Never Forgotten: In Praise of Sappho, Greek Anthology 7.17

Name:  Tullius Laurea Date:     1st century BCE Region:    Italy Citation:    Greek Anthology 7.17

Stranger, as you pass by this Aeolian grave,

Do not tell others that I, the Lesbian poet, have died.

For this grave is the work of mortals, prepared by human hands

And will swiftly fade to oblivion.

But if you believe that I was cherished by the Muses,

That I have blessed each one with a book of poems*

Then know this: I have escaped the shadow of death

Nor will any day dawn that does have the name of Sappho upon her lips.

 * Sappho wrote nine books of poems

Tullius Laurea, Greek Anthology 7.17, Translated into Latin by Hugo Grottius

 Αἰολικὸν παρὰ τύμβον ἰών, ξένε, μή με θανοῦσαν

τὰν Μυτιληναίαν ἔννεπ᾽ ἀοιδοπόλον

τόνδε γὰρ ἀνθρώπων ἔκαμον χέρες: ἔργα δὲ φωτῶν

ἐς ταχινὴν ἔρρει τοιάδε ληθεδόνα.

ἢν δέ με Μουσάων ἐτάσῃς χάριν, ὧν ἀφ᾽ ἑκάστης

δαίμονος ἄνθος ἐμῇ θῆκα παρ᾽ ἐννεάδι,

γνώσεαι ὡς Ἀίδεω σκότον ἔκφυγον οὐδέ τις ἔσται

τῆς λυρικῆς Σαπφοῦς νώνυμος ἠέλιος.

Aeolium praetergrediens sepulcrum, hospes, ne mortuam me

dic, Mitylenaeam cantricem:

hoc enim hominum pararunt manus, et opera virorum

in celerem ruunt talia oblivionem.

si vero in-me Musarum spectas gratiam, quarum a quaque

dea florem meis apposui novem-libris,

scies me Orci tenebras effugisse, neque erit ullus

lyricae Sapphus sine nomine sol (dies).

--

Little is known about the poet Tullius Laurea except that he was one of Cicero’s freedmen. Several of his poems are preserved in the Greek Anthology.