Sappho Lecture
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This document contains excerpts from ancient Greek and Latin poems that reference or translate Sappho's poem 31, which describes a man watching and listening to a woman, seemingly Aphrodite. The excerpts include Sappho's original Greek, translations by Catullus and Williams, and allusions by Horace and Byron.
Sappho Lecture
- 9. Muse, tell me the things done by golden Aphrodite, the one from Cyprus, who arouses sweet desire for gods and who subdues the races of mortal humans, and birds as well, who fly in the sky, as well as all beasts all those that grow on both dry land and the sea. Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite (1-5)
- 10. But you, O blessed one, smiled in your deathless face and asked what (now again) I have suffered and why (now again) I am calling out Sappho, 1. Hymn to Aphrodite (15-7)
- 11. with spring flowers and breezes like honey are blowing 2
- 12. to what O beloved bridegroom may I compare you? to a slender sapling most of all do I compare you 115
- 13. Eros shook my mind like a mountain wind falling on oak trees 47
- 14. you came and I was crazy for you and you cooled my mind that burned with longing 48
- 15. you burn me 38
- 16. I simply want to be dead. 94
- 17. Eros the melter of limbs (now again) stirs me sweetbitter unmanageable creature who steals in 130
- 18. Seizure 31
- 19. He seems to me equal to gods that man whoever he is who opposite you sits and listens close to your sweet speaking And lovely laughing 31
- 20. Equal to Jove that youth must be Greater than Jove he seems to me Who, free from Jealousys alarms, Securely views thy matchless charms. Byron, 1820
- 21. I watch thy grace; and in its place My heart a charmed slumber keeps, While I muse upon thy face; And a languid fire creeps Tennyson, 1850
- 22. That man is peer of the gods, who face to face sits listening to your sweet speech and lovely laughter. William Carlos Williams, 1958
- 23. In my eyes he seems like a god's co-equal, he, if I dare say so, eclipses godhead, who now face to face, uninterrupted, watches and hears you sweetly laughing Catullus, 51
- 24. Sappho, 31 He seems to me equal to gods that man whoever he is who opposite you 留溜僚竜留溜 亮凌旅 虜畤僚凌 畆艦凌 慮劉凌旅旅僚 畆亮亮竜僚' 畚の塾系, 畚旅 畆僚略僚旅 凌旅
- 25. In my eyes he seems like a god's co-equal, he, if I dare say so, eclipses godhead, Catullus, 51 ille me par esse deo uidetur, ille, si fas est, superare diuos,
- 26. Sappho, 31 sits and listens close to your sweet speaking and lovely laughing, 畆囲隆略僚竜旅 虜留畚 了略旅凌僚 畆隆 僚竜溜 - 留 畚留虜凌竜旅 虜留畚 粒竜了留溜留 畆偉捨凌竜僚,
- 27. qui sedens aduersus identidem te spectat et audit dulce ridentem Catullus, 51 who now face to face, uninterrupted, watches and hears you sweetly laughing,
- 28. I will love Lalage sweetly laughing, sweetly talking Horace, 1.22 dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo, dulce loquentem.
- 29. But all is to be dared, because even a person of poverty Sappho, 31
- 30. Leisure, Catullus, is dangerous to you: leisure urges you into extravagant behavior: leisure in time gone by has ruined kings and prosperous cities. Catullus, 51
- 31. But all can be borne, since you, Kupris, would subdue nobleman and beggar in equal measure; for indeed, you once destroyed kings and flourishing cities Armand DAngour, 2006