SAPPHO

1951

Hephaestion 7 7]ωγεεδον of Mefre [on the antispast}:
frequent type of tetrameter) has only its second meter anti-
Spastic. ἃ measure in which they wrote whole poems; for
instance Sappho at the end of her Seventh Book :

Sweet mother, 1 truly cannot weave my web; for
I am o’erwhelmed through Aphrodite with love of a
slender youth.

Book VIII?
136

Marius Plotius Metre: The hymenaic dactylic dimeter of
Sappho is monoschematist (<7. all lines scan alike); for it
always consists of two dactyls:

Woe for him of the four months’ sojourn, woe for
Adonis ! 4
on
“214
Plutarch on Lestruining fader: A man who is silent over
his wine is a burden to the company and a boor, whereas in
anger there isnothing more dignified than tranquillity ; ecom-
pare the advice of Sappho:
When anger swells in the heart, restrain the idly-
barking tongue.
L3
Scholiast on Sophocles: The phrase ‘mesxenger of Zeus’
is used (of the nightingale) because she is a sign of the
spring; compare Sappho:
the lovely-voiced harbinger of Spring, the night-
ingale.*

Dot. AT. θυ. 1, B.cé, 316. 35. Zonar. 1190 * Tor 3.
dactylic hexameters cf, Terent. Maur, 2157 * &. lived
4 months of the year alone, 4 with Persephone, and 4 with
Aphrodite * in Soph. ἄγγελος means ‘messenger sent by’
Zeus, in Sappho ‘announcer of’ Spring ;