Hymn to Aphrodite

Original version with its translations
Edited version for the series Ψάπφω ἀ Λεσβία

Original
Final

Ἰόπλοκ' ἄγνα μελλιχόμειδε Σάπφοι,
Ἄμμιν ἐν ποήμασι σοῖσιν ὄττι
Γράψαι ἤθελες, γ' ἐθέλω λαβέσθαι
<Νῦν ἔγ' ἐμαύτῳ.>

Ἰόπλοκ' ἄγνα μελλιχόμειδε Σάπφοι,
Ἄμμιν ἐν ποήμασι σοῖσιν ὄττι
Γράψαι ἤθελες, τὰ θέλω λάβων ὄρ-
θως μεταφράσδην.

Viole 'n la chioma, miele nel sorriso,
O pura Saffo, quello c'hai inteso
Nei tuoi poemi scriver, vo' capire
E ben ridire.

Inque risu mel, violasque comā,
Pura Sappho, ', habes, quæ caner' ad|ac|volebas
Qu'In poesiis, cupi'ipse capta
Vertere recte.

Īnquĕ rīsū mēl, vĭŏlās cŏmāquĕ,
Pūră Sāpph', hăbēs, cănĕr' āc vŏlēbās
Īn pŏēsĭīs, cŭpĭ' īpsĕ cāptă
Vērtĕrĕ rēctē.

Īntŭ’ rīsū mēl, vĭŏlās căpīllīs,
Pūră Sāpph', hăbēs, cănĕr' āc vŏlēbās
Qu’ īn pŏēsĭīs, cŭpĭ' īpsĕ cāptă
Vērtĕrĕ rēctē.

Violet-haired, pure, honey-smiling Sappho,
What in your poems you wanted to write
To us I want to understand, o Sappho,
And translate right.

Ἰόπλοκ' ἄγνα μελλιχόμειδε Σάπφοι,
Ἄμμιν ἐν ποήμασι σοῖσιν ὄττι
Γράψαι ἤθελες, τὰ θέλω λάβων κά-
λως μεταφράσδην.

Saffo dal mellifluo sorriso, pura,
Chioma di vïole, ciò che tu dire
Ci volevi nelle poesie, capire
Vo' e ben tradurre.

Īntŭ’ rīsū mēl, vĭŏlās căpīllīs,
Pūră Sāpph', hăbēs, cănĕr' āc vŏlēbās
Qu’ īn pŏēsĭīs, cŭpĭ' īpsĕ cāptă
Vērtĕrĕ pūlchrē.

Violet-haired, pure, honey-smiling Sappho,
What in your poems you wanted to tell
Us all I want to understand, o Sappho,
And translate well.

Today we start a relatively long series of Sappho posts, so I thought it would be nice to start with what was the cover for my original file of translations. Line 1 is by Alcaeus, the rest is my own composition. Top-right is Latin, bottom-left is Italian, and bottom-right, of course, is English.
Before I get into the few edits made to this fragment, I must list the old files these edits are reconstructed from. First of all, we have a list of versions of Σαπφώ.doc, which are either docs or pdfs. Let's see:

S1: C20100416-2115_M20100530-1810 doc;
S1 bis: C20100416-2115_M20100530-1810 doc;
S2/3: C20100416-2115_M20100725-2100 doc;
S4: C20100416-2115_M20100726-0757 doc;
S5: CM20100816-1758 pdf;
S6/7: C20100816-1758_M20101102-1119 pdf;
S8 doc: C20100416-2115_M20101113-1218 doc;
S8 pdf: C20101103-1727_M20101113-1221 pdf;
S9: C20101103-1727-M20110106-1436 pdf in folder Matri stampanda 5.1.11 parata;
S11 doc: C20100416-2115_M20110201-1452 doc;
S11 pdf: C20101103-1727_20110201-1458 pdf;
S18 doc: C20100416-2115_M20110328-1222 doc;
S18 pdf: CM20110328-1224 pdf;
S13: C20110215-2111_M20110524-2120 pdf;
S14: C20100416-2115_M20110609-2157 doc;
S15: C20100416-2115-M20110610-2200 doc;
S16: 20110611-C1151-M1152 pdf;
S17: CM20110616-2307 doc in CM20110617 ZIP;
S19 doc: C20110827-1730_M20110828-1259 doc;
S19 pdf: 20110828_C1143_M1259 pdf;
S20: CM20120101-1726 pdf;
S21: CM20130323-2140 pdf;
S22 doc: C20120831-1700-M20170617-2230 doc;
S22 pdf: C20130323-2140-M20170714-1605 pdf.

Then there is the tesina, whose edits and even Alcaeus translations were discovered as I tried to get to the bottom of an unapplicable change to the translation of the Hymn… more on that later. The list of tesina files is:

C20120519-2151-M20120520-1610 doc;
20120520-C1610-M1833 doc;
C20120520-1837-M20120603-1559 doc;
20120603-C1601-M2111;
20120603-2112 pdf;
20120613-0800 pdf;
20120613-0800 pdf;
20120613-0813 pdf;
20120613-0813 pdf;
20120613-0813 pdf;
C20120604-2149-M20120615-1805 doc;
20120620-C1753-M2127 doc;
20120622-C1820-M2215 doc;
20120627-1052 pdf;
20120627-1119 pdf;
20120627-C1820-M1926 doc;
20120627-1929 pdf;
CM20121219-1702 pdf.

The above are the creation date and last edit date. C prefixes the former, M the latter, CM optionally prefixes the single date if both date-time pairs are the same. So for example C20120520-1837-M20120603-1559 means created 20/5/2012 18:37 and edited 3/6/2012 15:59, while 20120627-1052 means both created and edited 27/6/2012 10:52.
With that, I can tell you that:

The fragment above only appears in file 9, in a version identical to that of a separate file, called Copertina_framm_Saffo.doc and dated C-20100917-1702_M-20101102-2028; I can thus presume that the idea of this cover was first conceived on 17/9/2010, so that the composition of everything save from l. 1 of Greek (Alcaeus) and English (found online) is later than that date, and I can definitely say that the Original version above is from within 2/11/2010; since file 8 dates to 13/11, it would appear I only included this cover in the main file long after first getting it ready;
OR NOT; OK, so what REALLY happened, was that the text of the original version was completed on 8/8/10, as per diary; on 14/8 I then made the English version, passing through «What in your fragments you wanted to write», and from that English I construct the revised Greek text, which is the basis of all the translations; in fact, the original version of the English-constructed Greek ended with μετάτρεψαι; both this and the English were composed in bed in the morning, before 9:40; I also considered μετάγεσθαι, but then, as I wrote it, settled for μεταφράζην (which apparently got Aeolized somewhere along the way, presumably after I saw this change mentioned in the diary and implemented it here) because I remembered seeing μετάφραση on Greek Wikisource; the corpus I made of my poetry then reports both the English and the Italian as intruders, dating the latter to 17/9; my poem notebook then dates the unrevised Latin to 3/11/10, in blatant contrast with the metadata of that 2/11 file; not sure what happened there; maybe I just miscopied the date?
Nope, it's copied right, but maybe I miswrote it; also, a small group of sticky notes is where the manuscript comes from, which I assume is the first time I wrote down the Latin in any form;
In file 12, the Latin takes its Revised form, so those changes date to no later than 23/3/11, and presumably no earlier than 1/2/2010, edit date of file 11;
No other changes occur in the "main-line" files;
The tesina files only bring about two changes, namely 'γ' ἐθέλω -> τὰ θέλω in the Greek, and cŭpĭ' īpsĕ -> vŏlŏ īpsĕ in the Latin, which is metrically incorrect and thus rejected; both of these happen in file 12, so definitely no later than 20/6/12, and probably no earlier than 15/6/12;
I considered the version «Caner'ac volebas / Qu'in poesiis, volo comprehensa / Vertere recte» for the Latin on 2/10/21 at 1:14, but it's inmetrical;
On 18/4/23 at 22:16, I think that maybe more than "translating correctly" it is more important to "translate well/beautifully", hence the tweak to the Greek ὄρθως->κάλως;
I originally planned to «not translate that version, but […] use it as part of the opening song for my future Sappho videos», as I wrote, in the "will" future, in an older version of the previous item; with this in mind, the video for the Epigrams has the cover, in the edited version, only in Greek; then, however, on 10/5/23 at 23:13-23:15, I started translating, and got to about l. 3, and was stopped by wondering how to fit everything into the compression that the start had given me; I eventually managed it at 13:55 the next day, hence the above version; I will not translate this into Latin or English, because the series this is for only does Italian barbarous meter translations;
Or so i wrote; but then… first, on 18/8/23 12:26, I thought of the English fix, probably thinking right->well and then fixing the rhyme somehow. Then, as I came to edit it in, I thought, can I make a quick fix to the Latin? Of course! And thus, the Latin is there, with recte->pulchre being the quick fix from 19/8/23 20:09.

But let's get to the Hymn in the title. This is the only poem that survived complete, all thanks to Dionysius of Halicarnassus and his Περὶ συνθέσεως ὀνομάτων, aka De Compositione Verborum, aka On literary composition. The tradition for that treatise gives us the text of the hymn, complete, with a lot of minor controversies which appear to have been settled by the time of Bergk's edition of Sappho, and a few bigger controversies which I will list below:

All codices have a ζ in l. 9, whereas the actual text had σδ as typical of Aeolic; this is not much of a controversy but rather an error in the codices which was corrected by a papyrus I will mention below;
At l. 10, codices have either πτερίγας, περίγας, περὶ γᾶς or περὶ γῆς, and in the following line δινεῦντες, δινῆντες, with or without the πτέρ', which is what led Bergk to conjecture πτέρυγας, delete πτέρ' and read that participle as δινεύεντες; this did not gain traction, and I would argue that perhaps that short vowel mark I saw in the papyrus over the iota supports a short vowel lengthened by a double following consonant, hence δίννεντες as I read; the translation would change in that the "black earth" would vanish; as for the controversy at l. 9, the codices seem to me to be pointing rather towards περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας than to Bergk's reading;
At l. 13, it seems codices were unanimous about τὺ, making me wonder why I only found this reading in Bergk and everyone else has σὺ like I do;
At l. 17, Bergk reads κὤττι ἔμῳ, and says «libri» read κ' ὄττι ἔμῳ or κὤτι γ' ἔμῳ; none of these scan unless we elide the -ττι, and the second «libri» version needs to delete its γ'; the papyrus, however, has a clear -ττι, so no elision is possible, and I'd be skeptical about a prodelision, hence I stick with the generally-accepted reading;
Another "controversy", or rather, a doubt of the codices is whether the "ἀλλα" of l. 22 is ἀλλὰ, "but", or ἄλλα, "other", and this is not solvable AFAIK; I seem to remember taking it as the former, but I guess I wouldn't significantly alter the translations if I were to change my interpretation;
Finally, the text in cruces; Bergk has «τίνα δηὖτ' ἀπείθην / μαῖς ἄγην ἐς σὰν φιλότατα», with critical note as in this image; some codices seem to at least partly support Edmonds' «τίνα δηὖτε πείθω / καί σ' ἄγην ἐς ‹ϝ›ὰν φιλότατα», which is what I hereby choose and will tweak my translations to reflect, because it seems the least corrective of the sources; since the papyrus, it seems the reading which, in place of Edmonds' καὶ, has ἄψ, has gained some traction because of possibly a psi hidden somewhere in the papyrus; that finds me very skeptical: where is said psi? As I state in my transcriptions post, I cannot seem to find any convincing trace of said psi in the scan; I originally didn't investigate so thoroughly, so my original translations were based on this "vulgata" version;

The papyrus, which is P.Oxy. 2288, is discussed at this Latin SE thread, which has a self-answer containing my transcription of the papyrus, and on my transcriptions post, which copies that self-answer, basically. The source for the scan is here, or at least that's result 1 of Googling "p.oxy. 2288", so probably my original source. These guys have different opinions on the cruces, and maybe some other passages, it appears.
With all that out of the way, let's get to the translations. «As usual, we have Latin, Italian and English, which were done probably pretty close to 9/5/2010, which is the start date of my Sappho work. The Italian and English of this were started "randomly", and were what prompted me to translate all of Sappho not only to Latin, but to Italian and English as well. In this case, though, we also have French and German, and I have honestly no idea when these were done, except that they date to the Sappho work period (9/5/2010 – 28/8/2011), and that there were last changes (due to misinterpretation of the indicative aorist ἤρε' as imperative, cfr. below) done either in the Sappho period or (less likely) when I collected all my poem translations into a single file in summer 2012. The mistranslation fixes for Latin, English and Italian only happened last June, and were completely finalized on Jul 14 2017 as I wrote this post's draft. There was also a præsertim I decided to change to maxime in the Latin, and a "list'n'd" I turned to "hark'd" in the English». That is what I originally wrote in this post. Now let's redo this with much more info from the files listed above, and considering all the versions I have to add below:

"0" is the version found in the diary, where:
- The text in there is that of file 1, and also of a printout I managed to date to 22/5;
- On 28/4/10, we are told I «composui heri in lect» (composed in bed yesterday – which I assume mean in the night between 27/4 and 28/4) the translation of stanza 1, with vv. 3-4 reconstructed to have been «Diva, nec pœnis mihi nec tormentis / Damna meum cor», the version from "0" being the fruit of a correction on 28/4;
- In the morning of 9/5, among a few poem bits of mine, I translate stanza 2 into Latin;
- Stanza 6 is a bit of a mystery, but I think it was done in the morning of 9/5; indeed, it is found wrapping around a printout of something composed on 7/5 while going to bed, so it must be at least 8/5; now, 8/5 seems to have been filled up by school, updating the corpus of my poems, and a birthday party, so it stands to reason that it wouldn't have involved a translation like this; on 9/5, after stanza 2 and after lunch, it says that «Editato video sci facio, sæpe interrumpens, aut ad Aphroditi hymnum Sapphus curandum aut simpliciter ad pausam faciendam» (Having edited the video [no idea which] I do [=study] Science, interrupting often, either to mind the Hymn to Aphrodite by Sappho, or simply to take a break); this is where I'd place stanza 6, since the printout in question is on one side of the sheet on the left of 9/5; in fact, the other side of said sheet, which is the one next to 9/5, contains stanza 2, and 9/5 says that, in the morning, I composed «quæ ad sx paginæ videtis» (what you see at the left of the page); the printed bits are from 8/5, that much is clear, so I assume all the handwritten bits are from 9/5; stretching that phrase to include the other side of the sheet seems too much to me;
- After going to bed on 9/5, I do stanza 3, which is reported in the middle of the diary;
- Stanzas 4-5 and 7 are nowhere to be found in the diary, so I supplemented them from version 1, which is found also on a printout which I dated to 22/5;
- The whole Italian is dated to 12/5, and appears on the tops and bottoms of the pages in the messy form below, and inside the diary in a more tidy form which makes the changes in []; it would seem that there was uncertainty between half-formed versions of «Con passeri leggeri vi portava / Il carro, che sopra terra volava; Sbattevan l'ali al vento che soffiava / Per mezzo il cielo» and the version 1 rendition of that stanza, which is number 3;
- The English is done all, in stanza order, on 25/5, with a break after stanza 4; again we have the double version: page tops and bottoms, and diary reordering, which adds the things in {};
"1 (Original)" is from file 1, except the English is from file 3, so apparently the start date wasn't really 9/5, but further back, as the file was created 16/4 so on that date I had to at least have started looking at the texts. Perhaps the translations did start on 9/5 though. Definitely within 30/5, as by then I had Latin and Italian. The English instead was probably done later than 30/5, and definitely no earlier than 3/6. Honestly, I'm not at all sure how I came up with the 3/6, but the English version is dated by the diary to 25/5, as said above, and the 30/5 file for some reason just forgot to include any English translation.
This is a bit of a mix, since in file 3 (thus no later than 25/7 and presumably no earlier than 30/5 – note also which of these are printed and which are manuscripted in the printout "SP2" from 4/7/10) we have the following changes:
- The Greek text fixes ὐποσδεύξαια to ὐπασδεύξαια (printed in SP2);
- Latin l. 3 loses its final comma (printed on SP2);
- The Italian text changes «ciò che soprattutto vòi m'accada» to «ciò che più di tutto vòi m'accada» (annotated);
- and «ancor non voglia» to «s'anche non voglia» (annotated on SP2 with the intermediate version «seppur non voglia»);
- Also, presto-lesto-presto in the penultimate stanza are femininized in S2, a thing which isn't printed or annotated on SP2;
- For some reason I originally forgot to note that the English changes «Smiling to that immortal face, please, now» to «With smiling face unto th’ immortal brow», which is also annotated on the 4/7 printout;
- Files 1 and 2 ended the Italian version with "amen", perhaps as a joke since this is a prayer; that was removed in file 3 (and in fact in the 4/7 printout).
"1.5" is a weird thing; so, in the Paracritical Note, two things are mentioned:
- That "huc" in the Latin seems superfluous and it would be better to just leave "ab, te";
- That I saw two things on Campbell: ἐς ϝὰν φιλότατα in l. 19, and a dubitative subjunctive in the πείθω of l. 18, leading to the tweaks «Atque quem exsuadeam / Rursu’ te amare?», «Chi vuoi ch’ancor persuada / Ad amar te», and «Persuade whom should I thee / Again to love»; since I only downloaded Campbell on 19/8 (says diary), this paracritical note extract is probably coincident with the «P. colat. "Sappho and Alcæus" ad alqt fragm quærenda specto» (After breakfast I look at "Sappho and Alcaeus" [aka Campbell] to look for some fragments), from 21/8/10 in my diary; this change is not compatible with S5, which is prior to 21/8, so I guess as I wrote this passage (different from the one of the preivous change) I was looking at SP2 instead;
- While I was at this weird chimaera of a version, I decided to slap on another change; the translation "si quand' et aliunde" was wrong even for the misinterpretation, as pointed out on 8/9/10 in SPN1, and the version in 1.5 of that part is the correct translation of the misinterpretation as found in SPN1;
I report below the SP2 text, with all the changes listed above implemented from the note; none of these things ever got into the files; well, the dubitative subjunctive may have been recovered later via the "exsuadeam" of the Latin in a much later version, and the "wan philotata" is also from much later, in fact I think from blog times but before this post; note that this is just a trick to reduce the versions by one, since the two changes come from different PN extracts which are separated by a huge part on Sappho 16; and thus probably never on my mind simultaneously back when I made/suggested them;
"2" is the version from file 5 (aka S5, and note that S2=S4), which presents the following changes, which thus happened no later than 16/8 and presumably no earlier than 26/7:
- Commas added to the Greek text: ll. 5 6 8 10 at the end, l. 7 after ἔκλυες; probably part of the punctuation revision for the stanza noted in the paracritical note extract from 7/8/10;
- ὐπασδεύξαια->ὐπασδεύξασα, noted in that paracritical note extract, so made on 7/8/10;
- μάκαιρα in l. 13 gets capitalized and followed by comma, not noted in the note extract;
- L. 14 shifts ἀθάνατῳ, impossible accentuation, to the correct ἀθανάτῳ;
- Commas inserted after δέκετ’ in l. 22 and after φίλει in l. 23, neither of which noted in the note extract;
- Iŏvĭs no longer followed by comma in l. 1 of the Latin; this would be out of the 7/8 extract, which is only part of the text discussion, if it was in the note at all;
- Ven'hic->Ven'huc in the Latin, not noted in the note;
- iugō in l. 9 gains the missing ˘ and becomes iŭgō;
- Caerule'ab->Caerule'abs in the Latin, the unelided line being found in the note;
- «Ābsqu’ ĭēbānt stātĭm; ăt, ō bĕātă,» -> «Ābs stătīmqu’ ībānt ĭ’; ăt, ō Bĕātă,» in the Latin, in note;
- Atque quem exsuadeo / Rursu' te amare? Facit tibi quis, / Sapph', iniuriam? -> Teque quem exsuadeo / Rursu' nunc amare? Facit quis iniu-/ri͞am tibi, Sappho? in the Latin, mentioned in a Paracritical Note extract from between 7/8 and 15/8, which I'd assume to be me checking my translations to comment on them and thinking up a bunch of changes; one of which weirdly didn't make it into file 5;
- Ets' ea non vult -> Ets'ea nolit in the Latin, mentioned in the Paracritical Note extract mentioned above;
- advenique had -quē, obviously wrong, and is corrected to -quĕ;
- Ma qui venite, e s'anche in altra via -> delete the conjunction "e" in the Italian, not noted in note, probably not noteworthy to my eyes back then, like the punctuation fixes;
- E subito tornata, o fortunata -> E subito tornavan; o Beata in the Italian, noted in note;
- Italian l. 17 gains a final comma, again not noteworthy;
- dark earth -> black earth in the English, once again mentioned in that Paracritical Note extract; that extract basically ends with a perplexity on "o Lucky", but I guess I didn't give myself an alternative at that stage.
File 6 presents the following changes, which thus happened no later than 2/11 and presumably no earlier than 16/8:
- "si quand'et aliunde" -> "si tempor'alioque" (Latin, forms a triplet with the other-language changes, comes from fixing the interpretation of κἀτέρωτα);
- insequatur->insequetur (Latin);
- "s'anche in altra via" -> "s'anche un altro dia" (Italian, triplets with the Latin);
- "another way" -> "another day" (English, the last member of the triplet).
"3" is the version of file 9, the last round of changes in the main-line files, which thus happened no later than 1/2/11 and presumably no earlier than the date of file 8, which is confusing because the folder gives 5/1/11 but the file has metadata from 6/1, maybe I finished the preparation of that file past midnight? Anyway, the changes are as follows:
- ὠράν' αἴθε-ρος -> ὠράνω͜ αἴθε-ρος (Greek);
- «Tēquĕ quĕm ēxsŭāde͞o / Rūrsŭ’ nūnc ămārĕ?» to «Āc tĭbĭ quēm †sŭāde͞am / Rūrsŭ’† nūnc ămārĕ?» (Latin);
- A bunch of diacritics appear in the Italian and English, mostly to mark synekphoneses and thus, indirectly, hiatuses.
- Well, actually file 11 marks the shift from πήλοι to πήλυι, which is incorrect, but happened no later than 28/3/11 and presumably no earlier than 1/2/11; except nope; first off, that 28/3 is an incorrect metadatum, so that shift can only be placed before S12, which is not listed here because I found it later as an email attachment, and which is from 17/5/11; also, the note from 7/8/10 already mentions finding this form on Rocci, but for some reason the change stayed hidden in the note until S12.
At this point, while doing the comparisons, I decided to only compare doc files, which are quicker to compare, assuming that there wouldn't be changes that were then undone. That assumption leads to the conclusion that the next round of changes happens in tesina file 1, which gives us version "4a", thus dated no later than 20/5/12 and no earlier than the creation date of file 1, i.e. 19/5/12.
Tesina file 4 is then the first to alter this, with the following changes, thus dated no later than 3/6/12 and presumably no earlier than 20/5/12:
- Comma added after passeres pulchri (Latin); will be undone at some point before getting to the blog;
- shimm'ring -> glitt'ring (English).
Version "5a" is then (almost) from file 14, which presents a whole host of changes, which thus date no later than 27/6/12 and presumably no earlier than 22/6/12. That's the end of the tesina stuff, as 14-15-16-17 are the same, and 18 weirdly reverts to file 1. It's probably this version that a PDF dated 24/9/12 with a list of changes refers to. These changes are the reason for the "(almost)" at the beginning of the item, and read:
- «rapide medium tum» -> «medium veloces», dated "14/9" (I suppose, the date appears to be shared with the one at The moon has set);
- «Sis soci' ipsa» -> «Tu soci' adsis», dated "8/7".
By the time I got to the blog, I completely forgot about the tesina, so when I posted this here, I was looking at file 24. Now, in file 24, we find version 3, but the annotations in that pdf give us "4".
File 24 is dated 14/7/2017, which also coincides with the date mentioned in the old intro: «The mistranslation fixes for Latin, English and Italian only happened last June, and were completely finalized on Jul 14 2017 as I wrote this post's draft. There was also a præsertim I decided to change to maxime in the Latin, and a "list'n'd" I turned to "hark'd" in the English». Coincidentally, file 23, which has no such "mistranslation fixes", is dated 17/6/2017. Anyway, here's the list of changes from file 24's annotations to the current blog version, which appears as "5" below; these changes, unless otherwise specified, happened in the post draft on 14/7/17;
- Μειδιάσαισ' -> Μηδιάσαισ' (Greek); made 15:09:27 in the main text and 15:09:42 in the translation error section;
- Ἄψ σ’ ἄγην† ἐς σὰν φιλότατα -> ‹Κ›αί σ’ ἄγην† ἐς ‹ϝ›ὰν φιλότατα (Greek); 14:27:33-14:29:54;
- Pāssă quǣrēbās qu’ ĕgŏ sūmquĕ, quōdquĕ / Rūrsŭ' rĕquīrō, / Quōdquĕ mī prǣsērt' ĕgŏ fi͞er’ hĭēbăm, / Cōrdĕ āmēnt’: «Āc tĭbĭ quēm †sŭāde͞am[…]»» -> «Pāssă quǣrēbās qu’ ĕg' ĕrāmquĕ, quōdquĕ / Rūrsŭ' vŏcābăm, / Quōdquĕ māxĭmē mĭhĭ fi͞er’ hĭēbăm, / Cōrdĕ āmēnt’: «Āc cŭĭ tē †sŭāde͞am[…]»» (Latin), implementing the shift from σὰν to ϝὰν and doing some other stuff too; 14:34:08-14:42:41, with intermediate "Rursus hiebam"
- Sīs sŏcĭ' īpsă -> Tū sŏcĭ' ādsīs (Latin), the one change I could implement from that 24/9/12 pdf, which dates it to 8/7; the earliest draft save of this post curiously lacks this stanza, and the screenshots never show it either;
- voglio accada -> vo' ch'accada; 14:46:25-14:47:07;
- list'n'd -> heark'd (English), as mentioned in the main item of this list, which dates it to «Jul 14 2017 as I wrote this post's draft»; more precisely, 14:49:22-14:50:32;
- «Whom should I persuade thee / Again to love?» -> «Whom should I to love thee / Again persu͜ade?», again implementing the shift from σὰν to ϝὰν; 14:53:34-49;
- On 31/3/23 I think "insane i' th' heart" is not only archaic, but not really natural even when unelided, so at 1:08 I change it to "insane at heart" as below; I'm not 100% sold on this, but I do think it's better than the original.
«Eventually, I will probably come back to make a version 6 which takes the best out of all these and is to be definitive. For now, the default-loaded version will be 5a, since it's probably the closest to that unmade version 6. I did some good stuff in that tesina, shame it was lost». And on 19/11/21 I finally got around to making this final version, starting at 13:15 and ending at 13:43. Also, on 9/9/23 at 17:25, in the same edit as I mentioned that change, I implemented the "t'huc" -> "te" change in this version's Latin, a decision I had taken basically upon seeing the change suggested in SPN1.

This, however, completely ignores French and German, which have their own timeline, luckily with no split since the tesina didn't account for them. So:

We have a very precise history of those two, which dates the French one to 11/1-12/1 2011, and the German one to just 12/1. An early French was made all on 11/1, then edits were made on 12/1 as I also did the German one. The final version in that history is the first one given below. Given file 9 precedes it and file 10 follows it, I will put these original versions in starting from the file 9 version ("3").
The first main-line Sappho file including French and German at the end is file 19, identical to 23 and to 24 (not accounting for the annotations).
Accounting for the annotation brings us to the current blog version for the German, except for the change dichte->schnelle. Another way to get the German to blog version is to consider the alternate version in the 24/9/12 file, so I will assume I annotated those into file 14, but forgot dichte->schnelle. Indeed, the annotations refer to that file.
For French, the annotations of file 24 consiste in "*rapides ailes", "*passé", and "*prié", the last two being typo fixes from priée and passée. The alternate 24/9/12 version, however, differs from the blog version in that, where the blog has retournaient, the file has arrivaient. I can only assume I didn't annotate it for some reason but copied that alternate version into the blog, except I missed one difference between it and the file 24 version. Indeed, the annotations refer to that file. Since 24/9/12 postdates all the tesina files, I'll leave the original French and German on versions "4a" and "5a", and put the file-24-with-annotations version in with version "4". Version "5" is what was on the blog prior to this edit, with arrivaient implemented into the French.

For further precision, let me make change logs of what happens between the French and German versions. Note that versions 3 4a and 5a are all identical.

From version 3 to version 4:
1. French l. 11, épaisses->rapides (annotated 6/6/17);
2. French l. 15, passée ou priée -> passé ou prié (annotated 6/6/17);
3. French l. 25, torment->tourment;
4. French l. 27, vrais->vrai;
5. German ll. 13-17 completely changed (annotated 6/6/17);
6. German l. 27, Herz->Hęrz;
From version 4 to version 5:
1. French l. 4, Ne->Nė;
2. French l. 5, et s'autrefois ->ẹt si autrefois;
3. French l. ll, rapides ailes -> ailes rapides;
4. French l. 13, Et rėtournaient en peu; mais tu, Béée, -> Et arrivaient en peu; et tu, Béée,;
5. French ll. 13-17 completely changed;
6. French l. 22, Cadeaux si elle ne -> Cadeaux, si elle n'en;
7. French l. 25, mois->moi;
8. German l. 5, hiėr->hi͜ėr (note the tiebar);
9. German l. 7, Brahmerzigkeit -> Brahmherzigkeit;
10. German l. 8 gains final comma;
11. German l. 11, Bėwẹgęndė durch dichtė Flügėl ->Bėwẹgėndė durch schnellė Flügėl;
12. German l. 13, schnęll->schnell;
13. German l. 24, quotation marks get closed;
14. German l. 27, Hertz->Hęrz;
Version 5 to version 6:
1. French l. 14 loses spurious final comma;
2. French l. 25, Vien->Viens;
3. German l. 7, Brahmherzigkeit->Barmherzigkeit.

With that, the history is given. Let's get right into the poem!

Greek

Ποικιλόθρον’ ἀθάνατ’ Ἀφρόδιτα,
Παῖ Δίος, δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε·
Μή μ’ ἄσαισι μήτ’ ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
Πότνια, θῦμον,

Ἀλλὰ τυίδ’ ἔλθ’, αἴποτα κἀτέρωτα
Τᾶς ἔμας αὔδως ἀίοισα πήλοι
Ἔκλυες πάτρος δὲ δόμον λίποισα
Χρύσιον ἦλθες

Ἀρμ’ ὐποσδεύξαια, κάλοι δέ σ’ ἆγον
Ὤκεες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας
Πύκνα δίννεντες πτέρ’ ἀπ’ ὠράν’ αἴθε-
ρος διὰ μέσσω,

Αἶψα δ’ ἐξίκοντο· σὺ δ’, ὦ μάκαιρα
Μειδιάσαισ’ ἀθάνατῳ προσώπῳ,
Ἤρε’ ὄττι δηὖτε πέπονθα, κὤττι
Δηὖτε κάλημι,

Κὤττι μοι μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι
Μαινόλᾳ θύμῳ· «τίνα δηὖτε †πείθω
Ἂψ σ’ ἄγην† ἐς σὰν φιλότατα, τίς τ’, ὦ
Ψάπφ’, ἀδίκηει;

Καὶ γὰρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει,
Αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ’ ἀλλὰ δώσει,
Αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει ταχέως φιλήσει,
Κωὐκ ἐθέλοισα».

Ἔλθε μοι καὶ νῦν, χαλέπαν δὲ λῦσον
Ἐκ μερίμναν, ὄσσα δέ μοι τέλεσσαι
θῦμος ἰμέρρει, τέλεσον· σὺ δ᾽ αὔτα
σύμμαχος ἔσσο.

Italian

O ricco trono, immortale Afrodite,
Di Giove scaltra figlia, or m’udite:
Di pene e di tormenti [al cuor / a me] no aprite
La triste via,

Ma qui venite e, s'anche in altra via,
Udita di lontan la voce mia,
Lasciaste l’aurea casa che m’havia [v'havia]
Per cura mia,

E passeri leggeri vi portavan [/ Con p.l. vi portava]
Col carro, che sopra terra volava
Sbattevan->-endo l'ale al vento che soffiava
Per mezzo il cielo, [[diary reverts]

E subito tornata, o Fortunata,
Con riso l'immortal faccia guardata,
Chiedeste cosa chiesta o già passata
Da me dal cielo,

E ciò che soprattutto vòi m'accada
~~A me~~ furente in cuor: "Chi ancor mai -> mai
Te ad amare m' chiedo, e ~~chi ti face~~ [ancor persuada
Ingiuria~~, Saffo~~ a te! [da chi cada

Se infatti fugge, t'inseguirà presto,
Doni darà, se a darne->prenderli [prender] non fa presto,
Se ~~poi non t'ama~~ amor non dà, ancor non voglia, presto
Darallo a te».

Vieni qui dunque -> Venite a meve anch'ora, e dagli affanni
Duri mi solve -> m' solvete, e al cor non donar->date danni,
Ma ciò che cupe, ~~compi;~~ e ne' beati scanni
Con me combatti -> Combatti meco
-> Pugnate meco. -> Meco ḷọṭṭạṭẹ -> Meco [/ Con me] pugnate.

Latin

Dīvĭtīs thrŏnī, Iŏvĭs, Āphrŏdītă,
Cāllĭd’, īmmōrtālĭs, ĕgō præ̆cōr tē:
Mī nĕ tōrmēntīs nĕvĕ pœ̄nīs -> dāmnā pœ̄nīs,
Dīvă, mĕūm cōr,

Sēd vĕn’ hīc, sī quānd’ ĕt ăli͞undĕ tū mī,
Vōcem a͞udĭēns mĕăm, lōngē -> ābsquĕ lōngē,
Pātrǐ' vēnīstī Iŏvĭ' dēsĕrēndō -> [version 1]
A͞urĕăm ǣdĕm,

Cūrrŭī iugō dăt’ ĕt āffĕrēbānt
Pāssĕrēs pūlchrī mĕdĭūmquĕ dēnsīs
Pērcŭti͞entēs ǣthĕrĕm īllŭ̂m ālīs,
Cǣrŭlĕ’ ābs, t’ hūc, -> Cǣrŭlĕ’ āb, t’ hūc,

[Ābsqu’ ĭēbānt stātĭm; ăt, ō bĕātă,
Sīnĕ mōrtĕ tūm făcĭe͞iquĕ rīdēns,
Quǣrĕ pāssă quōd i’ ĕgŏ sūmquĕ, quōdquĕ
Rūrsŭ’ rĕquīrō,]

[Quōdquĕ mī prǣsērt’ ĕgŏ fi͞er’ hĭō nūnc
Cōrdĕ āmēnt’: «Ātquĕ quĕm ēxsŭāde͞o
Rūrsŭ’ tē ămārĕ? Făcīt tĭbī quĭs,
Sāpph’, ĭnĭūri͞am?]

Nāmquĕ sī fŭgīt, răpĭdē ^īnsĕquātŭr,
Sīvĕ dōn’ ha͞ud āccĭpĭt, īpsă dābĭt -> sēd->āt dābītquĕ
Sīvĕ nha͞ud ămāt, răpĭdē t’ ămābĭt, [ -> ātquĕ dābĭt,
Sī quŏquĕ ha͞ud vōlt -> Ēts’ ĕă nōn vūlt».

Nūnc quŏqu’ ādvĕnīquē, mĕīsquĕ dūrīs
Sōlvĕ pœ̄nīs m’, āccĭdĕr' ēt mĭhī cŏr
Quǣ cŭpīt, fāc vēră; mĭhīquĕ, quǣsō,
Sīs sŏcĭ’ īpsă.

English

Immortal Aphrodite with shimm’ring throne,
Deceiver, kid {_{/Deceiving kid}} of Jove, my prayers you own:
With pain and torment, Goddess, to the bone
Chill not my heart,

But hither come{,} and{,} if another way,
My softfaint {^faint/soft} voice having heard from far away,
You list’n’d{,} and from your Dad’s gold home that day
You ~~left~~took your cart,

And yoked it, and cute quickrapid {cute rapid} sparrows drew
From heaven o’er dark earth your cart and you,
In mid-air flapping their dense wings, as you
Came down to me{,}

And went back in a blink; o Lucky, now,
Smiling to that immortal face, please, now
Ask what I passed, and what again I now
Do ask offrom thee.

And what I wish the most t’happen to me
Insane i'th' heart: "Whome'er {~~persuade~~}convince[persuade] I thee
Again to love? And ~~who~~, {And,} Sappho, who to thee
Is bein'{being} unfair?

Indeed if she doth flee, she’ll soon pursue;
If gifts she does not take, she’ll give to you;
If then she doesn't {does not} love, she’ll soon love thee,
Though’r will be air.{"}

Come to me now as well, and make[set] me free
From my sharp pains{paints}, and what my heart of[from] thee
<Doth ~~want~~ask {ask}, please grant it; and, prithee, with me>
Do fight yourself.

Greek

Ποικιλόθρον’ ἀθάνατ’ Ἀφρόδιτα,
Παῖ Δίος, δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε·
Μή μ’ ἄσαισι μήτ’ ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
Πότνια, θῦμον,

Ἀλλὰ τυίδ’ ἔλθ’, αἴποτα κἀτέρωτα
Τᾶς ἔμας αὔδως ἀίοισα πήλοι
Ἔκλυες πάτρος δὲ δόμον λίποισα
Χρύσιον ἦλθες

Ἀρμ’ ὐποσδεύξαια, κάλοι δέ σ’ ἆγον
Ὤκεες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας
Πύκνα δίννεντες πτέρ’ ἀπ’ ὠράν’ αἴθε-
ρος διὰ μέσσω,

Αἶψα δ’ ἐξίκοντο· σὺ δ’, ὦ μάκαιρα
Μειδιάσαισ’ ἀθάνατῳ προσώπῳ,
Ἤρε’ ὄττι δηὖτε πέπονθα, κὤττι
Δηὖτε κάλημι,

Κὤττι μοι μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι
Μαινόλᾳ θύμῳ· «τίνα δηὖτε †πείθω
Ἂψ σ’ ἄγην† ἐς σὰν φιλότατα, τίς τ’, ὦ
Ψάπφ’, ἀδίκηει;

Καὶ γὰρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει,
Αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ’ ἀλλὰ δώσει,
Αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει ταχέως φιλήσει,
Κωὐκ ἐθέλοισα».

Ἔλθε μοι καὶ νῦν, χαλέπαν δὲ λῦσον
Ἐκ μερίμναν, ὄσσα δέ μοι τέλεσσαι
θῦμος ἰμέρρει, τέλεσον· σὺ δ᾽ αὔτα
σύμμαχος ἔσσο.

Italian

Immortal dal ricco trono Afrodite,
Di Giove scaltra figlia, or m’udite:
Di pene e di tormenti al cuor no aprite
La triste via,

Ma qui venite, e s’anche in altra via,
Udita di lontan la voce mia,
Lasciaste l’aurea casa che v’havia
Per cura mia,

E passeri leggeri vi portavan
Sul carro, i quai sopra terra volavan
Sbattendo l'ale a' venti che soffiavan
Per mezzo il cielo,

E subito tornata, o fortunata,
Con riso l'immortal faccia guardata,
Chiedete cosa chiesta, o già passata
Da me, dal cielo,

E ciò che soprattutto vòi m'accada
Furente in cuor: «Chi mai ancor persuada
Te ad amare m' chiedo, e da chi cada
Ingiuria a te!

Se infatti fugge, t'inseguirà presto,
Doni darà se a prender non è lesto,
Se amor non dà, ancor non voglia, presto
Darallo a te».

Venite a meve anch'ora, e dagli affanni
Duri m' solvete, e al cor non date danni,
Ma ciò che cupe; e ne' beati scanni
Pugnate meco. Amen.

Latin

Dīvĭtīs thrŏnī, Iŏvĭs, Āphrŏdītă,
Cāllĭd’, īmmōrtālĭs, ĕg’ āpprĕcōr tē:
Tū nĕ tōrmēntīs nĕvĕ, dīvă, pœ̄nīs,
Cōr mĭhĭ dāmnā,

Sēd vĕn’ hīc, sī quānd’ ĕt ăli͞undĕ tū mī,
Vōcem a͞udĭēns mĕăm, ābsquĕ lōngē,
Pārŭīstī, ēt pătrĭ’ dēsĕru͞istī
A͞urĕăm ǣdĕm,

Cūrrŭī iugō dăt’ ĕt āffĕrēbānt
Pāssĕrēs pūlchrī mĕdĭūmquĕ dēnsīs
Pērcŭti͞entēs ǣthĕrĕm īllŭ̂m ālīs,
Cǣrŭlĕ’ āb, t’ hūc,

Ābsqu’ ĭēbānt stātĭm; ăt, ō bĕātă,
Sīnĕ mōrtĕ tūm făcĭe͞iquĕ rīdēns,
Quǣrĕ pāssă quōd i’ ĕgŏ sūmquĕ, quōdquĕ
Rūrsŭ’ rĕquīrō,

Quōdquĕ mī prǣsērt’ ĕgŏ fi͞er’ hĭō nūnc
Cōrdĕ āmēnt’: «Ātquĕ quĕm ēxsŭāde͞o
Rūrsŭ’ tē ămārĕ? Făcīt tĭbī quĭs,
Sāpph’, ĭnĭūri͞am?

Nāmquĕ sī fŭgīt, răpĭd’ īnsĕquātŭr,
Sīvĕ dōn’ ha͞ud āccĭpĭt, ātquĕ dābĭt,
Sīvĕ ha͞ud ămāt, răpĭdē t’ ămābĭt,
Ēts’ ĕă nōn vūlt».

Nūnc quŏqu’ ādvĕnīquē, mĕīsquĕ dūrīs
Sōlvĕ pœ̄nīs m’, āccĭdĕr' ēt mĭhī cŏr
Quǣ cŭpīt, fāc vēră; mĭhīquĕ, quǣsō,
Sīs sŏcĭ’ īpsă.

English

Immortal Aphrodite with shimm’ring throne,
Deceiving kid of Jove, my prayer you own:
With pain and torment, Goddess, to the bone
Chill not my heart

But hither come, and, if another way,
My faint voice having heard from far away,
You list’n’d, and from your Dad’s gold home that day
You took your cart,

And yoked it, and cute rapid sparrows drew
From heaven o’er dark earth your cart and you,
In mid-air flapping their dense wings, as you
Came down to me,

And went back in a blink; O Lucky, now,
With smiling face unto th’ immortal brow
Ask what I passed, and what again I now
Do ask from thee,

And what I wish the most t’ happen to me
Insane i’ th’ heart: «Whoe’er persuade I thee
Again to love? And, Sappho, who to thee
Is being unfair?

Indeed if she doth flee, she’ll soon pursue;
If gifts she does not take, she’ll give to you;
If then she does not love, she’ll soon love you,
Though ’r will be air».

Come to me now as well, and set me free
From my sharp pains, and what my heart from thee
Doth ask, please grant it; and, prithee, with me
Do fight yourself.

Greek

Ποικιλόθρον’ ἀθάνατ’ Ἀφρόδιτα,
Παῖ Δίος, δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε·
Μή μ’ ἄσαισι μήτ’ ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
Πότνια, θῦμον,

Ἀλλὰ τυίδ’ ἔλθ’, αἴποτα κἀτέρωτα
Τᾶς ἔμας αὔδως ἀίοισα πήλοι
Ἔκλυες πάτρος δὲ δόμον λίποισα
Χρύσιον ἦλθες

Ἀρμ’ ὐπασδεύξαια, κάλοι δέ σ’ ἆγον
Ὤκεες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας
Πύκνα δίννεντες πτέρ’ ἀπ’ ὠράν’ αἴθε-
ρος διὰ μέσσω,

Αἶψα δ’ ἐξίκοντο· σὺ δ’, ὦ μάκαιρα
Μειδιάσαισ’ ἀθάνατῳ προσώπῳ,
Ἤρε’ ὄττι δηὖτε πέπονθα, κὤττι
Δηὖτε κάλημι,

Κὤττι μοι μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι
Μαινόλᾳ θύμῳ· «τίνα δηὖτε †πείθω
Ἂψ σ’ ἄγην† ἐς ‹ϝ›ὰν φιλότατα, τίς τ’, ὦ
Ψάπφ’, ἀδίκηει;

Καὶ γὰρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει,
Αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ’ ἀλλὰ δώσει,
Αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει ταχέως φιλήσει,
Κωὐκ ἐθέλοισα».

Ἔλθε μοι καὶ νῦν, χαλέπαν δὲ λῦσον
Ἐκ μερίμναν, ὄσσα δέ μοι τέλεσσαι
θῦμος ἰμέρρει, τέλεσον· σὺ δ᾽ αὔτα
σύμμαχος ἔσσο.

Italian

Immortal dal ricco trono Afrodite,
Di Giove scaltra figlia, or m’udite:
Di pene e di tormenti al cuor no aprite
La triste via,

Ma qui venite, e s’anche in altra via,
Udita di lontan la voce mia,
Lasciaste l’aurea casa che v’havia
Per cura mia,

E passeri leggeri vi portavan
Sul carro, i quai sopra terra volavan
Sbattendo l'ale a' venti che soffiavan
Per mezzo il cielo,

E subito tornata, o fortunata,
Con riso l'immortal faccia guardata,
Chiedete cosa chiesta, o già passata
Da me, dal cielo,

E ciò che più di tutto vòi m'accada
Furente in cuor: «Chi vuoi ch'ancor persuada
Ad amar te mi chiedo, e da chi cada
Ingiuria a te!

Se infatti fugge, t'inseguirà presto,
Doni darà se a prender non è lesto,
Se amor non dà, s'anche non voglia, presto
Darallo a te».

Venite a meve anch'ora, e dagli affanni
Duri m' solvete, e al cor non date danni,
Ma ciò che cupe; e ne' beati scanni
Pugnate meco. Amen.

Latin

Dīvĭtīs thrŏnī, Iŏvĭs, Āphrŏdītă,
Cāllĭd’, īmmōrtālĭs, ĕg’ āpprĕcōr tē:
Tū nĕ tōrmēntīs nĕvĕ, dīvă, pœ̄nīs
Cōr mĭhĭ dāmnā,

Sēd vĕn’ hīc, sī quānd’ ălĭōquĕ tū mī,
Vōcem a͞udĭēns mĕăm, ābsquĕ lōngē,
Pārŭīstī, ēt pătrĭ’ dēsĕru͞istī
A͞urĕăm ǣdĕm,

Cūrrŭī iugō dăt’ ĕt āffĕrēbānt
Pāssĕrēs pūlchrī mĕdĭūmquĕ dēnsīs
Pērcŭti͞entēs ǣthĕrĕm īllŭ̂m ālīs,
Cǣrŭlĕ’ āb, tē,

Ābsqu’ ĭēbānt stātĭm; ăt, ō bĕātă,
Sīnĕ mōrtĕ tūm făcĭe͞iquĕ rīdēns,
Quǣrĕ pāssă quōd i’ ĕgŏ sūmquĕ, quōdquĕ
Rūrsŭ’ rĕquīrō,

Quōdquĕ mī prǣsērt’ ĕgŏ fi͞er’ hĭō nūnc
Cōrdĕ āmēnt’: «Ātquĕ quĕm ēxsŭāde͞am
Rūrsŭ’ tē ămārĕ? Făcīt tĭbī quĭs,
Sāpph’, ĭnĭūri͞am?

Nāmquĕ sī fŭgīt, răpĭd’ īnsĕquātŭr,
Sīvĕ dōn’ ha͞ud āccĭpĭt, ātquĕ dābĭt,
Sīvĕ ha͞ud ămāt, răpĭdē t’ ămābĭt,
Ēts’ ĕă nōn vūlt».

Nūnc quŏqu’ ādvĕnīquē, mĕīsquĕ dūrīs
Sōlvĕ pœ̄nīs m’, āccĭdĕr' ēt mĭhī cŏr
Quǣ cŭpīt, fāc vēră; mĭhīquĕ, quǣsō,
Sīs sŏcĭ’ īpsă.

English

Immortal Aphrodite with shimm’ring throne,
Deceiving kid of Jove, my prayer you own:
With pain and torment, Goddess, to the bone
Chill not my heart

But hither come, and, if another way,
My faint voice having heard from far away,
You list’n’d, and from your Dad’s gold home that day
You took your cart,

And yoked it, and cute rapid sparrows drew
From heaven o’er dark earth your cart and you,
In mid-air flapping their dense wings, as you
Came down to me,

And went back in a blink; O Lucky, now,
With smiling face unto th’ immortal brow
Ask what I passed, and what again I now
Do ask from thee,

And what I wish the most t’ happen to me
Insane i’ th’ heart: «Persuade whom should I thee
Again to love? And, Sappho, who to thee
Is being unfair?

Indeed if she doth flee, she’ll soon pursue;
If gifts she does not take, she’ll give to you;
If then she does not love, she’ll soon love you,
Though ’r will be air».

Come to me now as well, and set me free
From my sharp pains, and what my heart from thee
Doth ask, please grant it; and, prithee, with me
Do fight yourself.

Latin

Dīvĭtīs thrŏnī, Iŏvĭs, Āphrŏdītă,
Cāllĭd’, īmmōrtālĭs, ĕg’ āpprĕcōr tē:
Tū nĕ tōrmēntīs nĕvĕ, dīvă, pœ̄nīs,
Cōr mĭhĭ dāmnā,

Sēd vĕn’ hūc, sī quānd’ ĕt ăli͞undĕ tū mī,
Vōcem a͞udĭēns mĕăm, ābsquĕ lōngē,
Pārŭīstī, ēt pătrĭ’ dēsĕru͞istī
A͞urĕăm ǣdĕm,

Cūrrŭī iugō dăt’ ĕt āffĕrēbānt
Pāssĕrēs pūlchrī mĕdĭūmquĕ dēnsīs
Pērcŭti͞entēs ǣthĕrĕm īllŭ̂m ālīs,
Cǣrŭlĕ’ ābs, t’ hūc,

Ābs stătīmqu' ībānt ĭ'; ăt, ō Bĕātă,
Sīnĕ mōrtĕ tūm făcĭe͞iquĕ rīdēns,
Quǣrĕ pāssă quōd i’ ĕgŏ sūmquĕ, quōdquĕ
Rūrsŭ’ rĕquīrō,

Quōdquĕ mī prǣsērt’ ĕgŏ fi͞er’ hĭō nūnc
Cōrdĕ āmēnt’: «Tēquĕ quĕm ēxsŭāde͞o
Rūrsŭ’ tē ămārĕ? Făcīt quĭs īniū-
ri͞am tĭbĭ, Sāpphō?

Nāmquĕ sī fŭgīt, răpĭd’ īnsĕquātŭr,
Sīvĕ dōn’ ha͞ud āccĭpĭt, ātquĕ dābĭt,
Sīvĕ ha͞ud ămāt, răpĭdē t’ ămābĭt,
Ēts’ ĕă nōlīt».

Nūnc quŏqu’ ādvĕnīquē, mĕīsquĕ dūrīs
Sōlvĕ pœ̄nīs m’, āccĭdĕr' ēt mĭhī cŏr
Quǣ cŭpīt, fāc vēră; mĭhīquĕ, quǣsō,
Sīs sŏcĭ’ īpsă.

English

Immortal Aphrodite with shimm’ring throne,
Deceiving kid of Jove, my prayer you own:
With pain and torment, Goddess, to the bone
Chill not my heart

But hither come, and, if another way,
My faint voice having heard from far away,
You list’n’d, and from your Dad’s gold home that day
You took your cart,

And yoked it, and cute rapid sparrows drew
From heaven o’er black earth your cart and you,
In mid-air flapping their dense wings, as you
Came down to me,

And went back in a blink; O Lucky, now,
With smiling face unto th’ immortal brow
Ask what I passed, and what again I now
Do ask from thee,

And what I wish the most t’ happen to me
Insane i’ th’ heart: «Whoe’er persuade I thee
Again to love? And, Sappho, who to thee
Is being unfair?

Indeed if she doth flee, she’ll soon pursue;
If gifts she does not take, she’ll give to you;
If then she does not love, she’ll soon love you,
Though ’r will be air».

Come to me now as well, and set me free
From my sharp pains, and what my heart from thee
Doth ask, please grant it; and, prithee, with me
Do fight yourself.

Greek

Ποικιλόθρον’ ἀθάνατ’ Ἀφρόδιτα,
Παῖ Δίος, δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε·
Μή μ’ ἄσαισι μήτ’ ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
Πότνια, θῦμον,

Ἀλλὰ τυίδ’ ἔλθ’, αἴποτα κἀτέρωτα,
Τᾶς ἔμας αὔδως ἀίοισα πήλοι,
Ἔκλυες, πάτρος δὲ δόμον λίποισα,
Χρύσιον ἦλθες,

Ἀρμ’ ὐποσδεύξαισα, κάλοι δέ σ’ ἆγον
Ὤκεες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας,
Πύκνα δίννεντες πτέρ’ ἀπ’ ὠράνω͜ αἴθε-
ρος διὰ μέσσω,

Αἶψα δ’ ἐξίκοντο· σὺ δ’, ὦ Μάκαιρα,
Μειδιάσαισ’ ἀθάνατῳ προσώπῳ,
Ἤρε’ ὄττι δηὖτε πέπονθα, κὤττι
Δηὖτε κάλημι,

Κὤττι μοι μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι
Μαινόλᾳ θύμῳ· «τίνα δηὖτε †πείθω
Ἂψ σ’ ἄγην† ἐς σὰν φιλότατα, τίς τ’, ὦ
Ψάπφ’, ἀδίκηει;

Καὶ γὰρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει,
Αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ’, ἀλλὰ δώσει,
Αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει, ταχέως φιλήσει,
Κωὐκ ἐθέλοισα».

Ἔλθε μοι καὶ νῦν, χαλέπαν δὲ λῦσον
Ἐκ μερίμναν, ὄσσα δέ μοι τέλεσσαι
θῦμος ἰμέρρει, τέλεσον· σὺ δ᾽ αὔτα
σύμμαχος ἔσσο.

Italian

Immortal dal ricco trono͜ Afrodite,
Di Giove scaltra figlia, or m’udite:
Di pene͜ e di tormenti al cuor no͜ aprite
La triste vìa,

Ma qui venite, s’anche͜ un altro dìa,
Udita di lontan la voce mìa,
Lasciaste l’aure͜a casa che v’havìa
Per cura mìa,

E passeri leggeri vi portavan
Sul carro, i qua͜i sopra terra volavan
Sbattendo l'ale͜ a' venti che soffiavan
Per mezzo͜ il cielo,

E subito tornavan; o Beata,
Con riso l'immortal faccia guardata,
Chiedete cosa chiesta,͜ o già passata
Da me, dal cielo,

E ciò che più di tutto vòi m'accada,
Furente͜ in cuor: «Chi mai ancor persuada
Te ad amare m' chiedo, e da chi cada
Ingiuria͜ a te!

Se͜ infatti fugge, t'inseguirà presta,
Doni darà se͜ a prender non è lesta,
Se͜ amor non dà, s'anche non voglia, presta
Darallo͜ a te».

Venite͜ a meve͜ anch'ora,͜ e dagli affanni
Duri m' solvete,͜ e al cor non date danni,
Ma ciò che cupe; e ne' beati scanni
Pugnate meco.

French

Vénus du trộne brillant, toujours pas mǫrte,
Fillė dė Jọve, Trompeuse, prière jė te pǫrte:
Du mal ẹt du tourmȩnt, Déęsse, la pǫrte
Ne m’ouvrė pas,

Mais viȩns ici, et, s’autrėfois aussi,
Ma voix très éloignée ayant ouïe,
Tu écoutas, ẹt de ta maiso̧n ẹt vie
Tu t’ȩn allas,

Et beaux passereaux rapides lė joug tėnaient
Lǫrsquė sur la terre noire ils tė pǫrtaient
Parmi l’éthęr, ẹt épaisses ailes bâtaient
Ȩn venant du cięl,

Ẹt rėtournaient ȩn peu; mais tu, Béée,
En souriant immǫrtęlle face regardée,
Demandẹz c’ quė j’ai déjà passée͜ ou priée
Pour moi au cięl,

Et ce quė surtout jė veux quė mė soit fait,
Furieuse ȩn cœur: «Qui dois-jė (qui tė plaît)
Ȩncǫre t’aimẹr convaincre? Ẹt qui tė fait,
Sapphọ, un tǫrt?

Car si͜ ęlle s’ȩnfuie, biȩntột ęlle t’ȩnsuivra,
Cadeaux si͜ ęlle nė prȩnd pas, biȩntột dǫnnera,
Si͜ ęlle nė t’aime pas, biȩntột ęlle t’aimėra,
So̧n vouloir mǫrt».

Viȩn à mois maintėnant, ẹt du tormȩnt
Très dur mė libre, ẹt ce quė mo̧n cœur maintenant
Veut quė me soit fait, fais vrais; ȩn co̧mbattant
M’aidė tu même.

Latin

Dīvĭtīs thrŏnī, Iŏvĭs, Āphrŏdītă,
Cāllĭd’, īmmōrtālĭs, ĕg’ āpprĕcōr tē:
Tū nĕ tōrmēntīs nĕvĕ, dīvă, pœ̄nīs,
Cōr mĭhĭ dāmnā,

Sēd vĕn’ hūc, sī tēmpŏr' ăli͞oquĕ tū mī,
Vōcem a͞udĭēns mĕăm, ābsquĕ lōngē,
Pārŭīstī, ēt pătrĭ’ dēsĕru͞istī
A͞urĕăm ǣdĕm,

Cūrrŭī iugō dăt’ ĕt āffĕrēbānt
Pāssĕrēs pūlchrī mĕdĭūmquĕ dēnsīs
Pērcŭti͞entēs ǣthĕrĕm īllŭ̂m ālīs,
Cǣrŭlĕ’ ābs, t’ hūc,

Ābs stătīmqu' ībānt ĭ'; ăt, ō Bĕātă,
Sīnĕ mōrtĕ tūm făcĭe͞iquĕ rīdēns,
Quǣrĕ pāssă quōd i’ ĕgŏ sūmquĕ, quōdquĕ
Rūrsŭ’ rĕquīrō,

Quōdquĕ mī prǣsērt’ ĕgŏ fi͞er’ hĭō nūnc
Cōrdĕ āmēnt’: «Āc tĭbĭ quēm †sŭāde͞am
Rūrsŭ’† nūnc ămārĕ? Făcīt quĭs īniū-
ri͞am tĭbĭ, Sāpphō?

Nāmquĕ sī fŭgīt, răpĭd’ īnsĕquētŭr,
Sīvĕ dōn’ ha͞ud āccĭpĭt, ātquĕ dābĭt,
Sīvĕ ha͞ud ămāt, răpĭdē t’ ămābĭt,
Ēts’ ĕă nōlīt».

Nūnc quŏqu’ ādvĕnīquē, mĕīsquĕ dūrīs
Sōlvĕ pœ̄nīs m’, āccĭdĕr' ēt mĭhī cŏr
Quǣ cŭpīt, fāc vēră; mĭhīquĕ, quǣsō,
Sīs sŏcĭ’ īpsă.

English

Immortal Aphrodite with shimm’ring throne,
Deceiving kid of Jove, my pra͞y͞er you own:
With pain and torment, Goddess, to the bone
Chill not my heart

But hither come, and, if another day,
My faint voice having heard from far away,
You list’n’d, and from your Dad’s gold home that day
You took your cart,

And yoked it, and cute rapid sparrows drew
From heaven o’er black earth your cart and you,
In mid-air flapping their dense wings, as you
Came down to me,

And went back in a blink; O Lucky, now,
With smiling face unto th’ immortal brow
Ask what I passed, and what again I now
Do ask from thee,

And what I wish the most t’ happen to me
Insane i’ th’ heart: «Whoe’er persuade I thee
Again to love? And, Sappho, who to thee
Is being unfair?

Indeed if she doth flee, she’ll soon pursue;
If gifts she does not take, she’ll give to you;
If then she does not love, she’ll soon love you,
Though ’r will be air».

Come to me now as well, and set me free
From my sharp pains, and what my heart from thee
Doth ask, please grant it; and, prithee, with me
Do fight yourself.

German

Untödliche͜ Aphrodit’ (dein Thron erscheint),
Täuschėndė Tochtėr Zeus, mein Bętėn meint:
Göttin, noch nicht was Qual und Strafė scheint
Gib meinėm Herz,

Aber komm hiėr; wẹnn auch in andẹrėr Zeit,
Habėnd gęhört meinė Stimmė von weit,
Du hörtėst an, kamst mit Brahmerzigkeit
Zu meinėm Schmerz,

Aus deinėr goldẹnėr Himmėlhaus, und dich
Übėr der Erdė Spätzė brachtėn, sich
Bėwęgęndė durch dichtė Flügėl, dich
Die schönė schlepptėn

Schnellė, und schnell zurück; Glückligė, du,
Lächẹlė der untödlichėr Miene zu,
Fragė was ich jętzt frag’, und ęs, wozu
Göttėr schon schlepptėn

Mich, und was mȩhr als allẹs ich wünschė mir,
Wütėndė͜ im Herz: «Wėn wiedėr soll ich dir
In Liebė tragėn? Sappho, wer dęnn dir
Ein Unrecht tut?

Dęnn węnn sie flieht, vęrfolgėn schnęll wird sie;
Węnn kein Gėschenk sie nimmt, gębėn wird sie;
Auch węnn liebėn nicht will, liebėn wird sie
Ębėnsogut.

Komm doch auch jętzt zu mir, und mich erfrei
Von schwęrėn Quälėn; Sachėnallerlei
Die mein Hertz wünscht, mach wirklich; du selbst sei
Hęlfėrin mir.

Greek

Ποικιλόθρον’ ἀθάνατ’ Ἀφρόδιτα,
Παῖ Δίος, δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε·
Μή μ’ ἄσαισι μήτ’ ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
Πότνια, θῦμον,

Ἀλλὰ τυίδ’ ἔλθ’, αἴποτα κἀτέρωτα,
Τᾶς ἔμας αὔδως ἀίοισα πήλυι,
Ἔκλυες, πάτρος δὲ δόμον λίποισα
Χρύσιον ἦλθες,

Ἀρμ’ ὐπασδεύξαισα, κάλοι δέ σ’ ἆγον
Ὤκεες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας,
Πύκνα δίννεντες πτέρ’ ἀπ’ ὠράνω͜ αἴθε-
ρος διὰ μέσσω,

Αἶψα δ’ ἐξίκοντο· σὺ δ’, ὦ Μάκαιρα,
Μειδιάσαισ’ ἀθανάτῳ προσώπῳ,
Ἤρε’ ὄττι δηὖτε πέπονθα, κὤττι
Δηὖτε κάλημι,

Κὤττι μοι μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι
Μαινόλᾳ θύμῳ· «τίνα δηὖτε †πείθω
Ἂψ σ’ ἄγην† ἐς ‹ϝ›ὰν φιλότατα, τίς τ’, ὦ
Ψάπφ’, ἀδίκηει;

Καὶ γὰρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει,
Αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ’, ἀλλὰ δώσει,
Αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει, ταχέως φιλήσει,
Κωὐκ ἐθέλοισα».

Ἔλθε μοι καὶ νῦν, χαλέπαν δὲ λῦσον
Ἐκ μερίμναν, ὄσσα δέ μοι τέλεσσαι
θῦμος ἰμέρρει, τέλεσον· σὺ δ᾽ αὔτα
σύμμαχος ἔσσο.

Italian

Immortal dal ricco trono͜, Afrodite,
Di Giove scaltra figlia, or m’udite:
Di pene͜ e di tormenti al cuor no͜ aprite
La triste vìa,

Ma qui venite, s’anche͜ un altro dìa,
Udita di lontan la voce mìa,
Lasciaste l’aure͜a casa che v’havìa
Per cura mìa,

E passeri leggeri vi portavan
Sul carro, i qua͜i sopra terra volavan
Sbattendo l’ale͜ in l’etere, e menavan
Colpetti͜ a iosa,

E subito giungevan; o Beata,
Col riso tuo immortale me guardata,
Chiedeste che chiedessi, ͜ o qual passata
Avessi cosa,

E ciò che più di tutto avea͜ a bramare,
Furente͜ in cuor: «Chi devo ancor portare
Ad amarti chiedo: chi vuole fare
Un torto͜ a te?

Se͜ infatti fugge, t’inseguirà presta,
Doni darà se͜ a prender non è lesta,
Se͜ amor non dà, s’anche nol voglia, presta
Darallo͜ a te».

Venite͜ ancora a me, e dal dolore
Forte scioglietemi, ed ciò che il cuore
Brama, date; voi stessa, per favore,
Per me lottate.

French

Vénus du trộne brillant, toujours pas mǫrte,
Fillė dė Jọve, Trompeuse, prière jė te pǫrte:
Du mal ẹt du tourmȩnt, Déęsse, la pǫrte
Ne m’ouvrė pas,

Mais viȩns ici, et, s’autrėfois aussi,
Ma voix très éloignée ayant ouïe,
Tu écoutas, ẹt de ta maiso̧n ẹt vie
Tu t’ȩn allas,

Et beaux passereaux rapides lė joug tėnaient
Lǫrsquė sur la terre noire ils tė pǫrtaient
Parmi l’éthęr, ẹt épaisses ailes bâtaient
Ȩn venant du cięl,

Ẹt rėtournaient ȩn peu; mais tu, Béée,
En souriant immǫrtęlle face regardée,
Demandẹz c’ quė j’ai déjà passée͜ ou priée
Pour moi au cięl,

Et ce quė surtout jė veux quė mė soit fait,
Furieuse ȩn cœur: «Qui dois-jė (qui tė plaît)
Ȩncǫre t’aimẹr convaincre? Ẹt qui tė fait,
Sapphọ, un tǫrt?

Car si͜ ęlle s’ȩnfuie, biȩntột ęlle t’ȩnsuivra,
Cadeaux si͜ ęlle nė prȩnd pas, biȩntột dǫnnera,
Si͜ ęlle nė t’aime pas, biȩntột ęlle t’aimėra,
So̧n vouloir mǫrt».

Viȩn à mois maintėnant, ẹt du tormȩnt
Très dur mė libre, ẹt ce quė mo̧n cœur maintenant
Veut quė me soit fait, fais vrais; ȩn co̧mbattant
M’aidė tu même.

Latin

Dīvĭtīs thrŏnī, Iŏvĭs Āphrŏdītă,
Cāllĭd’, īmmōrtālĭs, ĕg’ āpprĕcōr tē:
Tū nĕ tōrmēntīs nĕvĕ, dīvă, pœ̄nīs
Cōr mĭhĭ dāmnā,

Sēd vĕn’ hūc, sī tēmpŏr’ ăli͞oquĕ tū mī,
Vōcem a͞udĭēns mĕăm, ābsquĕ lōngē,
Pārŭīstī, ēt pătrĭ’ dēsĕru͞istī
A͞urĕăm ǣdĕm,

Cūrrŭī iŭgō dăt’ ĕt āffĕrēbānt
Pāssĕrēs pūlchrī rǎpĭdē mĕdi͞um tŭm
Pērcŭti͞entēs ǣthĕrĕm īllŭ̂m ālīs,
Cǣrŭlĕ’ ābs, t’ hūc,

Pērvĕni͞ebānt ī stăt’; ăt, ō Bĕātă,
Sīnĕ mōrtĕ īn făcĭēquĕ rīdēns,
Pāssă quǣsīstī qu’ ĕg’ ĕrāmquĕ, quǣquĕ
Tūm cŭpĭēbăm,

Quǣquĕ mī prǣsērt’ ĕgŏ fi͞er’ hĭēbăm
Cōrdĕ āmēnt’: «Āc cŭĭ tē †sŭāde͞am
Rūrsŭ’† nūnc ămārĕ? Făcīt quĭs īniū-
ri͞am tĭbĭ, Sāpphō?

Nāmquĕ sī fŭgīt, răpĭd’ īnsĕquētŭr,
Sīvĕ dōn’ ha͞ud āccĭpĭt, ātquĕ dābĭt,
Sīvĕ ha͞ud ămāt, răpĭdē t’ ămābĭt,
Ēts’ ĕă nōlīt».

Nūnc quŏqu’ ādvĕnīquĕ, mĕīsquĕ dūrīs
Sōlvĕ pœ̄nīs m’, āccĭdĕr' ēt mĭhī cŏr
Quǣ cŭpīt, fāc vēră; mĭhīquĕ, quǣsō,
Sīs sŏcĭ’ īpsă.

English

Immortal Aphrodite with shimm’ring throne,
Deceiving kid of Jove, my pra͞y͞er you own:
With pain and torment, Goddess, to the bone
Chill not my heart

But hither come, and, if another day,
My faint voice having heard from far away,
You list’n’d, and from your Dad’s gold home that day
You took your cart,

And yoked it, and cute rapid sparrows drew
From heaven o’er black earth your cart and you,
In mid-air often flapping wings, as you
Came down to me,

And came here in a blink; O Lucky, then,
With your immortal smile, what I again
Had passed you me did ask, and what again
I asked of thee,

And what I wished the most t’ happen to me
Insane i’ th’ heart: «Whom should I persu͜ade thee
Again to love? And, Sappho, who to thee
Is be͜ing unfair?

Indeed if she doth flee, she’ll soon pursue;
If gifts she doth not take, she’ll give to you;
If then she doth not love, she’ll soon love you,
Though ’r will be air».

Come to me now as well, and set me free
From my sharp pains, and what my heart from thee
Doth ask, please grant it; and, prithee, with me
Do fight yourself.

German

Untödliche͜ Aphrodit’ (dein Thron erscheint),
Täuschėndė Tochtėr Zeus, mein Bętėn meint:
Göttin, noch nicht was Qual und Strafė scheint
Gib meinėm Herz,

Aber komm hiėr; wẹnn auch in andẹrėr Zeit,
Habėnd gęhört meinė Stimmė von weit,
Du hörtėst an, kamst mit Brahmerzigkeit
Zu meinėm Schmerz,

Aus deinėr goldẹnėr Himmėlhaus, und dich
Übėr der Erdė Spätzė brachtėn, sich
Bėwęgęndė durch dichtė Flügėl, dich
Die schönė schlepptėn

Schnellė, und schnell zurück; Glückligė, du,
Lächẹlė der untödlichėr Miene zu,
Fragė was ich jętzt frag’, und ęs, wozu
Göttėr schon schlepptėn

Mich, und was mȩhr als allẹs ich wünschė mir,
Wütėndė͜ im Herz: «Wėn wiedėr soll ich dir
In Liebė tragėn? Sappho, wer dęnn dir
Ein Unrecht tut?

Dęnn węnn sie flieht, vęrfolgėn schnęll wird sie;
Węnn kein Gėschenk sie nimmt, gębėn wird sie;
Auch węnn liebėn nicht will, liebėn wird sie
Ębėnsogut.

Komm doch auch jętzt zu mir, und mich erfrei
Von schwęrėn Quälėn; Sachėnallerlei
Die mein Hertz wünscht, mach wirklich; du selbst sei
Hęlfėrin mir.

Greek

Ποικιλόθρον’ ἀθάνατ’ Ἀφρόδιτα,
Παῖ Δίος, δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε·
Μή μ’ ἄσαισι μήτ’ ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
Πότνια, θῦμον,

Ἀλλὰ τυίδ’ ἔλθ’, αἴποτα κἀτέρωτα,
Τᾶς ἔμας αὔδως ἀίοισα πήλυι,
Ἔκλυες, πάτρος δὲ δόμον λίποισα
Χρύσιον ἦλθες,

Ἀρμ’ ὐπασδεύξαισα, κάλοι δέ σ’ ἆγον
Ὤκεες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας,
Πύκνα δίννεντες πτέρ’ ἀπ’ ὠράνω͜ αἴθε-
ρος διὰ μέσσω,

Αἶψα δ’ ἐξίκοντο· σὺ δ’, ὦ Μάκαιρα,
Μειδιάσαισ’ ἀθανάτῳ προσώπῳ,
Ἤρε’ ὄττι δηὖτε πέπονθα, κὤττι
Δηὖτε κάλημι,

Κὤττι μοι μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι
Μαινόλᾳ θύμῳ· «τίνα δηὖτε †πείθω
Ἂψ σ’ ἄγην† ἐς ‹ϝ›ὰν φιλότατα, τίς τ’, ὦ
Ψάπφ’, ἀδίκηει;

Καὶ γὰρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει,
Αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ’, ἀλλὰ δώσει,
Αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει, ταχέως φιλήσει,
Κωὐκ ἐθέλοισα».

Ἔλθε μοι καὶ νῦν, χαλέπαν δὲ λῦσον
Ἐκ μερίμναν, ὄσσα δέ μοι τέλεσσαι
θῦμος ἰμέρρει, τέλεσον· σὺ δ᾽ αὔτα
σύμμαχος ἔσσο.

Italian

Immortal dal ricco trono͜, Afrodite,
Di Giove scaltra figlia, or m’udite:
Di pene͜ e di tormenti al cuor no͜ aprite
La triste vìa,

Ma qui venite, s’anche͜ un altro dìa,
Udita di lontan la voce mìa,
Lasciaste l’aure͜a casa che v’havìa
Per cura mìa:

Bei passeri leggeri, voi portando
Sul carro, sopra la terra volando,
Sbattendo l’ale͜ in l’etere, e menando
Colpetti͜ a iosa,

Di subito giungevan; o Beata,
Coll’immortale riso me guardata,
Chiedeste che chiedessi, ͜ o qual passata
Avessi cosa,

E ciò più di tutto avea͜ a bramare,
Furente͜ in cuor: «Chi devo ancor portare
Ad amarti chiedo: chi vuole fare
Un torto͜ a te?

Se͜ infatti fugge, t’inseguirà presta,
Doni darà se͜ a prender non è lesta,
Se͜ amor non dà, s’anche nol voglia, presta
Darallo͜ a te».

Venite͜ ancora a me, e dal dolore
Forte scioglietemi, ed ciò che il cuore
Brama, date; voi stessa, per favore,
Per me lottate.

French

Vénus du trộne brillant, toujours pas mǫrte,
Fillė dė Jọve, Trompeuse, prière jė te pǫrte:
Du mal ẹt du tourmȩnt, Déęsse, la pǫrte
Ne m’ouvrė pas,

Mais viȩns ici, et, s’autrėfois aussi,
Ma voix très éloignée ayant ouïe,
Tu écoutas, ẹt de ta maiso̧n ẹt vie
Tu t’ȩn allas,

Et beaux passereaux rapides lė joug tėnaient
Lǫrsquė sur la terre noire ils tė pǫrtaient
Parmi l’éthęr, ẹt épaisses ailes bâtaient
Ȩn venant du cięl,

Ẹt rėtournaient ȩn peu; mais tu, Béée,
En souriant immǫrtęlle face regardée,
Demandẹz c’ quė j’ai déjà passée͜ ou priée
Pour moi au cięl,

Et ce quė surtout jė veux quė mė soit fait,
Furieuse ȩn cœur: «Qui dois-jė (qui tė plaît)
Ȩncǫre t’aimẹr convaincre? Ẹt qui tė fait,
Sapphọ, un tǫrt?

Car si͜ ęlle s’ȩnfuie, biȩntột ęlle t’ȩnsuivra,
Cadeaux si͜ ęlle nė prȩnd pas, biȩntột dǫnnera,
Si͜ ęlle nė t’aime pas, biȩntột ęlle t’aimėra,
So̧n vouloir mǫrt».

Viȩn à mois maintėnant, ẹt du tormȩnt
Très dur mė libre, ẹt ce quė mo̧n cœur maintenant
Veut quė me soit fait, fais vrais; ȩn co̧mbattant
M’aidė tu même.

Latin

Dīvĭtīs thrŏnī, Iŏvĭs Āphrŏdītă,
Cāllĭd’, īmmōrtālĭs, ĕg’ āpprĕcōr tē:
Tū nĕ tōrmēntīs nĕvĕ, dīvă, pœ̄nīs
Cōr mĭhĭ dāmnā,

Sēd vĕn’ hūc, sī tēmpŏr’ ăli͞oquĕ tū mī,
Vōcem a͞udĭēns mĕăm, ābsquĕ lōngē,
Pārŭīstī, ēt pătrĭ’ dēsĕru͞istī
A͞urĕăm ǣdĕm,

Cūrrŭī iŭgō dăt’ ĕt āffĕrēbānt
Pāssĕrēs pūlchrī, mĕdi͞um vĕlōcēs
Pērcŭti͞entēs ǣthĕrĕm īllŭ̂m ālīs,
Cǣrŭlĕ’ ābs, t’ hūc,

Pērvĕni͞ebānt ī stăt’; ăt, ō Bĕātă,
Sīnĕ mōrtĕ īn făcĭēquĕ rīdēns,
Pāssă quǣsīstī qu’ ĕg’ ĕrāmquĕ, quǣquĕ
Tūm cŭpĭēbăm,

Quǣquĕ mī prǣsērt’ ĕgŏ fi͞er’ hĭēbăm
Cōrdĕ āmēnt’: «Āc cŭĭ tē †sŭāde͞am
Rūrsŭ’† nūnc ămārĕ? Făcīt quĭs īniū-
ri͞am tĭbĭ, Sāpphō?

Nāmquĕ sī fŭgīt, răpĭd’ īnsĕquētŭr,
Sīvĕ dōn’ ha͞ud āccĭpĭt, ātquĕ dābĭt,
Sīvĕ ha͞ud ămāt, răpĭdē t’ ămābĭt,
Ēts’ ĕă nōlīt».

Nūnc quŏqu’ ādvĕnīquĕ, mĕīsquĕ dūrīs
Sōlvĕ pœ̄nīs m’, āccĭdĕr’ ēt mĭhī cŏr
Quǣ cŭpīt, fāc vēră; mĭhīquĕ, quǣsō,
Tū sŏcĭ’ ādsīs.

English

Immortal Aphrodite with glitt’ring throne,
Deceiving kid of Jove, my pra͞y͞er you own:
With pain and torment, Goddess, to the bone
Chill not my heart

But hither come, and, if another day,
My faint voice having heard from far away,
You list’n’d, and from your Dad’s gold home that day
You took your cart,

And yoked it, and cute rapid sparrows drew
From heaven o’er black earth your cart and you,
In mid-air often flapping wings, as you
Came down to me,

And came here in a blink; O Lucky, then,
With your immortal smile, what I again
Had passed you askèd me, and what again
I asked of thee,

And what I wished the most t’ happen to me
Insane i’ th’ heart: «Whom should I to love thee
Again persu͜ade? And, Sappho, who to thee
Is be͜ing unfair?

Indeed if she doth flee, she’ll soon pursue;
If gifts she doth not take, she’ll give to you;
If then she doth not love, she’ll soon love you,
Though ’r will be air».

Come to me now as well, and set me free
From my sharp pains, and what my heart from thee
Doth ask, please grant it; and, prithee, with me
Do fight yourself.

German

Untödliche͜ Aphrodit’ (dein Thron erscheint),
Täuschėndė Tochtėr Zeus, mein Bętėn meint:
Göttin, noch nicht was Qual und Strafė scheint
Gib meinėm Herz,

Aber komm hiėr; wẹnn auch in andẹrėr Zeit,
Habėnd gęhört meinė Stimmė von weit,
Du hörtėst an, kamst mit Brahmerzigkeit
Zu meinėm Schmerz,

Aus deinėr goldẹnėr Himmėlhaus, und dich
Übėr der Erdė Spätzė brachtėn, sich
Bėwęgęndė durch dichtė Flügėl, dich
Die schönė schlepptėn

Schnellė, und schnell zurück; Glückligė, du,
Lächẹlė der untödlichėr Miene zu,
Fragė was ich jętzt frag’, und ęs, wozu
Göttėr schon schlepptėn

Mich, und was mȩhr als allẹs ich wünschė mir,
Wütėndė͜ im Herz: «Wėn wiedėr soll ich dir
In Liebė tragėn? Sappho, wer dęnn dir
Ein Unrecht tut?

Dęnn węnn sie flieht, vęrfolgėn schnęll wird sie;
Węnn kein Gėschenk sie nimmt, gębėn wird sie;
Auch węnn liebėn nicht will, liebėn wird sie
Ębėnsogut.

Komm doch auch jętzt zu mir, und mich erfrei
Von schwęrėn Quälėn; Sachėnallerlei
Die mein Hertz wünscht, mach wirklich; du selbst sei
Hęlfėrin mir.

Greek

Ποικιλόθρον’ ἀθάνατ’ Ἀφρόδιτα,
Παῖ Δίος, δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε·
Μή μ’ ἄσαισι μήτ’ ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
Πότνια, θῦμον,

Ἀλλὰ τυίδ’ ἔλθ’, αἴποτα κἀτέρωτα,
Τᾶς ἔμας αὔδως ἀίοισα πήλυι,
Ἔκλυες, πάτρος δὲ δόμον λίποισα
Χρύσιον ἦλθες,

Ἀρμ’ ὐποσδεύξαισα, κάλοι δέ σ’ ἆγον
Ὤκεες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας,
Πύκνα δίννεντες πτέρ’ ἀπ’ ὠράνω͜ αἴθε-
ρος διὰ μέσσω,

Αἶψα δ’ ἐξίκοντο· σὺ δ’, ὦ Μάκαιρα,
Μειδιάσαισ’ ἀθάνατῳ προσώπῳ,
Ἤρε’ ὄττι δηὖτε πέπονθα, κὤττι
Δηὖτε κάλημι,

Κὤττι μοι μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι
Μαινόλᾳ θύμῳ· «τίνα δηὖτε †πείθω
Ἂψ σ’ ἄγην† ἐς σὰν φιλότατα, τίς τ’, ὦ
Ψάπφ’, ἀδίκηει;

Καὶ γὰρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει,
Αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ’, ἀλλὰ δώσει,
Αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει, ταχέως φιλήσει,
Κωὐκ ἐθέλοισα».

Ἔλθε μοι καὶ νῦν, χαλέπαν δὲ λῦσον
Ἐκ μερίμναν, ὄσσα δέ μοι τέλεσσαι
θῦμος ἰμέρρει, τέλεσον· σὺ δ᾽ αὔτα
σύμμαχος ἔσσο.

Italian

Immortal dal ricco trono͜ Afrodite,
Di Giove scaltra figlia, or m’udite:
Di pene͜ e di tormenti al cuor no͜ aprite
La triste vìa,

Ma qui venite, s’anche͜ un altro dìa,
Udita di lontan la voce mìa,
Lasciaste l’aure͜a casa che v’havìa
Per cura mìa,

E passeri leggeri vi portavan
Sul carro, i qua͜i sopra terra volavan
Sbattendo l'ale͜ a' venti che soffiavan
Per mezzo͜ il cielo,

E subito tornavan; o Beata,
Di riso l'immortal faccia adornata,
Chiedevi che chiedessi,͜ o qual già data
M'avesse il cielo

Cosa, e che più di tutto voglio accada,
A me furente: «Chi vuoi ch'io persuada
Ad amar te mi chiedo, e da chi cada
Ingiuria͜ a te!

Se͜ infatti fugge, t'inseguirà presta,
Doni darà se͜ a prender non è lesta,
Se͜ amor non dà, s'anche non voglia, presta
Darallo͜ a te».

Venite͜ a meve͜ anch'ora,͜ e dagli affanni
Duri m' solvete,͜ e al cor non date danni,
Ma ciò che cupe; e ne' beati scanni
Pugnate meco.

French

Vénus du trộne brillant, toujours pas mǫrte,
Fillė dė Jọve, Trompeuse, prière jė te pǫrte:
Du mal ẹt du tourmȩnt, Déęsse, la pǫrte
Ne m’ouvrė pas,

Mais viȩns ici, et, s’autrėfois aussi,
Ma voix très éloignée ayant ouïe,
Tu écoutas, ẹt de ta maiso̧n ẹt vie
Tu t’ȩn allas,

Et beaux passereaux rapides lė joug tėnaient
Lǫrsquė sur la terre noire ils tė pǫrtaient
Parmi l’éthęr, ẹt rapides ailes bâtaient
Ȩn venant du cięl,

Ẹt rėtournaient ȩn peu; mais tu, Béée,
En souriant immǫrtęlle face regardée,
Demandẹz c’ quė j’ai déjà passé͜ ou prié
Pour moi au cięl,

Et ce quė surtout jė veux quė mė soit fait,
Furieuse ȩn cœur: «Qui dois-jė (qui tė plaît)
Ȩncǫre t’aimẹr convaincre? Ẹt qui tė fait,
Sapphọ, un tǫrt?

Car si͜ ęlle s’ȩnfuie, biȩntột ęlle t’ȩnsuivra,
Cadeaux si͜ ęlle nė prȩnd pas, biȩntột dǫnnera,
Si͜ ęlle nė t’aime pas, biȩntột ęlle t’aimėra,
So̧n vouloir mǫrt».

Viȩn à mois maintėnant, ẹt du tourmȩnt
Très dur mė libre, ẹt ce quė mo̧n cœur maintenant
Veut quė me soit fait, fais vrai; ȩn co̧mbattant
M’aidė tu même.

Latin

Dīvĭtīs thrŏnī, Iŏvĭs, Āphrŏdītă,
Cāllĭd’, īmmōrtālĭs, ĕg’ āpprĕcōr tē:
Tū nĕ tōrmēntīs nĕvĕ, dīvă, pœ̄nīs,
Cōr mĭhĭ dāmnā,

Sēd vĕn’ hūc, sī tēmpŏr' ăli͞oquĕ tū mī,
Vōcem a͞udĭēns mĕăm, ābsquĕ lōngē,
Pārŭīstī, ēt pătrĭ’ dēsĕru͞istī
A͞urĕăm ǣdĕm,

Cūrrŭī iugō dăt’ ĕt āffĕrēbānt
Pāssĕrēs pūlchrī mĕdĭūmquĕ dēnsīs
Pērcŭti͞entēs ǣthĕrĕm īllŭ̂m ālīs,
Cǣrŭlĕ’ ābs, t’ hūc,

Ābs stătīmqu' ībānt ĭ'; ăt, ō Bĕātă,
Vūltŭ' sīnĕ mōrtĕ cŭm ādrĭdērĕt,
Pāssă quǣrēbās qu’ ĕgŏ sūmquĕ, quōdquĕ
Rūrsŭ’ rĕquīrō,

Quōdquĕ mī prǣsērt’ ĕgŏ fi͞er’ hĭēbăm
Cōrdĕ āmēnt’: «Āc tĭbĭ quēm †sŭāde͞am
Rūrsŭ’† nūnc ămārĕ? Făcīt quĭs īniū-
ri͞am tĭbĭ, Sāpphō?

Nāmquĕ sī fŭgīt, răpĭd’ īnsĕquētŭr,
Sīvĕ dōn’ ha͞ud āccĭpĭt, ātquĕ dābĭt,
Sīvĕ ha͞ud ămāt, răpĭdē t’ ămābĭt,
Ēts’ ĕă nōlīt».

Nūnc quŏqu’ ādvĕnīquē, mĕīsquĕ dūrīs
Sōlvĕ pœ̄nīs m’, āccĭdĕr' ēt mĭhī cŏr
Quǣ cŭpīt, fāc vēră; mĭhīquĕ, quǣsō,
Sīs sŏcĭ’ īpsă.

English

Immortal Aphrodite with shimm’ring throne,
Deceiving kid of Jove, my pra͞y͞er you own:
With pain and torment, Goddess, to the bone
Chill not my heart

But hither come, and, if another day,
My faint voice having heard from far away,
You list’n’d, and from your Dad’s gold home that day
You took your cart,

And yoked it, and cute rapid sparrows drew
From heaven o’er black earth your cart and you,
In mid-air flapping their dense wings, as you
Came down to me,

And went back in a blink; O Lucky, thou,
With a full smile on thy immortal brow
Ask what I've passed, and what again I now
Do ask from thee,

And what I wish the most t’ happen to me
Insane i’ th’ heart: «Whom should I persuade thee
Again to love? And, Sappho, who to thee
Is being unfair?

Indeed if she doth flee, she’ll soon pursue;
If gifts she does not take, she’ll give to you;
If then she does not love, she’ll soon love you,
Though ’r will be air».

Come to me now as well, and set me free
From my sharp pains, and what my heart from thee
Doth ask, please grant it; and, prithee, with me
Do fight yourself.

German

Untödliche͜ Aphrodit’ (dein Thron erscheint),
Täuschėndė Tochtėr Zeus, mein Bętėn meint:
Göttin, noch nicht was Qual und Strafė scheint
Gib meinėm Herz,

Aber komm hiėr; wẹnn auch in andẹrėr Zeit,
Habėnd gęhört meinė Stimmė von weit,
Du hörtėst an, kamst mit Brahmerzigkeit
Zu meinėm Schmerz,

Aus deinėr goldẹnėr Himmėlhaus, und dich
Übėr der Erdė Spätzė brachtėn, sich
Bėwęgęndė durch dichtė Flügėl, dich
Die schönė schlepptėn

Schnellė; schnell kommten; als ein Lächelns Licht
Du hattėst am untödlichėm Gėsicht,
Glückligė, du was ich fragt’, und das Sicht
An mich gėschlepptėn

Fragtėst, was mȩhr als allẹs ich wünschtė mir,
Wütėndė͜ im Hęrz: «Wėn wiedėr soll ich dir
In Liebė tragėn? Sappho, wer dęnn dir
Ein Unrecht tut?

Dęnn węnn sie flieht, vęrfolgėn schnęll wird sie;
Węnn kein Gėschenk sie nimmt, gębėn wird sie;
Auch węnn liebėn nicht will, liebėn wird sie
Ębėnsogut.

Komm doch auch jętzt zu mir, und mich erfrei
Von schwęrėn Quälėn; Sachėnallerlei
Die mein Hertz wünscht, mach wirklich; du selbst sei
Hęlfėrin mir.

Greek

Ποικιλόθρον’ ἀθάνατ’ Ἀφρόδιτα,
Παῖ Δίος, δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε·
Μή μ’ ἄσαισι μήτ’ ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
Πότνια, θῦμον,

Ἀλλὰ τυίδ’ ἔλθ’, αἴποτα κἀτέρωτα,
Τᾶς ἔμας αὔδως ἀίοισα πήλυι,
Ἔκλυες, πάτρος δὲ δόμον λίποισα
Χρύσιον ἦλθες,

Ἀρμ’ ὐπασδεύξαισα, κάλοι δέ σ’ ἆγον
Ὤκεες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας,
Πύκνα δίννεντες πτέρ’ ἀπ’ ὠράνω͜ αἴθε-
ρος διὰ μέσσω,

Αἶψα δ’ ἐξίκοντο· σὺ δ’, ὦ Μάκαιρα,
Μηδιάσαισ’ ἀθανάτῳ προσώπῳ,
Ἤρε’ ὄττι δηὖτε πέπονθα, κὤττι
Δηὖτε κάλημι,

Κὤττι μοι μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι
Μαινόλᾳ θύμῳ· «τίνα δηὖτε †πείθω
‹Κ›αί σ’ ἄγην† ἐς ‹ϝ›ὰν φιλότατα, τίς τ’, ὦ
Ψάπφ’, ἀδικήει;

Καὶ γὰρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει,
Αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ’, ἀλλὰ δώσει,
Αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει, ταχέως φιλήσει,
Κωὐκ ἐθέλοισα».

Ἔλθε μοι καὶ νῦν, χαλέπαν δὲ λῦσον
Ἐκ μερίμναν, ὄσσα δέ μοι τέλεσσαι
θῦμος ἰμέρρει, τέλεσον· σὺ δ᾽ αὔτα
σύμμαχος ἔσσο.

Italian

Immortal dal ricco trono͜ Afrodite,
Di Giove scaltra figlia, or m’udite:
Di pene͜ e di tormenti al cuor no͜ aprite
La triste vìa,

Ma qui venite, s’anche͜ un altro dìa,
Udita di lontan la voce mìa,
Lasciaste l’aure͜a casa che v’havìa
Per cura mìa,

E passeri leggeri vi portavan
Sul carro, i qua͜i sopra terra volavan
Sbattendo l’ale͜ a’ venti che soffiavan
Per mezzo͜ il cielo,

E subito tornavan; o Beata,
Di riso l'immortal faccia adornata,
Chiedevi che chiedessi, o qual già data
M'avesse il cielo

Cosa, e che più di tutto vo' ch'accada
A me furente: «Chi vuoi ch'io †persuada
Ad amar te† mi chiedo, e da chi cada
Ingiuria͜ a te!

Se͜ infatti fugge, t’inseguirà presta,
Doni darà se͜ a prender non è lesta,
Se͜ amor non dà, s’anche nol voglia, presta
Darallo͜ a te».

Venite͜ a meve͜ anch’ora,͜ e dagli affanni
Duri m’ solvete,͜ e al cor non date danni,
Ma ciò che cupe; e ne’ beati scanni
Pugnate meco.

French

Vénus du trộne brillant, toujours pas mǫrte,
Fillė dė Jọve, Trompeuse, prière jė te pǫrte:
Du mal ẹt du tourmȩnt, Déęsse, la pǫrte
Nė m’ouvrė pas,

Mais viȩns ici, ẹt, si͜ autrėfois aussi,
Ma voix très éloignée ayant ouïe,
Tu écoutas, ẹt de ta maiso̧n ẹt vie
Tu t’ȩn allas,

Et beaux passereaux rapides lė joug tėnaient
Lǫrsquė sur la terre noire ils tė pǫrtaient
Parmi l’éthęr, ẹt ailes rapides bâtaient
Ȩn venant du cięl,

Ẹt arrivaient ȩn peu; ẹt tu, Béée,
Souri͜ant sur l'immǫrtęlle face, dėmandais,
Cė quė j'avais, ẹt cė quė jė priais
Pour moi au cięl,

Ẹt ce quė surtout je voulais quė mė fusse fait,
Furieuse ȩn cœur: «Qui dois-jė (qui tė plaît)
Ȩncǫre t’aimẹr convaincre? Ẹt qui tė fait,
Sapphọ, un tǫrt?

Car si͜ ęlle s’ȩnfuie, biȩntột ęlle t’ȩnsuivra,
Cadeaux, si͜ ęlle n'en prȩnd pas, biȩntột dǫnnera,
Si͜ ęlle nė t’aime pas, biȩntột ęlle t’aimėra,
So̧n vouloir mǫrt».

Viȩn à moi maintėnant, ẹt du tourmȩnt
Très dur mė libre, ẹt ce quė mo̧n cœur maintenant
Veut quė me soit fait, fais vrai; ȩn co̧mbattant
M’aidė tu même.

Latin

Dīvĭtīs thrŏnī, Iŏvĭs Āphrŏdītă,
Cāllĭd’, īmmōrtālĭs, ĕg’ āpprĕcōr tē:
Tū nĕ tōrmēntīs nĕvĕ, dīvă, pœ̄nīs
Cōr mĭhĭ dāmnā,

Sēd vĕn’ hūc, sī tēmpŏr’ ăli͞oquĕ tū mī,
Vōcem a͞udĭēns mĕăm, ābsquĕ lōngē,
Pārŭīstī, ēt pătrĭ’ dēsĕru͞istī
A͞urĕăm ǣdĕm,

Cūrrŭī iŭgō dăt’ ĕt āffĕrēbānt
Pāssĕrēs pūlchrī mĕdĭūmquĕ dēnsīs
Pērcŭti͞entēs ǣthĕrĕm īllŭ̂m ālīs,
Cǣrŭlĕ’ ābs, t’ hūc,

Ābs stătīmqu’ ībānt ĭ’; ăt, ō Bĕātă,
Vūltŭ' sīnĕ mōrtĕ cŭm ādrǐdērĕt,
Pāssă quǣrēbās qu’ ĕg' ĕrāmquĕ, quōdquĕ
Rūrsŭ' vŏcābăm,

Quōdquĕ māxĭmē mĭhĭ fi͞er’ hĭēbăm,
Cōrdĕ āmēnt’: «Āc cŭĭ tē †sŭāde͞am
Rūrsŭ’† nūnc ămārĕ? Făcīt quĭs īniū-
ri͞am tĭbĭ, Sāpphō?

Nāmquĕ sī fŭgīt, răpĭd’ īnsĕquētŭr,
Sīvĕ dōn’ ha͞ud āccĭpĭt, ātquĕ dābĭt,
Sīvĕ ha͞ud ămāt, răpĭdē t’ ămābĭt,
Ēts’ ĕă nōlīt».

Nūnc quŏqu' ādvĕnīquĕ, mĕīsquĕ dūrīs
Sōlvĕ pœ̄nīs m', āccĭdĕr' ēt mĭhī cŏr
Quǣ cŭpīt, fāc vēră; mĭhīquĕ, quǣsō,
Tū sŏcĭ' ādsīs.

English

Immortal Aphrodite with shimm’ring throne,
Deceiving kid of Jove, my pra͞y͞er you own:
With pain and torment, Goddess, to the bone
Chill not my heart

But hither come, and, if another day,
My faint voice having heard from far away,
You hark’d, and from your Dad’s gold home that day
You took your cart,

And yoked it, and cute rapid sparrows drew
From heaven o’er black earth your cart and you,
In mid-air flapping their dense wings, as you
Came down to me,

And went back in a blink; O Lucky, thou,
With a full smile on thy immortal brow,
Asked what I've passed, and what again I now
Do ask from thee,

And what I wish the most t’ happen to me
Insane i’ th’ heart: «Whom should I to love thee
Again persu͜ade? And, Sappho, who to thee
Is be͜ing unfair?

Indeed if she doth flee, she’ll soon pursue;
If gifts she does not take, she’ll give to you;
If then she does not love, she’ll soon love you,
Though ’r will be air».

Come to me now as well, and set me free
From my sharp pains, and what my heart from thee
Doth ask, please grant it; and, prithee, with me
Do fight yourself.

German

Untödliche͜ Aphrodit’ (dein Thron erscheint),
Täuschėndė Tochtėr Zeus, mein Bętėn meint:
Göttin, noch nicht was Qual und Strafė scheint
Gib meinėm Herz,

Aber komm hi͜ėr; wẹnn auch in andẹrėr Zeit,
Habėnd gęhört meinė Stimmė von weit,
Du hörtėst an, kamst mit Brahmherzigkeit
Zu meinėm Schmerz

Aus deinėr goldẹnėr Himmėlhaus, und dich
Übėr der Erdė Spätzė brachtėn, sich
Bėwęgėndė durch schnellė Flügėl, dich
Die schönė schlepptėn

Schnellė; schnell kommten; als ein Lächelns Licht
Du hattėst am untödlichėm Gėsicht,
Glückligė, du was ich fragt’, und das Sicht
An mich gėschlepptėn

Fragtėst, was mȩhr als allẹs ich wünschtė mir,
Wütėndė͜ im Hęrz: «Wėn wiedėr soll ich dir
In Liebė tragėn? Sappho, wer dęnn dir
Ein Unrecht tut?

Dęnn węnn sie flieht, vęrfolgėn schnell wird sie;
Węnn kein Gėschenk sie nimmt, gębėn wird sie;
Auch węnn liebėn nicht will, liebėn wird sie
Ębėnsogut».

Komm doch auch jętzt zu mir, und mich erfrei
Von schwęrėn Quälėn; Sachėnallerlei
Die mein Hęrz wünscht, mach wirklich; du selbst sei
Hęlfėrin mir.

Greek

Ποικιλόθρον’ ἀθάνατ’ Ἀφρόδιτα,
Παῖ Δίος, δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε·
Μή μ’ ἄσαισι μήτ’ ὀνίαισι δάμνα,
Πότνια, θῦμον,

Ἀλλὰ τυίδ’ ἔλθ’, αἴποτα κἀτέρωτα,
Τᾶς ἔμας αὔδως ἀίοισα πήλυι,
Ἔκλυες, πάτρος δὲ δόμον λίποισα
Χρύσιον ἦλθες,

Ἀρμ’ ὐπασδεύξαισα, κάλοι δέ σ’ ἆγον
Ὤκεες στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶς μελαίνας,
Πύκνα δίννεντες πτέρ’ ἀπ’ ὠράνω͜ αἴθε-
ρος διὰ μέσσω,

Αἶψα δ’ ἐξίκοντο· σὺ δ’, ὦ Μάκαιρα,
Μηδιάσαισ’ ἀθανάτῳ προσώπῳ,
Ἤρε’ ὄττι δηὖτε πέπονθα, κὤττι
Δηὖτε κάλημι,

Κὤττι μοι μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι
Μαινόλᾳ θύμῳ· «τίνα δηὖτε †πείθω
‹Κ›αί σ’ ἄγην† ἐς ‹ϝ›ὰν φιλότατα, τίς τ’, ὦ
Ψάπφ’, ἀδικήει;

Καὶ γὰρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέως διώξει,
Αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ’, ἀλλὰ δώσει,
Αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει, ταχέως φιλήσει,
Κωὐκ ἐθέλοισα».

Ἔλθε μοι καὶ νῦν, χαλέπαν δὲ λῦσον
Ἐκ μερίμναν, ὄσσα δέ μοι τέλεσσαι
θῦμος ἰμέρρει, τέλεσον· σὺ δ᾽ αὔτα
σύμμαχος ἔσσο.

Italian

Immortal dal ricco trono͜ Afrodite,
Di Giove scaltra figlia, or m’udite:
Di pene͜ e di tormenti al cuor no͜ aprite
La triste vìa,

Ma qui venite, s’anche͜ un altro dìa,
Udita di lontan la voce mìa,
Lasciaste l’aure͜a casa che v’havìa
Per cura mìa,

Bei passeri leggeri, voi portando
Sul carro, sopra la terra volando,
Sbattendo l’ale͜ in l’etere, e menando
Colpetti͜ a iosa,

Di subito giungevan; o Beata,
Coll’immortale riso me guardata,
Chiedeste che chiedessi, ͜ o qual passata
Avessi cosa,

E ciò che più di tutto avea͜ a bramare,
Furente͜ in cuor: «Chi devo ancor portare
Ad amarti chiedo: chi vuole fare
Un torto͜ a te?

Se͜ infatti fugge, t’inseguirà presta,
Doni darà se͜ a prender non è lesta,
Se͜ amor non dà, s’anche nol voglia, presta
Darallo͜ a te».

Venite͜ ancora a me, e dal dolore
Forte scioglietemi, ed ciò che il cuore
Brama, date; voi stessa, per favore,
Per me lottate.

French

Vénus du trộne brillant, toujours pas mǫrte,
Fillė dė Jọve, Trompeuse, prière jė te pǫrte:
Du mal ẹt du tourmȩnt, Déęsse, la pǫrte
Nė m’ouvrė pas,

Mais viȩns ici, ẹt, si͜ autrėfois aussi,
Ma voix très éloignée ayant ouïe,
Tu écoutas, ẹt de ta maiso̧n ẹt vie
Tu t’ȩn allas,

Et beaux passereaux rapides lė joug tėnaient
Lǫrsquė sur la terre noire ils tė pǫrtaient
Parmi l’éthęr, ẹt ailes rapides bâtaient
Ȩn venant du cięl,

Ẹt arrivaient ȩn peu; ẹt tu, Béée,
Souri͜ant sur l'immǫrtęlle face, dėmandais
Cė quė j'avais, ẹt cė quė jė priais
Pour moi au cięl,

Ẹt ce quė surtout je voulais quė mė fusse fait,
Furieuse ȩn cœur: «Qui dois-jė (qui tė plaît)
Ȩncǫre t’aimẹr convaincre? Ẹt qui tė fait,
Sapphọ, un tǫrt?

Car si͜ ęlle s’ȩnfuie, biȩntột ęlle t’ȩnsuivra,
Cadeaux, si͜ ęlle n'en prȩnd pas, biȩntột dǫnnera,
Si͜ ęlle nė t’aime pas, biȩntột ęlle t’aimėra,
So̧n vouloir mǫrt».

Viȩns à moi maintėnant, ẹt du tourmȩnt
Très dur mė libre, ẹt ce quė mo̧n cœur maintenant
Veut quė me soit fait, fais vrai; ȩn co̧mbattant
M’aidė tu même.

Latin

Dīvĭtīs thrŏnī, Iŏvĭs Āphrŏdītă,
Cāllĭd’, īmmōrtālĭs, ĕg’ āpprĕcōr tē:
Tū nĕ tōrmēntīs nĕvĕ, dīvă, pœ̄nīs
Cōr mĭhĭ dāmnā,

Sēd vĕn’ hūc, sī tēmpŏr’ ăli͞oquĕ tū mī,
Vōcem a͞udĭēns mĕăm, ābsquĕ lōngē,
Pārŭīstī, ēt pătrĭ’ dēsĕru͞istī
A͞urĕăm ǣdĕm,

Cūrrŭī iŭgō dăt’ ĕt āffĕrēbānt
Pāssĕrēs pūlchrī, mĕdĭūm vĕlōcēs
Pērcŭti͞entēs ǣthĕrĕm īllŭ̂m ālīs,
Cǣrŭlĕ’ ābs, tē,

Pērvĕni͞ebānt ī stăt’; ăt, ō Bĕātă,
Vūltŭ' sīnĕ mōrtĕ cŭm ādrǐdērĕt,
Pāssă quǣsīstī qu’ ĕg' ĕrāmquĕ, quǣquĕ
Rūrsŭ' vŏcābăm,

Quōdquĕ māxĭmē mĭhĭ fi͞er’ hĭēbăm,
Cōrdĕ āmēnt’: «Āc cŭĭ tē †sŭāde͞am
Rūrsŭ’† nūnc ămārĕ? Făcīt quĭs īniū-
ri͞am tĭbĭ, Sāpphō?

Nāmquĕ sī fŭgīt, răpĭd’ īnsĕquētŭr,
Sīvĕ dōn’ ha͞ud āccĭpĭt, ātquĕ dābĭt,
Sīvĕ ha͞ud ămāt, răpĭdē t’ ămābĭt,
Ēts’ ĕă nōlīt».

Nūnc quŏqu' ādvĕnīquĕ, mĕīsquĕ dūrīs
Sōlvĕ pœ̄nīs m', āccĭdĕr' ēt mĭhī cŏr
Quǣ cŭpīt, fāc vēră; mĭhīquĕ, quǣsō,
Tū sŏcĭ' ādsīs.

English

Immortal Aphrodite with glitt’ring throne,
Deceiving kid of Jove, my pra͞y͞er you own:
With pain and torment, Goddess, to the bone
Chill not my heart

But hither come, and, if another day,
My faint voice having heard from far away,
You hark’d, and from your Dad’s gold home that day
You took your cart,

And yoked it, and cute rapid sparrows drew
From heaven o’er black earth your cart and you,
In mid-air flapping their fast wings, as you
Came down to me,

And came here in a blink; O Lucky, then,
With your immortal smile, what I again
Had passed you askèd me, and what again
I asked of thee,

And what I wished the most t’ happen to me
Insane at heart: «Whom should I to love thee
Again persu͜ade? And, Sappho, who to thee
Is be͜ing unfair?

Indeed if she doth flee, she’ll soon pursue;
If gifts she doth not take, she’ll give to you;
If then she doth not love, she’ll soon love you,
Though ’r will be air».

Come to me now as well, and set me free
From my sharp pains, and what my heart from thee
Doth ask, please grant it; and, prithee, with me
Do fight yourself.

German

Untödliche͜ Aphrodit’ (dein Thron erscheint),
Täuschėndė Tochtėr Zeus, mein Bętėn meint:
Göttin, noch nicht was Qual und Strafė scheint
Gib meinėm Herz,

Aber komm hi͜ėr; wẹnn auch in andẹrėr Zeit,
Habėnd gęhört meinė Stimmė von weit,
Du hörtėst an, kamst mit Barmherzigkeit
Zu meinėm Schmerz

Aus deinėr goldẹnėr Himmėlhaus, und dich
Übėr der Erdė Spätzė brachtėn, sich
Bėwęgėndė durch schnellė Flügėl, dich
Die schönė schlepptėn

Schnellė; schnell kommten; als ein Lächelns Licht
Du hattėst am untödlichėm Gėsicht,
Glückligė, du was ich fragt’, und das Sicht
An mich gėschlepptėn

Fragtėst, was mȩhr als allẹs ich wünschtė mir,
Wütėndė͜ im Hęrz: «Wėn wiedėr soll ich dir
In Liebė tragėn? Sappho, wer dęnn dir
Ein Unrecht tut?

Dęnn węnn sie flieht, vęrfolgėn schnell wird sie;
Węnn kein Gėschenk sie nimmt, gębėn wird sie;
Auch węnn liebėn nicht will, liebėn wird sie
Ębėnsogut».

Komm doch auch jętzt zu mir, und mich erfrei
Von schwęrėn Quälėn; Sachėnallerlei
Die mein Hęrz wünscht, mach wirklich; du selbst sei
Hęlfėrin mir.

About the weird diacritics in French and German

If you don't care about pronunciation nitpicks or my way of pronouncing the letters "e" and "o" in French and German, just ignore those. If, however, you are interested in any of the above, I'll list the diacritics below. Firstly, diacritics for French.

An "e" with nothing on it should not be pronounced;
An "e" with a dot below (ẹ) is pronounced /e/, i.e. the first element of the diphthong of "hey" (/ei/), aka the vowel of "ẹt";
An "e" with a cedilla below (ȩ) is pronounced as a nasal /ã/, as in French "en";
An "e" with an ogonek below (ę) is pronounced as an open /ɛ/, as in "ęst";
An "e" with a dot above (ė) is pronounced as a schwa /ə/, i.e. the way you pronounce the final "e" in "belle" if you don't just leave it silent;
An "o" with an ogonek below (ǫ) is pronounced as an open /ɔ/, as in "mǫrt";
An "o" with a cedilla below (o̧) is pronounceed as a nasal /õ/, as in "o̧n";
An "o" with a dot below (ọ) is pronounced as a closed /o/, i.e. as in "Sapphọ".

Now for German.

An "e" with nothing on it is pronounced as an open /ɛ/, cfr. above;
An "e" with an ogonek below (ę) is pronounced as a closed /e/, i.e. the first element of the dipthong in "hey" (said diphthong is /ei/);
An "e" with a dot above (ė) is pronounced as a schwa /ə/;
An "e" with a dot below (ẹ) is silent.

This is all only valid outside diphthongs, which are pronounced according to each language's own rules and are not marked with anything.

References

Grenfell and Hunt on Oxyrhynchus papyri;
Edmonds' edition of Sappho;
Campbell's edition of Sappho;
Bergk's edition of Sappho;
Diehls' Supplementum Lyricum;
Greek Wikisource;
Other Greek Wikisource link;
Wharton's edition of Sappho;
SaffoComm1.doc;
safopoemas;
S.B. Palmer's The Complete Poems Of Sappho;
Bibliotheca Augustana;
Carson's edition of Sappho (not available online).

Note: these are all the references I ever used for Sappho as of now. I may not have used all of these in the present post.

Michele Gorini - Artistic translations of poetry and songs

Tuesday 25 July 2017

Hymn to Aphrodite

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