of grace, I can recall
That I, one year ago, upon this hill,
With anguish full, oft came to gaze on you:
And you did hang upon that forest then
As you do now, enlightening it all.
But cloudy then, and trembling for the tears
That rose upon my brow, unto my lights
Thy visage did appear, for full of grief
My life was then: and ’tis, nor changes style,
O my belovèd moon. And yet ’tis good
For me to that recall, and count the age
Of my great grieving. O how pleasing is
In the young age, when still a journey long
One’s hope doth face, a short one memory,
The reembodying of past events
However sad, with trouble still alive!
Ó zuì yōuměi de yuèliàng, wǒ cái jìde
Wǒ yī nián yǐqián zài zhè xiǎoshān zhī shàng
Chōngmǎn jídù tòngkǔ cháng lái kànjiàn nǐ:
Nǐ yòu céng xuánguà zài nàgè sēnlín shàng
Tóng jiùxiàng cǐkè, bìng mǎn de chǎnmíng tā.
Dàn nǐ de liǎn wèi zài méitóu shàng fāxiàn
De lèishuǐ duì wǒ de yǎnmù kànqǐlái
Húnzhuó hé chàndǒu, yīnwèi wǒ de shēnghuó
Chōngmǎn tòngkǔ: hái shì, bìng bù biàn zuòfǎ,
Ó wǒ qīn’ài de yuèliàng. Bù guò huíyì
Yǐjí bǎ wǒ tòngkǔ de shíhou shùshù
Wèi wǒ shì hǎo. Ó duōme de xǐhuan de
Zài niánqīng shíhou, dāng xīwàng hái bǎ cháng
De lǚxíng, huíyì bǎ duǎn lǚxíng yǒngyǒu,
Gěi guòqù de chūláishì xīn de shēntǐ,
Suīrán hěn bēishāng, bìng tòngkǔ hái chíxù!
Sempre caro mi fu quest’ermo colle,
E questa siepe, che da tanta parte
De l’ultimo orizzonte il guardo esclude.
Ma sedendo e mirando, interminati
Spazi di là da quella, e sovrumani
Silenzi, e profondissima quïete
Io nel pensier mi fingo; ove per poco
Il cor non si spaura. E come il vento
Odo stormir tra queste piante, io quello
Infinito silenzio a questa voce
Vo comparando: e mi sovvien l’eterno,
E le morte stagioni, e la presente
E viva, e ’l suon di lei. Così tra questa
Immensità s’annega il pensier mio:
E ’l naufragar m’è dolce in questo mare.
This solitary hill to me has been
Forever dear, like this hedge, which doth close
So great part of the last horizon’s sight.
But sitting here and watching, in my thought
Beyond it endless space, and over-human
Silences, and the deepest quiet e’er
I for myself create; for little there
My heart gets not a fright. And as the wind
I hear a-rustling ’midst these plants, I do
Compare that silence infinite with this
Voice: the eternal comes then to my mind,
Along with the dead seasons, and the present
And living, and its sound. And thus in this
Immensity my thinking mind doth drown:
And sweet to me’s to sink among these waves.
Wǒ cónglái ài zhè zuò gūdān de xiǎoshān
Yǐjí zhè dào shùlí, yīnwèi tā yǐncáng
Zuìhòu de dìpíngxiàn hěn dà de bùfèn.
Dàn zuòzhe níngshìzhe, zài wǒ sīxiǎng lǐ
Wèi zìjǐ chuàngzào zài tā de nèibiān de
Wúbiān de kōngjiān hé chāorén de chénmò
Hé zuìshēn de píngjìng; ér wǒ de nèixīn
Zài nàr jīhū jīnghuāng; ér tīngdàozhe fēng
Zài zhèxiē zhíwù zhōng shāshā, bǎ nà ge
Wúbiān wújì de chénmò bǐ zuò zhèlǐ
De shēngyīn: Yǒnghéng jiù rù wǒ sīxiǎng lǐ
Gēn yǐ sǐqù de shíqí ér jīn huó de
Ér tā de shēngyīn. Wǒ de sīxiǎng zhèyàng
Zài zhè duàn wú gēn wúbiān zhōng lái yānmò.
Rù zhè cānghǎi lǐ shì tiánmì de xiàchén.
Wǒ yīzhí céng ài gūdān de zhè xiǎoshān
Yǐjí zhè ge shùlí, yīnwèi tā yǐncáng
Zuìhòu de dìpíngxiàn hěn dà de bùfèn.
Dàn zuòzhe níngshìzhe, zài wǒ sīxiǎng lǐ
Wèi zìjǐ chuàngzào zài tā de nèibiān de
Wúbiān de kōngjiān hé chāorén de jìjìng
Hé zuì shēn de ānjìng; ér wǒ de nèixīn
Zài nàr jīhū jīnghuāng; ér tīngdàozhe fēng
Zài zhèxiē zhíwù lái shāshā, bǎ nà ge
Wúbiān wújì de jìjìng bǐ zuò zhèlǐ
De shēngyīn: Yǒnghéng jiù rù wǒ sīxiǎng lǐ
Gēn yǐ sǐqù de shíqí ér jīn huózhe
De ér tā de shēngyīn. Wǒ sīxiǎng zhèyàng
Zài zhè duàn wúgēn wúbiān zhōng lái nìshuǐ.
Zài zhè cānghǎi lǐ wéinán wéi wǒ tiánmì.
Today we have a wonderful poem by Sappho, whose source is a nightmarishly holey and faint papyrus which I deciphered long ago and recorded all the notes to into a total of ~4 hours of audio, which I have no time to trancribe, and that is why the critical note is gonna be a spoiler with an extract from my Paracritical Note (if you know enough Italian and dare to venture into that thing, you are welcome to do so, but don't complain to me about any messiness), and the critical notation will stick to my file. [The note has since been put in at the end.] It is a shame that I have to do this, because the text here is a big mess, and Edmonds contributed to messing it up with creative amendations and sloppy critical notation, but it would be more of a shame not to post it.
The meter is stanzas of three lines, with scheme cr+gl || gl || phal (cretic foot + glyconian line, glyconian line, phalecian hendecasyllabic), and is kept in Latin and rendered as –u– –u–uu–u– || –u–uu–u– || –u–uu–u–u–u in Italian and English, with –u– rhyming with the two –u–uu–u– and the phalecians rhyming between consecutive stanzas. Some of the glyconians have anaclasis in the original, which I took advantage of by allowing –u–u–uu– in Italian and English. Also, the first 2-3 stanzas were translated to German too.
Let us go translation by translation:
The Italian was the first to be started:
The first step is the following manuscript, dated to 16/12/10 and found on a "poem sheet":
Attide, molto lungi da me e da te NCara Anattorïa or è,
'N] Sardi, spesso si volge qui in pensare
Memore della vita passata: te
Certo pari a dea nota le'
Riteneva, e gioiva in tuo cantare.
We then have the manuscript on the SP5 printout, which is presumably from before 21/12/10 since that is the date of the next item, and reads:
Attide, molto lungi da me e da te
Cara Anattorïa or è,
'N] Sardi; spesso rsi volge qui in pensare,
Memore della vita passata: te
[C[ert]o pari a dea note le'
Riteneva, e gioiva 'n tuodciadir cantare
It seems that the change in the last line was simply ignored;
Indeed, the "new in Sappho file" OS10 from 21/12/10 has the first 30 lines, in the form below except for three changes discussed one or two items below; this translation is probably what the "poem sheet" is referring to when it says «21/12 a Tonani rediens verto cuncta vertibilia poetice fragmenti “Αριγνώτα” Italice et ultimum versum reconstruere Græce termino.» (on 21/12 coming back from Tonani [my homeopathic doctor living near Bergamo while I was in Brianza] I translate to Italian all that is poetically translatable of [this fragment] and I finish reconstructing the last line of Greek);
The remaining lines appear in a translation tidbits file from 22/12, aka OS11, in the below form except for the inmetricality mentioned in the Trivia section below, which I anyway scrapped from here on 29/8/21;
Speaking of 29/8/21, on that day «gioiva 'n tuo cantare», «Pena, e ch'i' noi andiam», and «con aure plurime» became what they are now at 13:55, 13:57, and 13:57 respectively; the first of these three was actually already done in the tesina, presumably between the creation date (19/5/12 21:51) and the last edit date (20/5/12 16:10) of the earliest tesina file, which includes it; unfortunately, anything that happened in the tesina files got lost for the blog until I unearthed these files because of an unappliable change I found for the Hymn to Aphrodite;
The next to be mentioned is the Latin;
We start with another SP5 manuscript:
Atthi, te mequ’ Anactorĭast ama-
ta longinqu'ibi, Sardibus,
Sed sæp’ huc ea vertit inde mentem
Nos uti vivebamus; habebat ea
Te certe similem deæ
Notæ, maxuma glæt'erat canente.
The next step is the file S9, from 5/1/11, where this all becomes as below, except l. 4 remains «Nos uti vivebamus: habebat ea»;
The file S11 from 1/2/11 then adds from l. 26 to the end, in the form below, except the thing mentioned in the Trivia below, and another change in l. 27 mentioned in this list further down; I confess I couldn't be bothered to look through a bunch of pages of poem noteblock to find a possible manuscript of this part;
Then we have the "poem noteblock", giving us "10/2 nct in lct" (night between 10/2/11 and 11/2/11 in bed - it actually says 10/1 but it's miswritten, since S11 from 1/2 doesn't have this part) the old English translation of fragment SFac (see index for that), the tweak to the Italian of the same, and the following manuscript:
Nuncque Lydis in muljeribus micat,
Utque, sol cum occiderit,
Luna tum digitis rosis creatis
Omni'adsuperesat sider', atque lu-
cem dat ‹–uu–ux› Aaeequal'et flo
‹xx› floribu' pulchribus quoqu' agris.
"Scribo postridie 7:024-7:09 ante colat, et compleo" (I write [these things] the day afterwards [=11/2/11] at 7:04-7:09 before breakfast, and I complete [them as follows]):
cem msali dat e' atque æ-
quale (floribu' …)
Then it goes on on 11/2:
Atque ros pulchr'illic superest rosis,
Mollibus superestque an-
Thryscis et melilot'habente flora.
Multaqu'errans, dulcis memor Atthidis
Tenellæ, sibi studio
{MPectus molle edit}que corque pœnā,
=>{Molli͞a pectora est}
Atqu'eo magne clamat eāmu' nos,
Novimusqu'ea: nox per au-
res multas pelagus peri͞ens redicit.
Facil'haud est nobis similes dea-
bus amabilem esse form',
Etsi corpus habes t' ạAdonideum.
Why I proposed "alte clamat" when it's like "acutely", I don't know, but OS19 (see below) ignored it, so whatever;
By OS19 on 14/2, we have the full Latin, in the form below save for the changes in the next items;
The tesina now has something to say here: between file 13 (created 22/6/12 18:20 and last edited same day 22:15) and file 14 (created and last edited 27/6/21 10:52), I changed «Nōs ŭtī [v]īvēbāmŭs: [hăbēbăt] e͞a» to «Quōmŏdō [v]īvērēmŭs: hăbēbăt e͞a», «ǣ- / quālĕ flōrĭbŭ’ plūrĭbūs quŏqu’ āgrīs» to «[…] flōrĭbŭ’ plūrĭbūs ăgrōrŭm» (which I fix to «[…] t' agrorum» on 6/10/21 at 12:30 for reasons of meter), and «x] pĕr [ǣ]thĕrĕm [–ux» to «xx–u] pĕr ǣthĕrĕm», where the brackets were always wrong because, as fixed below, the equivalents of "per" and "æ" are not present in the papyrus;
Finally, on 19/9/21 at 16:39, the "utque" of l. 8 of the Latin became either uti or sicut, and on 25/9/21 at 0:37 I chose uti; and on 3/1/24 at 15:27, l. 18 «Mōlli͞a pēctŏră ēstquĕ c[ō]rquĕ pœ̄nā» becomes «Mōllĕ pēctŭ' cǒmēstquĕ c[ō]rquĕ pœ̄nā»;
Finally, the English; this one is simple; we first have a manuscript on a "poem sheet", dated "5/1 noctu in lecto" (night between 5 and 6/1/11 in bed):
Atthis, dear Anactorïa far from here
Thee and me, in Sardis, I hear
Lives now, often a-think of us she might
And how we used to live: she did surely þee
Equal hold to known Goddess þee
Singing she used to hear with most dalighṭ
S9 is a weird thing; it is in a folder called "5.1 parata" (prepared 5/1), but then it includes these lines, rejecting "great delight" and keeping everything as proposed above, save for adding a comma after Goddess; maybe it's actually 6/1 as its metadata suggest; Idk; anyway, then we have S10 on 9/1/11, which gives the form below directly, save for the Trivia section below;
But wait: what about the German? Well, the first line is found on the poem notebook, in the form below save for initially not eliding «lieb'» (or rather initially eliding it?), and dated to "Vespere 11/1" (11/1/11 in the evening); then we have the rest manuscripted on the poem noteblock:
25/1 me vestiens [25/1/11 getting dressed]:
Wohnt in Sardis jetzt, fern von hier,
Aber oft sie sein Denken hier betriebt.
Colatione inde pro von aus ponere cogito. In schl ~7:51 hæc scribo. [During breakfast I then think of putting aus in place of von. I write this at school around 7:51.
Well… I thought I'd find the whole thing on the same page, but no, this is where the page stops, and there are a bunch of pages afterwards filled with other stuff; the remainder of this translation is definitely after 21/2, if it is manuscripted; if it is, I will find it tomorrow (I have a couple other posts to edit tonight, and it's already 1:38), and if it isn't, then it's an S19 residue, thus from between 21/2 and 28/8.
[Atthis, dear Anactorïa far from here,
Thee and me, in] Sardi[s, I hear,
Lives now, of]ten [remember] us she might
And how we use[d to l]ive: she did surely thee
Equal [hold] to known Goddess, thee
Singing she used to hear with most delight
Now shines she ’mong the Lydïan maids, as we
When the sun has gone down do see
Rosy-fingerèd moon a-shining bright,
With more light than the stars around her give might
Th’ briny sea she doth set alight,
And the country which many flow’rs delight,
Poured is dew pretty there, and there flower do
Tender anthrysks and roses too,
And the melilot with its many͜ a flower.
Wandering tender Atthis remembering,
In her tender breast oft cravìng
Her devours, and i’ th’ h[ea]rt of pain a shower,
Lou[d] shouts she that we go there to her; which we
Well do k[n]ow, for the night, the sea
Cro[ssing], tells what her many͜ an ear descries,
[H]ar[d] it is f’r us a Goddess’s beauty,͜ in this
World to equal, A[do]nis’s
Be[au]ty thou[gh] with your own ’bove others flies,
[–u– xx–uu–ux
xx–uu through the s]ky
And [x–uu–u] Aphrodite
[–u– xx] nectar out she did pour
From a golden [u–ux
xx–] with her hands Persuasion [–
–u– xx–uu–u] did
[xx–uu o]ft [ux
xx–uu–u–u–
–u– xx] to the Gerestæum
[xx–uu] dear [u–
xx] nothing [unk]nown [u–u–
–u–] I [sh]all come [to the t]emple [x]
………………
………………
[Atthi, dir liebẹ Anactorïa, und mir,
Wohnt in] Sard[is jętzt, fern aus hier,
Abėr o]ft sie sein [Dę]nkėn hiėr bėtriebt,
Und bėdęnkt wie wir [w]ohnten: wie dann, sie dęnkt,
Dich ein' Göttin, und Zeit sie schenkt
Nach dein Singėn, das sie, wie dann, ja liebt.
Trivia
L. 33 was read by Bibliotheca Augustana as ending with «†ἐδάην† μαι-», clearly inmetrical, which prompted the just as inmetrical Latin translation «xx–uu–u] †dĭdĭcī† [x», and the tentatively-inmetrical-but-it-doesn't-really-come-across-because-of-no-vowel-lengths translations «xx–uu]†impara͜i†[u–x» and «xx–]†I did learn†[u–u–» in the other two languages. Then, in the tesina, I fixed that inmetricality as «ε‹ι› δάην μαι-», and the Latin became «xx–] dĭdĭcī [u–u–x», the Italian «xx–] impara͜i [u–u–x», the English… didn't change (doesn't come across, huh?), all presumably between the creation date (19/5/12 21:51) and the last edit date (20/5/12 16:10) of the earliest tesina file
Critical Note
The timeline here appears simple. I mean, there is only one source, P.Berol. 9722 fol. 5, right? Wrong. If you look closely, you will see there are two fragments joined. And I'm not saying the beginnings of lines beyond l. 21 are on a separate fragment: looking closely you'll see a few ever so small "isthmuses" connecting that to the upper part. Nope, it's the endings of those lines that are separate, and only joined by a perfect margin match and sellotape. Indeed, that part seems to have been published in Lobel's edition of Sappho, which means after Edmonds', and indeed Edmonds, apart from cutting his poem short at precisely l. 21, seems to have been missing l. 21's end, given the reading he gives is incompatible with the papyrus. That must have come from trying bloody hard to read letters he just did not have in the mess that this papyrus is. The source is discussed in the transcriptions post, which gives the following text:
A questo punto Arignṓta. Per la prima terzina ho preso il testo di Edmonds, sempre per pura completezza. Nel v. 4 avevo adottato la sua versione, poi, per incomprensione della funzione dell’ãś (ṓś pŏt’ ĕzṓŏmĕn bíŏn; ãś ĕ́chĕn), sono ritornato a B.A., mentre per i vv. 5-6 ho adottato in pieno Edmonds, perché Arignṓta come nome non ci stava più dato che si parla di «Anactŏría phíla», e per renderlo aggettivo occorreva il dativo thĕ́ai, quindi thĕ́ais’ non era accettabile, per cui per non abbreviare la ai occorreva una consonante come il digamma che vi ho messo come Edmonds. Sĕlánna è fra ‹› perché correzione di mḗna, come riportato da Rosati e segnalato da un documento reperito su internet che riporta il poema come «Bella come un astro» corredato da varie note. Ivi i completamenti non esistono, neanche per il v. 4, che è «ṓs p[...]ĕzṓŏmĕn .[», mentre il 18 è «lĕ́ptan pŏi phrĕ́na k[a]r[chárōi] bŏ́rētai». Io accetto la versione kĕr d’ ásai, ove imĕ́rōi è dat. d’agente per lĕ́ptan phrĕ́na, acc. alla greca, e analogamente, parallelamente, ásai e kẽr, e il tutto dipende da bŏ́rētai, perché, a quanto ne so, rispecchia meglio la pergamena-fonte, il P(apyrus) Berol(inensis). Fino a qui è tutto abbastanza liscio come comprensione, poi c’è l’incompletezza più totale, che per 5 versi è suscettibile di completamento (J.M. «nõin g’ á[p]ysta [nỳx] pŏlý‹ō›ś / garyíĕ[i di’] álŏ‹ś› pa[rĕ]ṇṛẹ̆ọ̆[ísaś],», Diehl secondo safopoemas «νώντ' ΑΊπ]υστα t' Ύμήναος / γαρύ[ει δι' ]δλος πόρων το μεοσον», ossia «νῶντ' ἄπ]υστα τ’ ᾿Υμήναος / γαρύ[ει δι' ]ἄλος πόρων το μέσσον»), e qui per scegliere dovrò per il v. 21 tradurre, mentre per il 20 non vedo cosa c’entri l’Imeneo con questo poema, perciò seguo Edmonds, anche se nŏin è duale, che in eolico dovrebbe esser scomparso; poi però dal 24 nessuno l’ha completato e per ora non mi vengono idee, benché abbia tradotto in poco tempo fino al 18, o meglio, tradotto prosasticamente e mentalmente, processo che amo definire «compren-sione» distinta dalla «traduzione» in poesia. Lo schema è già scelto e sperimentato sulle prime due terzine: il cretico è reso come un «trisillabo» tronco, che rima con l’imitazione di due gliconei che lo seguono, mentre il falecio è imitato come ritmo e rima fra coppie di terzine, stile adonio nelle strofe saffiche e xx–uu–uu–ux in tĕthnákēn d’ adŏ́lōś thĕ́lō, cui conservo questo titolo nonostante il primo verso sia ora cambiato.
[…]
Quanto al framm. di cui si stava parlando, per la terzina da “kēthi d’ ĕ́lthēn”, traducendo, ho visto che pŏ́rōn tŏ̀ mĕ́ssŏn ha poco o nessun senso, quindi seguo Edmonds con parĕnrĕŏísaś, scoprendo fra l’altro che hálś è femm. e non neut. o masch. come pensavo. Mi spiace solo di non riuscire a tenermi il tŏ̀ mĕ́ssŏn che è sicuro secondo qualunque altra fonte. Per la terzina seguente, tra ámmi thĕ́aisi di Edmonds e aimithĕ́aisi di B.A. scelgo di seguire Edmonds perché preferisco un dat. di vantaggio che specifica per chi “è facile” (ĕýmarĕś [ĕ́sti]) che eliminarlo e andare a parlare di semidee anziché di dee. Per l’ultimo verso di questa terzina vedo che Campbell segnala “A[dōn]ídēon”, che adotto, pur non trovandolo in Edmonds seppure Campbell lo porti come suo. Nel Lyra Græca, Edmonds si ferma a parĕnrĕŏísaś. È un peccato eliminare parti note (seppur con grandi lacune) di poemi di Saffo, e lui avrebbe potuto tentare una ricostruzione, secondo me, dato quel che vedo nel suo lavoro. Tante lacune sono incolmabili, e mi costringeranno, forse, a tradurle in prosa, per via dello schema metrico difficile che ho scelto. Forse in Latino riuscirò a sistemarle.
Time to source and justify my completions.
Stanza 1 is just Edmonds.
It is hard to see a zeta in the papyrus, and most likely it had a weird shape or was another letter, but I believe it could have been a zeta. I mean that of ezoomen in l. 4.
From l. 5 to l. 17 the completions are so standard they are regarded as certain by Campbell and LP.
The rest follows Edmonds where possible.
Then ll. 22-23 are Campbell, I believe.
L. 24 is, AFAICT, my own.
Couple of notes now.
In l. 4, Edmonds reads ἆς, not ὠς, but I couldn't make sense of it so I followed BA. I now guess he thought of it as Aeolic for "ἔως", "in the time when, as long as, until".
Ll. 4-5 are problematic in general because l. 5 is generally read -σε θέᾳ σ' ἰκέλαν ἀρι- or -σε θέαισ' ἰκέλαν ἀρι-, whereas I see a likely enough digamma to follow Edmonds. Reading the other ways renders completions above impossible. The θέαισ' way, moreover, produces Ἀριγνώτα as a name in ll. 5-6, and is what GW and BA followed. Indeed, GW has the poem titled Ἀριγνώτα.
In l. 18, Edmonds reads κῆρ' ἄσᾳ, as in the papyrus, but that forces him to put ἰμέρω with Ἄτθιδος, and translate "remember Atthis' desire" or "remember Atthis with desire", whereas I like to see the structure parallelism of ἰμέρῳ - λέπταν φρένα with κῆρ - ἄσᾳ, a chiasm. The apostrophe is anyway doubtful in the papyrus. Campbell has κᾶρι σᾷ, another source online had κ[α]ρ[χάρῳ], and this is just counter-papyrus.
Next stanza is complex. Besides the reading mess of the first two lines (first one in particular), we have the alternative "νῶντ' ἄπυστά τ' ᾽Υμήναος", reported by safopoemas as Diehl's, which I dismissed as having the Hymenaeum totally out of place, and the alternative "απυστονυμ[..] πόλυς" drom Campbell, which is incompletable but certainly respects a possible reading of the papyrus. Edmonds has the problem of the dual νῷν, which is supposed to have been lost in Aeolic, but maybe Sappho was inspired by Homer to take it up? Also, in l. 21, the actual way to go is Campbell's "δι' ἄλος πόρων τὸ μέσσον". I originally rejected it as incomprehensible in favor of Edmonds' δι' ἄλος παρενρεοίσας, but luckily the translations all omit that part, meaning they work for both versions, so I just changed the text.
The last completed stanza has standard completions in the first two lines, and my own completion in the last one, and the χρό' is impossible because the papyrus contradicts it with ]ρος.
That said, I give you the LP vs. Voigt vs. Campbell comparison, part 1 and part 2, and end this note.
The rest of the poem is not completed in any way, and is the standard version save perhaps for reading a few extra monosyllabic words right after lacunas where others more prudently kept them tied to the lacunas. Except I just saw a ναν where I have λοϊα and a ἐδάην where I have like ησενη, so not really. Actually, there is one completion: the πόλλακις, which is because it's not impossible, and because of the translations. Also, Ἀδωνίδηον is apparently from an article by Edmonds (so says Campbell implicitly), and an alternative to "ἄμμι θέαισι" in l. 22 is "αἰμιθέαισι", which I dismissed since it lacks a dative of "for whom it's easy" and I saw no reason to mention demigoddesses instead of goddesses, and I still can't see any. Between the last edit of this and the checkup, I found this Italian anthology which has one more completion (or more if I don't recall correctly) in the part where nectar is mentioned. Won't include it here, but the text of that edition will end up as is in The Rest of Sappho in the group dedicated to stuff from said anthology, and in the Spanish, Chinese, and Modern Greek editions of Sappho.
Finally, I fixed the critical notation in Latin and English, which is crazy precise with even angled brackets mimicked, but didn't feel like bothering with the Italian. And that is it.
Getting back to our dear old topic, love, we have 5 Sapphic fragments in various meters:
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;
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.
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 δηὖτε 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. All of the old translations are found at the bottom.
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. And then a third tab, because initially I did not realize one of the P.GC. fragments needed to be joined with P.Sapph.Obbink into this poem.
This further combination is the source of the third tab, with an English translation which is modified 18/4/24 21:30-21:40 from that of tab 2. There are several integrations of my own there, made in the context of the Sicilian translation at my Sicilian Sappho anthology (or maybe to avoid too many gaps for the Sicilian series episode). I must say I don't know why I thought δαΐσδης was past, leading to the original «How could you endure how you tore through me / […] and molt my knees». I fixed that at 1:23 on 21/4/24.
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".
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.
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.
[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?]
[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?]
[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?]
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!
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?
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.
…
…
…
…
Πῶς̣ κε δή τις οὐ θαμέω̣ς ἄσαιτο,
Κύπρι, δἐσπο̣ι̣ν̣', ὄττινα̣ +δ+ὴ φίλ̣[ησι
κωὐ] θέλοι μάλιστα πάθαν χ̣άλ̣[ασσαι;
πῶς] ὀνέχησθα
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?
[How] can you endure [how] you tea[r] through me
Idly with strong shivers, and melt my knee
With desire, o que[en]? You [were] not to me
[Hostile] a[t a]ll,
[I now beg you]: lock me not up! I wish
[To be free from] suffering this! [u–
–u–]; Of this for myself I am
Keenly aware.
…
…
…
…
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.
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).
Yep, love again. But this time in Greek. Yes, we are going back to Sappho after quite some time. Today, I have… how many poems? This is a very good questions. Let's start by saying it's 3 distinct quotations: one is a single line found in Hephaestio's Handbook of meter, the following one is another line found in three other books, and the third one is 4 lines again in Hephaestio. Now my three main references, Bergk Edmonds and Campbell, all agree in putting the first two into the same poem, on the basis of a quote from Terentianus Maurus's Handbook of meter (this one in Latin, the other one was in Greek) which goes "Cordi quando fuisse sibi canit Atthida / Parvam, florea virginitas sua cum foret", which has both a paraphrase of the first line and an adjective of the second one, and is also the basis for Edmond's in-between line Ἆς ἔμ' ἀνθεμόεσσ' ἔτι παρθενία, σὺ δὲ, «As I still had my flowery virginity, and you», and maybe other things I can't find. So that would make two poems. Some, however, for I don't know what reason, decide to split the last quote into two isolated couplets, making 3 poems. I don't see any reason to do so, so I'll make these two poems. In the first one, the only oscillation between those references is ἔμμεν / ἔμμεν', which doesn't change the meaning one bit. I have no arguments for one or for the other, so I'll just be lazy and stick to whatever I have in my translations file. In the second one, we have δαὖτε / δηὖτε and δόνει / δύνει. For the latter, I feel δόνει is the only choice with a fitting meaning, and most codices have that, so I'll take it. For the former, written evidence seems to point to δ' αὖτε, and only Campbell changes the alpha. I assume it's on the basis of the δηὖτεs in the Hymn to Aphrodite. Whatever the case, the meaning doesn't change one bit, so I'll just be lazy as with poem 2. And that is my critical note. The meter of poem 1 is xx–uu–uu–uu–ux, which is kept in Latin and rendered as –u–uu–uu–uu–u– with consecutive lines rhyming in English and Italian (cfr. Hector and Andromacha, which is written in the same meter). The meter of poem 2 is xx–uu–uu–ux, kept in Latin and rendered as –u–uu–uu–u– with consecutive lines rhyming in English and Italian. So let's jump into the poems!
Body-melting again love investeth me,
Sweet and bitter a beast, never won can be.
Now, my Atthis, the thought of myself to thee
Loathed’s, Andromeda end of a flight’s for thee.
Talking about love and beauty, we have another poem by Sappho, and this time there are as many as 6 (!) versions of it I have translated, and none of these took P.GC. into account, meaning we have 7 of them.
The sources are:
P.Oxy. 1231 fr. 1 col. i and one line in col ii;
A quotation by Apollonius Dyscolus's treatise on pronouns giving half of l. 3 and all l. 4;
P.Oxy. 1231 fr. 36 (added by the Lobel-Page edition "quamvis dubitanter", "though doubtingly");
P.Oxy. 2166(a) frr. 2a and 2b;
P.GC. fr. 2a coll. i-ii and fr. 2b col. i.
This post is a gigantic clusterfuck (hey, iambic pentameter!). I mean, seriously, I have 7 versions of this thing, all with their history and the tesina messing around. I think the simplest way to organize this mess is to do a few points of history, and then a big numbered list with an item for each version, going over the history of the single translations in nested lists. Yes, that sounds messy and potentially repetitive, but trust me, I don't think there's some easier way.
The history of me and this fragment starts on 22/5/2010, when, as per the diary, presumably in the night, I translate the first half of the first stanza to Latin; I then complete the translation during Science class, ending up with almost the version you see below, except l. 1 was «Quidam equitum peditumve dicunt», which doesn't scan; there was also a middle version «Desuper pulcherrimum, ipsa autem», for l. 3;
The below version first appears in the earliest Sappho fragment file I have, which dates to 30/5 18:10; it will then stay untouched forever;
At this point the critical problems come up; on 29/7, the diary says «Quæro fontes carminis Οἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον, οἰ δὲ πέσδων at abbreviationes non invenio et irascor» (I look for the sources of the poem Οἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον, οἰ δὲ πέσδων but I can't find the abbreviations and I get angry); I guess I had no idea what I was doing back then, because it's not that hard to find the sources (well, aside from that stupid P.Oxy. XXI fragment (the 2166(a) one above), which is in a book (vol. XXI of The Oxyrhynchus Papyri) that wasn't online back then); anyway, still the same day, «Demum statuo ex Οἰ μὲν ἰππήων II vers traducere, alteram solum ex papyris Oxyrhynci a Wikisource completam, alteram ex bibliotheca Augustana et Aoidoi.org a memet completam» (In the end I decide to translate two versions of Οἰ μὲν ἰππήων, one only from the Oxyrhynchus papyri completed by Wikisource, the other from bibliotheca Augustana and Aoidoi.org completed by me); the phrasing here is pretty weird; clearly I'm referring to Oxy/GW and GW respectively; so, "Wikisource" probably refers to English Wikisource, where you do find basically Oxy/GW (some completions differ, but the "only from the Oxyrhynchus papyri" probably still applies) as per Cox's text; bibliotheca Augustana and Aoidoi.org both have an incomplete text, basically the same as Greek Wikisource, and I assume what I did was complete that version with τὸν πανάριστον, probably found somewhere unspecified, and completions from Cox; btw, the earliest file already had the title Φίλτατον Γαίας γένος Ὀρράνω τε for this poem, which is the post's title, and is actually Edmonds reconstructing, as per the old intro, «an indirect quotation where some Greek author says Sappho called Love "son of Heaven and Earth", and Edmonds reconstructed a Sapphic hendecasyllabic line which then was adopted by Greek Wikisource as the title for this poem and came to me in such a disguise, and by the time I found out its true origins I had already finished the translations and was probably already working at the blog»;
At any rate, between 31/7 and 6/8, I translate both versions; by 6/8, I have both the Italian translations and the English translations complete, with a few differences from the below versions which I will go into detail about in the other list, while the Latin translations, also with some differences, are missing stanzas 3-5, for some reason; all translations here mentioned are reported in the diary; those missing stanzas are missing from the diary for whatever reason; maybe I did them directly on computer;
The 16/8/10 17:58 file has all translations of GW and Oxy/GW complete, almost the same as the blog (cfr. below);
No later than 6/8/10, I meet with The complete poems of Sappho; the earliest Paracritical Note files, from 13/9/10 16:07, already include the different completion of stanza 4 brought by this site, which is what gives us the GW+TCPOS and Oxy/GW+TCPOS versions; this was corredated by a complete translation of both of these versions, essentially as below;
That same file also first introduces the variant Εἰ μὲν ἴδμεν, which is basically an OCR error of some sort in the Cox text, and translates it; this will stay this way throughout the paracritical note files, and even through the tesina: Oxy/GW has εὖ, Oxy/GW+safopoemas also does, but Oxy/GW+TCPOS has εἰ; I had originally decided to do away with this entirely, but now, since it's so consistent, I implemented it back below;
Still that same file already mentions the safopoemas version, reporting stanza 4 as in GW+safopoemas and Oxy/GW+safopoemas, and strangely announcing the translations without reporting them; this goes on for one more file, which has the same metadata and was presumably some sort of copy of the first one, but the third one, created 7/8/10 17:36 and last edited 22/12/10 16:54, finally has the translations; there is actually this file gungumu.doc from 20/12/10 at 12:06 which has the version translated as «La Cipride: soggioga docil cuore / S’alcun conduce a non leggero amore; / Così Anattoria lontana il cuore / M’ va a ricordare,», a version that doesn't fit the rhyme scheme and was probably modified into that 22/12 version;
A few minor changes ensue, as well as a rhythmic-ification of the GW+safopoeams version's Italian translation;
The tesina does some more minor changes, and rhythmic-ifies the English version of GW+safopoemas;
Finally, when originally posting this I blend translations to create Oxy/GW+safopoeams, which never existed before the blog;
Then the tesina comes in, and in its penultimate 2 files (the last one reverts back to being identical to the first one for whatever reason) makes yet another mix, which is a kind of blend of GW and Oxy/GW, with the safopoemas stuff;
And of course, I find out about the GC papyri, and make the last version.
The multiple versions depend on doubtful readings and lacunas. More precisely:
The 2166(a) papyri were small fragments joined into 1231, and following them there was a weird change in the reading of l. 9, which had σσ̣ at its end in vol. X of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, and had οι̣ once 2166(a) was added in vol. XXI. There was also a change in the reading of l. 6, from περσκόπεισα to περσκέθοισα, but that was possible even in vol. X, they apparently just didn't think of it. There were consequently a few different lacuna fillings. That causes the split of GW and Oxy/GW.
The other versions are due to different completions of stanza 4.
And then there's also P.GC. messing things up, but that came way after the initial translations, already well into the blog period.
So let's go over each version:
Version GW takes the combined text from vol. XXI (which happens to be the same used in Greek Wikisource, hence the abbreviation), and completes stanza 4 (more precisely ll. 13-14) with ἀεὶ τὸ θῆλυ / αἴ κέ τις κούφως τὸ πάρον νοήσῃ; this is what my files call "Fragment 16"; for this one:
The Latin started, as for all version, with stanza 1 on 22/5/10, in a form that didn't scan (cfr. above), and was fixed within 30/5; then between 31/7 and 6/8 I had stanza 2 in the below form, and «Iit vir' ad Troiam» for the following line; by the 16/8/10 17:58 fragments file, I had the full version below;
The Italian was fully completed between 31/7 and 6/8, in the below original version; the 16/8/10 17:58 has the final version, besides «se ne andò» in place of «se n'andò» in l. 11 and «bimba» in place of «figlia» in l. 10, which were both only fixed between the 13/11/10 12:21 and 6/1/11 14:36 (which however is in a folder of stuff to be printed on 5/1, so it's actually 5/1), and I'm betting that happened during the Christmas holidays;
The English was also fully done, this time in final form already, between 31/7 and 6/8;
The Oxy/GW one starts from the Oxyrhynchus Papyri vol. X reading of the text, and adds some fillings from various places, in particular completing ll. 13-14 like the GW one; it also includes the very incomplete sixth stanza, with a second half that changed during the first translation period, but I won't get into that, because I'm pretty sure the translations were not affected; well, actually, it seems the Oxy/GW version has my fix to that integration, and the Oxy/GW+TCPOS version has the original integration, accepted once I figured out it was grammatically sound; this is what my files call "Fragment 16B"; for this one:
The Latin, again, started on 22/5 with verse 1, which was in blog version by 30/5 (cfr. above), and then between 31/7 and 6/8 we had stanzas 1-2 and stanza 6, the former two in blog form, the latter beginning with «[Scimus optum'] haud potis optum'esse / Fieri viris, sol'haber'orare»; once again, the 16/8/10 17:58 file fixes all that;
The Italian, again, was fully done between 31/7 and 6/8, in its original version below; once again, the 16/8/10 17:58 file leaves it with only «bimba» in place of «figlia» and «se ne andò» in place of «se n'andò», fixed in the "6/1/11 14:36" file, «Che pei mortali» in place of «Lor pei mortali», also fixed in that file, and «Chi͜ in tutto]͜ onor di Troi[a c]ancell[ò]» in place of «Chi ogni]͜ onore a Troi[a c]ancell[ò]», which was fixed in the very first tesina file, created 19/5/12 21:51 and last edited 20/5/12 16:10;
The English was fully done between 31/7 and 6/8, with l. 4 uncertain between «Are liked the most.» «The best you'll hold.» «You'll hold the best.», none of which rhymed; once again, the 16/8/10 17:58 file fixed that, leading to the below version;
The GW+TCPOS has the same base text as the GW one, but completes ll. 13-14 as ἔφυ βρότων κῆρ / αἴ κέ τις κούφως τὸ πάρον νοήσῃ, a completion taken from The Complete POems of Sappho, hence "TCPOS"; this is PN-exclusive and called "Fragment 16" there; for this one:
The Latin had its stanza 4 updated from that famous 16/8/10 17:58 file created 7/8/10 17:36 and last edited 13/9/10 16:07;
The Italian had its stanza 4 updated in the same Paracritical Note file, and somehow never updated "bimba" to "figlia" or "se ne andò" to "se n'andò", even into the blog post; I decided to revert that correction; the only change from that file to here is l. 9, where «Chi͜ in tutto]͜ onor di Troi[a c]ancell[ò]» was changed only in the tesina;
The English also got its stanza 4 update in that file, and stayed that way forever;
The Oxy/GW+TCPOS is like Oxy/GW, but with ἔφυ βρότων κῆρ in stanza 4 as per TCPOS; it also, for some reason, accepts the integration εἰ μὲν ἴδμεν for stanza 6, which is actually probably a typo or mojibake for Cox's εὖ μὲν ἴδμεν; this means stanza 6 has a different translation than the other Oxy/GW versions; this is PN-exclusive and called "Fragment 16B" there; for this one:
The Latin had its stanzas 4 and 6 updated from that famous 16/8/10 17:58 file in the very first Paracritical Note file, created 7/8/10 17:36 and last edited 13/9/10 16:07;
The Italian had its stanzas 4 and 6 updated in the same Paracritical Note file, and somehow never updated "bimba" to "figlia" or "se ne andò" to "se n'andò", even into the blog post; I decided to revert that correction; the only change from that file to here is, once again, in l. 9, where «Chi͜ in tutto]͜ onor di Troi[a c]ancell[ò]» was changed in the tesina only;
The English also got its stanza 4 and stanza 6 updates in that file, and stayed that way forever;
Now I'm not really sure whether this should be here or in one of the other Oxy/GW versions, but there is this weird file from 3/1/11, created 11:15 and last edited 11:39, which contains its own version of this stanza 6 and the safopoemas version of stanza 4 (see below), and in particular in stanza 6 the first lines are «[Scī]mŭ' [pērbĕn'] ha͞ud pŏtĭs [ōptŭmā']ssĕ», «[Bene sapp]iamo chʼuo[mo] mai toccare», and «[Well do we kn]ow [the best] can never be», which means we have the εὖ μὲν ἴδμεν on top of the TCPOS translations; this file is called Da_NP, so it should be two excerpts of the Paracritical note; so was there ever a time where these PN-only TCPOS integrations were mixed with εὖ μὲν ἴδμεν? I cannot tell, because the next file is from Jun 2011 and does have the usual εἰ μὲν ἴδμεν, and the previous file is from 22/12, also bearing the latter integration;
Then we have the GW+safopoemas version; this was caused by finding, starting from TCPOS, the file safopoemas.doc, a heavily mojibake'd Spanish edition of Sappho, which complete stanza 4 in a way better than both the other two; so I took the GW version, and implemented this change into it, resulting in what my files call "Fragment re-16"; for this one:
The Latin gets its stanza 4 updated – ONLY stanza 4 – in the Paracritical Note file created 7/8/10 17:36 and last edited 22/12/10 16:54, in the below version save for «ămēt lŭbēt quĕm» in place of «ămēt lŭbēt quĭs», which is fixed when the first complete version of this actually appears under the name "Fragmentum re-16", namely in that file from 5/1 (according to the folder it's in) or 6/1 (according to its metadata); that version is the one below, and stays constant through all the years since;
The Italian is a bit more complex; it gets its stanza 4 update in that PN file, in the below original version, in the same PN file; the fragments file of 5/1 or 6/1 (cfr. previous item) has the original version below in full; the next fragments file, created 16/4/10 21:15 and last edited 1/2/11 14:52, merely changes «Ma vi͜a guidata lungi se n’andò,» -> «Per n[ulla], ma lontano la guidò,»; the next file, created 3/11/10 17:27 and last edited 1/2/11 14:58, does nothing, while the following one, created 16/4/10 21:15 and last edited 28/3/11 12:22, gets to the pre-tesina version below; the tesina then gets stanza 1 to its final form, while l. 15 gets to its final form in the blog post: we first have an ambiguous alternate translation «Anattoria lontana ora il mio cuore / Va a ricordare» from 3/9/21 15:58, which is ambiguous because it's either Sappho's heart remembering Anactoria or vice versa, and the final version dates to 12/9/21 at 19:48;
The English first appears in that PN file, stanza 4 only, in the below original form; the fragments file from 5/1 or 6/1 has the original version, except for some reason the stanza 4 update didn't get into it; it does in the following file, and that's all for the fragments files; then we have the tesina; this does nothing until its 14th file, from 27/6/12, from 27/6/12 10:52, where the final version is found; the previous file is from 22/6/12, created 18:20 and last edited 22:15;
Then we have the Oxy/GW+safopoemas version, which was created for the sake of completeness when I made the post; the translations of it are, as the old intro said, «a blend of translations for Latin and English, and required a quick fix for Italian, which was done around 18:53:30 on Dec 22, 2017»; I will not bother implementing anything tesina-related into this, leaving this as it was originally, save for «Chi in tutto onor di Troia cancellò», which I changed as per the tesina since that change was in all versions; this means the history of this stops at the files, takes up that one change, and then takes the change to l. 15 described above for the Italian, which was implemented wherever it could and was a blog-time change;
Then we have the tesina version; yes, this is just in the tesina, because evidently I looked at the GW+safopoemas version, and was like, «Wouldn't περσκόπεισα tie more into the text? I mean, after all, the fact she was incredibly beautiful has nothing to do with her chosing Paris over Menelaus, right? While if Menelaus was the beautiful one, which is what περσκόπεισα would give us, then we'd say hey, even though she had this wonderful husband, she left him because she was in love with Paris: much more linked, right?», and I put περσκόπεισα into the GW+safopoemas text, changing the translations accordingly; the problem is this argument probably stems from a mis-assignment of περσκέθοισα, so to speak, which I only realize now: it is not that she has the beauty on herself, but she has it near, with Menelaus being its owner; that makes περσκέθοισα just as fitting, and the P.GC. confirming it is correct now leave us less disappointed; at any rate, this one is essentially the same as GW+safopoemas, save for that text change, which means the Latin takes the old l. 6 back, and the other two come up with their own fixes, either taking them from previous versions, or making them up in the 16th tesina file, created 18:20 and last edited 19:26, where this appears; the previous file is from 27/6/12 11:19; the "lot" in {} seems to have been forgotten in the file;
Finally, we have the version including P.GC., «which is in the critical note as well with an English prose translation (after adding a lot of stuff around the original spoiler hiding extracts of the Paracritical Note I wrote back then), takes P.GC. and all that is written at the transcriptions post into account, and was translated on March 19 2018 by mostly recycling old translations and fixing what couldn't be recycled in two lots, one between 13:49 and 14:13, and one between 15:24 and 15:58, with stanza 6 of the English version being from 14:42»; more on the text in the paragraph below, which, like anything you find after this, is straight out of the old intro; I do think I will fix the rhythm of the English soon enough.
P.GC. questions whether this is a single poem or two, since it makes the poem longer than any other known poem in Sapphic stanzas by Sappho. There was already a conjecture that the last stanza in some versions belonged in another poem back in the day, which is probably why Greek Wikisource (GW in the version source explanations) doesn't have it. Now it is almost certain, since the ordering was by first letter of incipit so this other poem needs to begin with O- and it so happens that an O-word fits the lacuna at the start of that stanza perfectly, and no other stanzas we have parts of have such lacunas at their beginnings. This is clearly to the detriment of Edmonds, who ends his fragment 38 with the last completable stanza and keeps his fragment 39 for that isolated last line.
That being said, the meters of the translations are the usual (imitations of) Sapphic stanzas.
Note that a line has been omitted at the end to avoid a huge gap, it reads τ' ἐξ ἀδοκή[τω, and I translated it as Ex improviso (couldn't make it metrical), Dal non previsto, From unforeseen.
Foot-soldiers’ army, one of ships, or knights
Ove[r] bla[c]k earth ’tis said that most delights;
I say, instead, that of what’s loved the sights
You’ll hold the best;
It’s easy t’ make t[h]is understood to [a]ll,
For Helen, who by far surpassed withal
The [hu]man beauty, l[e]ft [th]at man [of all]
By far the best,
And off she went to Troy by ship o’er sea,
Her parents nor her daughter, [none] did she
Remember, but was led away o’er sea,
[Though for]ced, afar,
[By th’ Cyprus-born: thus always easilỳ
Woman] is bent, [if of what is] lightlỳ
[She thinks]; of Anactori[a m]emor[ỳ]
Who is afar,
I’ve now, [wh]ose lovèd footfall I’d prefer
Together with her shining face and her
To see than Lydian chari͜ots and soldi͜èrs
Fighting full-armed.
Foot-soldiers’ army, one of ships, or knights
Ove[r] bla[c]k earth ’tis said that most delights;
I say, instead, that of what’s loved the sights
You’ll hold the best;
It’s easy t’ make t[h]is understood to [a]ll,
For Helen, who by far surpassed withal
The [hu]man beauty, l[e]ft [th]at man [of all]
By far the best,
And off she went to Troy by ship o’er sea,
Her parents nor her daughter, [none] did she
Remember, but was led away o’er sea,
[Not for]ced, afar,
[By th’ Cyprus-born: thus always easilỳ
Mortals] are bent, [if of what is] lightlỳ
[They think]; of Anactori[a m]emor[ỳ]
Who is afar,
I’ve now, [wh]ose lovèd footfall I’d prefer
Together with her shining face and her
To see than Lydian chari͜ots and soldi͜èrs
Fighting full-armed.
Foot-soldiers’ army, one of ships, or knights
Ove[r] bla[c]k earth ’tis said that most delights;
I say, instead, that of what’s loved the sights
The most are liked;
It’s easy t’ make t[h]is understood to [a]ll,
For Helen, who cou[l]d see a lot of all
The [hum]an [be]auty, [judged the b]est of all
[Th]e man she liked,
[Who] brought Tro[y’s] honour [do]wnwa[rd totally],
Her pa[r]ents nor her [d]aughter, [none] did she
Remember, b[ut] was led away o’er sea,
[In lo]ve, [afar,
By th’ Cyprus-born: thus always easilỳ
Woman] is bent, [if of what is] lightlỳ
She thinks; of Anactori[a m]emor[ỳ]
Who is afar,
I’ve now, [wh]ose lovèd footfall I’d prefer
Together with her shining face and her
To see than Lydian chari͜ots and soldi͜èrs
With shields in fight.
[Well do we k]now [the be]st can never be
To ma[n], who but his prayers for it can see.
[Of it for mortals better’s memorỳ
Than ’ts absence might.].
Foot-soldiers’ army, one of ships, or knights
Over black earth ’tis said that most delights;
I say, instead, that of what’s loved the sights
The most are liked;
It’s easy t’ make this understood to all,
For Helen, who could see a lot of all
The human beauty, judged the best of all
The man she liked,
Who brought Troy’s honour downward totally,
Her parents nor her daughter, none did she
Remember, but was led away o’er sea,
In love, afar,
By th’ Cyprus-born: thus always easily
Mortal heart’s bent, if of what is lightly
It thinks; of Anactoria memory
Who is afar,
I’ve now, whose lovèd footfall I’d prefer
Together with her shining face and her
To see than Lydian chariots and soldiers
With shields in fight.
[Although we k]now [the be]st can never be
To m[an], for mortals [betterʼs] certainlỳ
{Prayer of what they once had and memory
Than ’ts absence might.}.
Folla di fanti͜ o cavalier' si dice
O d’ navi sul[la] terra vincitrice
Di gara di beltade; io invece
Ch’è ciò ch’è͜ amato;
Per [t]utti s’è [b]en facil capir c[i]ò,
Ch’Elena, sorpassando d’un bel po’
Beltade d’[u]om per chi la generò,
[Q]uell’uom la[sci]ato
Miglior [d’ognun], ver’ Troia navi[gò],
E figlia͜ e ge[ni]tor’ non ricordò,
Ma vi͜a guidata lungi se n’andò,
[Innamora]ta,
[La Cipride: soggioga] docil [cuore
S’alcun] conduce a non leggero [amore];
[Così] Anattoria ho ora in cuore
Ch’è lungi andata,
L’amato passo [s]u͜o preferireï
Veder, e lo splendor sul viso͜ a leï,
Che carri Lidi,͜ e ’n armi͜ e ne’ clipèï
Lidi pugnare.
[Bene sapp]iamo ch'uo[mo] mai toccare
[Il mèi] non può; voler partecipare
[Di ciò ch'un tempo aveva, è per mortale
Mèi che scordare.]
Prole più amata di Terra e di Cielo
Ciò che sull[a] terra ne[r]a͜ è più bello
Dicesi͜ un plotone di fanti,͜ o ’n quello
Cavali͜eri, o flotta di navi;͜ è quello –
Dico – ch’è͜ amato.
Facil s’è ciò͜ a [t]utti compreso fare,
Ch’Elena, avendo͜ anche͜ a superare
La beltà degl’[uo]mini assa͜i, per ma[re],
[Qu]ell’uom lasc[iat]o
[Di ciascun m]igliore, ver’ Troia͜ andò,
[Fi]glia͜ e ge[n]itori non ricordò
Proprio͜ af[fatto], ma [lungi] la guidò,
[Innamorata,
La Ciprigna: do]cile [piega ’l cuore
Se] qu[alcun co]nduce ͜[a non] lieve ͜[amore;
Sì] Anattorḯ[a h]o ora in cuore,
Ch'è lungi andata:
Il [s]u’͜ amato passo preferireï
E ’l splendor vedere sul viso a leï
Che de’ Lidi͜ i carri, e ne͜i clipèï
[Fanti] pugnare.
[Ben sap]pi͜am che [’l meglio] non può͜ accadere
A͜i morta[li;] priego però d’ [a]vere
[Ciò che prima͜ ave͜an lor è meglio͜ avere
Ch’esso scordare.]
Prole più amata di Terra e di Cielo
Ciò che sull[a] terra ne[r]a͜ è più bello –
Dicesi͜ –͜ è͜ un plotone di fanti,͜ o ’n quello
Cavali͜eri,͜ o flotta di navi;͜ è quello –
Dico – ch’è͜ amato.
Facil s’è ciò͜ a [t]utti compreso fare,
Ch’Elena, avendo͜ anche͜ a superare
La beltà degl’[uo]mini assa͜i, per ma[re],
[Qu]ell’uom lasc[iat]o
[Di ciascun m]igliore, ver’ Troia͜ andò,
[Fi]glia͜ e ge[n]itori non ricordò
Proprio͜ af[fatto], ma [lungi] la guidò,
[Innamorata,
La Ciprigna: do]cile [piega ’l cuore
Se] qu[alcun co]nduce ͜[a non] lieve ͜[amore;
Sì] Anattorḯ[a] or [mi v]ien nel cuore,
Ch'è lungi andata:
Il [s]u’͜ amato passo preferireï
E ’l splendor vedere sul viso a leï
Che de’ Lidi͜ i carri, e ne͜i clipèï
[Fanti] pugnare.
[Ben sap]pi͜am che [’l meglio] non può͜ accadere
A͜i morta[li;] priego però d’ [a]vere
[Ciò che prima͜ ave͜an lor è meglio͜ avere
Ch’esso scordare.]
Foot-soldiers’ army, one of ships, or knights
Ove[r] bla[c]k earth ’tis said that most delights;
I say, instead, that of what’s loved the sights
You’ll hold the best;
It’s easy t’ make t[h]is understood understood to [a]ll,
For Helen, who by far surpassed withal
The [hu]man beauty, l[e]ft [th]at man [of all]
By far the best,
And off she went to Troy by ship o’er sea,
Her parents nor her daughter, [none] did she
Remember, but was led away o’er sea,
[In lo]ve, afar,
[By th’ Cyprus-Goddess:] for [heart] easilỳ
[She bends, if f]orce [it to love] not [lightlỳ]
She does; [of] Anactoria [m]emorỳ,
Who is afar,
I’ve now, [wh]ose lovèd footfall I’d prefer
Together with her shining face and her
To see than Lydian chari͜ots and soldi͜èrs
With shields in fight.
[Well do we kn]ow [the best] can never be
To m[an], for mortals [betterʼs] certainlỳ
[P]ra͞y͞er [of what they once had and memorỳ
Than ’ts absence might.]
Dearest offspring of Heaven and of Earth
O’e[r] bla[c]k earth ’tis said that what most delights
Is an army͜ of ships, foot-soldiers, or knights;
I, instead, say: of what is loved the sights
For one [a]re best;
Easy ’tis to make t[h]is to [a]ll quite clear:
Helen, though surpassing, with it not near,
[Hu]man beauty, l[e]ft [th]at man who, ’tis clear,
[Of all] was best,
And went off to Troy by ship ove[r] sea;
Pa[r]ents, [dau]ghter: [no-one at] all did she
Have in mind, but was led away o’er sea,
[Lovi]ng, [afar,]
[By the Cyprus-Goddess:] with [ease] does she
People’s [hearts b]end just by t[hem not] lightlỳ
[M]aking [love; thus] now Anactori[a] me,
Who is afar,
[I]n mind touched, [wh]ose dear walk
I’d like much more, With her face,
which shines as the sun it bore,
Seeing than those Lydian chari͞ots, men sore
Fighting [on ground].
[Well we kn]ow [the best] cannot ever be
Unto ma[n]; for men [betterʼs] certainlỳ
[P]ra͞y͞er [of what they once than that can be
Out the mind bound.]
Foot-soldiers’ army, one of ships, or knights
Over black earth ’tis said that most delights;
I say, instead, that of what’s loved the sights
The most are liked;
It’s easy t’ make this understood to all,
For Helen, who could see a lot of all
The human beauty, judged the best of all
The man she liked,
Who brought Troy’s honour downward totally,
Her parents nor her daughter, none did she
Remember, but was led away o’er sea,
In love, afar,
[By th’ Cyprus-Goddess:] for [heart] easilỳ
[She bends, if f]orce [it to love] not [lightlỳ]
She does; [of] Anactoria [m]emorỳ,
Who is afar,
I’ve now, whose lovèd footfall I’d prefer
Together with her shining face and her
To see than Lydian chariots and soldiers
With shields in fight.
[Well do we k]now [the be]st can never be
To ma[n], who but his prayers for it can see.
{Prayer1 of what they once had and memory
Than ’ts absence might.}.
Ciò che sull[a] terra ne[r]a͜ è più bello –
Dicesi͜ –͜ è͜ un plotone di fanti,͜ o ’n quello
Cavali͜eri,͜ o flotta di navi;͜ è quello –
Dico – ch’è͜ amato.
Facil s’è ciò͜ a [t]utti compreso fare,
Ch’Elena, potendo lei pur mirare
La beltà degl’[uo]mini assa͜i, per ma[re],
[Qu]ell’uom lasc[iat]o
[Di ciascun m]igliore, ver’ Troia͜ andò,
[Fi]glia͜ e ge[n]itori non ricordò
Proprio͜ af[fatto], ma [lungi] la guidò,
[Innamorata,
La Ciprigna: do]cile [piega ’l cuore,
Se] qu[alcun co]nduce ͜[a non] lieve ͜[amore;
Sì] Anattorḯ[a h]o ora in cuore,
Ch'è lungi andata:
Il [s]u’͜ amato passo preferireï
E ’l splendor vedere sul viso a leï
Che de’ Lidi͜ i carri, e ne͜i clipèï
[Fanti] pugnare.
[Ben sap]pi͜am che [’l meglio] non può͜ accadere
A͜i morta[li;] priego però d’ [a]vere
[Ciò che prima͜ ave͜an lor è meglio͜ avere
Ch’esso scordare.]
O’e[r] bla[c]k earth ’tis said that what most delights
Is an army͜ of ships, foot-soldiers, or knights;
I, instead, say: of what is loved the sights
For one [a]re best;
Easy ’tis to make t[h]is to [a]ll quite clear:
Helen, though a {lot} was to her quite near
Of [m]an-beauty, l[e]ft [th]at man who, ’tis clear,
[Of all] was best,
And went off to Troy by ship ove[r] sea;
Pa[r]ents, [dau]ghter: [no-one at] all did she
Have in mind, but was led away o’er sea,
[Lovi]ng, [afar,]
[By the Cyprus-Goddess:] with [ease] does she
People’s [hearts b]end just by t[hem not] lightlỳ
[M]aking [love; thus] now Anactori[a] me,
Who is afar,
[I]n mind touched, [wh]ose dear walk I’d like much more,
With her face, which shines as the sun it bore,
Seeing than those Lydian chari͞ots, men sore
Fighting [on ground].
[Well we kn]ow [the best] cannot ever be
Unto ma[n]; for men [betterʼs] certainlỳ
[P]ra͞y͞er [of what they once than that can be
Out the mind bound.]
Ὠς δ[ ]ω̣ν ἀπέ̣χθ̣ην
Τω̣[ ] . δύ̤ν̤ατ', ὄττινας γὰρ
Εὖ θέω, κῆνοί με μάλιστα σίννον-
τ' ἐξ ἀδοκή[τω.]
Prole più amata di terra e di cielo
Ciò che sull[a] terra ne[r]a͜ è più bello –
Dicesi͜ – è͜ un plotone di fanti,͜ o ’n quello
Cavali͜eri, o flotta di navi;͜ è quello –
Dico – ch’è͜ amato.
Facil s’è c[i]ò͜ a [t]utti compreso fare,
Ch’Elena, avendo͜ anche͜ a superare
La beltà degl’[uo]mini assa͜i, per mare,
[Q]uell’uom lasc[iat]o
[Di ciascun m]igliore, ver’ Troia͜ andò,
[Fi]glia͜ e genitori non ricordò
Proprio͜ af[fatto], ma [lungi] la guidò,
[N]e[mmen forz]ata,
La Ciprigna: mai le si p]iega il cuore,
C[iò che] vuol [l']è facile a tutte l'ore.
Sì] Anattorḯ[a] or [mi v]ien nel cuore,
Ch'è lungi andata:
Il [s]u’͜ amato passo preferireï
E ’l splendor vedere sul viso a leï
Che de’ Lidi͜ i carri, e ne͜i clipèï
[Fanti p]ugnare.
––Fine poesia––
[Gioia pie]na non ci può capitare;
[Sol possiam] noi [uom]ini implorare
[D'aver parte al bene;] ciò sé mi pare
Chiaro mostrare.
[Potremmo aver perso delle strofe qui.]
[–u–] succedere [–u–u]
[–u–] in punta di piedi andava
[–u] neve; lei molte cose [–u]
Verso [u–u]
Sì [u–u–u] odiare [–u
–u–u] può; chi io curo a me
Più d'ogn'altro male mi fa, ahimè,
All'improvviso.
Foot-soldiers’ army, one of ships, or knights
Ove[r] bla[c]k earth ’tis said that most delights;
I say, instead, that of what’s loved the sights
You’ll hold the best;
It’s easy t’ make t[h]is understood understood to [a]ll,
For Helen, who by far surpassed withal
The [hu]man beauty, l[ef]t [t]hat man [of all]
By far the [b]est,
And off she went to Troy by ship o’er sea,
Her parents nor her [da]ughter, [none] did she
Remember, but was led away o’er sea,
[W]i[ll]ing, afar,
[By th' Cyprus-Goddess: always] easilỳ
She [do]es [what her own] heart [unw]ieldilỳ
Doth want; [of] Anactoria [m]emorỳ,
Who is afar,
I’ve now, [who]se lovèd footfall I’d prefer
Together with her shining face and her
To see than Lydian chariots and soldiers
With shields in [f]ight.
––End of poem––
While a [m]an can ne'er [ful]ly [happy] be,
He can pray the gods to be [partially
Glad;] these things appear to me clëarlỳ
As e'er they might.
[Some stanzas may have been lost here.]
[–u–u] happen [u–u–
–u–u] tiptoed [u–u–
–u] Snow; [for] she many things [u–]
T'wards [uu–]
Thus [u–u–uu] hate [u–
–u–u–u] can; those indeed
I do care for, hurt me the most indeed,
Out of the blue.
Critical Note
I am sure you are thinking: «Oh my! What are all those versions? And which one is the correct one?». Well, let me first of all highlight a problem in establishing the answer to this question. I will do so by giving you the Grenfell-Hunt transcription of the papyrus giving us the bulk of this text, and the Campbell text annotated with comparisons to Lobel-Page and Voigt.
And no, I am not kidding. This is the actual situation. That is some serious difference, right? So who is right? Are these even the same poem? Well, clearly they are, there is way too much overlap for them not to be, isn't there now? Alright. I first present you with the older version of this note, in its spoiler form. The spoiler contains an extract of the Paracritical Note I wrote back in the days when I translated Sappho, in the original Italian, with only a few English notes. The important parts will be mentioned in the rest of the note, but I want to leave it for anyone willing to delve into that Italian prose to see exactly what I wrote about this poem back then.
Il framm. 16, il cui titolo in metrica è riportato da Vikiþíki, è un altro bello scoglietto. Vikiþíki riporta:
La prima strofa è abbastanza liscia da comprendere, e la difficoltà sta nel renderla in poesia, specie in italiano. Sulla seconda iniziano le controversie, veramente inappianabili, col P.Oxy X, ancora una volta sorgente per questo carme, insieme ad altre tra cui PSI (Papiri della Società Italiana), tutte le quali non ho potuto sfruttare perché irreperibili su Internet. P.Oxy X riporta:
L’ultimo verso, da me non riportato per evitare l’enorme lacuna che lo separa dall’ultimo che ho riportato, va tradotto “Dal non previsto”, ossia “From unforeseen”, ovvero, senza metrica perché le lunghe son troppe, in Latino, per tradurlo come un adonio qual è in greco, “Ex improviso”. Wikisource Inglese, la fiera degli errori e dell’incomprensibile, riporta, con varie aggiunte in lacune non segnalate:
Versione tutta P.Oxy più aggiunte e schifezza su «oydĕ̀ nỹn, Anaktŏría, tỳ mĕ́mnai / dḕ parĕŏísas», in cui mĕ́mnai è a me incomprensibile. Per tutto quanto sopra detto ho riportato due versioni, una partendo da Vikiþíki ed aggiungendo i riempimenti di Wikisource Inglese sulla terzultima strofa che su Vikiþíki è la penultima e non riportando l’ultima, «eì mĕn ídmĕn», l’altra partendo dal P.Oxy con gli emendamenti (emendations) tratti da Wikisource Inglese, correggendo «Lõist’ ŏn’ antrhrṓpŏiś» come riportato e sistemando il pezzo sotto, sulla base di un mĕtĕ́chĕin che reggeva l’acc. Riporto la traduzione prosastica che ho fatto in principio di entrambe le versioni:
[Prose translations of versions 1&3]
Per quanto riguarda la versione P.Oxy X la scelta di pẽlĕ fílĕisan anziché Kýpriś ĕ́raisan è banalmente perché preferivo tenere Kýpriś al verso successivo per evitare la lacuna. Da The Complete poems of Sappho trovo ŏyk aĕ́kŏisan, molto meglio di tàn aĕ́kŏisan, tanto che avrei sparato al tàn a?ĕ́kŏisan di Vikiþíki, e ĕ́phy brŏ́tōn kẽr, più generico di aĕì tŏ̀ thẽly, e quindi da me preferito come riempimento di lacuna. Infine una traduzione su quel sito e la coscienza che pĕdĕ́chēn (mĕtĕ́chĕin) regge il genitivo mi hanno permesso di capire l’“emendation” riportata da Wikisource Inglese, ove il tõn andrebbe riscritto come hõn, anzi õn per psilosi, pron. rel., e la strofa tutta andrebbe tradotta come «Se da una parte vediamo che è impossibile che agli uomini accadano le cose migliori, pregare di partecipare di ciò di cui un tempo si partecipava è miglior eper i mortali che dimenticarsi di quello». Riporto dunque le due versioni di questo carme con le necessarie correzioni:
[Versions 2&4 as above]
Diselido dunque l’una a fianco all’altra le due traduzioni latine:
[...]
La prima strofa in latino non è troppo difficile da tradurre, mi spiace solo lo iato ipsa autem. Desuper per super l’ho trovato chissà dove. Nella seconda abbiamo cuique, con dieresi, in un contesto inusuale, perché non avevo altro modo di dire ognuno. Nel secondo verso exque cellens è et excellens, con ipotetica tmesi e –que tappabuchi finto, in quanto sta per l’“et”, equivalente ad “etiam”, che ho messo nella risoluzione prosastica. Ips(a) è riferito ad Helena, con enorme iperbato, invero usato come tappabuchi lungo prima di hominum. Pulchris è abl. di relaz. con excellens, corrispondente al kállŏś greco, agg. sostantivato perché pulchritudine era troppo lungo. Urb(em) ad Ilium ha urbem in anastrofe, anche qui tappabuchi, ove Ilium è usato anziché Troiam perché un «Iit vir ad Troiam» era incompletabile con una perifrasi per “navigans”. Carûm è gen arcaico, come altri prima e parecchi nell’ultima strofa della seconda versione, necessari per esigenze metriche. E(am) è Elena, e haudque è per neque, o meglio per un ne…quidem. Nella seguente strofa abbiamo una s caduce, fenomeno da me abbondantemente sfruttato, e due versi ipermetri elisi coi seguenti. Nella strofa seguente ho un dubbio su eius, mica che sia ĕius e mi freghi. Anche humi temo abbia la i lunga. La prima strofa è stata particolarmente ardua da tradurre in Italiano ed Inglese, ed infatti è venuta involuta. In Italiano si ricostruisce «Si dice (che una) folla di fanti o (di) cavalieri o di navi (sia) sulla terra vincitrice di (una) gara di beltade; io invece (dico) ch’è ciò ch’è amato», in Inglese «It is said that over black earth an army of foot-soldiers, (or) one of ships, or (one of) knights delights (the) most; I say, instead, that you’ll hold the sights of what’s loved (to be) the best (ones)», e nel secondo caso cambia solo la seconda parte in «I say, instead, that the sights of what’s loved are liked the most». Quanto alla strofa seguente, i due troncamenti consecutivi con un cápir (non capír, come normale) necessario per ritmare il verso mi dispiacciono. “per chi la generò” è evidente aggiunta richiesta dalla rima. “Da Venere” è agente di “guidata”, non moto a luogo, come “By th’ Cyprus-born”. Per il resto clipei avrebbe l’accento sulla prima i, invece qui mi serve spostarlo sul dittongo ei per la rima. “pugnare” è retto da “veder” al secondo verso Prefer-her-soldièrs è rima imperfetta per la s del plurale soldiers, da leggersi /sol’djərs/, con uno spiacevole spostamento d’accento. Per la seconda traduzione, et videns si è tmesi e iperbato di etsi videns richiesto dalla metrica dato che la resa prosastica ha – – u– mentre qui è necessario –u –x. Il v. 7 è ipermetro. “amore” è abl. di causa. Non l’ho notato prima, ma mi spiace l’etenimque con et all’inizio ed alla fine e posposto dove normalmente sarebbe in principio di frase. Ancora una cosa che mi è sfuggita: in Italiano la prima strofa ha una rima siciliana dice-vincitrice-invece. Mi spiace nella seconda strofa il passaggio pass. pross. – pass. rem., richiesto dalla rima, e l’uso della stessa parola-rima due volte in Inglese, nonché gli spostamenti di stress, acc. tonico, in memorý e lightlý, quest’ultimo particolarmente in quanto balza più all’occhio, anzi, all’orecchio. “voler” anziché “pregare” per árasthai è richiesto dal numero di sillabe, un vero peccato. ’ts per its è abbastanza ardito: dopo aver visto ’s per his ed aver usato ’r per her nell’Inno ad Afrodite, questo completa il trio delle aferesi dei possessivi inglesi di terza persona. Idem qua mi spiacciono gli spostamenti di accento su certainly e memory. Quanto alle traduzioni riportate fuori NP (Nota Paracritica), alla terza strofa, terzo verso, illa sa con Cypri’ della strofa dopo. Pĕ́dĕichon in d’ ĕ́nĕyxiś è stata una seconda scelta, in quanto la prima, pĕdĕýchĕsth’, oltre ad essere sgradevole per la brutta “allitterazione” dello –sth’ con lo st di ĕstí, significava “cambiare desiderio”, e dunque era fuori luogo. Al posto di destroy ho pensato di usare bring down, poi downward, per avere due sillabe da quel down. E con questo saluti al fr. 16 e buongiorno fr. 17.
[...]
Come sopra detto, questo documento [i.e. safopoemas] riporta un’interessante variante della III strofa di Phíltatŏn Gaíaś gĕ́nŏś Ŏrránō tĕ, inserita sulla versione P.Oxy., ossia con pĕrskŏ́pĕisa, krínnĕn áristŏn, pẽlĕ phílĕisan, come Wikisource Inglese:
Κύπρις εδχαμπτον γαρ ύπάγαγ' άτορ
αΐχεν ου κ ουφ ως τιν' ϊραν ποήστ)
15 ως τε νΟν "Ανακτορί[ας τις έ]μναί-
[αθ' ου] παρεοίσας·
diviene interessante, perché è più direttamente collegata al resto (la cosa più bella è quello che si ama… Elena abbandonò il marito per amore… «soggioga un cuore facile da piegare infatti se fa amare qualcuno non alla leggera» anziché «è per natura facile da piegare il cuore dei mortali se qualcuno pensa poco al presente») e resta nel generico senza la clausola monosillaba al primo verso come ĕ́phy brŏ́tōn kẽr. prosegue dicendo «E così ora qualcuno si è ricordato di Anattoria, che non c’è». Qui, appoggiandomi a Vikiþíki, modifico il testo, sicché dopo ṓs torna tutto come già ho tradotto:
La Cipride: soggioga docil cuore
S’alcun conduce a non leggero amore;
Così Anattoria ho ora in cuore
Ch’è lungi andata,
By th’ Cyprus-Goddess: for heart easily
She bends, if force it to love not lightly
She does; of Anactoria memory,
Who is afar,
[...]
Segnalo ora un paio di Edmondsate. La prima riguarda il frammento della Gŏġgýla, molto discusso sopra. [...] Poi abbiamo la quarta strofa di Phíltatŏn Gaíaś gĕ́nŏś Ŏrránō tĕ, che dà un’origine agli emendamenti schifosi di Wikisource inglese, che li ha copiati male:
[Screenshot of Edmonds' stanza 4]
With that out of the way, let us look at the timeline of the sources for this mess.
Apollonius Dyscolus wrote a treatise on syntax, and in book 3 of said treatise, he quoted Sappho thus: «τὸ ἐρᾶν ὁμολογεῖ τὸ προσδιατίθεσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐρωμένου· διὸ καὶ δεόντως ἡ Σαπφὸ ἐπιτεταμένῳ μᾶλλον ὀνόματι ἐχρήσατο· ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ ἡ νοττῶτις ἐρᾶται»; now this is how the tradition gives it to us, with codices giving the καὶ ἡ νοττῶτις part as κηνοττωτις; in 1843, the Bergk edition of Sappho corrects this into its fr. 16, which reads «Ἔγω δὲ κῆνο, / τῶ τις ἐρᾶται»; in fact, the codices had it right, and the quote should read «ἔγω δὲ κῆν' ὄτ- / τω τις ἔραται», but Bergk possibly didn't know Aeolic doubles the tau in ὄτω, and for some reason went for a relative τῶ, perhaps to avoid the word split between lines; the introduction to the Sappho quote reads «loving agrees with being disposed of by the loved thing; for this reason Sappho suitably decleared, with an intensified name»;
The Etymologicum Magnum, or Ἐτυμολογικὸν τὸ μέγα, has the following Sappho quote: «ὥσπερ δαμῶ, δαμείω, οὕτω θῶ θέω· καὶ παρὰ Σαπφοῖ· ὅττινας γὰρ εὖ θέω κῆνοί με μάλιστα σίννονται», «just like δαμῶ becomes δαμείω [in Aeolic], so θῶ becomes θέω; and in Sappho: those I care for, those hurt me the most»; this is Bergk fr. 14, actually corrected from κεῖνοι and σίνονται;
Apollonius Dyscolus wrote a treatise on pronouns, and in it he quotes Sappho: «ἐγὼν Αἰολεῖς βαρέως· ἔγων δ' ἔμ' αὔτᾳ τοῦτο σύνοιδα Σαπφώ», that is «ἐγὼν is stressed on the first syllable in Aeolic: [Sappho quote], says Sappho»; Bergk here suggests perhaps συνώϊδα is correct, to make this an Alcaic hendecasyllabic, but why do so if it is already a perfectly fine ending for a Sapphic stanza?
In 1914, Grenfell and Hunt publish volume X of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri; in it, P.Oxy. 1231 fr. 1 col. i is found, part of which is the above transcription, with various reading notes which are discussed at the papyri transcriptions post; I really wish I had an image of said papyrus to be able to tell what went on in l. 9, which is the only difference (outside lacuna fillings that is, and the oscillations on the critical notation for the sigma in l. 6, which is either absent, or uncertain, or certain, respectively in GH, LP, and Campbell) which is not sanable via reading uncertainties, at least as far as the P.Oxy. volume tells me;
In 1976, P.Oxy. volume 21 appeared, where it was mentioned that two scraps were inserted in this fragment, one on the left, and one in the middle of the right portion; a combined text was given, which was essentially what Lobel-Page took up in 1955 in his Sappho edition; the transcriptions post makes an educated guess at the raw transcription of those two scraps, called P.Oxy. 2166(a) frr. 2a-2b (because of course two scraps have one number, so I have to add letters myself to distinguish them), discussing possibilities of splitting of Λ€ΟΙ between the 1231 fragment and one of the scraps from 2166(a); unfortunately, I do not (or at least, did not when I wrote the note, when I checkup the papyri post we will see) see any way to hypothise a form for this fragment that doesn't question the certain letters of Grenfell-Hunt, since supposing Λ€ΟΙ to be half on 1231 and half on 2166(a) would mean nothing could really be certain in 1231, right? However, that fragment definitely has to interfere with the OI, or the former ϹϹ̣ couldn't turn to OỊ by some magic it itself worked;
P.Oxy. 2166(a) fr. 2a also gives us a grave accent alone in l. 12; now this definitely dispels the πῆλε φίλεισαν option; AFAIK the grave accent was used in papyri to warn about the presence of diphthongs, and nothing else; hence, all the options in my versions would be dispelled; so what is a likely reading for the papyrus? Well, ΚὼΥΚ is; so the versions with οὐκ ἀέκοισαν were almost correct;
Lobel-Page in 1955, Voigt in 1971, and Campbell in 1982 basically follow this text, minus some minor oscillations; so this suggests the correct version is Campbell's, with a suitable completion of the holey stanzas, that is 4 and 6; but this is not the end of the story;
By the way, Lobel-Page also inserts P.Oxy. 1231 fr. 36 into the mix, "quamvis dubitanter" (although doubtingly); I don't know what brings the two to do this, but they were right, as we shall see;
In 2014, the P.GC. inv. 105 are published, which are discussed in the transcriptions post, and which cause a minor revolution; firstly, they confirm the doubtful reading of l. 6 in Lobel-Page and following, making it certain; then they destroy the Grenfell-Hunt (and Edmonds) completion of l. 9, as if 2166(a) hadn't already done that, by giving the CA at the end a certainty status; thirdly, they provide extra endings in the holey stanzas, which destroys all the completions I found back in the days for stanza 4, and revolutionizes stanza 6, throwing item 3 into it; fourthly, it gives a whole bunch of new lines, so many in fact that the poem, which went on up to the τ' ἐξ ἀδοκήτω line, is longer than any attested; this causes a split of poems essentially necessary, and since stanza 6 is a very convenient splitting point, given that its first line could start with ὄλβιον instead of εὖ μὲν ἴδμεν, thus satisfying the alphabetical arrangement of the sequence of poems found in 1231 and in P.GC., this tells us the poem ended at stanza 5, and stanza 6 started a new poem, of which we now have much more than ever before;
Also, item 2 gets thrown into that second poem, at the very end, and P.Oxy. 1231 fr. 36 is confirmed to fit into this mix.
If I had done my research back in the days, I would not have considered both versions equally likely, and might have saved some translations, only doing the GW ones. But I did not. Here is the timeline of my work on this.
I started off Greek Wikisource and Bibliotheca Augustana, very similar, producing the GW version;
Then I probably looked at English Wikisource or GH or a combination, et voilà the Oxy/GW, where GW is for some completions which I preferred in the GW version and still fit the GH version;
Then I looked at TCPOS and found a different take on l. 12, where instead of τὰν ἀέκοισαν (the unwilling one, i.e. Helen was unwilling to go away to Troy) I found οὐκ ἀέκοισαν (not unwilling, again referred to Helen); this sounded much better than τὰν ἀέκοισαν, so I adopted it, et voilà the GW+TCPOS version, which was hidden in the Paracritical note while the GW version stayed in the file;
The Oxy version had πῆλε φίλεισαν there, taken once again from TCPOS to have a complete l. 13, instead of keeping Κύπρις ἔραισαν as found in the GH P.Oxy. volume; TCPOS also helped me figure out πεδέχω takes the genitive for the object, and not the accusative, so that I restored the original English Wikisource completion of stanza 6, which I had previously amended; this gives the GW/Oxy+TCPOS version, again hidden in the Paracritical Note;
Then I thought this poem was done with, and went on; on the way through other poems, I found safopoemas.doc referred to on TCPOS; this is the "para imprimir" (to be printed) version of a Spanish Sappho edition, with text prepared as whoever prepared it wanted, essentially, and translations by Señor Montemayor; this document is just horrible: typos galore, texts that are incredibly incomprehensible and don't even match the Spanish or any other text; however, in some points, despite stating they prefer to follow those that complete less, they actually complete more than others (even Edmonds at times, and that goes a long way); in this poem, they provide an interesting completion of stanza 4, which I took up and made into my file's "fragment re-16" at the end of the GW poems; that was the GW+safopoemas version;
Finally, readying the blog, I saw this mess, and I thought it would be terribly asymmetric not to have a GW/Oxy+safopoemas version, so I created it, and just adjusted the translations as explained in the intro.
So that explains the multiple versions. Notice that I chose ἀεὶ τὸ θῆλυ over ἔφυ βρότων κῆρ because of the monosyllabic last word, though probably the second version was reluctantly doffed, given that it is more general in considering "mortals" instead of "females"; moreover, the safopoemas versions are editings of the TCPOS versions.
Naturally, working for the blog I also came about P.GC., and that is discussed at (guess…) the transcriptions post, where the following combined text of everything is given, 1231 fr. 1 being uncolored, fr. 36 being red, 2166(a) being blue, P.GC. being yellow, item 3 being purple and item 2 being brown, oh and PSI 123 (yep, I forgot about that, it's just a few extra letters in the last line) being pink:
Before I take Obbink's apparatus criticus and use it to complete the above, one last thing. The P.Oxy. 1231 fragment left the possibility of μεμναι in l. 15, with Edmonds taking it as «[ἄμ]με νῦν, Ϝανακτορί[α, τὺ] μέμναι- / [σ' οὐ] παρεοίσαις», which of course conflicts with the certain ΟΙϹΑϹ in the papyrus, and which English Wikisource tampered with to get [Οὐ]δὲ νῦω, Ἀνακτορί[α, τὺ] μέμναι / [δὴ] παρεοίσας, which probably doesn't make sense as μέμναι doesn't exist; the Edmonds text is translated by Edmonds to «See to it then that you remember us Anactoria, now that we are parted», and English Wikisource gives the translation «So mightest thou fail, My Anactoria, if she were with you», which is Cox's translation, and I cannot see how this matches the original, given that μέμναι, if it exists, should be a form of "to remember", not "to fail". In any case, P.GC. dispels that option, making the nu of Ν€ΜΝΑΙ certain. That said, here is the completed text with a prose translation.
Ὠς δ[ ]ω̣ν ἀπέ̣χθ̣ην
Τω̣[ ] . δύ̤ν̤ατ', ὄττινας γὰρ
Εὖ θέω, κῆνοί με μάλιστα σίννον-
τ' ἐξ ἀδοκή[τω.]
[S]ome say that an army of knights, some one of pedestrian soldiers,
Some one of ships, ove[r] the da[r]k earth
Is the most beautiful thing; I say, instead, that it's whatever
One loves.
It's [wh]olly easy to make t[h]is understood
To [a]ll: for she who had so much
Of [hu]man beauty, Helen, le[f]t [t]he man
That was the [b]est [of all]
And went sailing to Troy,
No[r] did she remember of her [d]aughter or of her dear parents
At [all], but [Cypris] led her away,
[N]o[t even unwill]ing:
Indeed [she has] an [unw]ielding mind,
[And] easily [comp]letes w[hatever] she thinks of.
[Thus] Anactori[a] has now been brough[t] to my mind,
Who is [not] present.
I had rather see [he]r loved footfall
And the bright sparkle on her face
Than the chariots of the Lydians and their soldiers clad in shields
[F]ighting [on foot].
––End of poem––
While it is impossible for me[n] to be
[Comple]tely [happy], [it is possible] to pray to have
[A share of good things;] and I myself
Know this well.
[A few stanzas may have been lost here.]
. . . happen
[ ] . . . walked on tiptoes
[ ]ν snow; but she many things
Unto [
Thus [ ] hate
[ ] . can; for those whom
I treat well, those more than all harm me
Unexpecte[dly.]
Note that I kept the quotes as in P.GC. plus integrations in the combined text to show exactly what the papyrus had, but then in the above completed text I reverted to the usual practice of having quotes all certain. I chose τὸν πανάριστον because that's what I originally had, but τόν περ ἄριστον is just as likely.
As for the critical notation, I didn't bother making it match exactly with the transcriptions, because it would be too boring. I just made sure the Greek text had no weird or misused notations, and left the other texts as they were. Here is the combined text from the transcriptions post, with only 1231 frr. 1 and 36 on the left, and 2166(a) on the right, 1231 fr. 1 uncolored, fr. 36 red, 2166(a) scraps both blue:
The completed text with P.GC. does have the correct notation, being just the combined text with no colors and more completions. In the original Greek text of the translated versions, in some versions, for some fundamental notational misunderstanding, I had applied angled brackets for lacuna fillings and square ones for emendations, but then I had slashes and backslashes, both double and single (e.g. /a\ and //a\\), for purposes I cannot tell, and braces probably for completely lost lines.
As a final remark, Grenfell-Hunt have a different suggestion for the completoin of stanza 6: «ἔστι πὰρ θέων μακάρων ἔκοισαν / τῶν παρεόντων», which is Wilamowitz's completion ("W-M", as GH puts it), and makes the stanza translate to «Well do we know that it is not possible for the best things / To happen to men, but it is possible to pray / To have a share in the gods' wills / If they are present». In translating, I assumed ἔστι πὰρ was meant as tmesis and anastrophe of πάρεστι, for otherwise I have no clue how the sentence is supposed to be parsed. And the note is over.
