Sappho 16

William S. Annis
Aoidoi.org1
May 2007
The text is largely from Pages Sappho and Alcaeus. Meter: sapphic stanza.
o mn ppwn strton, o d psdwn,
o d nwn fas p gn mlainan
mmenai klliston: gw d kn t4
tw tij ratai.
pncu d emarej sneton phsai
pnti tot, gr plu perskqoisa
klloj nqrpwn 'Elna tn ndra
8
tn panriston
kallpois ba^j Troan ploisa
kwd padoj od flwn tokwn
pmpan mnsqh, ll pargag atan
^
12
]san
1

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. To view
a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/.
1

= .
... , some... others... with the main verb in line 2, ().
gen.pl. horseman; knight. = acc.sg.m. army. =
gen.pl. army, a land force rather than sea.
2
gen.pl. (cf. Epic ) ship. =
they say. acc. earth.

black.
3
= pres.inf. to be. but I say it is... = that. =
neut.gen.sg of whatever, whoever.
4
someone.
= 3.sg. subjunctive of
to love + gen.
5
entirely. convenient, easy; + inf. easy to ... intelligible;
intelligent. = , aor.inf. of make.
6
= , dat.sg. of pj.
= .
= adverbial.
-
aor.act.part. nom.sg.f., - surpass.
7
beauty, acc. of respect with . ' = ` Helen of Troy.
8
best of all.
9
= - aor.fem.part. - leave behind; abandon, forsake.

= . pres.fem.part. sail.
10
= . gen.pl. father, parent.
11
wholly, altogether. aor.pass. remind; mid. and pass. remember + gen.
= aor. - lead aside, lead to. = .

It must be Aphrodite who led Helen away, but that is missing from the text. Page
suggests for 1213 | ... ( = ,
flexible, pliant).
]ampton gr [
] ... kofwj t[
]ohs. [.]n.
]me
nn
'Anaktoraj
nmnai..
16
s o pareosaj:
tj ke bolloman ratn te bma
kmrugma lmpron dhn prospw
t Ldwn rmata ka panploij
20
pesdomcentaj.

14

(?) lightly.
' gen.sg. = 3sg.aor. - remind + gen. or + acc.
16
= pres.part. f.gen.sg. - () be present, be near.
17
= , here a pronoun, her, possessive with and .

=
want, will, with (l.19) prefer (... rather than...). I would rather...
lovely, charming. = step; footfall.
18
= .
sparkle, radiance.
bright,
splendid. = , aorist infinitive of see. gen.sg. face; likeness.
19
a Lydian. chariot. acc.pl.m. in full armor.
20
fight on land; a pres.act.part., an accusative plural like supply
for sense.
15