Friday 22 December 2017

Dearest offspring of Heaven and of Earth

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:
  1. P.Oxy. 1231 fr. 1 col. i and one line in col ii;
  2. A quotation by Apollonius Dyscolus's treatise on pronouns giving half of l. 3 and all l. 4;
  3. P.Oxy. 1231 fr. 36 (added by the Lobel-Page edition "quamvis dubitanter", "though doubtingly");
  4. P.Oxy. 2166(a) frr. 2a and 2b;
  5. 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:

  1. 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:
    1. 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;
    2. 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;
    3. The English was also fully done, this time in final form already, between 31/7 and 6/8;
  2. 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;
  3. 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;
  4. 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;
  5. 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:
    1. 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;
    2. 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;
    3. 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;
  6. 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;
  7. 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;
  8. 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.

But enough chitchat, let's get to the poem!



Φίλτατον Γαίας γένος Ὀρράνω τε

[Ο]ἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον οἰ δὲ πέσδων
Οἰ δὲ νάων φαῖσ’ ἐπ[ὶ] γᾶν μέλαι[ν]αν
[ Ἔ]μμεναι κάλλιστον, ἔγω δὲ κῆν’ ὄτ-
τῳ τις ἔραται·

[Πά]γχυ δ’ εὔμαρες σύνετον πόησαι
[Π]άντι τ[ο]ῦτ’· ἀ γὰρ πόλυ περσκέθοισα
Κάλλος [ἀνθ]ρώπων Ἐλένα [τὸ]ν ἄνδρα
τὸν [πανάρ]ιστον

Καλλ[ίποι]σ’ ἔβα͜ ἐς Τροΐαν πλέοι[σα]
Κωὐδ[ὲ πα]ῖδος οὐδὲ φίλων το[κ]ήων
Πά[μπαν] ἐμνάσθη, ͜ ἀλλὰ παράγαγ’ αὔταν
[τὰν ἀέκοι]σαν

[Κύπρις· εὔκ]αμπτον γὰρ [ἀεὶ τὸ θῆλυ
Αἴ κέ τις] κούφως τ[ὸ πάρον ν]όησῃ·
[Κἄ]με νῦν Ἀνακτορί[ας ὀ]νέμναι-
[σ’ οὐ] παρεοίσας,

[Τᾶ]ς ‹κ›ε βολλοίμαν ἔρατόν τε βᾶμα
Κἀμάρυχμα λάμπρον ἴδην προσώπω
Ἢ τὰ Λύδων ἄρματα καὶ πανόπλοις
[πεσδομ]άχεντας.
Prole più͜ amata di terra͜ e di cielo

Folla di fanti͜ o cavalier' si dice
O d’ navi sul[la] terra vincitrice
Di gara di beltade, e 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 bimba͜ e ge[ni]tor’ non ricordò,
Ma vi͜a guidata lungi se ne andò,
[Seppur forza]ta,

[Per Vener: sempre fa]cil da piegare
[È donna, del presente͜ a] meditare
S’è li͜eve; Anattorï[a]͜ a [ri]cordar[e]
Son or portata:

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.
Prole più͜ amata di terra͜ e di cielo

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,
[Seppur forza]ta,

[Da Vener: sempre fa]cil da piegare
[È donna, del presente͜ a] meditare
S’è li͜eve; Anattorï[a]͜ a [ri]cordar[e]
Son or portata:

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.
Prōgĕni͞es cǣlī pĕrămāt’ ĕt ōrbĭs

[Q]uīd’ ĕquû̄mvĕ cūm pĕdĭtūmvĕ dīcūnt
Nāvĭūmv’ ēxērcĭtŭm [ē]ssĕ tērrā
Dēsŭp[ēr] pūlchērrĭm’, ĕg’ īpsă a͞utĕm
Quīdquĭd ămātŭr;

Prēndĕr’ h[ō]c [vē]rē făcĭlēst [c]ŭīquĕ
Mēntĕ: nāmquĕ īps’ [hŏ]mĭn’ ēxquĕ cēllēns
Mūltă pūlchrīs īll’ Hĕlĕn’, ābrĕ[līnq]uēns
[Ōp]tŭmŭm [ōmni͞um]

I͞it vĭr’ ūrb’ ăd Īlĭŭm ū[să] nāvĕ,
[Fī]lĭǣ cārû̄mquĕ sŭû̄m pă[rē]ntû̆m
Tō[tŭm] ōblītāst, ăt ĕ’ īllă [nōlēn]t’
Īd sĭbĭ dūxĭt

[Cȳprĭ’]: nāmquĕ [fēmĭnă sēmpĕr] īnflēct’
Ēst [lĕvīs, s’ ādsēntĭă cōgĭtēt] pa͞ul’;
[Ātquĕ] nūnc Ānāctŏrĭ[ǣ ă]dīvĭt
Mē mĕmŏrāti͞o:

Mālĭm īncēssūm pĕrămātŭm [īll]i͞us
Ātquĕ lūcĕm āspĭcĕr’ ēiŭ’ vūltūs
Qu’ hōsquĕ cūrrūs Lȳd’ ĕt ĭn ārmŭm ōmnī
Quī [hŭmĭ p]ūgnānt.



Dearest offspring of Heaven and of Earth

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.

Φίλτατον Γαίας γένος Ὀρράνω τε

[Ο]ἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον οἰ δὲ πέσδων
Οἰ δὲ νάων φαῖσ’ ἐπ[ὶ] γᾶν μέλαι[ν]αν
[ Ἔ]μμεναι κάλλιστον, ἔγω δὲ κῆν’ ὄτ-
τῳ τις ἔραται·

[Πά]γχυ δ’ εὔμαρες σύνετον πόησαι
[Π]άντι τ[ο]ῦτ’· ἀ γὰρ πόλυ περσκέθοισα
Κάλλος [ἀνθ]ρώπων Ἐλένα [τὸ]ν ἄνδρα
τὸν [πανάρ]ιστον

Καλλ[ίποι]σ’ ἔβα͜ ἐς Τροΐαν πλέοι[σα]
Κωὐδ[ὲ πα]ῖδος οὐδὲ φίλων το[κ]ήων
Πά[μπαν] ἐμνάσθη, ͜ ἀλλὰ παράγαγ’ αὔταν
[Οὐκ ἀέκοι]σαν

[Κύπρις· εὔκ]αμπτον γὰρ [ἔφυ βρότων κῆρ
Αἴ κέ τις] κούφως τ[ὸ πάρον ν]όησῃ·
[Κἄ]με νῦν Ἀνακτορί[ας ὀ]νέμναι-
[σ’ οὐ] παρεοίσας,

[Τᾶ]ς ‹κ›ε βολλοίμαν ἔρατόν τε βᾶμα
Κἀμάρυχμα λάμπρον ἴδην προσώπω
Ἢ τὰ Λύδων ἄρματα καὶ πανόπλοις
[πεσδομ]άχεντας.


Prole più͜ amata di terra͜ e di cielo

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 bimba͜ e ge[ni]tor’ non ricordò,
Ma vi͜a guidata lungi se ne andò,
[Nemmen forza]ta,

[Da Venere: mortale] da piegare
[È fa]cil, [del presente͜ a] meditare
S’è li͜eve; Anattorï[a]͜ a [ri]cordar[e]
Son or portata:

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.
Prōgĕni͞es cǣlī pĕrămāt’ ĕt ōrbĭs

[Q]uīd’ ĕquû̄mvĕ cūm pĕdĭtūmvĕ dīcūnt
Nāvĭūmv’ ēxērcĭtŭm [ē]ssĕ tērrā
Dēsŭp[ēr] pūlchērrĭm’, ĕg’ īpsă a͞utĕm
Quīdquĭd ămātŭr;

Prēndĕr’ h[ō]c [vē]rē făcĭlēst [c]ŭīquĕ
Mēntĕ: nāmquĕ īps’ [hŏ]mĭn’ ēxquĕ cēllēns
Mūltă pūlchrīs īll’ Hĕlĕn’, ābrĕ[līnq]uēns
[Ōp]tŭmŭm [ōmni͞um]

I͞it vĭr’ ūrb’ ăd Īlĭŭm ū[să] nāvĕ,
[Fī]lĭǣ cārû̄mquĕ sŭû̄m pă[rē]ntû̆m
Tō[tŭm] ōblītāst, ăt ĕ’ [ha͞udquĕ nōlēn]t’
Īd sĭbĭ dūxĭt

[Cȳprĭ’: mōrtālīs] ĕtĕnīmquĕ īnflēct’
[Ēst lĕvīs, s’ ādsēntĭă] cōgĭtēt pa͞ul’;
[Ātquĕ] nūnc Ānāctŏrĭ[ǣ ă]dīvĭt
Mē mĕmŏrāti͞o:

Mālĭm īncēssūm pĕrămātŭm [īll]i͞us
Ātquĕ lūcĕm āspĭcĕr’ ēiŭ’ vūltūs
Qu’ hōsquĕ cūrrūs Lȳd’ ĕt ĭn ārmŭm ōmnī
Quī [hŭmĭ p]ūgnānt.


Dearest offspring of Heaven and of Earth

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.

Φίλτατον Γαίας γένος Ὀρράνω τε

[Ο]ἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον οἰ δὲ πέσδων
Οἰ δὲ νάων φαῖσ’ ἐπ[ὶ] γᾶν μέλαι[ν]αν
[ Ἔ]μμεναι κάλλιστον, ἔγω δὲ κῆν’ ὄτ-
τῳ τις ἔραται·

[Πά]γχυ δ’ εὔμαρες σύνετον πόησαι
[Π]άντι τ[ο]ῦτ’· ἀ γὰρ πόλυ περσκόπει[σ]α
[Κάλ]λος [ἀνθ]ρώπων Ἐλένα [τὸ]ν ἄνδρα
[κρίννεν ἄρ]ιστον

[ Ὂς τὸ πᾶν] σέβας Τροΐα[ς ὄ]λεσσ[εν],
[Κωὐδὲ π]αῖδος οὐδὲ φ[ί]λων το[κ]ήων
[Πάμπαν] ἐμνάσθη, ͜ ἀ[λλὰ] παράγαγ’ αὔταν
[πῆλε φίλει]σαν

[Κύπρις· εὔκ]αμπτον γὰρ [ἀεὶ τὸ θῆλυ
Αἴ κέ τις] κούφως τ[ὸ πάρον ν]οήσῃ·
[Τῆ]λε νῦν Ἀνακτορί[ας ὀ]νέμνα[σ-
θ]η‹ν› ἀπεοίσας,

[Τᾶ]ς κε βολλοίμαν ἔρατόν τε βᾶμα
Κἀμάρυ‹γ›μα λάμπρον ἴδην προσώπω
Ἢ τὰ Λύδων ἄρματα κἀν ὄπλοισι‹ν›
[πεσδο]μάχεντας.

[Εὖ μὲν ἴδ]μεν οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι
[Λῷστ]ά ‹γ›' ἀνθρώπ[οις, π]εδέχην δ’ ἄρασθαι.
[Τῶν δ’ ἔνευξις ἐστι βρότοισι λῷον
ἢ λελάθεσθαι.]
Prole più amata di terra e di cielo

Folla di fanti͜ o cavalier' si dice
O d’ navi sul[la] terra vincitrice
Di gara di beltade, e io invece
Ch’è ciò ch’è͜ amato;

[Be]n facile s’è c[i]ò compreso fare
A͜ [og]nun, ch’Elena, che pot[e]͜a mirare
Assa͜i d’[uo]mo [bel]tade,͜ [ot]timo, pare,
[Ha giudicato

Chi tutto]͜ onor di Troi[a c]ancell[ò],
E [b]imba͜ e g[e]nitor’ non ricordò,
M[a] vi͜a guidata [lungi] se ne andò,
[Innamora]ta,

[Per Vener: sempre facil] da piegare
[È donna, del presente]͜ a meditare
S’è lieve;͜ Anattorï[a]͜ a [r]icorda[re]
Son or portata:

L’amato passo [su]͜o preferirèï
Veder, e lo splendor sul viso͜ a lèï,
Che carri Lidi,͜ e Lidi ne’ clipèï
Forte pugnare.

Le miglior’ cose͜ un uo[mo] sol pregare
D’[a]vere può, ma ma͜i inver toccare;
[Che pe͜i mortali͜ è meglio disïare
Che non scordare.]
Prole più amata di terra e di cielo

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;

[Be]n facile s’è c[i]ò compreso fare
A͜ [og]nun, ch’Elena, che pot[e]͜a mirare
Assa͜i d’[uo]mo [bel]tade,͜ [ot]timo, pare,
[Ha giudicato

Chi ogni]͜ onore a Troi[a c]ancell[ò],
E [f]iglia͜ e g[e]nitor’ non ricordò,
M[a] vi͜a guidata [lungi] se n’andò,
[Innamora]ta,

[Da Vener: sempre facil] da piegare
[È donna, del presente]͜ a meditare
S’è lieve;͜ Anattorï[a]͜ a [r]icorda[re]
Son or portata:

L’amato passo [su]͜o preferirèï
Veder, e lo splendor sul viso͜ a lèï,
Che carri Lidi,͜ e Lidi ne’ clipèï
Forte pugnare.

Le miglior’ cose͜ un uo[mo] sol pregare
D’[a]vere può, ma ma͜i con man toccare;
[Lor pe͜i mortali͜ è meglio disïare
Che non scordare.]
Prōgĕni͞es cǣlī pĕrămāt’ ĕt ōrbĭs

[Q]uīd’ ĕquû̄mvĕ cūm pĕdĭtūmvĕ dīcūnt
Nāvĭūmv’ ēxērcĭtŭm [ē]ssĕ tērrā
Dēsŭp[ēr] pūlchērrĭm’, ĕg’ īpsă a͞utĕm
Quīdquĭd ămātŭr;

Prēndĕr’ h[ō]c [vē]rē făcĭlēst [c]ŭīquĕ
Mēntĕ: nāmqu’ īll’ īps’ Ĕlĕn’ ēt vĭdē[ns] sī
Mūltŭm ēx [pūl]chrīs [hŏm]ĭnūm, vĭr ōmnĭ’
[Ōp]tŭm’ [hăbu͞it quī

D]īrŭīt [tōtūm] Trŏĭ[ǣ] hŏnōrĕm,
Fīlĭǣ c[ā]rû̄mquĕ sŭû̄̉m pă[rē]ntû̆m
[Tōtŭm] ōblītāst, ă[t] ĕ’ īllă [lōng’] āb-
dūxĭt [ămō]rĕ

[Cȳprĭ’]: nāmquĕ [fēmĭnă sēmpĕr] īnflēct’
Ēst [lĕvīs, s’ ādsēntĭă cōgĭtēt] pa͞ul’;
Ātquĕ nūnc Ānāctŏrĭ[ǣ ă]dīvĭ[t]
Mē mĕmŏrāti͞o:

Mālĭm īncēssūm pĕrămātŭm īlli͞us
Ātquĕ lūcĕm āspĭcĕr’ ēiŭ’ vūltūs
Qu’ hōsquĕ cūrrūs Lȳdŭm ĕt īntŭ’ scūtīs
Quī hŭmĭ pūgnānt.

[Scī]mŭs [ōptŭm’] ha͞ud pŏtĭs [ōptŭm]ā’ssĕ
Fīĕrī vĭr[īs], prĕc’ [h]ăbēndû̆m a͞utĕm.
[Sēd mĕli͞us mōrtālĭbŭs īllă vēllĕ
Qu’ ha͞ud mĕmĭnīssĕ.]



Dearest offspring of Heaven and of Earth

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.].

Φίλτατον Γαίας γένος Ὀρράνω τε

[Ο]ἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον οἰ δὲ πέσδων
Οἰ δὲ νάων φαῖσ’ ἐπ[ὶ] γᾶν μέλαι[ν]αν
[Ἔ]μμεναι κάλλιστον, ἔγω δὲ κῆν’ ὄτ-
τῳ τις ἔραται·

[Πά]γχυ δ’ εὔμαρες σύνετον πόησαι
[Π]άντι τ[ο]ῦτ’· ἀ γὰρ πόλυ περσκόπει[σ]α
[Κάλ]λος [ἀνθ]ρώπων Ἐλένα [τὸ]ν ἄνδρα
[κρίννεν ἄρ]ιστον

[Ὃς τὸ πᾶν] σέβας Τροΐα[ς ὄ]λεσσ‹εν›,
[Κωὐδὲ π]αῖδος οὐδὲ φ[ί]λων το[κ]ήων
[Πάμπαν] ἐμνάσθη, ͜ ἀ‹λλὰ› παράγαγ’ αὔταν
[πῆλε φίλει]σαν

[Κύπρις· εὔκ]αμπτον γὰρ [ἔφυ βρότων κῆρ
Αἴ κέ τις] κούφως τ[ὸ πάρον ν]οήσῃ·
[Τῆ]λε νῦν Ἀνακτορί[ας ὀ]νέμνα‹σ›-
θ]η‹ν› ἀπεοίσας,

[Τᾶ]ς ‹κ›ε βολλοίμαν ἔρατόν τε βᾶμα
Κἀμάρυ‹γ›μα λάμπρον ἴδην προσώπω
Ἢ τὰ Λύδων ἄρματα κἀν ὄπλοισι
[πεσδο]μάχεντας.

[Εἰ μὲν ἴδ]μεν οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι
[Λῷστ]ά ‹γ›' ἀνθρώπ[οισ', π]εδέχην δ’ ἄρασθαι.
[Τῶν πέδηχον ἐστι βρότοισι λῷον
ἢ λελάθεσθαι.]


Prole più amata di Terra e di Cielo

Folla di fanti o cavalier' si dice
O d’ navi sulla terra vincitrice
Di gara di beltade; io invece
Ch’è ciò ch’è amato;

Ben facile s’è ciò compreso fare
A ognun, ch’Elena, che potea mirare
Assai d’uomo beltade, ottimo, pare,
Ha giudicato

Chi ogni onore a Troia cancellò,
E bimba e genitor’ non ricordò,
Ma via guidata lungi se ne andò,
Innamorata,

Da Vener: sempre facil da piegare
Mortal s’è, del presente a meditare
S’è lieve; Anattoria a ricordare
Son or portata:

L’amato passo suo preferirei
Veder, e lo splendor sul viso a lei,
Che carri Lidi, e Lidi ne’ clipei
Forte pugnare.

[S’anche sap]piamo ch’uom[o] mai toccare
[Il mè]i non può, voler [p]artecipare;
{Di ciò ch’un tempo aveva, è per mortale
Mèi che scordare.}
Prōgĕni͞es cǣlī pĕrămāt’ ĕt ōrbĭs

Quīd’ ĕquû̄mvĕ cūm pĕdĭtūmvĕ dīcūnt
Nāvĭūmv’ ēxērcĭtŭm ēssĕ tērrā
Dēsŭpēr pūlchērrĭm’, ĕg’ īpsă a͞utĕm
Quīdquĭd ămātŭr;

Prēndĕr’ hōc vērē făcĭlēst cŭīquĕ
Mēntĕ: nāmqu’ īll’ īps’ Ĕlĕn’ ēt vĭdēns sī
Mūltŭm ēx pūlchrīs hŏmĭnūm, vĭr ōmnĭ’
Ōptŭm’ hăbu͞it quī

Dīrŭīt tōtūm Trŏĭǣ hŏnōrĕm,
Fīlĭǣ cārû̄mquĕ sŭû̄m părēntû̆m
Tōtŭm ōblītāst, ăt ĕ’ īllă lōng’ āb-
Dūxĭt ămōrĕ

Cȳprĭ’: mōrtālīs ĕtĕnīmquĕ īnflēct’
Ēst lĕvīs, s’ ādsēntĭă cōgĭtēt pa͞ul’;
Ātquĕ nūnc Ānāctŏrĭǣ ădīvĭt
Mē mĕmŏrāti͞o:

Mālĭm īncēssūm pĕrămātŭm īlli͞us
Ātquĕ lūcĕm āspĭcĕr’ ēiŭ’ vūltūs
Qu’ hōsquĕ cūrrūs Lȳdŭm ĕt īntŭ’ scūtīs
Quī hŭmĭ pūgnānt.

[Scī]mŭs [ētsī] ha͞ud pŏtĭs [ōptŭm]ā’ssĕ
Fīĕrī vĭr[īs], ăt [h]ăbēndû̆m īllû̄m
{Ēst mĕli͞us mōrtālĭbŭ’ prēx qu’ hăbēbānt
Qu’ ha͞ud mĕmĭnīssĕ.}


Dearest offspring of Heaven and of Earth

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.}.

Φίλτατον Γαίας γένος Ὀρράνω τε

[Ο]ἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον οἰ δὲ πέσδων
Οἰ δὲ νάων φαῖσ’ ἐπ[ὶ] γᾶν μέλαι[ν]αν
[ Ἔ]μμεναι κάλλιστον, ἔγω δὲ κῆν’ ὄτ-
τῳ τις ἔραται·

[Πά]γχυ δ’ εὔμαρες σύνετον πόησαι
[Π]άντι τ[ο]ῦτ’· ἀ γὰρ πόλυ περσκέθοισα
Κάλλος [ἀνθ]ρώπων Ἐλένα [τὸ]ν ἄνδρα
τὸν [πανάρ]ιστον

Καλλ[ίποι]σ’ ἔβα͜ ἐς Τροΐαν πλέοι[σα]
Κωὐδ[ὲ πα]ῖδος οὐδὲ φίλων το[κ]ήων
Πά[μπαν] ἐμνάσθη, ͜ ἀλλὰ παράγαγ’ αὔταν
[πῆλε φίλει]σαν

[Κύπρις· εὔκ]αμπτον γὰρ [ὐπάγαγ’ ἆ͂τορ
Αἴ κεν οὐ] κούφως τ[ιν’ ἔραν π]oήσῃ·
[ Ὤς] με νῦν Ἀνακτορί[ας ὀ]νέμναι-
σ’ οὐ παρεοίσας·

[Τᾶ]ς ‹κ›ε βολλοίμαν ἔρατόν τε βᾶμα
Κἀμάρυχμα λάμπρον ἴδην προσώπω
Ἢ τὰ Λύδων ἄρματα καὶ πανόπλοις
[πεσδομ]άχεντας.

[Εὖ μὲν ἴδ]μεν οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι
[Λῷστ’] ὂ̣ν ἀνθρώπ[οις, π]εδέχην δ’ ἄρασθαι
[Τῶν πέδηχον ἐστι βρότοισι λῷον
ἢ λελάθεσθαι.]
Prole più amata di Terra e di Cielo

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.]
Prōgĕni͞es cǣlī pĕrămāt’ ĕt ōrbĭs

[Q]uīd’ ĕquû̄mvĕ cūm pĕdĭtūmvĕ dīcūnt
Nāvĭūmv’ ēxērcĭtŭm [ē]ssĕ tērrā
Dēsŭp[ēr] pūlchērrĭm’, ĕg’ īpsă a͞utĕm
Quīdquĭd ămātŭr;

Prēndĕr’ h[ō]c [vē]rē făcĭlēst [c]ŭīquĕ
Mēntĕ: nāmquĕ īps’ [hŏ]mĭn’ ēxquĕ cēllēns
Mūltă pūlchrīs īll’ Hĕlĕn’, ābrĕ[līnq]uēns
[Ōp]tŭmŭm [ōmni͞um]

I͞it vĭr’ ūrb’ ăd Īlĭŭm ū[să] nāvĕ,
[Fī]lĭǣ cārû̄mquĕ sŭû̄m pă[rē]ntû̆m
Tō[tŭm] ōblītāst, ăt ĕ’ īllă lōng’ āb-
dūxĭt [ămō]rĕ

[Cȳprĭ’:] nām [cōr sūb] dŏcĭl’ [īllă dūcĭt
Ē]ffĭcīt [s’ ŭt ha͞ud] lĕv’ [ămēt lŭbēt quĭs;
Sīccĕ] nūnc Ănāctŏr[ǣ ă]dīvĭt
Mē mĕmŏrāti͞o;

Mālĭm īncēssūm pĕrămātŭm [īll]i͞us
Ātquĕ lūcĕm āspĭcĕr’ ēiŭ’ vūltūs
Qu’ hōsquĕ cūrrūs Lȳd’ ĕt ĭn ārmŭm ōmnī
Quī [hŭmĭ p]ūgnānt.

[Scī]mŭs [ōptŭm’] ha͞ud pŏtĭs [ōptŭmā’]ssĕ
Fīĕrī vĭr[īs], ăt [h]ăbēndû̆m īllû̆m
[Ēst mĕli͞us mōrtālĭbŭ’ prēx qu’ hăbēbānt
Qu’ ha͞ud mĕmĭnīssĕ.]
Dearest offspring of Heaven and of Earth

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.]

Φίλτατον Γαίας γένος Ὀρράνω τε

[Ο]ἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον οἰ δὲ πέσδων
Οἰ δὲ νάων φαῖσ’ ἐπ[ὶ] γᾶν μέλαι‹ν›αν
[Ἔ]μμεναι κάλλιστον, ἔγω δὲ κῆν’ ὄτ-
τῳ τις ἔραται·

[Πά]γχυ δ’ εὔμαρες σύνετον πόησαι
[Π]άντι τ[ο]ῦτ’· ἀ γὰρ πόλυ περσκόπει[σ]α
[Κάλ]λος [ἀνθ]ρώπων Ἐλένα [τὸ]ν ἄνδρα
[κρίννεν ἄρ]ιστον

[Ὃς τὸ πᾶν] σέβας Τροΐα[ς ὄ]λεσσ[εν,
Κωὐδὲ π]αῖδος οὐδὲ φ[ί]λων το[κ]ήων
[Πάμπαν] ἐμνάσθη, ͜ ἀ‹λλὰ› παράγαγ’ αὔταν
[πῆλε φίλει]σαν

[Κύπρις· εὔκ]αμπτον γὰρ [ὐπάγαγ’ ἆτορ
Αἴ κεν οὐ] κούφως τ[ιν’ ἔραν π]oήσῃ·
[Ὤς] με νῦν Ἀνακτορί[ας ὀ]νέμναι-
σ’ οὐ παρεοίσας·

[Τᾶ]ς κε βολλοίμαν ἔρατόν τε βᾶμα
Κἀμάρυ‹γ›μα λάμπρον ἴδην προσώπω
Ἢ τὰ Λύδων ἄρματα κἀν ὄπλοισι
[πεσδο]μάχεντας.

[Εὖ μὲν ἴδ]μεν οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι
[Λῷστ]ά ‹γ›' ἀνθρώπ[οισ', π]εδέχην δ’ ἄρασθαι.
[Τῶν πέδηχον ἐστι βρότοισι λῷον
ἢ λελάθεσθαι.]


Prole più amata di Terra e di Cielo

Folla di fanti o cavalier' si dice
O d’ navi sulla terra vincitrice
Di gara di beltade; io invece
Ch’è ciò ch’è amato;

Ben facile s’è ciò compreso fare
A ognun, ch’Elena, che potea mirare
Assai d’uomo beltade, ottimo, pare,
Ha giudicato

Chi ogni onore a Troia cancellò,
E bimba e genitor’ non ricordò,
Ma, innamorata, lungi se ne andò,
E fu guidata

Dalla Ciprigna: do]cil [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:

L’amato passo suo preferirei
Veder, e lo splendor sul viso a lei,
Che carri Lidi, e Lidi ne’ clipei
Forte pugnare.

Le miglior’ cose͜ un uo[mo] sol pregare
D’[a]vere può, ma ma͜i con man toccare;
{Di ciò ch’un tempo aveva, è per mortale
Mèi che scordare.}
Prōgĕni͞es cǣlī pĕrămāt’ ĕt ōrbĭs

Quīd’ ĕquû̄mvĕ cūm pĕdĭtūmvĕ dīcūnt
Nāvĭūmv’ ēxērcĭtŭm ēssĕ tērrā
Dēsŭpēr pūlchērrĭm’, ĕg’ īpsă a͞utĕm
Quīdquĭd ămātŭr;

Prēndĕr’ hōc vērē făcĭlēst cŭīquĕ
Mēntĕ: nāmqu’ īll’ īps’ Ĕlĕn’ ēt vĭdēns sī
Mūltŭm ēx pūlchrīs hŏmĭnūm, vĭr ōmnĭ’
Ōptŭm’ hăbu͞it quī

Dīrŭīt tōtūm Trŏĭǣ hŏnōrĕm,
Fīlĭǣ cārû̄mquĕ sŭû̄m părēntû̆m
Tōtŭm ōblītāst, ăt ĕ’ īllă lōng’ āb-
Dūxĭt ămōrĕ

[Cȳprĭ’:] nām [cōr sūb] dŏcĭl’ [īllă dūcĭt
Ē]ffĭcīt [s’ ŭt ha͞ud] lĕv’ [ămēt lŭbēt quĭs;
Sīccĕ] nūnc Ănāctŏr[ǣ ă]dīvĭt
Mē mĕmŏrāti͞o;

Mālĭm īncēssūm pĕrămātŭm īlli͞us
Ātquĕ lūcĕm āspĭcĕr’ ēiŭ’ vūltūs
Qu’ hōsquĕ cūrrūs Lȳdŭm ĕt īntŭ’ scūtīs
Quī hŭmĭ pūgnānt.

[Scī]mŭs [ōptŭm’] ha͞ud pŏtĭs [ōptŭm]ā’ssĕ
Fīĕrī vĭr[īs], prĕc’ [h]ăbēndû̆m a͞utĕm.
Ēst mĕli͞us mōrtālĭbŭ’ prēx qu’ hăbēbānt
Qu’ ha͞ud mĕmĭnīssĕ.


Dearest offspring of Heaven and of Earth

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.}.

Φίλτατον Γαίας γένος Ὀρράνω τε

[Ο]ἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον οἰ δὲ πέσδων
Οἰ δὲ νάων φαῖσ’ ἐπ[ὶ] γᾶν μέλαι[ν]αν
[ Ἔ]μμεναι κάλλιστον, ἔγω δὲ κῆν’ ὄτ-
τῳ τις ἔραται·

[Πά]γχυ δ’ εὔμαρες σύνετον πόησαι
[Π]άντι τ[ο]ῦτ’· ἀ γὰρ πόλυ περσκό̣π̣ε̣ι[σ]α
Κάλλος [ἀνθ]ρώπων Ἐλένα [τὸ]ν ἄνδρα
τὸν [πανάρ]ιστον

Καλλ[ίποι]σ’ ἔβα͜ ἐς Τροΐαν πλέοι[σα]
Κωὐδ[ὲ πα]ῖδος οὐδὲ φίλων το[κ]ήων
Πά[μπαν] ἐμνάσθη, ͜ ἀλλὰ παράγαγ’ αὔταν
[πῆλε φίλει]σαν

[Κύπρις· εὔκ]αμπτον γὰρ [ὐπάγαγ’ ἆτορ,
Αἴ κεν οὐ] κούφως τ[ιν’ ἔραν π]oήσῃ·
[ Ὤς] με νῦν Ἀνακτορί[ας ὀ]νέμναι-
σ’ οὐ παρεοίσας·

[Τᾶ]ς ‹κ›ε βολλοίμαν ἔρατόν τε βᾶμα
Κἀμάρυχμα λάμπρον ἴδην προσώπω
Ἢ τὰ Λύδων ἄρματα καὶ πανόπλοις
[πεσδομ]άχεντας.

[Εὖ μὲν ἴδ]μεν οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι
[Λῷστ’] ὂ̣ν ἀνθρώπ[οις, π]εδέχην δ’ ἄρασθαι
[Τῶν πέδηχον ἐστι βρότοισι λῷον
ἢ λελάθεσθαι.]



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, 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.]
Prōgĕni͞es cǣlī pĕrămāt’ ĕt ōrbĭs

[Q]uīd’ ĕquû̄mvĕ cūm pĕdĭtūmvĕ dīcūnt
Nāvĭūmv’ ēxērcĭtŭm [ē]ssĕ tērrā
Dēsŭp[ēr] pūlchērrĭm’, ĕg’ īpsă a͞utĕm
Quīdquĭd ămātŭr;

Prēndĕr’ h[ō]c [vē]rē făcĭlēst [c]ŭīquĕ
Mēntĕ: nāmque īps’ [hŏ]mĭn’ ēt vĭdēns sī
Mūltă pūlchrīs īll’ Hĕlĕn’, ābrĕ[līnq]uēns
[Ōp]tŭmŭm [ōmni͞um]

I͞it vĭr’ ūrb’ ăd Īlĭŭm ū[să] nāvĕ,
[Fī]lĭǣ cārû̄mquĕ sŭūm pă[rē]ntŭm
Tō[tŭm] ōblītāst, ăt ĕ’ īllă lōng’ āb-
dūxĭt [ămō]rĕ

[Cȳprĭ’:] nām [cōr sūb] dŏcĭl’ [īllă dūcĭt,
Ē]ffĭcīt [s’ ŭt ha͞ud] lĕv’ [ămēt lŭbēt quĭs;
Sīccĕ] nūnc Ănāctŏr[ǣ ă]dīvĭt
Mē mĕmŏrāti͞o;

Mālĭm īncēssūm pĕrămātŭm [īll]i͞us
Ātquĕ lūcĕm āspĭcĕr’ ēiŭ’ vūltūs
Qu’ hōsquĕ cūrrūs Lȳd’ ĕt ĭn ārmŭm ōmnī
Quī [hŭmĭ p]ūgnānt.

[Scī]mŭs [ōptŭm’] ha͞ud pŏtĭs [ōptŭmā’]ssĕ
Fīĕrī vĭr[īs], ăt [h]ăbēndû̆m īllû̆m
[Ēst mĕli͞us mōrtālĭbŭ’ prēx qu’ hăbēbānt
Qu’ ha͞ud mĕmĭnīssĕ.]



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 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.]

Φίλτατον Γαίας γένος Ὀρράνω τε

[Ο]ἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον οἰ δὲ πέσδων
Οι δὲ νάων φαῖσ' ἐπ[ὶ] γᾶν μέλαι[ν]αν
[Ἔ]μμεναι κάλλιστον· ἔγω δὲ κῆν' ὄτ-
τῳ τις ἔραται.

[Πά]γ̣χυ δ' εὔμαρες σύνετον πόησαι
[Π]ά̣ντι τ[ο]ῦ̣τ̣'· ἀ γὰρ πόλυ περσκέθοισα
Κάλλος [ἀνθ]ρώπων Ἐλένα [τ]ὸ̣ν ἄνδρα
Τν [πανάρ]ι̣στον

Καλλ[ίποι]σ̣' ἔβα' ς Τροΐαν πλέο̣ι̣σα
κωὐδ[ὲ π]α̣ῖ̣δος οὐδὲ φίλων τοκήων
Πά[μπαν] ἐμνάσθ' ἀλλὰ παράγα̣̣γ' αὔταν
[κ]ω[κ ἀέκοι]σαν

[Κύπρις· ἄγν]αμπτον γὰρ [ἔχει] ν̣όημμα
[καὶ τέ]λει κούφως τ[ό κε πο]ι νοήσῃ̣
[Ὤς] μ̣ε̣ νῦν Ἀνακτορί[ας ὀ]νεμναί-
[σ' οὐ] π̣αρ̣εοίσας.

[Τᾶ]ς ‹κ›ε βολλοίμαν ἔρ̣ατόν τε βᾶμα
Κ̣ἀμάρυ‹χ›μα λάμπρον ἴδην προσώπω
Ἢ̣ τὰ Λύδ̣ων ἄρματα κἀν ὄπλοισι
[πεσδομ]άχεντας

––Τέλος ᾄσματος––

[Ὄλβιον] μὲν οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι
[πάμπ]α̣ν ἀνθρώπ[οις, π]εδέχην δ' ἄρασθαι
[ἔστιν ἔσλων μοῖραν·] ἔγω δ' ἔμ' αὔτᾳ
Τοῦτο σύνοιδα.

[Στρωφαί τινες δύνανται τῇδε ἀπολωλεκέσθαι.]

. . . γένεσθαι
Ο[      ] . . . βὰ̣ς̣ ἐπ' ἄκ̣ρας
Τ̣α[      ]ν χ[ί]ον'· ἀ̣ δ̣ὲ̣ πόλλα
Πρὸς [

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.
Prōgĕni͞es cǣlī pĕrămāt’ ĕt ōrbĭs

[Q]uīd’ ĕquû̄mvĕ cūm pĕdĭtūmvĕ dīcūnt
Nāvĭūmv’ ēxērcĭtŭm [ē]ssĕ tērrā
Dēsŭp[ēr] pūlchērrĭm’, ĕg’ īpsă a͞utĕm
Quīdquĭd ămātŭr;

Prēndĕr’ h[ō]c [vē]rē făcĭlēst [c]ŭīquĕ
Mēntĕ: nāmquĕ īps’ [hŏ]mĭn’ ēxquĕ cēllēns
Mūltă pūlchrīs īll’ Hĕlĕn’, ābrĕ[līnq]uēns
[Ōp]tŭmŭm [ōmni͞um]

I͞it vĭr’ ūrb’ ăd Īlĭŭm ūsă nāvĕ,
[Fī]lĭǣ cārû̄mquĕ sŭû̄m părēntû̆m
Tō[tŭm] ōblītāst, ăt ĕ’ [ha͞udquĕ nōlēnt'
Īd sĭbĭ] dūxĭt

[Cȳprĭs: īll'] ĕnīm făcĭlēst [hăb]ērĕ
[Fāctă] cōrdĕ q[uǣ] vĕlĭt [ōbs]tĭnātō;
[Sīccĕ] nūnc Ānāctŏrĭ[ǣ ă]dīvĭt
Mē mĕmŏrāti͞o:

Mālĭm īncēssūm pĕrămātŭm [īlli͞]us
Ātquĕ lūcĕm āspĭcĕr’ ēiŭ’ vūltūs
Qu’ hōsquĕ cūrrūs Lȳdŭm ĕt īntŭ’ scūtīs
Quī [hŭmĭ p]ūgnānt.

––Finis carminis––

[Plē]năm ūmquām [lǣtĭtĭām] sĭbīmĕt
Nōn vĭdīt v[īv]ēns, tămĕn āpprĕcārī
[Pārtĕm ēst bǒnī pŏt';] ĕg' īpsă mīmĕt
Hōc vĭdĕō nūnc.

[Aliquot strophæ possunt hic perditæ esse.]

[–u–x–] fĭĕrī [u–x]
[–u] ārrēctō grăd' ĭēbăt [–x
–u–x–u] nĭv'; īllă plūră
[–uu] vērsǔs

Sīc [u–] ōdīssĕ [u–u–x
–] pŏtēst [x–uu] quōsquĕ cūrō,
Nōn ŏpīnātē fĕrĭūnt quĭdēm mē
Māxĭmŭm ōmni͞um.


Dearest offspring of Heaven and of Earth

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.



With that out of the way, let us look at the timeline of the sources for this mess.

  1. 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»;
  2. 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;
  3. 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?
  4. 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;
  5. 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;
  6. 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;
  7. 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;
  8. 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;
  9. 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;
  10. 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:

[Ο]ἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον οἰ δὲ πέσδων
Οι δὲ νάων φαῖσ' ἐπ[ὶ] γᾶν μέλαι[ν]αν
[Ἔ]μμεναι κάλλιστον· ἔγω δὲ κῆν' ὄτ-
τῳ τις ἔραται.
[Πά]γ̣χυ δ' εὔμαρες σύνετον πόησαι
[Π]ά̣ντι τ[ο]ῦ̣τ̣'· ἀ γὰρ πόλυ περσκέθοισα
Κάλλος [ἀνθ]ρώπων Ἐλένα [τ]ὸ̣ν ἄνδρα
Τν [ άρ]ι̣στον
Καλλ[ίποι]σ̣' ἔβα' ς Τροΐαν πλέο̣ι̣σα
Κωὐδ[ὲ π]α̣ῖ̣δος οὐδὲ φίλων τοκήων
Πά[μπαν] ἐμνάσθ' ἀλλὰ παράγα̣̣γ' αὔταν
[.] [......]σαν
[.......]αμπτον γὰρ [ ] ν̣όημμα
[....] . . . κούφως τ[.....] . νοήση̣
[Ὤς] μ̣ε̣ νῦν Ἀνακτορί[ας ὀ]νεμναί-
[σ' οὐ] π̣αρ̣εοίσας.
[Τᾶ]ς ‹κ›ε βολλοίμαν ἔρ̣ατόν τε βᾶμα
Κ̣ἀμάρυ‹χ›μα λάμπρον ἴδην προσώπω
Ἢ̣ τὰ Λύδ̣ων ἄρματα κἀν ὄπλοισι
[......μ]άχεντας
[.......]μεν οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι
[.....]α̣ν ἀνθρώπ[οις, π]εδέχην δ' ἄρασθαι
] ἔγω δ' ἔμ̣' αὔ̣τ̣ᾳ
Τοῦτο σύνοιδα.
[Possible lacuna of some whole stanzas.]
. . . γένεσθαι
Ο[      ] . . . βὰ̣ς̣ ἐπ' ἄκ̣ρας
Τ̣α[      ]ν χ[ί]ον'· ἀ̣ δ̣ὲ̣ πόλλα

Πρὸς
Ὠς δ[      ]ω̣ν ἀπέ̣χθ̣ην
Τω̣[      ] . δύ̤ν̤ατ', ὄ̣ττινας γ̤ὰρ

Εὖ θ̣έω, κῆνοί με μά̤λ̤ιστα σ̣ίννον-
τ' ἐξ ἀδοκή[τω.

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.

[Ο]ἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον οἰ δὲ πέσδων
Οι δὲ νάων φαῖσ' ἐπ[ὶ] γᾶν μέλαι[ν]αν
[Ἔ]μμεναι κάλλιστον· ἔγω δὲ κῆν' ὄτ-
τῳ τις ἔραται.

[Πά]γ̣χυ δ' εὔμαρες σύνετον πόησαι
[Π]ά̣ντι τ[ο]ῦ̣τ̣'· ἀ γὰρ πόλυ περσκέθοισα
Κ̣άλλος [ἀνθ]ρώπων Ἐλένα̣ [τ]ὸ̣ν ἄνδρα
Τ̣ὸν [πανάρ]ι̣στον

Καλλ[ίποι]σ̣' ἔβα' ς Τροΐαν πλέοι̣σα
κωὐδ[ὲ π]α̣ῖ̣δος οὐδὲ φίλων τοκήων
Πά[μπαν] ἐμνάσθ' ἀλλὰ παράγα̣γ' αὔταν
[κ]ω[κ ἀέκοι]σαν

[Κύπρις· ἄγν]αμπτον γὰρ [ἔχει] ν̣όημμα
[καὶ τέ]λει κούφως τ[ό κε πο]ι νοήσῃ̣
[Ὤς] μ̣ε̣ νῦν Ἀνακτορί[ας ὀ]νεμναί-
[σ' οὐ] π̣αρ̣εοίσας.

[Τᾶ]ς ‹κ›ε βολλοίμαν ἔρ̣ατόν τε βᾶμα
Κ̣ἀμάρυ‹χ›μα λάμπρον ἴδην προσώπω
Ἢ̣ τὰ Λύδ̣ων ἄρματα κἀν ὄπλοισι
[πεσδομ]άχεντας

––Τέλος ᾄσματος––

[Ὄλβιον] μὲν οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι
[πάμπ]α̣ν ἀνθρώπ[οις, π]εδέχην δ' ἄρασθαι
[ἔστιν ἔσλων μοῖραν·] ἔγω δ' ἔμ' αὔτᾳ
Τοῦτο σύνοιδα.

[Στρωφαί τινες δύνανται τῇδε ἀπολωλεκέσθαι.]

. . . γένεσθαι
Ο[      ] . . . βὰ̣ς̣ ἐπ' ἄκ̣ρας
Τ̣α[      ]ν χ[ί]ον'· ἀ̣ δ̣ὲ̣ πόλλα
Πρὸς [

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:

[Ο]ἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον οἰ δὲ πέσδων
Οι δὲ νάων φαῖσ' ἐπ[ὶ] γᾶν μέλαι[ν]αν
[Ἔ]μμεναι κάλλιστον· ἔγω δὲ κῆν' ὄτ-
τῳ τις ἔραται.
[Πά]γ̣χυ δ' εὔμαρες σύνετον πόησαι
[Π]ά̣ντι τ[ο]ῦ̣τ̣'· ἀ γὰρ πόλυ περσκό̣π̣ε̣ι̣[σ]α
[Κάλ]λος [ἀνθ]ρώπων Ἐλένα̣ [τὸ]ν ἄνδρα
[Κρίννεν ἄρ]ι̣στον
[Ὂς τὸ πᾶν] σ̣εβας Τροΐα[ς ὄ]λεσσ̣[εν]
[Κωὐδὲ π]α̣ῖ̣δος οὐδὲ φ̣[ί]λ̣ων το[κ]ήων
[.......] ἐμνάσθ' ἀ[λλὰ] παράγαγ' αὔταν
[........]σαν
[.......]αμπτον γὰρ [
[....] . . . κούφως τ[.......]οήση̣
[Πῆ]λ̣ε̣ νῦν Ἀνακτορί[ας ὀ]ν̣εμναί-
[σθ]η̣‹ν› ἀπ̣εοίσας.
[Τᾶ]ς ‹κ›ε βολλοίμαν ἔρ̣ατόν τε βᾶμα
Κ̣ἀμάρυ‹χ›μα λάμπρον ἴδην προσώπω
Ἢ̣ τὰ Λύδ̣ων ἄρματα κἀν ὄπλοισι
[......μ]άχεντας
[.......]μεν οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι
[.....]α̣ν ἀνθρώπ[οις, π]εδέχην δ' ἄρασθαι
[Several lines lost]
Πρὸς [
Ὠς δ[

[Several lines lost]
τ' ἐξ ἀδοκή[τω.
[Ο]ἰ μὲν ἰππήων στρότον οἰ δὲ πέσδων
Οι δὲ νάων φαῖσ' ἐπ[ὶ] γᾶν μέλαι[ν]αν
[Ἔ]μμεναι κάλλιστον· ἔγω δὲ κῆν' ὄτ-
τῳ τις ἔραται.
[Πά]γ̣χυ δ' εὔμαρες σύνετον πόησαι
[Π]ά̣ντι τ[ο]ῦ̣τ̣'· ἀ γὰρ πόλυ περσκέ̣θ̣ο̣ι̣[σ]α
Κάλλος [ἀνθ]ρώπων Ἐλένα [τὸ]ν ἄνδρα
Τν [ άρ]ι̣στον
Καλλ[ίποι]σ̣' ἔβα' ς Τροΐαν πλέο̣ι̣[σα]
Κωὐδ[ὲ π]α̣ῖ̣δος οὐδὲ φίλων το[κ]ήων
Πά[μπαν] ἐμνάσθ' ἀλλὰ παράγαγ' αὔταν
[.] .̀ [......]σαν
[.......]αμπτον γὰρ [
[....] . . . κούφως τ[.......]οήση̣
[Ὤς] μ̣ε̣ νῦν Ἀνακτορί[ας ὀ]ν̣εμναί-
[σ' οὐ] π̣αρ̣εοίσας.
[Τᾶ]ς ‹κ›ε βολλοίμαν ἔρ̣ατόν τε βᾶμα
Κ̣ἀμάρυ‹χ›μα λάμπρον ἴδην προσώπω
Ἢ̣ τὰ Λύδ̣ων ἄρματα κἀν ὄπλοισι
[......μ]άχεντας
[.......]μεν οὐ δύνατον γένεσθαι
[.....]α̣ν ἀνθρώπ[οις, π]εδέχην δ' ἄρασθαι
[Several lines lost]
Πρὸς [
Ὠς δ[

[Several lines lost]
τ' ἐξ ἀδοκή[τω.


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.

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