The Rôle of Aphrodite in Sappho Fr.1 Stanley, Keith Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Winter 1976; 17, 4; ProQuest pg. 305 The Role of Aphrodite in Sappho Fr. 1 Keith Stanley S APPHO'S Hymn to Aphrodite, standing so near to the beginning of our evidence for the religious and poetic traditions it embodies, remains a locus of disagreement about the function of the goddess in the poem and the degree of seriousness intended by Sappho's plea for her help. Wilamowitz thought sparrows' wings unsuited to the task of drawing Aphrodite's chariot, and proposed that Sappho's report of her epiphany described a vision experienced ovap, not v7rap.l Archibald Cameron ventured further, suggesting that the description of Aphrodite's flight was couched not in the language of "the real religious tradition of epiphany and its effect on mortals" but was "Homeric and conventional"; and that the vision was not, therefore, the record of a genuine religious experience, but derived rather from "the bright world of Homer's fancy."2 Thus he judged the tone of the ode to be one of seriousness tempered by "a vein of prettiness and almost of playfulness" and concluded that there was no special ur gency in Sappho's petition itself. While more recent opinion has tended to regard the episode as a poetic fiction which serves to 'mythologize' a genuine emotion, Sir Denys Page has not only maintained that Aphrodite's descent is a "flight of fancy, with much detail irrelevant to her present theme," but argued further that the poem as a whole is a lightly ironic melange of passion and self-mockery.3 Despite a con- 1 Sappho und Simonides (Berlin 1913) 45, with Der Glaube der Hellenen3 II (Basel 1959) 109; so also J. Geffcken, Griechische Literaturgeschichte I (Heidelberg 1926) 90 (and W. Schadewaldt Sappho [Potsdam 1950] 94), untroubled by the absence of elements of the xpT}p.rmcp.6c or 'divine dream' topos as found in Homer, Sappho 63 and 134 L.-P., and others; cf E. R. Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational (= Sather Lectures 20, Berkeley 1951) 102ff. The 'fundamentalist' position is still represented in C. M. Bowra, Greek Lyric Poetry2 (Oxford 1961) 19Sff, but the mystical experience he seems to have had in mind is characteristic of later stages of Greek culture: cf Dodds, Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety (Cambridge 1965) 69ff. Z A. Cameron, "Sappho's Prayer to Aphrodite," HThR 32 (1939) 1-17, esp. 7 and 16. 3 D. Page, Sappho and Alcaeus (Oxford 1955) 12ff, esp. IS [hereafter PAGE]. Among those who regard the occasion for the poem (Sappho's rejeaion) as real but appear to agree that the epiphany is a projection, using (Homeric) literary fantasy in externalizing the psycho logical phenomena of restored confidence and reciprocity of affection: H. Frankel, Dichtung und Philosophie des frahen Griechentums3 (Munich 1969) 200ff (= Engl. transl. [Oxford 1975] 177f); A. Lesky, History of Greek Literature2 (London 1966) 143; and G. Kirkwood, Early 305 306 THE ROLE OF APHRODITE IN SAPPHO FR.! siderable body of objection to this view, a fresh look at Sappho's language will, I believe, reveal that while the descent of Aphrodite is no mere decorative interlude, as Page suggests, it serves nevertheless to establish a tone and a field of reference that support his interpreta tion of the poem as an essay in irony. For Page, the key to the poem is to be found in Aphrodite's address to Sappho: her manner is one of exasperation, indicated by the triple repetition of 01]OT € (15, 16, 18), softened by her amused smile and by the indulgent tone of 21ff: "If she is running away, she will soon be running after you"4-with the added irony that by then (taking O,cf,K€'V as <to pursue one fleeing'), Sappho will have lost interest and will shun her pursuer and her gifts in favor of yet another object of affection. The speech, in effect, may be paraphrased: «<Why do you keep calling me? Who is it this time, Sappho? It has all happened so often before, and the end has always been the same. Today it is you who love and she who is reluctant; tomorrow it will be she who chases, you who run. So inconstant is your passion, so transient your suffering'."S Thus the poem reveals Sappho, at a moment of intense emotion, still able to objectify, even to judge, her mood: Hin the moment of her agony she has the wit to understand and the heart to express the variety and impermanence of her passion."6 Alarmed by the pOSSibility of irony in Sappho and by such Humoris mo troppo salottiero, e anche troppo britannico"7 (or, alternatively, "troppo ellenistico"8), Page's critics have for the most part been con- Greek Monody (=Cornell Studies 34, Ithaca 1974) 108ff. A. J. Beattie,jHS 76 [1957] 321, on the other hand, seems to suggest that the invocation is a parody, and M. L. West, "Burning Sappho," Maia 22 (1970) 307-30, characterizes the invocation-petition as a mere frame for the "ornately pretty centrepiece," the epiphany of Aphrodite; he suggests that the poem is intended to say no more than "Oh dear, I am in love again." A representative selection of opinion may be found in G. A. Privitera, "La rete di Afrodite," QUCC 4 (1967) 7-58; a very nearly exhaustive if somewhat undiscriminating survey of discussion up to 1970 is offered by H. Saake, Zur Kunst Sapphos (Paderborn 1971) 39ft" [hereafter. SAAU); his views are summarized with further bibliography in Sapphostudien (Paderborn 1972) 55ff. 'Page, 14. 5 Page, 15. Page. 18. I 7 O. Longo, "Moduli epici in Saffo, fr.l," AIV 122 (1963) 343-66, esp. 362 n.83. 8 A. Luppino. "In margine all'ode di Saffo ad Afrodite," ParPass 11 (1956) 359--63, esp. 360 n.1. It should hardly be necessary to suggest that it is perilous to attribute to any particular temperament or period a monopoly of ineptitude in dealing with Sappho as poet or figure -though some might wish to reserve a special place for the verse Grillparzer puts into her mouth (Sappho, 160): "Pfui doch, der argen, schlechtgestimmten Leier!" KEITH STANLEY 307 cerned to discredit the whole by refuting specific points in his argu ment. A few examples will indicate the trend of reaction. Longo, objecting to Page's contention that Aphrodite smiles because she is amused, maintains that the aorist participle I-'£Lfmztccltc' (line 14) simply reflects the Hinnografia epigonale" of hAphr (10) 3.al€i/LEt~L(I€L.9 But it is clear from hAphr (5) 48ff that Aphrodite's famous smile was seen to convey an element of mockery as well as charm; and among her human devotees it would seem inevitable-whatever the emotion imputed to her-that this smile would be regarded with some sus picion by the lovelorn in their paranoia.10 As for irony on Sappho's part, Krischer, reading in 18-19 an indication that Sappho has been spurned by a former protegee,ll proceeds to the un-Greek-one might say inhuman-assertion that "Die ironische Selbstkritik kann sich nur auf die Situation der Werbung beziehen, nicht auf dies des Verlassen werdens."12 Rivier,13 leaving aside the problem of self-mockery en tirely, maintains that &S'K£tV in 20 is to be taken in a legal sense: reviving the groundless and obsolete theory that Sappho presided over a (}tacoc of young women united by a religious bond,!' he pro poses that the ode is a plea for Aphrodite's aid in returning to Sappho's circle a girl who has broken her vow of sodality by joining a rival association. And there has been nearly universal objection to Page's restriction of the meaning of (21) to the pursuit of an object in SL(OK£LV flight, in favor of its tropic use in later erotic vocabulary as a synonym for </>,)..£t" .15 Saake, in his concern with the problem of poetic unity, objects to • Longo, loc.cit. (supra n.7); cf Privitera, op.cit. (supra n.3) 37 n.36, representing what we e may style the 'neo-orthodox' point of view: "La convenzionalidl [del sorriso] ... il risultato ... di una viva fede religiosa che identifica la divinita con un processo di rigorosa astrazione. E 10 stesso principio che rivivra nelle iconi ortodosse: il loro valore liturgico e inscindibile dalla loro fissita." 10 Cf D. D. Boedeker, Aphrodite's Entry into Greek Epic (=Mnemosyne Suppl. 32, Leiden 1974) 23ff, esp. 35ff, for the variety of nuance achieved in Homer by the use of the formulaic </>">'op.p.f:,8.qc itself. 11 T. Krischer, "Sapphos Ode an Aphrodite," Hermes 96 (1968) 1-14. On the textual prob- lem at issue, see pp.3I3f below. 11 ibid. 4. 13 A. Rivier, "Observations sur Sappho, 1,19 sq.," REG 80 (1967) 84-92. Restated by R. Merkelbach, "Sappho und ihr Kreis," Philologus 101 (1957) 1-29; but cf 14 Page, lloff and 126ff; Lesky, op.cit. (supra n.3) 146; and West, op.cit. (supra n.3) 324ff. For an attempt at compromise see L. Koenen on P. Colon. inv. 5860, StPap 15 (1976) 43f. IS See especially G. L. Koniaris, "On Sappho, fr.1 (Lobel-Page)," Philologus 109(1965)30-38; but cf Krischer, op.cit. (supra n.ll) 5, who finds his argument inconclusive, and my remarks below, pp.316f. 308 THE ROLE OF APHRODITE IN SAPPHO FR.1 the notion of irony in Aphrodite's speech as inconsistent with the seriousness of her presentation throughout as mhVLa 8a/Lvatea-a god dess of overwhelming might. He therefore argues for the <orthodox' view of the ode as a genuine epiklesis and considers the descent of Aphrodite an effective device for conveying the sense of religious awe she produces in Sappho.16 Leaving aside for the moment certain ten dentious elements in Saake's reasoning, we may still ask (with Frankel) why, if we are to take the hymn as a serious narrative of an actual religious experience, Sappho has not confined herself to a description of what she might actually have seen and heard;17 why (in Page's words) "she devotes a quarter of her poem to such a flight of fancy" and how, as Kirkwood puts it, the vision serves as the <myth' of the poem.18 In traditional analyses of Sappho's use oflanguage in Fr.l there has been a tendency to regard its substantial Homeric element simply as an inevitable Hobbligo stilistico" (in Marzullo's phrasel9) to the past: HL' omerismo " . costituisce un tesoro di esperienze letterarie che nessun poeta ripudierebbe, la possibilita stessa di essere poeti ... Non dipendenzapassiva ... rna rapporto dialettico, vitale."20 More recently Gregory Nagy and Ann Bergren have sought to demonstrate that much of what in early lyric has been described as epic influence derives rather from an independent and even earlier poetic fund whose formulae have been adapted to hexameter poetry, as well as preserved intact in their original metres by lyric tradition.21 On this hypothesis, the archaic poet could draw upon either source according to his intentions on a given occasion. Nagy maintains, for example, that a number of line-endings in Sappho 44 which appear to be trun cated Homeric formulas represent in fact the original form of earlier lyric phrases prior to their later elaboration to suit heroic verse; nevertheless, the use OUhOEtK£Ao[LC] in line 34 he takes as a calculated reference to usage in the Iliad: in applying to Hektor and Andromache 18 Saake, pp.50ff; cf the Similarly schematic approach of Privitera, op.cit. (supra n.3). 17 Frankel, op.cit. (supra n.3) 201. 18 Kirkwood, op.cit. (supra n.3) 113f. 18 B. Marzullo, Frammenti della lirica greca2 (Florence 1967) 50 on lines 21-24. 20 Marzullo, Studi sulla poesia eolica (Florence 1958) 202; cf Longo, loc.cit. (supra n.7), and A. E. Harvey, "Homeric Epithets in Greek Lyric Poetry," CQ 51 (1957) 206-23, esp. 20s[. 11 C. Nagy, Comparative Studies in Greek and Indic Meter (= Harvard Studies in Comparative Literature 33 [Cambridge (Mass.) 1974), and A. L. T. Bergren, The Etymology and Usage of Tr£'ipap in Early Greek Poetry (=American Classical Studies 2 [1975] esp. 119ff. KEITH STANLEY 309 an epithet reserved by Homer for Achilles, Sappho achieves an art fully ironic foreshadowing of things to come.22 "Here, then, is an indication that Sappho was intensely aware of epic diction in general and of the Iliad in particular. The metrical and formulaic repertory of her pentameter is cognate with that of the Homeric hexameter, and the consequent structural similarities in the two genres present mani fold opportunities for allusion. Using parallel traditional material, the poetess can highlight or shade well-known Panhellenic epic passages. But Sappho's medium can remain her own ..." 23 The situation in Fr.1 appears to be rather different. Here the relationship of phrase to metre does not lend itself to isolation of glyconic formulae as in 44; and in the Adonic verses, where Sappho is at liberty to reproduce hexameter formulae intact, she avoids doing so despite the freedom with which she adjusts Homeric collocations to the hendecasyllabic scheme elsewhere in the poem. Again, words traditional to epic are juxtaposed without any apparent consistency to words associated with lyric usage. Thus while Sappho appears to be evoking the Aphrodite of the Iliad and the Homeric Hymns, it remains to establish whether her epic allusions are a matter of casual borrow ing or reflect conscious design. The directness and brevity of the invocation (1-10) is unusual, as Cameron observed,24 in omitting safeguarding qualifications and the traditional recital of powers, functions and areas of domination; a terse genealogy alone remains. All else has been compressed into three epithets: 'TT'OLKLA6fJpov'. &fJav(h' and OOA6'TT'AOK.€ Forms of &fJava-roc, though rarely applied in Homer to individual gods, are nevertheless attested for the Olympians as a class and for certain lesser deities (Thetis, Circe, Proteus) the other two, while non-Homeric, are of ;25 compound epic type.26 In thus invoking the potent and eternal god- 21 Nagy, op.cit. (supra n.21) 118-39. 13 ibid. 139. 24 op.cit. (supra n.2) 2. 25 Cf Page, 5, on the disputed formula TOV &OavaToc T£Kt:TO Zt€Je. 26 Privitera, op.cit. (supra n.3) 16ff, interprets 8oAo7TAoK € as 'weaver of hunting-nets' and MlLva as 'capture in a net'; but Sappho, as we shall see, develops the figure of Aphrodite rather in terms of warrior than huntress. R. Neuberger-Donath, "Sappho Fr.l.l," WS 3 (1969) 15-17, argues for 7TOtKt>.6cppwv on the grounds that it conveys an aspect of Aphrodite rooted in tradition, coincides with Sappho's style and leads the reader in medias res; but cf Marzullo, op.cit. (supra n.19) 46 on I: "La variante 7TOtKtA6cppov sembra banale, tautologica nei confronti del successivo 8o>'67T>'OKE." As for the problem of translating 7TOtKt>.60pov', I find it difficult to accept the linguistic and archaeological speculations offered against 'richly enthroned' by G. Bolling, "Poikilos and Throna," AJP 79 (1958) 275ff, and L. Lawler, "On 310 THE ROLE OF APHRODITE IN SAPPHO FR.l dess of seductive wiles, Sappho suggests a Homeric atmosphere while . at the same time emphasizing only those aspects of Aphrodite which concern her present need. Further, in lines 3-4, in language that couples Homeric Saf-Lva+ 8vf-Lov with the non-Homeric f-L~ f-L' acaLcL f-L7IS' JvtaLcL,27 Sappho proceeds to alter the traditional conception of an Aphrodite who subdues by means of deceptive persuasion and beguiling charm28 to a more intensely personal notion of a goddess capable of overwhelming her victims by heartache and grief. It remains clear, however, that the Aphrodite of epic is her point of departure: for in Sappho'rs s triking alteration of the common formu laic line-end 1T6TVLa f-L~T7IP Hp7I. etc., Homeric expectation is aroused by 1T6TvLa in the Adonic 'dactyl', only to be frustrated by 8vf-Lov in the ensuing spondee. Vernacular and personal reformulation continues in the second stanza, where in line 6, without any metrical compulsion, Sappho substitutes Aeolic TvtS' ;),8'29 for the more formal and traditional Certain Homeric Epithets," PQ 1.7 (1948) 80-84 (cf M. C. J. Putnam, "Throna and Sappho I," CJ 56 [1960] 79ft", who paraphrases "richly clad with charms of love, perhaps flowers," and Lawler, "Pepoikilmena zoia," ibid. 349, who would add living creatures to the figures she suggests are embroidered on Aphrodite's robe). As Marzullo, loe.cit., Page ad loe., and others have pointed out, the conventional interpretation seems justified by the parallel usage of Homeric £i$8povoc and Xpvco8povoc, and the lively subsequent tradition of -8p&lIoc compounds (e.g., j"pl8povoc and &y~ao8povoc of Pindar, N.1fap&8povocof Aeschylus, etc.), to gether with the common glyptic representations of seated goddesses in Daidalic and archaic art (cf W. Fuchs' brief survey in Die Skulptur der Griechen [Munich 1969] 246ff and 586, and H. Mobius, "Archaische Sitzstatue aus Didyma," Antike Plastik 2.1. [1963] 23-29). Cf Privitera, op.cit. 12, who argues that Sappho's hearers would have been less likely to associate the compound with the rare 8p&va (in Homer a hapax at II. 22.441) than with the more common 8p&Jloc. The context, finally, suggests that at the outset of her poem Sappho is presenting an Aphrodite defined more by authority than by charm (cf Saake, 76, who overdraws the contrast); thus while both 'richly-enthroned' and 'richly-clad with love charms' are linguistically poSSible, the former appears more appropriate to its immediate surroundings. As we shall see, however, the duality of Aphrodite in the poem as a whole suggests that Sappho may well have intended to strike a keynote designed to convey a certain ambiguity, however latent at the moment. It would be unwise, therefore, to ex clude either translation. 17 Cf Marzullo, op.cit. (supra n.19) 47 nn.3ff, and Longo, op.cit. (supra n.7) 346ff. 18 For Sapovijll(u cf hAphr (5) 3 and 17, and II. 14.199; for 1f£1f,8£'11 and a1farijc(U cf hAphr (5) 7 and 33, and Hera's imitative 1fapam£1fl8oVca in II. 14.1.08; for leading the mind astray, hAphr (5) 36 and II. 14.217; for love, charm, sweet-talk and allurement as her means, cf II. 14.198 and 215f; and 3.399ff (where Aphrodite's subsequent threat [414ff] involves not so much direct punishment as the suffering Helen will endure from both warring sides as a result of Aphrodite's withdrawal of protection). (For Sappho's acquaintance with hAphr (5) cf T. W. Allen et ai, The Homeric Hymnsl [Oxford 1934] 351.) II For 'TVtS' E~8' elsewhere in Sappho cf 5.2 and 17.7 L.-P. KEITH STANLEY 311 ~EVP' iO' (as in the solemn invocation of fr.2.1, OEiJpv j-t' K€ Kp~Tac bT[~ TOVO]E vaiJov, and 127, OEiJpo S7)Jn MOLcaL XPVCLOV At7TOLcaL ...) ; to Homeric EL 7TOTE Sappho adds the insistent KaTtPWTaj and the formu laic line-end £KAvEV avS~vl-fjc is reversed, expanded by the plural avSac and another Homeric verb of hearing, &.iOLW, and interrupted by the intrusively Aeolic 7T~AoL. Though minimally correct in form, the invocation thus serves pri marily to emphasize neither ritual conformity nor conventional reverence: the terseness of the form of anaklesis, the one-sidedness of the choice of epithets and the imperative urgency of the surprising negative form of j-t~ ... oaj-tva ... aAAa TVtO' £AO' communicate above all the anguish of Sappho's present emotion;30 and in contriving to interrupt the flow of conventional formulae with the expression of this emotion, Sappho is openly imposing the terms of her own experi ence upon Homeric language, myth and belief. But in lines 7ff as Sappho pauses in retrospective fantasy, lingering over the details of Aphrodite's previous descent from Olympus, the tone relaxes as lyric elements yield before the onset of more consis tently Homeric language and imagery. Indeed, Homeric phrases are here subjected to combination or interruption not with lyric or Aeolic elements but rather with further Homeric phrases.31 In 7TEpt ... I 7TvKva OlVVEVTEC 7TTEP' Sappho appears to be adapting the language of Ii. 11.454, 7TEpt 7TTEpa 7TvKva /3aAovTEc, and expanding it to accommodate reference to the traditional line-end yaLa j-ttAaLva32 ; and in 11-12 she combines Homeric a17' ovpavoOEv+ SL' alOtpoc-perhaps to reinforce by means of synecphonesis and enjambement the imagery of con tinuous descent. At the same time Sappho makes certain unusual combinations of traditional motifs as well; Aphrodite does not normally use a chariot for conveyance, any more than other goddesses, even when they are delivering heavy goods (ll. 18.614ff); she simply darts through the air, as in hAphr (5) 291, ii;:~E. Nor is the chariot introduced here merely to 30 For the note of urgency conveyed by the substitution of the present imperative for the aorist more common in petition, see W. F. Bakker. The Greek Imperative (Amsterdam 1966) l04ff. To the point of a certain confusion: HOlneric parallels may be adduced for construing 31 XpOCLOV with either SOl'ov or apI"; ef Page ad loe. and Longo. op.cit. (supra n.7) 3,Sf. as Cf Marzullo's suggestion (op.cit. [supra n.19] 48 on 10ft') that 1TEPL is used in tmesis with 8{VV£V'rEC rather than as equivalent to (V)1TEp (cf Archil. 7.6 [D.] and Alcm. 27.2-3 [PMG], etc.) with ')lac p.EAalvac as a Homeric genitive of aim or direction (ef also Tyrt. 9.12, Ale. 38A.4 and Sappho 107). 312 THE ROLE OF APHRODITE IN SAPPHO FR.1 add grandeur to her epiphany: Sappho imagines Aphrodite equipped for war, in terms-despite their brevity-reminiscent of the armed intervention of Hera and Athena recounted in Iliad 5.722ff, which, as Page notes, was doubtless the prototype of the scene.33 Thus Sappho's description of the descent extends and actualizes, by transferring it to Aphrodite, the attitude of militance implied in the first stanza, though not fully expressed until in the final stanza the correlations observed by Castle34-between fL~ ... SafLJla (3, "do not overpower me in war")-CVfLfLaxoc C€ CO (28, "be my ally in war, my comrade in arms"), and AtccofLat (2, a' supplication not to 'subdue' Sappho, i.e., make her a captive in war)-"VCOJI (25, 'release' or 'ransom' a war captive) make it quite explicit. Now, we know from Fr.16 L-P that Sappho is no militarist, however tart, even vindictive, she may elsewhere appear. It is surprising, not to say ludicrous, to find her driven to the point of invoking Aphrodite's aid in a figurative declaration of war upon her beloved; and indeed, even as she transforms the vehement language of stanza 1 into the warlike image of stanza 3, Sappho skilfully allows certain incongruities to emerge, undercuttirlg and thus exposing the vainglory of her mood: the war-chariot may be, lil;.e Hera's, golden, but it is driven not by horses fLEfLav,' P€ ,SOC Kat at'J'rijc (Il. 5.732) bounding to earth in/J'r]XE€ C (ibid. 772) but by fluttering sparrows, symbolically joining to the idea of strife that of diminutive charm.35 The humor of the visual image is enhanced by the turn of formula, in which the Homeric fifth foot WKHC is followed not by the conventional L7T7TOL but by the un- 33 Page, 7 n.B; cf hAphr (5) Bff, where Aphrodite is explicitly dissassociated from the Athena-inspired war-chariot. The earliest pictorial association of Aphrodite with a chariot of any sort is found in a Naxian amphora of ca. 675-50 B.C., where Aphrodite and Ares are drawn by a pair of winged horses in a wedding procession (presumably their own, and the chariot Ares'); cf C. Karusos, "Eine naxische Amphora des frliheren siebenten Jahr hunderts,"JDAI 52 (1937) 166-97, esp. InfI, and pis. 10-12. Again, in the Fran\ois vase, ca. 570 B.C., Ares and Aphrodite appear riding in the wedding procession ofPeleus and Thetis. In neither case is the mythological situation analogous to the purely literary fantasy of Sappho's vision, nor is there any support for Boedeker's suggestion, op.cit. (supra n.l0) 14 n.2, of a link between Sappho 1 and the cult of' A</>po8{'TT/' ApI'-a at Delphi (Plut. Amat.23 769A, cited by Mrs Boedeker as • ApI'-a). Aphrodite's later appearances riding swans, geese, hippo camps, as well as chariots, belong to quite different stages of religiOUS feeling; the most one can say is that while Sappho does not seem to reflect a previous iconographic tradition, she may have influenced a subsequent one. W. Castle, "Observations on Sappho's To Aphrodite," TAPA 89 (1958) 66-76, esp. 73. 34 35 Just how far we should follow the tradition represented. among others. by Athenaeus (9.391f) in viewing Aphrodite's sacred sparrows as a symbol of restless lubricity is uncertain; cf Page's collection of citations, pp.7f. KEITH STANLEY 313 expected c-rpoiJ8oL And although Aphrodite's arrival is described with a simple metrical expansion of Homeric abf;a 8' iKOV'TO along with the traditional,.Lt:XKaLpa 36 her smile is not recalled with a predictable epi J thet or formula but rather with a phrase which echoes the advance of Ajax to his inconclusive duel with Hektor in Iliad 7.212, JL£LDLOWV fJAOCVPOLCL 1TpoccfJ7TaCL. But Aphrodite's epiphany in warlike guise carries with it certain painful associations as well. It was in the sortie of Iliad 5 that her intervention proved most ineffective: ingloriously wounded by Diomedes, she dropped her own son in the act of rescuing him and was forced to borrow Ares' chariot so that Iris could drive her, weak and bleeding, back to Olympus. The allusion only reinforces the irony of the present situation: whatever victories Aphrodite helped Sappho to achieve in this particular past engagement, their impermanence does not augur well for the present involvement. Viewed in the framework of the past episode, the effect produced by Aphrodite's ambiguous smiling calm offers a marked contrast both to her own portentous arrival in a war-chariot and to Sappho's anguish (implied by 6, -rac Ef1-ac av8ac). The precise cause of Sappho's previous despair is obscured for us by textual difficulties at the begin ning ofline 19.37 Earlier efforts to deal with discrepancies in the codices -which offer initial K or in one instance JL corrected to fJ-have proven unsatisfactory, and Page is content to print.]. caY7Jv [EC cav <pLAo-ra-ra;].38 P.Oxy. XXI 2288, though carefully written, is broken at the beginning of line 19. Lobel suggested the restoration [aJ~ c(£) aY7Jv and replace ment ofc av of the Mss. by Fav, with the meaning, "Whom shall I now persuade to lead you back into her friendship?" Sappho's crisis thus appeared to involve reconciliation rather than a new conquest, though neither Page's translation nor his discussion make this clear. 36 For the Homeric use of J.-LaKap etc., cf Longo, op.cit. (supra n.7) 363ft", and Marzullo, op.cit. (supra n.19) 48f, to which may be added the reading of hAphr (10) 4 found in M(osquiensis), xa'ip£ J.-LaKatpa KufJr,P71c £vK-rtfLV€ T"Jc fL£lSo€ vca; cf Allen, op.cit. (supra n.28) 391 ad loc. 37 To Saake's bibliography Cpp.54ft") may be added E. C. Turner, The Papyrologist at Work (=GRBM 6, Durham, N.C. 1973) 21ft"; Kirkwood, op.cit. (supra n.3) 246f; and R. van Ben nekom, "Sappho I, 18-19," Mnemosyne 25 (1972) 113-22, and "A Reexamination of P.Oxy. 2288 (Sappho 1 LP)," XIV Int. Congress of Papyrologists (= Graeco-Roman Memoirs 61, London 1975) 325-30. 38 Cf Page, 9f. On Blass' 1T£lOwlJ.-La£ c(o&) a"YTIv £C C<XV <p&>..6-ra-ra revived by Saake (p.61), who translates "Wen denn wieder in deine Liebe zu fiihren soil ich dir willfahrig sein ?," and Z. Stirnimann, "Zu Sappho 1,18-19 LP," Munchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 27 (1969) 111-21, see Turner, op.cit. (supra n.37) 24. 314 THE ROLE OF APHRODITE IN SAPPHO FR.1 Turner has reexamined the papyrus39 and reports that there is at the beginning of line 19 space for one initial letter, followed by what appear to be traces of.p, cP or a; there is no space, however, for an iota before the ensuing sigma and half-stop, both of which he considers beyond doubt. The dot seems to indicate separation of elidedc(ot) and aYTJv, where one might have expected crasis instead; but despite possible mispunctuation in line 8 (where XPVCLOV is construed with SOfLov), Turner considers it unlikely that the scribe would here mis divide a word. In attempting to meet the requirements of the papyrus, van Bennekom suggests that the initial trace in line 19 is part of a con tinuous curve, which he interprets as a circumflex and reads: -rlva I STJOTE IIE{()wv [aJ~c' aYTJv £c ceXv cPtAOTaTa, "Whom will it befall this time to be led by Peitho to your love ?"40 But in his discussion of the concept of arca van Bennekom provides no justification for the notion of Aphrodite or Peitho as agents of 'due time'; and the 'im personal aloofness' he sees in the passage introduces an element of formality I find inconsonant with Aphrodite's appearance taken as a whole. If the trace is a circumflex. the restoration [,B]~c(a) would make reasonable sense and fill the space better; but the direction of the stroke seems in Turner's photograph (p1.5a) to be vertical rather than oblique, and too far above the line for an alpha. For the present, there fore, it seems best to resort to Lobel's more recent suggestion:41 [aJ.p c(Ot) aYTJv £c ceXv cPtAOTaTa, taking aYTJv as an unattested aorist infinitiv'e passive ("Whom am I to persuade this time to be returned again to your friendship?") or, with Kirkwood, who offers the same text,42 as a result infinitive ("Whom am I to persuade so as to bring her back for you to your friendship?'). Finally, the context itself suggests that reconciliation is at issue, both in the past affair and in the present one, rather than a new conquest; for while one might with Archilochus and others after him represent the suit of an object of desire in terms of besieging a city,43 one would hardly take the field against her, as Sappho here 'Proposes ; overblown 31 Turner, loc.cit. (supra n.37). 40 van Bennekom, "Reexamination" (supra n.37) 328. n apud Turner, op.cit. (supra n.37) 25. u Kirkwood, op.cit. (supra n.3) 246f. Cf West, op.cit. (supra n.3) 322 n.43. t3