V.  FRAGMENTS FROM SAPPHO

127

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, writing at Rome about 25 B. C., quotes this, commonly called The Ode to Aphrodite, as a perfect illustration of the elaborately finished style of poetry, showing in detail how its grace and beauty lie in the subtle harmony between the words and the ideas. Certain lines of it, though nowhere else the whole, are preserved by Hephaestion and other authors.

      II


THE ODE
TO
APHRODITE.

I

IMMORTAL Aphrodite of the broidered throne, daughter of Zeus, weaver of wiles, I pray thee break not my spirit with anguish and distress, O Queen. But come hither, if ever before thou didst hear my voice afar, and listen, and leaving thy father’s golden house camest with chariot yoked, and fair fleet sparrows drew thee, flapping fast their wings around the dark earth, from heaven through mid sky. Quickly arrived they; and thou, blessed one, smiling with immortal countenance, didst ask What now is befallen me, and Why now I call, and What I in my mad heart most desire to see. “What Beauty now wouldst thou draw to love thee? Who wrongs thee, Sappho? For even if she flies she shall soon follow, and if she rejects gifts shall yet give, and if she loves not shall soon love, however loth.” Come, I pray thee, now too, and release me from cruel cares and all that my heart desires to accomplish, accomplish thou, and be thyself my ally.

HENRY T. WHARTON.

II

Star-throned incorruptible Aphrodite,
Child of Zeus, wile-weaving, I supplicate thee,
Tame not me with pangs of the heart, dread
                mistress,
        Nay, nor with anguish.
But come thou, if erst in the days departed
Thou didst lend thine ear to my lamentation,
And from far, the house of thy sire deserting,
        Camest with golden
Car yoked: thee thy beautiful sparrows hurried
Swift with multitudinous pinions fluttering
Round black earth, adown from the height of
                heaven
        Through middle ether:
Quickly journey they; and, O thou, blest
                Lady,
Smiling with those brows of undying lustre,
Asked me what new grief at my heart lay,
                wherefore
        Now I had called thee,
129 What I fain would have to assuage the torment
Of my frenzied soul; and whom now, to please
                thee,
Must persuasion lure to thy love, and who now,
        Sappho, hath wronged thee?
Yea, for though she flies, she shall quickly
                chase thee;
Yea, though gifts she spurns, she shall soon
                bestow them;
Yea, though now she loves not, she soon shall
                love thee,
Yea, though she will not!
Come, come now too! Come, and from heavy
                heart-ache
Free my soul, and all that my longing yearns to
Have done, do thou; be thou for me thyself too
        Help in the battle.

J. ADDINGTON SYMONDS, 1883.

III

Swinburne’s paraphrase may also be read with
      pleasure:


For I beheld in sleep the light that is
In her high place in Paphos, heard the kiss
Of body and soul that mix with eager tears
And laughter stinging through the eyes and
         ears:
Saw Love, as burning flame from crown to feet,
130 Imperishable, upon her storied seat;
Clear eyelids lifted toward the north and south,
A mind of many colours, and a mouth
Of many tunes and kisses; and she bowed,
With all her subtle face laughing aloud,
Bowed down upon me, saying, “Who doth
         thee wrong,
Sappho?” but thou — thy body is the song,
Thy mouth the music; thou art more than I,
Though my voice die not till the whole world
         die;
Though men that hear it madden; though love
         weep,
Though nature change, though shame be
         charmed to sleep,
Ay, wilt thou slay me lest I kiss thee dead?
Yet the queen laughed from her sweet heart
         and said:
“Even she that flies shall follow for thy sake,
And she shall give thee gifts that would not
         take,
Shall kiss that would not kiss thee” (yea, kiss
         me)
“When thou wouldst not” — when I would
          not kiss thee!

ANACTORIA.