The Flowers of Venus: Nossis, Greek Anthology 5.170

 Dulce magis quid amore? cui suavissima cedunt,

osque meum potius melle carere velim.

Sic Nossis sentit, Venus, hoc, si quem oderit alma,

nesciat, ast roseo flos huius est similis.

ἅδιον οὐδὲν ἔρωτος, ἃ δ᾽ ὄλβια, δεύτερα πάντα

ἐστὶν ἀπὸ στόματος δ᾽ ἔπτυσα καὶ τὸ μέλι.

τοῦτο λέγει Νοσσίς: τίνα δ᾽ ἁ Κύπρις οὐκ ἐφίλασεν,

οὐκ οἶδεν κήνα γ᾽ ἄνθεα ποῖα ῥόδα.

--Nossis, Greek Anthology 5.170, translated into Latin by Io. Christian Wolf, 1735

Nothing is sweeter than love; even the sweetest things

Are second to it. Even honey

I have spit out of my mouth—it is not sweeter.

Thus says Nossis: “unless Venus has kissed someone,

They would not know what flowers she has, what type of roses.”

NOSSIS	MAP:
Name:  Nossis Date:  3rd c. BCE Works:  [fragments]	REGION  1
BIO:	Timeline:
Nossis was considered among the famous nine women poets of ancient Greek literature. She lived in Locris (southern Italy) during the 3rd century. Several of her poems are preserved in the Greek Anthology; like that of her literary predecessor Sappho, Nossis’ poetry provides great insight into the lives of women in the ancient world.	HELLENISTIC GREEK LITERATURE

<Anonymous>	MAP:
Name:  ???? Date:  Works:  Greek Anthology; Anthologia Graeca; Florilegii Graecii	REGION  UNKNOWN
BIO:	Timeline:
The Greek Anthology is a modern collection of Greek lyric poetry compiled from various sources over the course of Greco-Roman literature. The current collection was created from two major sources, one from the 10th century CE and one from the 14th century CE. The anthology contains authors spanning the entirety of Greek literature, from archaic poets to Byzantine Christian poets.	Byzantine Greek