Fragment 55

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COMMENTARY

κατθάνοισα δὲ κείσῃ οὐδέ ποτα μναμοσύνα σέθεν

ἔσσετ’ οὐδὲ πόθα εἰς ὔστερον·¹ οὐ γὰρ πεδέχῃς βρόδων

τὼν ἐκ Πιερίας, ἀλλ’ ἀφάνης κἀν Ἀίδα δόμῳ

φοιτάσῃς πεδ’ ἀμαύρων νεκύων ἐκπεποταμένα.

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†ποκ’† ὔστερον (Voigt)

Page 55

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Book III

Meter: Greater Asclepiad (gl^2c)

× × – ᴗ ᴗ – – ᴗ ᴗ – – ᴗ ᴗ – ᴗ – (in distichs)

Texts:

Campbell, David A. 1982. Greek Lyric, Vol. I: Sappho and Alcaeus. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Voigt, Eva-Maria, ed. 1971. Sappho et Alcaeus. Amsterdam: Polak & Van Gennep.

Source: Stobaeus, Anthology 3. 4. 12 (iii 221s. Wachsmuth-Hense)

Stobaeus reports that these lines were addressed to an uneducated (ἀπαίδευτον) woman. Plutarch (Quaestiones Convivales 646f)¹ similarly describes the addressee as uncultured, unlearned (τινα τῶν ἀμούσων καὶ ἀμαθῶν γυναικῶν), and wealthy (πλουσίαν, Coniugalia Praecepta 146a).²

¹ See the English translation on Perseus here.

² See the English translation on Perseus here.

Activity

1	καταθνήσκω to die (aor. act. partic. nom. sg. fem.)
	κεῖμαι to lie dead (2nd sg. fut. mid. indic.). The ῃ elides to fit the meter.
	ποτα at any time, ever
	μναμοσύνα (ἡ) memory
	σέθεν gen. of σύ
2	ἔσσεται fut. ind. of εἰμί, there will be
	πόθα (ἡ) desire. The -α elides to fit the meter. Voigt's reading – ποκ’ (= ποτα) ὔστερον – is redundant with v. 1, but could be understood as a strikingly emphatic parallelism (not ever... and not ever in the future). Without the long εἰς, however, the meter breaks down.
	εἰς ὕστερον afterwards, later, in the future
	πεδέχω Aeol. for μετέχω, to partake of, share in + gen. (2nd sg. pres. act. subj.). The use of the subjunctive here indicates anticipation of a future event, and can be translated as a simple future tense (Smyth 1810).
	(β)ρόδον (τό) rose. The "roses of Pieria" refer to musical performance.¹
3	ἐκ + gen. from, out of
	Πιερία (ἡ) Pieria (gen.), traditional home of the Muses, located in Macedonia.
	ἀφανής, ές unseen, unnoticed, concealed, invisible, obscure (nom. sg.)
	κἀν, crasis for καὶ ἄν + subj., if. Introduces a Future More Vivid condition (Smyth 2323-27): If you go to the house of Hades, you will have no share in the roses of Pieria.
	Ἁίδας, α (ὁ) Hades (gen.), god of the Underworld. The god's name is cognate with the adjective ἀϊδής,derived from the verb ἰδεῖν + an α-privative, meaning "unseen," essentially a synonym for ἀφανής.
	δόμῳ in the house (dat. of place where, Smyth 1531)
4	φοιτάω to go to and fro, roam (2nd sg. aor. act. subj.)
	πεδά Aeol. for μετά, + gen. among, along with
	ἀμαυρός, ά, όν shadowy, faint
	νεκύς, εος (ὁ) in pl., spirits of the dead
	ἐκποτάομαι to fly away (perf. mid. partic. nom. sg. fem.)

¹ Diane J. Rayor and André Lardinois, eds., Sappho: A New Translation of the Complete Works (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 116.

Source: https://digitalsappho.org/fragments/fr55/

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