Wednesday, April 14, 2021

In Praise of Sappho: Greek Anthology 9.66 & 9.506

Antipater of Sidon (ix.66):

When Mnemosyne heard Sappho's sweet voice, 

she wondered if there were a tenth Muse.


Mnemosyne Sapphus* audit dum carmina, dixit,

unde novem Musis additur una soror?

 


Μναμοσύναν ἕλε θάμβος, ὅτ᾽ ἔκλυε τᾶς μελιφώνου

Σαπφοῦς, μὴ δεκάταν Μοῦσαν ἔχουσι βροτοί.





Plato (ix.506)

They say there are nine Muses: nope!

Sappho of Lesbos is the tenth!

Novem Musas dicunt quidam: quam negligenter!

ecce et Sappho e Lexbo decima.


ἐννέα τὰς Μούσας φασίν τινες: ὡς ὀλιγώρως:

ἠνίδε καὶ Σαπφὼ Λεσβόθεν ἡ δεκάτη.




--Antipater of Sidon, Greek Anthology ix.66 and Plato, Greek Anthology ix.506; translated into Latin by Friedrich Duebner, 1872


 Antipater of Sidon was a Greek poet who lived during the 2nd century BCE.  Little is known about him, and only a handful of his poetry was preserved in the Greek Anthology.

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