I took the conventional road of seeing the scraps of Sappho's Epithalamia as separate expressions, only to find out it's all one coherent, deliciously subversive satire.
Evening star, you remember the scattered and bring them back to us,
Bring sheep, bring goats, bring us ... mothers, but then you take their child away,
The most beautiful of the stars.
Something sweet reddens, the last graft, up at the last of the branches.
Do the hands that would caress and turn it for harvest just forget?
No, of course they couldn't forget, not entirely — they couldn't reach.
Blown by Zephyrs to high altitudes, bruised purple by the blue,
The feet that don't know shepherd the blossoms in the tread of their boots.
The preeminent Lesbian singer in the foreign lands
Do I still throw myself upon my virgin?
Oh holy, oh full of grace,
"Mine to give," says her dad.
Before the gate, to keep the bride inside
Her chamber, 10 cobblers and 5 cows
For the doorman's sandals, 7 fathoms long.
Big enough to let the groom in
To the hymen.
Carpenters must raise the roof high;
To the hymen.
For the groom is as long as the God of War;
To the hymen.
Better hung than gargantuan men,
To the hymen.
Happy groom, the wedding you prayed for is done.
You perspire your desire all over your lovely face.
You are blessed above all by Aphrodite's fertile glance.
There is no other girl like her ... that one,
Honey in her eyes.
“Virginity, Virginity, where have you gone?”
“No longer will I come for you, no longer will I come.”
To what, beloved groom, would I place you in comparison?
The new shoot that bows in the evening — this is my comparison!
Oh not another girl now, Oh bridegroom, such as she.
Be happy, nympha, be wealthy hombre!
May you endure, bride -- at your command, groom?
Gods at the door, carved in marble;
Leave your blood with the evening star
Like Adonis, who died.
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104a
Ἔσπερε πάντα φέρων ὄσα φαίνολις ἐσκέδασ’ Αὔως
φέρεις ὄιν, φέρεις αἶγα, φέρεις {ἄπυ} μάτερι παῖδα.
104b
ἀστέρων πάντων ὀ κάλλιστος . . .
105a
οἶον τὸ γλυκύμαλον ἐρεύθεται ἄκρῳ ἐπ’ ὔσδῳ,
ἄκρον ἐπ’ ἀκροτάτῳ, λελάθοντο δὲ μαλοδρόπηες·
οὐ μὰν ἐκλελάθοντ’, ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐδύναντ’ ἐπίκεσθαι.
105b
οἴαν τὰν ὐάκινθον ἐν ὤρεσι ποίμενες ἄνδρες
πόσσι καταστείβοισι, χάμαι δέ τε πόρφυρον ἄνθος . . .
106
πέρροχος ὠς ὄτ’ ἄοιδος ὀ Λέσβιος ἀλλοδάποισιν
107
ἦρ’ ἔτι παρθενίας ἐπιβάλλομαι;
108
ὦ καλή, ὦ χαρίεσσα·
109
‘δώσομεν,’ ἦσι πάτηρ
110
θυρώρῳ πόδες ἐπτορόγυιοι,
τὰ δὲ σάμβαλα πεμπεβόηα,
πίσσυγγοι δὲ δέκ’ ἐξεπόναισαν.
111
Ἴψοι δὴ τὸ μέλαθρον,
̓ Υμήναον,
ἀέρρετε, τέκτονες ἄνδρες·
̓ Υμήναον.
γάμβρος (εἰσ)έρχεται ἶσος Ἄρευι,
̓ Υμήναον.
ἄνδρος μεγάλω πόλυ μέσδων.
̓ Υμήναον.
112
ὄλβιε γάμβρε, σοὶ μὲν δὴ γάμος ὠς ἄραο
ἐκτετέλεστ’, ἔχῃς δὲ πάρθενον ἂν ἄραο . . .
σοὶ χάριεν μὲν εἴδος, ὄππατα δ’ . . .
μέλλιχ’, ἔρος δ’ ἐπ’ ἰμέρτῳ κέχυται προσώπῳ
. . . τετίμακ’ ἔξοχά σ’ Ἀφροδίτα
113
οὐ γὰρ
ἀτέρα νῦν πάις, ὦ γάμβρε, τεαύτα
114
(νύμφη).παρθενία, παρθενία, ποῖ με λίποισ’ ἀποίχῃ;
(παρθενία). οὐκέτι ἤξω πρὸς σέ, οὐκέτι ἤξω.
115
τίῳ σ’, ὦ φίλε γάμβρε, καλῶς ἐικάσδω;
ὄρπακι βραδίνῳ σε μάλιστ’ ἐικάσδω.
116
χαῖρε, νύμφα, χαῖρε, τίμιε γάμβρε, πόλλα
117
χαίροις ἀ νύμφα, χαιρέτω δ’ ὀ γάμβρος
117A
ξοάνων προθύρων·
117B
Ἔσπερ’ ̓Υμήναον
ὦ τὸν Ἀδώνιον
from The Digital Sappho
