Sappho

[Dark Muse]

Now I know why Eros,

Of all the progeny of
Earth and Heaven, has
been most dearly loved

[Dark Muse]

She was dressed well:

Her feet were hidden
under embroidered
sandal straps--fine
handwork from Asia

[duckyboy1975]

If you will come

I shall put out
new pillows for
you to rest on

I think I'm going to steal these for some song lyrics.
____________
Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets. - Arthur Miller
rc car parts small dog beds patio table sets

[David R]

Dead shalt thou lie; and nought
Be told of thee or thought,
For thou hast plucked not of the muses' tree:
And even in Hades' halls
Amidst thy fellow-thralls
No friendly shade thy shade shall company!

Translated by Thomas Hardy.

[Dark Muse]

But you, monkey face

Atthis, I loved you
long ago while you
still seemed to me a
small ungracious child

[Dark Muse]

I was proud of you, too

In skill I think
you need never
bow to any girl

not one who may
see the sunlight
in time to come

[Dark Muse]

After all this

Atthis, you hate
even the thought

of me. You dart
off to Andromeda

[Dark Muse]

I just love this one!

With his venom

Irresistible
and bittersweet

that loosner
of limbs, Love

reptile-like
srikes me down.

[Dark Muse]

Afraid of losing you

I ran fluttering
like a little girl
after her mother

[Dark Muse]

On what is best

Some celebrate the beauty
of knights, or infantry,
or billowing flotillas
at battle on the sea.
Warfare has its glory,
but I place far above
these military splendors
the one thing that you love.

For proof of this contention
examine history:
we all remember Helen,
who left her family,
her child, and royal husband,
to take a stranger's hand:
her beauty had no equal,
but bowed to love's command.

As love then is the power
that none can disobey,
so too my thoughts must follow
my darling far away:
the sparkle of her laughter
would give me greater joy
than all the bronze-clad heroes

- translated by Jon Corelis

[Dinkleberry2010]

Is ON WHAT IS BEST supposed to be a poem of Sappho's?
I question that it is because of certain words used in the poem. For example the word knights. Sappho lived circa 620 b.c. to 565 b.c. Knights did not exist in Sappho's time, either literally or physically. There was no conception of knights in her time. Knights is a medieval term. Another word that is used in the poem is the word history. There was no conception of history per se in Sappho's time, much less the use of the word. Herodotus who lived circa 484 b.c. to 425 b.c. and who wrote The Histories is credited with not only creating the first historical work but with conceiving the idea of history.

Perhaps it's the fault of the translator--John Corelis; maybe he translated certain terms or words Sappho used into more modern terms. Anyway, the poem On What Is Best both appears and sounds to me too modern to have been composed by Sappho.

[Dark Muse]

Perhaps it was an interpretation of the translator or a mistake by him, or the poem was wrongly attributed to Sappho, I will do further research into it.

[Dark Muse]

Here is another translation of the poem that I was able to find:

Some an army of horsemen, some an army on foot
and some say a fleet of ships is the loveliest sight
on this dark earth; but I say it is what-
ever you desire:

and it is possible to make this perfectly clear
to all; for the woman who far surpassed all others
in her beauty, Helen, left her husband-
the best of all men -

behind and sailed far away to Troy; she did not spare
a single thought for her child nor for her dear parents
but the goddess of love led her astray

which
reminds me now of Anactoria
although far away.

translation by Josephine Balmer

[bluevictim]

Is ON WHAT IS BEST supposed to be a poem of Sappho's?
I question that it is because of certain words used in the poem. For example the word knights. Sappho lived circa 620 b.c. to 565 b.c. Knights did not exist in Sappho's time, either literally or physically. There was no conception of knights in her time. Knights is a medieval term. Another word that is used in the poem is the word history. There was no conception of history per se in Sappho's time, much less the use of the word. Herodotus who lived circa 484 b.c. to 425 b.c. and who wrote The Histories is credited with not only creating the first historical work but with conceiving the idea of history.

Perhaps it's the fault of the translator--John Corelis; maybe he translated certain terms or words Sappho used into more modern terms. Anyway, the poem On What Is Best both appears and sounds to me too modern to have been composed by Sappho.

Interesting observations. I think it is clear that the translator was not using the words 'knights' and 'history' in a rigorously technical way.

While they (probably) did not belong to orders or subscribe to the code of chivalry, there were cavalrymen in Sappho's time. Ancient Greek cavalrymen were similar in some respects to medieval knights (for example, they were wealthy aristocrats), and it is not uncommon to translate the Greek word for horseman as 'knight' (one of Aristophanes' plays, for example, is often referred to as Knights). The translator in this case probably consciously chose to use the word 'knights' to evoke the romance surrounding medieval knights to reinforce the feeling of those who would say that cavalry is the most beautiful thing in the world.

As for the word 'history', it's pretty common to use it to simply refer to events that took place in the past, without thought of the scholarly value of the sources. Actually, the translator inserted the word into the poem; there is no word in the poem that the translator is trying to render with the word 'history'. I agree that it draws undue attention to the problem of the nature of myths like the story of Helen.

For those who are curious, here are some more translations of the same poem: there are four different translations of this poem here and this translation was posted earlier in this thread.

[Dark Muse]

It is clear now:

Neither honey nor
the honey bee is
to be mind again.