User:Haukurth/Ode to Aphrodite

Ode to Aphrodite, Fragment 1 or Sappho 1 is a lyric poem by the Greek poet Sappho.

Preservation
The main witness to the text of the poem is a full quotation by Dionysius of Halicarnassus (1st century BCE) while some lines are quoted by Hephaestion of Alexandria (2nd century CE) and other authors. A papyrus fragment from Oxyrynchus (P. Oxy. 2288, early 2nd century CE) contains scraps of lines 1-21. Because Hephaestion uses the poem to illustrate the Sapphic stanza, it is believed to have been the first poem of book 1 in the Alexandrine edition of Sappho's poems.

Stanza 1

 * Ποικιλόθρον', ἀθάνατ' Ἀφρόδιτα,
 * παῖ Δίος, δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε
 * μή μ' ἄσαισι μήτ' ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
 * πότνια, θῦμον·

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.

The first word of the poem, rendered above as Ποικιλόθρον' (poikilóthron'), has been the source of substantial scholarly commentary. The most common view is that it refers to Aphrodite's throne and can be translated with words such as "ornate-throned" (Campbell), "elaborate-throned" (Chandler p.3) or "splendour-throned" (Edwin Arnold, quoted in Whorton p. 57). Another view holds that θρον' (thron') here refers not to the common word θρόνος (thrónos), meaning "throne", but to a rare neuter word θρόνον, occurring in the Iliad and the second Idyll of Theocritus. This would potentially lead to Ποικιλόθρον' meaning "of the rich or flowery robe". A third view is that the reading Ποικιλόφρον (poikilóphron), found in some manuscripts, should be preferred, giving a meaning of "mind" rather than "throne" for the second part of the compound.

That multiple adjectives are used to describe the goddess at the beginning of the poem is reminiscent of the use of epithets at the beginning of some of the Homeric Hymns but contrary to those, Sappho addresses Aphrodite directly rather than in the third person.

Stanza 2

 * ἀλλὰ τυῖδ' ἔλθ', αἴποτα κἀτέρωτα
 * τᾶς ἔμας αὔδως ἀΐοισα πήλυι
 * ἒκλυες, πάτρος δὲ δόμον λίποισα
 * χρύσιον ἦλθες

But come hither, if ever before thou didst hear my voice afar, and listen, and leaving thy father's golden house

The adjective "golden" can be taken to refer either to the house of Zeus, as in Whorton's translation above, or to "chariot" in the third stanza.

Sappho here starts referring to an earlier occasion where Aphrodite listened to her request. It was customary in songs of prayer to remind the deity invoked of a past benevolence, in the hope that it would be repeated.

Stanza 3

 * ἄρμ' ὐποζεύξαισα· κάλοι δέ σ' ἆγον
 * ὤκεες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας
 * πύκνα δινεῦντες πτέρ' ἀπ' ὠράνω αἴθε-
 * ρας διὰ μέσσω.

camest with chariot yoked, and fair fleet sparrows drew thee, flapping fast their wings around the dark earth, from heaven through mid sky.

The flight of the sparrows is described in terms familiar from Homeric poetry.

Stanza 4

 * αἶψα δ' ἐξίκοντο· τὺ δ', ὦ μάκαιρα,
 * μειδιάσαισ' ἀθανάτῳ προσώπῳ,
 * ἤρε', ὄττι δηὖτε πέπονθα κὤττι
 * δηὖτε κάλημι,


 * Quickly arrived they ; and thou, blessed one, smiling with immortal countenance, didst ask What now is befallen me, and Why now I call,

Stanza 5

 * κὤττι μοι μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι
 * μαινόλᾳ θύμῳ· τίνα δηὖτε Πείθω
 * μαῖς ἄγην ἐς σὰν φιλότατα, τίς σ', ὦ
 * Ψάπφ', ἀδικήει;


 * and What I in my mad heart most desire to see. 'What Beauty now wouldst thou draw to love thee? Who wrongs thee, Sappho?

Stanza 6

 * καὶ γὰρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει,
 * αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ' ἀλλὰ δώσει,
 * αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει, ταχέως φιλήσει
 * κωὐκ ἐθέλοισα.


 * 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.' 

Stanza 7

 * ἔλθε μοι καὶ νῦν, χαλεπᾶν δὲ λῦσον
 * ἐκ μεριμνᾶν, ὄσσα δέ μοι τελέσσαι
 * θῦμος ἰμέρρει, τέλεσον· σὺ δ' αὔτα
 * σύμμαχος ἔσσο.


 * 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.