Sappho -- Index of First Lines
Author: Unknown
Date: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Sappho — Index of First LinesSacred-Texts Classical Paganism Index Greek Transliteration

The Poems of Sappho, Index of first lines

1. Shimmering-throned immortal Aphrodite…

2. That one seems to me the equal of the gods, who sits in…

3. A troop of horse, the serried ranks of marchers…

4. The gleaming stars all about the shining moon…

5. By the cool water the breeze murmurs, rustling…

6. Come, goddess of Cyprus, and in golden cups serve…

7. If thee, Cyprus or Paphos or Panormos [holds].

8. But for thee I will bring to the altar [the young] of a white goat…

9. May I win this prize, O golden-crowned Aphrodite.

10. Who made me gifts and honoured me?

11. This will I now sing skilfully to please my friends.

12. For thee to whom I do good, thou harmest me the most.

13. But that which one desires I.

14. To you, fair maidens, my mind does not change.

15. And this I feel myself.

16. But the spirit within them turned chill and down dropped their wings.

17. From my distress: let buffeting winds bear it and all care away.

18. The just now the golden-sandalled Dawn [has called].

19. A broidered strap of beautiful Lydian work covered her feet.

20. Shot with innumerable hues.

21. Thou forgettest me.

22. Or lovest another more than you do me.

23. You are nought to me.

24. I yearn and I seek.

25. When anger surges through they heart…

26. Hadst thou wished for things good or noble and had not…

27. Face me, my dear one…and unveil the grace in thine eyes.

28. And golden pulse grew along the shores.

29. Lato and Niobe were most dear friends.

30. I think men will remember use even hereafter.

31. I loved thee Atthis, once long ago.

32. To me thou didst seem a small and ungraceful child.

33. Foolish woman! Have no pride about a ring.

34. I know not what to do: I have two minds.

35. With my two arms, I do not aspire to to touch the sky.

36. So, like a child after its mother, I flutter.

37. The messager of spring, the sweet voiced nighingale.

38. Now Love, the ineluctable, dominates and shakes my being…

39. But to thee, Athis, the thought of me is hateful…

40. Now Eros shakes my soul, a wind on the mountain…

41. When all night long [sleep] holds them.

42. Come, O divine shell, yield thy resonances to me.

43. And delicately woven garlands round tender neck.

44. More fond of children than Gello.

45. Very weary of Gorgo.

46. But upon a soft cushion I dispose my limbs 47. And there the bowl of ambrosia was mixed…

48. The sinking moon has left the sky,…

49. The moon rose full, and as around an altar, stood the women.

50. Thus sometimes, the Cretan women, tender footed, dance…

51. Then lightly, in an enfolding garment I sprang.

52. They say that Leda once found an egg under the hyacinths.

53. And dark-eyed Sleep, child of Night.

54. The handmaiden of Aphrodite, shining like gold.

55. Andromeda has a fair reward.

56. Sappho, why [celebrate or worship] most happy Aphrodite?

57. Come now gentle Graces, and fair-haired Muses.

58. A sweet-voiced maiden.

59. Gentle Adonis is dying, O Cythera, what shall we do?…

60. O for Adonis.

61. Coming from heaven, clad in a purple mantle.

62. Come rosy-armed Graces, virgin daughters of Zeus.

63. But Ares said he would forcibly drag Hephaestus.

64. Innumerable drinking cups thou drainest.

65. Forever shalt thou lie dead…

66. No maiden, I think, more wise than thou…

67. What rustic girl bewitches thee,…

68. Hero of Gyara, that swift runner, I taught.

69. I am not of a malign nature but have a calm temper.

70. Then sweet maidens wove garlands.

71. Thou and my servant, Eros.

72. For if thou lovest us, choose another and a younger spouse,…

73. More shapely is Mnasidica, than gentle Gyrinno.

74. One more scornful than thee, O Eranna, I have never found.

75. Do thou, O Dica, set garlands upon thy lovely hair,…

76. I love refinement and for me love has the splendour…

77. And down I set the cushion.

78. Wealth without thee, Worthiness is no safe neighbor, 79. And thou thyself, Calliope.

80. Sleep thou, in the bosom of they sweetheart.

81. Hither now, ye Muses, leaving golden [surroundings].

82. A fair daughter have I, Cleis by name,…

83. From all joy to me, O daughter of Polyanax.

84. In my dream, I spoke to the Cyprian goddess.

85. Why lovely swallow, Paudion’s child dost thou [weary] me?

86. She wrapped herself well in gossamer garments.

87. My sweet mother! Fair Aphrodite’s spell…

88. Raise high the roof beams, Workmen!…

89. Towering like the singer of Lesbos among men of other lands.

90. At the end of the bough—its uttermost end,…

91. O’er the hills the heedless shepherd,…

92. Hail, gentle Evening, that bringst back…

93. Ever shall I be a maid.

94. We will give, says the father.

95. To the door-keeper, feet seven fathoms long,…

96. Thou happy bridegroom! Now has dawned…

97. And a sweet expression spreads over her fair face.

98. He should be good who is fair of face,…

99. Do I still long for maidenhood?

100. The bride [comes] rejoicing, let the bridegroom also rejoice.

101. To what may I liken thee, dear bridegroom?

102. Hail bride, and all hail! noble bridegroom.

103. For, like her, O bridegroom, there was no other maiden.

104. Maidenhood, maidenhood, whither art thou gone from me?…

105. To himself he seems…

106. [A thing] much whiter than an egg.

107. Neither honey nor bee for me.

108. Stir not the pebbles.

109. Thou burnest us.

110. A napkin dripping.

111. Him she called her son.

112. Maidens, although I am dumb, yet thus I speak,…

113. Here rests the dust of Timas who, unwed,…

114. A most tender maiden gathering flowers.

115. Than the lyre, far sweeter in tone, than gold, more golden.

116. Sappho calls love “fiction weaving.”

117. … the brightness…not destroying the sight…

118. With rosy cheeks and glancing eyes and voices sweet as honey.

119. Pausanias says of Sappho that concerning love…

120. Thou are the evening star,…

121. The Scholiast says that Sappho calls persausion…

122. Athenaeus mentions two stringed instruments…