Kissing Sappho is like... Greek Anthology 5.246

 

 

Kissing Sappho is Like…

Name:  Paul the Silentiary Date:     6th century CE Region: Constantinople [Istanbul, modern Turkey] Citation: Greek Anthology 5.246

Soft...

Sappho’s kisses are soft,

Soft...

Is her

Embrace—snow-white limbs—

Soft

Are all her limbs.

But her mind?

Nope!

Tougher than steel,

Unyielding,

Cannot be persuaded.

Only her lips are open for love,

The rest are for the ladies.[1]

Who’s going to put up with that?

Someone, maybe—someone who can endure

The thirst of Tantalus.

---

[1] This is a pun: παρθενίης, “belonging to maidens,” here refers to both chastity and / or a love of women.

 

Kissing Sappho is Like...

Μαλθακὰ μὲν Σαπφοῦς τὰ φιλήματα, μαλθακὰ γυίων πλέγματα χιονέων μαλθακὰ πάντα μέλη. ψυχὴ δ’ ἐξ ἀδάμαντος ἀπειθέος. ἄχρι γὰρ οἴων ἔστιν ἔρως στoμάτων τ’ ἄλλα δὲ παρθενίης. Καὶ τίς ὑποτλαίη; τάχα τις τάχα τοῦτο ταλάσσος δίψαν Τανταλέην τλήσεται εὐμαρέως.

Mollia quidem Sapphonis basia, molles artuum plexus niveorum, mollia cuncta membra: anima vero ex adamante duro facta: usque enim ad sola est amor labra, cetera vero sunt [virginitatis / virginum] Ac quis haec ferat? fortasse aliquis, fortasse,  hoc quisitim Tantaleam sustinebit facile. Translated into Latin by Johann Friedrich Duebner

Paul the Silentiary [Paulus Silentiarius; 6th century CE, modern Turkey] was a bureaucrat in the court of the Roman Emperor Justinian I [527 – 565 CE] in Constantinople [modern Istanbul, Turkey]. Dozens of his poems are preserved in the Greek Anthology.