RAUK, JOHN, Erinna's "Distaff" and Sappho Fr.94 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:1 
(1989) p.101 

Erinna's Distaff and Sappho Fr.94 
John Rauk 

SCHOLARS HAVE frequently noticed a general similarity in 
situation between Erinna's Distaff, in which Erinna recalls 
her life with Baucis, and Sappho fr.94 (L.-P.), which pre­

sents a similar picture of the relationship between Sappho and a 
female companion. 1 In the words of Bowra, 

it is tempting to see some likeness in one respect between her art 
and that of Sappho. In this poem Erinna moves quickly and 
naturally from one memory to another, and much of her success 
lies in the clarity and delicacy with which she recalls the past. 
Once at least Sappho did the same thing, when she recalled the 
happy times passed with her lost friend, its flowers, its feasts, its 
ceremonies.2 

Despite such observations little effort has been made to explain 
the connection between the two poems. A closer examination 
of both works suggests that the relationship between the Distaff 
and Sappho 94 is a generic one, and that both are examples of 
farewells addressed to female companions who leave to be 
married. To demonstrate this it is first necessary to review the 
poetry of Erinna and to examine the content and themes of the 
Distaff 

Erinna's reputation in antiquity rested on her poem the 'HAa­
K<l'tT\, or Distaff, which tradition held she completed shortly be­
fore her death at the age of nineteen. 3 The Distaff survives in an 

1 E.g. M. Skinner, "Briseis, The Trojan Women, and Erinna," CW 75 (1982) 
269 n.13; L. Rissman, Love as War: Homeric Allusion in the Poetry of S~ppho 
(=Beitr. zur kl. Phil. 157 [Konigstein 1983]) 143 n.ll; and ]. Snyder, The 
Women and the Lyre. Women Writers in Classical Greece and Rome (Car­
bondale 1989) 96. 

2 C. M. Bowra, Problems in Greek Poetry (Oxford 1953) 167f. 
;} Her dates and birthplace arc uncertain; for biographical material see M. L. 

WEST, "Erinna," 2PE 25 (1977: hereafter 'West') 95f, and SCHOLZ, "'Erinna," 
A&A 18 (1973: 'Scholz') 15-21. 

101 



RAUK, JOHN, Erinna's "Distaff" and Sappho Fr.94 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:1 
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102 ERINNA'S DISTAFF AND SAPPHO FR.94 

extensive papyrus fragment 4 which shows that the subject of 
the poem was the marriage and subsequent death of Erinna's 
childhood friend, Baucis. Two hexameter fragments of Erinna 
that were known before the papyrus was discovered can easily 
be fitted into the context of the poem as we know it now,s but a 
third fragment has resisted inclusion. This is a farewell prayer ad­
dressed to the pompilos, a fish of good omen to sailors, asking 
the creature to grant safe voyage to a certain "sweet friend» 
(SuppI.HeU. 404, from Ath. 7.283D), 

1tOJ..L1ttM, vo:\:ytncrtV 1t£J..L1t<DV 1tA-6ov £U1tA-OOV ix8u, 
1toJ..L1t£ucrat~ 1tpuJ..Lva8£v £J..LCx.v ix8dav hatpav. 

These lines have been rejected from the Distaff because their al­
literation seems harsh compared to Erinna's style elsewhere in 
the poem, and because Athenaeus, who quotes them, expresses 
doubt that they really are Erinna's ("Hptvvu 't£ fl 6 1t£1tOtT1KW~ 'to 
d~ au't~v avaq>£poJ..L£VOV 1tOtT11.H1-rtoV).6 Evidence strongly 
suggests, however, that this farewell is indeed by Erinna and 
furthermore that it must have appeared in the Distaff 

Ancient tesimonia repeatedly emphasize Erinna's small output 
and praise her Callimachean qualties: her work is small, sweet, 
and worth all of Homer, and her swan-like voice has secured an 

4 SuppLHeli. 401 (PSI 1090; Pack2 365), discussed at length along with recon­
struction of the poem most recently by West 96-114. 

5 Stobaeus 4.50a.14 (=PSI 1090.46) and 4.51.4 (Suppl.He ll. 402), 1:o\HCJ8cv d~ 
'A{oav nvcu Otavi]XE'tat axc.O. I (nyu 0' £v V£J(u£crcH, 1:0 O£ aJ(CJ1:o~ ()()()£ J(a1:­
aypc'i. The latter, while clearly from the Distaff, remains unplaced; see discus­
sion by Scholz 38 and West 101. 

6 R. Reitzenstein, Epigram und Skolion (Giessen 1893) 143f, n.l, whose argu­
ments have been generally accepted, e.g. by D. N. Levin, "Quaestiones Erin­
neanae," HSCP 66 (1962) 199, and M. Arthur, "The Tortoise and the Mirror: 
Erinna PSI 1090," CW 74 (1980) 55. Stylistic arguments, however, are not com­
pelling; compare, for example, the mannered address to the pompilos in Apol­
lonius Rh. fr.8 Powell (infra). u. Lisi, Poetesse greche (Catania 1933) 151, does 
take the fragment as genuine, but assigns it to a poem earlier than the Distaff. 
West 116-19 is apparently alone in believing that the pompilos fragment is 
from the Distaff; noting Athenaeus' hesitation he goes on to argue that the 
Distaff itself is spurious and that the figure of Erinna is a literary hoax. His 
conclusions are criticized by S. Pomeroy, "Supplementary Notes on Erinna," 
ZPE 32 (1978) 19-21, and by Arthur 54- 58. 



RAUK, JOHN, Erinna's "Distaff" and Sappho Fr.94 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:1 
(1989) p.101 

JOHN RAUK 103 

undying fame among an unequal generation that follows. 7 

Antipater of Sidon is typical (Anth.Pal. 7.713): 

1taupoE1til~ "Hptvva Kat OU 1tOAU~UeOC; eXot6a'ic;, 
eXAA' EAaXEv MouCJTlC; 't01)10 'to ~atov E1tOC;. 

'totyap'tot ~vi!~T\C; OUK il~~PO'tEV, ou6£ ~EAa(vTlC; 
VUK'tOC;; U1tO CJKtEpn KroAuE'tat 1t't€puyt· 

ai 0' avapi8~T\'tot vEapwv CJroPT\oov aotOwv 
~UptUOEC;; Ai!8n, SElVE, , .. u:xpalvoIlE8a. 

ArohEpo~ KUKVO~ IltKPOC;; ep60~ 11£ KOAotwv 
KProy~O~ EV daptvatc; Kt6VuIlEVOC; vE<pEAatc;. 

Such statements clearly comment on the refined style of Erin­
na's poetry, and it is plain that the Distaff, small though it was, 
held a high place in the esteem of later poets who could see in 
her work a forerunner of Callimachean aesthetics. 8 But there is 
not a poem on Erinna that docs not stress her early death,9 and 
whether or not Erinna herself was consciously 'Callimachean', 
the picture that emerges from the repeated testimony is that 
Erinna was known only for the one poem, and that she pre­
sumably did not live to write another. 1o This suggests that the 
three epigrams attributed to Erinna in the Anthology are prob­
ably spurious, and indeed, upon examination they offer no evi­
dence for a body of work beyond the Distaff The first epi­
gram, 6.352, is a commonplace, and presents nothing to support 
Erinna's authorship.ll The others, 7.710 and 7.712, treat the 
death of Baucis and simply repeat themes from the Distaff, 
which would be odd if Erinna were the author, but perfectly 

7 Anth.Pal. 7 .. 11..1 (Asclepiades); 7.12.If; 9.190.1ff. 

8 Most clearly articulated by Antiphanes, who attacks Erinna as the darling 
of the mindless followers of Callimachus (-tWV ,.U:yUAOOV K1lA'i~h:~, f.It' 'Hpivvn 
Of lCOJlWVt£s, Anth.Pal. 11.322.3; (f Hor. Sat. 1.10.19, nil praeter Calvum et 
doctus cantare Catullum ). 

9 See 7.13 (Leonidas); 7.11.3f; 7.12.2ff; 9.190.sf; and Antipater's poem quoted 
above. 

10 The situation is clearly articulated by K. Latte, "Erinna," NAkG (1953) 
91f (=Kleine Schriften [Munich 1968] 522); (f A. and A. Cameron, "Erinna's 
Distaff," CQ N.5. 19 (1969) 285f. 

11 Cf Scholz 21-24, whose extensive interpretation of the poem assumes 
Erinna's authorship. West lIS would assign this epigram to Nossis; cf G. 
Luck, "Die Dichterinnen der gricchischen Anthologie," MusHelv 11 (1954) 
171. 



RAUK, JOHN, Erinna's "Distaff" and Sappho Fr.94 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:1 
(1989) p.101 

104 ERINNA'S DISTAFF AND SAPPHO FR.94 

natural in another poet who wished to pay her a tribute. 12 

Leonidas' apparent quotation of 7.712 in his own poem on 
Erinna (7.13.4 Bacn(avoc; EacT', "AtOa=7.712.3) is also valueless as 
evidence, since both works could be quoting the Distaff in­
dependently;13 but even if Leonidas is quoting from 7.712, it 
would show only that the epigram passed under Erinna's name 
in the third century B.e. 

In light of these considerations, one is inclined to say that the 
pompilos fragment, if it is accepted as genuine, must have ap­
peared in the Distaff, and support for this view is provided by 
the testimony of Athenaeus himself. In his discussion of sacred 
fishes, Athenaeus scrupulously cites each work that he quotes 
when several were written by the author in question; only in 
Erinna's case does he refer simply to "the poem'" ('to 1tolTUta­
'tlOV) attributed to her. 14 In this context is is reasonable to 
conclude that he is quoting the pompilos fragment directly 
from the Distaff and not from some other work recognized as 
spurious, and consequently that the farewell most likely 
appeared in Erinna's poem. IS 

If the pompilos fragment is granted to the Distaff, it remains 
to enquire what place it could have occupied in the poem. 
There are two possibilities: the farewell could have been pre­
sented at the death of Baucis, whom Erinna mourns in the 
surviving portion, or at Baucis' marriage, which is referred to in 
the poem and which must have been mentioned earlier. 
Farewells could indeed be spoken to the dead,16 but the 
pompilos had no connection with death; the fish was instead 
sacred to Aphrodite, and through her was associated with love. 

12 Thus West 114f. 

13 A strong suspicion, given Leonidas' £lx' £'tUIlCllC; a xa'ic; (7.13.4); cf West 
115. 

14 The term XOlTlllanOv aptly reflects the general Hellenistic assessment of 
the Distaff; cf ps.-Longinus De subl. 33.5, who uses the word to describe Era­
tosthenes' lost poem the Erigone (/)Ul 1tav'tCllV yap allro.ra'tov 'to X01Tlllanov), 
a work that must have been of comparable scope and ambition (see F. Solm­
sen, Kleine Schriften I [Hildesheim 1968] 225-48). 

15 West 96 argues similarly concerning Athenaeus' citation, but is silent on 
the role of the farewell in the Distaff 

16 E.g. Iliad 23.19, Xa'ip£ IlOt, ;b na'tpOlCA,£, Kat dv 'Aloao OOIlO1.O't; and cf 
Catullus 101.10, ave atque vale. 



RAUK, JOHN, Erinna's "Distaff" and Sappho Fr.94 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:1 
(1989) p.101 

JOHN RAUK 105 

This erotic aspect of the pompilos argues strongly that Erinna's 
farewell was made on the occasion of Baucis' marriage. 

The pompilos was regarded as a sacred fish in antiquity. Its 
habit of swimming in the wake of shirs gave rise to the belief 
that it was the guide and rescuer 0 ships in distress (Ath. 
284D ).17 But the first fact about the pompilos mentioned by 
Athenaeus is that the fish was born at the same time as 
Aphrodite, emerging with her from the divine blood (EK 'tOll 
oupaviou atJla'to<;), and hence is an erotic creature (~ipov 
Epro'ttKov, 282£ -F). The picture here is clearly aetiological; the 
pompilos was born as an attendant of Aphrodite, and its habit of 
swimming in the wake of ships is emblematic of its origin in the 
company of the goddess as she rose from the sea. 

The pompilos thus has a double aspect. As a creature sacred 
to Aphrodite, he figures in her cult as the sea goddess, Aphro­
dite Euploia, whose worship was widespread throughout the 
Mediterranean,18 and like Aphrodite Euploia he was regarded as 
a protector of ships. But this association with Aphrodite means 
that the influence of the pompilos was not confined solely to 
maritime matters, for like the goddess, he could favor sailors' 
fortunes in love. Athenaeus quotes Nicander on this point, who 
refers to the pompilos thus (fr.16 Gow/Scholfield): 

7toJl7ti/"'o<;, 0<; vau'tTIO'lv uOllJlOV£OUO'l K£/..,£u8ou<; 
JlllVUEt <pl/"'£PWO'l Kal a<p8oyy6<; 7t£p UJluvoov. 

Athenaeus reports an additional legend about the erotic nature 
of the pompilos. According to a story told by Apollonius 
Rhodius in the Founding of Naucratis, the pompilos was once a 
fisherman, named Pompilos, who was changed into a fish by 
Apollo after he interfered in the god's attempt to rape a river 
nymph of Samos named Ocyroe. While at Miletus, where she 
had gone to celebrate a feast of Artemis, Ocyroe, who knew of 
Apollo's imminent attempt to seize her, implored the fisher­
man to rescue her and to take her home (fr.8 Powell=Ath. 
7.283 F): 

17 See D'Arcy Thompson, A GLossary of Greek Fishes (Oxford 1947) 208f. 
18 Roscher, Lex. S.'ll. "Euploia." 



RAUK, JOHN, Erinna's "Distaff" and Sappho Fr.94 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:1 
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106 ERINNA'S DISTAFF AND SAPPHO FR.94 

1tCX'tpOC; E~.lO'iO q>iAOU cru~q>pab~OvCX 8u~ov aE~{J)V, 
nO~1tiAE, bucr1(EAabOu bEbCXWC; 80a ~Ev8ECX 1tOV'tOU, 
crii>~E ~E. 

Angered, Apollo punished Pompilos by changing him into a 
fish, but paid him an honor by putting him in charge of the 
safety of all ships, just as he protected Ocyroe when he was a 
man. 

There is no reason to doubt that these legends, or versions of 
them, were current at the time the Distaff was composed. The 
two roles of the pompilos revealed in these stories, first as a pro­
tector of ships and sailors, and second as a guardian in love, are 
both pertinent to the occasion of Baucis' marriage in the Distaff. 
We can see this same double aspect of the pompilos reflected in 
Erinna's prayer. She begins with what amounts to an aretalogy, 
invoking the pompilos as a protector of sailors: 1tO~1tiAE, 
VCX{)'tTIcrlV 7tE~7t{J)V 7tAOOV EU7tA-OOV iX8u. Now, however, Erinna 
produces her friend as a new charge for the pompilos, 7tO~-
7tEUcrCXlC; 7tpU~VCXeEV E~aV abElCXV hcxlpav. Baucis is obviously 
not a sailor, and the prayer makes a clear contrast between the 
aid that the pompilos gives to sailors and the new duty he is 
asked to undertake for Erinna's friend. 19 

When she married, Baucis quite probably had to depart with 
her husband to a new home. But in marrying, Baucis also had to 
leave the world of maidenhood which she shared with Erinna, 
and which from the Distaff it is clear Erinna still leads (lines 36-
41; see infra), to enter in to a new life as a married woman. The 
pompilos can thus be seen invoked in its double aspect to guide 
Baucis as she leaves to assume the new role of wife. The story 
of Ocyroe would underline this point, for like the nymph, Bau­
cis faces the end of her maidenhood, and the pompilos is asked 
to protect Erinna's friend now, just as he protected Ocyroe. In 
addition, this interpretation fits naturally into the situation as pre­
sented by the surviving portions of the Distaff The fragment 

19 This contrast is underscored by the adjective "sweet," ao£~a, with its 
erotic connotations: see G. Lanata, "Sullinguaggio amoroso di Saffo," QUCC 
1 (1966) 73f. 



RAUK, JOHN, Erinna's "Distaff" and Sappho Fr.94 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:1 
(1989) p.101 

JOHN RAUK 107 

(54 lines, about one-sixth of the wholepo takes Baucis' wedding 
as a given, suggesting that it was presented earlier in the poem, 
and it is easy to imagine the farewell appearing there in an ac­
count of Baucis' departure.21 

This reconstruction of the Distaff illuminates the parallels with 
Sappho fr.94 noted above, for in that poem Sappho too presents 
herself bidding farewell to a dear companion. As it stands, fr.94 
begins abruptly with a declaration of Sappho's wish to die, and it 
continues with an account of the words spoken between 
Sappho and her friend at the time of their parting: 

'tESVUKTlV 0' UOOAoo<; SEAoo' 
a JlE 'JItcroOJlEva Ka'tEAtJl1taVEV 

1tOAAa Kat 'tOO' (Et1tE . [ 
<PJl' 00<; OElva 1tE1t[ ovS] aJlEV . 

5 'Pump' ~ JlUV cr' UEKOtcr' U1tUAtJl1tVUVOO. 

'taV 0' (yoo 'taO' uJlEtJ36Jlav· 
XatPOtcr' (PXEO KaJlESEV 
JlEJlVatcr' , olaSa yap we; aE 1t£O~1tOJl£V' 

at O£ JlTt, UAAU cr' (yoo SEAoo 
10 oJlvatcrat [ .... ].[ ... J .. at 

.. [ ] Kat KUA' E1tacrXOJlEV' 

1tO[AAOl<; yap cr'tEq>UV]Ol<; '(oov 
Kat J3p[oOoov ]KLooV 't' UJlOl 
Ka .. [ J 1tap EJlOl1tEpESTtKaO 

15 Kat 1t6[AAal<; 1.ma]8uJllOa<; 
1tAEK['tal<; UJlq>' u]1taAal OEpal 
UV8EooV . [ ] 1tE1tollJlJlEval<; 

Kat1t ..... [ ]. JlUPcp 

20 We know that the Distaff was three hundred lines long fromAnth.PaL 9. 
190.3, oi. be 'tptTjKO<nOt 'tau'tTj<; (J't{XOt tOOt ·OIlTtPCfJ. Cf West 112, who argues on 
the basis of column lengths that the fragment comes from the end of the 
Distaff· 

21 Note the description of departure that begins Sappho fr.94 (see infra). 



RAUK, JOHN, Erinna's "Distaff" and Sappho Fr.94 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:1 
(1989) p.101 

108 ERINNA'S DISTAFF AND SAPPHO FR.94 

~p£v8£icp .[ ]p'U[ .. ]v 
20 E~ClA,d'VClO KCl[l ~ClO'] lA,Tl lCP 

KClt O''tProllv[Clv E]7tl 1l0A,8aKClV 
a7taA,ClV 7tCl . [ ] ... o)v 
E~tTl~ 7t68o[v ] . VtOO)v, 

"[ ] Ko)'U't£ nO' .. 'tl 
25 ipov ouBu [ ] 

£7tA,£'t' o7t7t[o8£v all]Il£~ a7tEO'Koll£V 

, "'I. _ [ O'UK ClIl.O~ . ].po~ 
]'Voq>o~ 

] ... OlOLCXl 

When Sappho says "Farewell, remember me" (XCllPOtO" £PX£o 
Kall£8£v IlEIlVCltO", 7f), she invokes a convention of Homeric 
farewells, exemplified by Nausikaa's parting words to Odys­
seus, XCltp£ ~£tV', tVCl KCll 7tO't' EcOV EV 7tCl'tptOt 'YCltn IlvnO'n EIl£t' 
(Od. 8.461£).22 It would appear that Sappho is about to begin an 
account of those things she has done for her friend that are de­
serving of remembrance (Nausikaa, for example, has saved 
Odysseus' life [8.462J: O'tl 1l0l1tponn ~O)a'Ypt' 6q>£A,A,£t~), but in ac­
tual fact the catalogue that follows does not present Sappho's 
acts of kindness; instead, it is entircly taken up with the actions 
of the woman, actions that have clearly endeared her to Sappho. 

Sappho first mentions the public and social activities that she 
and her companion have enjoyed together, starting with a ban­
quet scene and a description of her friend bedecked with gar­
lands (12-14). She then proceeds to mention the wreaths that 
the woman wears upon her soft neck (13-17), the perfumed 
ointment that her friend wore on her breast (18-20), and pic­
tures her friend (with Sappho presumably nearby, 14), as she 
satisfies her longing upon soft pillowed couches (21-23). The 
catalogue thus moves almost imperceptibly from the setting of 
a social gathering to the physical charms of her friend-her 
neck, breast, perfume-and culminates in what can only be a de-

22 The verbal parallel is noted by W. Schadewaldt, "Zu Sappho," Hermes 71 
(1936) 367. 



RAUK, JOHN, Erinna's "Distaff" and Sappho Fr.94 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:1 
(1989) p.101 

JOHN RAUK 109 

scription of love-making.23 From this point of intimacy and pas­
sion, the catalogue moves back into the public world, with men­
tion of the shrines (24ff) and the groves (27) visited by Sappho 
and her friend. The end of the poem is unfortunately lost, but it 
is apparent that the catalogue returns to the beginning and to the 
pose of friend that Sappho assumed there. 24 

Commentators typically assume that Sappho's insistence on 
remembering these times together is meant to console her 
grieving friend. 25 This interpretation, however, is not borne out 
by the poem, for Sappho simply does not present a consolation, 
nor, in fact, does she show any interest in her friend's emo­
tions. 26 The words xaipota' EPXEO KUJlESEV JlEJlVata', olaSa yap 
ro~ aE 7tEOll7tOJlEV (7f) are not an exhortation to cheer up; they 
are simply the "Goodbye" that is so frequent in Homer and 
elsewhere.27 But what is more important, Sappho fails to present 
exempla of heroes or deities who suffered the same fate that she 
and her friend suffer, something that would be essential if the 

23 For the controversy surrounding this interpretation see especially G. 
Zuntz, "De Sapphus carminibus E 3, E 4, E 5," Mnemosyne SER. III 7 (1938) 89. 
D. Page, Sappho and Alcaeus (Oxford 1955) 79f (on line 21) and 143f; Lanata 
(supra n.19) 70; J. G. Howie, "Sappho, FR 94 L.-P.," Papers of the Liverpool 
Latin Seminar 2 (1979) 323; A. Burnett, "Desire and Memory, Sappho Frag. 
94," CP 74 (1979) 23f; and ZuntZ, all see an erotic encounter in the poem. 

24 Compare Howie's analysis (supra n.23) 318, which divides the catalogue 
into two parts, the first (lines 12-23) describing the private, the second (lines 
24 to end) the public pleasures shared by Sappho and her friend. 

25 E.g. Schadewaldt (supra n.22) 368; Page (supra n.23) 81£; Howie (supra 
n.23) 310-15. 

26 The tendency to see a consolation here is due in part to the influence of 
Menander Rhetor (398.27ff) who prescribes a consolation as one part of the 
farewell speech which he calls thc: 1tp01t£jl"ttKl) AaAui (see F. Cairns, Generic 
Composition in Greek and Roman Poetry [Edinburgh 1972] 53ff). Sappho, 
however, does not exhibit any other of Menander's elements in the poem. For 
a discussion of the development of the !alia and for cautionary words on the 
application of Menander's treatise to earlier poetry, see the commentary of 
Russell and Wilson (Oxford 1983) xxxi f. 

27 E.g. xaipe"tov, if> leoupro (Od. 15.151); xu'ipe, ~e'iv' (8.461); au Be xa'ipe leat 
t!l1tT1~ (5.205); and for participial uses parallel to fr.94: au oi !lOt xaiprov ac:pileOto 
(Od. 15.128); xuiprov d "teAia£\a~ ooov !lE"'faAoU oux 1tov"tou (Theog. 691); i'fh 
xuiprov (Ar. Eq. 498). 



RAUK, JOHN, Erinna's "Distaff" and Sappho Fr.94 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:1 
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110 ERINNA'S DISTAFF AND SAPPHO FR.94 

catalogue were in fact a consolation.28 Instead, Sappho recalls the 
very things that she loses with the departure of her friend, 
things which, now that the friend is gone, cause her sorrow. 
Sappho thus presents the opposite of a consolation: her poem 
presents a lament; and it invokes memory in the same way as 
numerous other laments in Greek literature. 29 

But we must note another aspect of Sappho's insistence on re­
membering in fr.94. Wilamowitz argued that Sappho's words, 
"You know how we cherished you, but if not, let me remind 
you" (8-10), imply that the woman has forgotten Sappho's kind­
ness and is somehow ungrateful;30 but the motive for Sappho's 
words becomes clearer when we examine memory and forget­
ting in Sappho's other poems, for it appears that these themes 
are closely associated with separation caused by marriage, and 
they suggest that marriage is the reason Sappho's friend must 
leave in fr.94. 31 

In fr.96, Atthis longs for her friend who is at Sardis, and 
Sappho consoles Atthis with the thought that her former com­
panion still remembers her (15-17): 

1tOAAa of: ~a<pohalcr', uyuva<; E1tl­
Jlvucr8ncr' "At8l00<; lJlEPCP 
AE1t'tav 1tOl <ppEva K[.]~ ... ~opll'tal. 

28 For consolations see R. Kassel, Untersuchungen zur griechischen und 
romischen Konsolationsliteratur (=Zetemata 18 [Munich 1958]). The nature of 
such consolatory catalogues is well illustrated by Howie (supra n.23) 317f, 
who cites n. 5.382-402 (Dione consoling the wounded Aphrodite), 
Archilochus 13 W., and Pindar Pyth.3 (to the ill Hieron). Howie argues that 
Sappho consoles "indirectly" by creating "a mood of luxury and sensuous 
relaxation" (322), and shows her friend how to avail herself of "social 
blessings" in her new home (328). 

29 For the role of memory in the ritual goos see E. Reiner, Die Rituelle Toten­
klage der Griechen (= Tubinger Beilr.30 [Stuttgart/Berlin 1938]), and Skinner 
(supra n.l) 266. 

30 Sappho und Simonides (Berlin 1913) 48-52. The view has been revived by 
G. Caduff, "Zu Sapphos Fragment 94 L.-P. (=96 D.)," Serla Philologica 
Aenipontana 2 (1972) 9-12. See Howie (supra n.23) 304 for criticisms of this 
"U ntreuetheorie." 

31 It is sometimes casually asserted that the woman leaves to be married (e.g. 
Schadewaldt [supra n.22] 366). Cf Rissman (supra n.1) 120f, who reads fr.94 
in the context of a Lesbian girls' society, headed by Sappho, that prepares its 
members for marriage. 



RAUK, JOHN, Erinna's "Distaff" and Sappho Fr.94 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:1 
(1989) p.101 

JOHN RAUK 111 

The reason for the friend's departure to Sardis is not given, but 
the woman is described as a yUvTl (6f), not a 7tap8Evo~, and it is 
reasonable to infer that she has married and gone with her 
husband. In fr.16 it is Anactoria who is gone, and Sappho recalls 
her through a comparison with Helen, who ran off with Paris 
and who "forgot" her husband and children under the over­
whelming influence of Aphrodite (6-11): 

a yap 7tOA:U 7tEp<ncE8otcra 
KaAAo~ [av8]po)7trov 'EAEva ['to]v livopa 
'tOY [7tavap hcr'tov 

KaAA[t7tOt]cr' E~a '~ Tpo{av 7tAEOt[cra 
K(01>O[£ 7ta]loo~ 01>0£ <ptArov 'to[K]1lroV 
7ta[Jl7tav] EJlvacr8Tl. 

Helen is presented here as an exemplum of the power of love. 
Her departure with Paris is in essence her second marriage; Hel­
en leaves, infatuated with her new husband, rejecting the for­
mer ties that bound her. The implication here is that Anactoria 
has also left to follow a man, and that she too has married, leav­
ing Sappho to remember her. 

Whether or not Sappho was mistress of some sort of 'finish­
ing school', it is clear that the separation of companions was not 
an uncommon theme in her poetry, and that in these poems 
memory and forgetting are associated with marriage and de­
scribe the effects that marriage has on female companions. The 
woman who marries "forgets" her former life and loves, while 
the companion who is left behind remains mindful of her. In 
this context Sappho's claim in fr.94 that her friend has forgotten 
her takes on added meaning, for it suggests that the woman is 
leaving to be married. This also explains Sappho's extreme grief: 
she and the woman were lovers, and nothing of this can remain 
once the woman has married. Indeed, marriage is a transition 
every bit as final to their relationship as death would be. 
Sappho's insistence on reminding her friend of their life to­
gether is thus both an attempt to preserve the intimacy they 
have shared and at the same time a statement of her own grief. 

Returning to the Distaff, we find that Erinna's poem presents 



RAUK, JOHN, Erinna's "Distaff" and Sappho Fr.94 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:1 
(1989) p.101 

112 ERINNA'S DISTAFF AND SAPPHO FR.94 

the same themes of lament and forgetting that appear in 
Sappho's farewell. Erinna, like Sappho, is alone, and she grieves 
for Baucis in terms that are clearly taken from ritual lament (e.g. 
lines 18, 31-34, 47f, 54).32 Sappho mourned as though her com­
panion had died; for Erinna, it seems, Baucis' marriage and death 
are closely joined, developing explicitly the equation between 
marriage and death that is inherent in Sappho's lament, and per­
haps incorporating the idea of the Bride of Death. 33 In addition 
the surviving fragment finds Erinna in the midst of a catalogue 
of memories of her life with Baucis that is quite similar to 
Sappho's catalogue in fr.94, and which includes a description of 
Baucis and herself as children playing a tag game called the 
~Tortoise' (Suppl.H ell. 401.14-17): 34 

.. ]U1div ,.HltVOJ.LEV[ 
ai.]a'i e:yw, J.LEy' li:uoa· cp[ 
.. r.O~Eva J.LEyaAa<![ 

]. [ .. ]ul(J.La[ ] 
]. oolvacp.[.]7t.[ 
] XEAuvva . 
] lop'dov aUA&C;' 

with wild (feet you leaped from the white horses into) the wave. 

32 This quality was immediately recognized when the papyrus was first dis­
covered: see Bowra (supra n.1) 163, Scholz 38, and Skinner (supra n.!) 266. 

33 See the testimony of Anth.Pal. 7.712.3-8, 'ta Bt 'tm KaAa aallaS' oprovn I 
cOllo'ta'tav Ba'UKouc; aYY£AtOV'tl 'tUXav, I roc; 'tav 1taiB', 'YlltVatOC; E<P' atS 
adB£'to 1t£UKatC;, I 'taiaB' e1tl KaB£a'tac; ecpA£'YE 1t'UpKaUi' I Kat au Iltv, cO 
'Y IltVat£, 'YallCllv IlOA1taiov amOav I EC; SPTtVCllV 'YOEPOV ep9i'Ylla IlESaplloaao. 
Lines 5f are problematical; the text is that of Gow and Page, The Greek 
Anthology. Hellenistic Epigrams (Cambridge 1965), who translate, "with the 
torches to whose accompaniment Hymen was hymned, her father-in-law 
consumed the maiden on this pyre." For a recent assessment of the Bride of 
Death topos see E. Vermeule, Aspects of Death in Early Greek Art and 
Poetry (Berkeley 1979) 55 with n.25. The tradition of Erinna's own early 
death causes her to be cast in this role by Leonidas (7.13). Just as the bride 
'dies', so too in a sense does the friend who is left behind; note Sappho's 
'tESvalCllv B' aooACIlC; StAw (fr. 94.1). Could Erinna have uttered a similar wish 
in the Distaff? 

34 The game is described by Pollux 9.125, and was first recognized here by 
Bowra, New Chapters in the History of Greek Literature, 3rd ser., ed. Powell 
(Oxford 1933) 181£ (cf Problems in Greek Poetry [Oxford 1953] 154). In the 
game the tortoise was 'It', and the leap from white horses into the sea signaled 
her tag of another, who then became the tortoise. The game might have had a 
symbolic connection with marriage; see Arthur (supra n. 6) 59 and Pomeroy 
(supra n.6). 



RAUK, JOHN, Erinna's "Distaff" and Sappho Fr.94 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:1 
(1989) p.101 

JOHN RAUK 

Alas, 1 shouted loudly ... (as) the tortoise (I ran about) the 
enlosure of the spacious courtyard.3s 

113 

The catalogue is interrupted at this point by Erinna's lament 
(18-21): 

'ta]1yca 'tu, BaUKl 'taAal[va 
'ta]u'ta 1l0l EV Kpa[o . 
8£PIl' En· 't11V[ 

]X£loa Y011Il[ ] 
] ... XVla KE'i'tal 
].,?~OIlEC; liv8paKEC; 11011· 

These things I lament, poor Baucis, (heaving heavy sighs); these 
(amusements) are still warm in my heart, (but those others that 
once we played) are already ashes. 

Recollections of Baucis resume in the following lines (22-27), 
which are difficult to reconstruct, but in which it appears that 
Erinna pictured herself and Baucis playing with dolls. It seems 
that she also recalled how as children they feared Mormo, a 
traditional bogey, and aided Erinna's mother in household 
chores. 36 

Immediately following these memories, however, is the state­
ment that Baucis has forgotten these things (28-30): 

aVtKa 0' EC; [A]£XOC; [ 
aoo' E. [ ] .. 117tlac;.:t.[ 
~au~~ cpiAa· Aa8a ... E.[ 

]OKa 7tav't' EA£AUcro 
] . llu'tpOC; liKoucrac;, 
] 'Acppo~ha· 

But when (you went) to the marriage bed, you forgot all (those 
things) which you heard (from) your (?) mother as a child, dear 
Baucis; Aphrodite (set) forgetfulness (in your heart). 

Baucis' forgetfulness is clearly the forgetfulness of marriage and 
is the same as that of Sappho's companion in the farewell of fro 
94. It reflects the irrevocable split that came between Erinna 

35 The text is that of Lloyd-Jones and Parsons. The translation is based pri­
marily on West's supplemented text, 112f. 

36 Laue (supra n.10) 85f (=Kl.schr. 515), followed by Scholz 36f, suggests that 
Marmo here represents the fear of marriage; but compare the testimony of 
Anth. Pal. 9.190.5f, l11Cat t1t' TtA.a1C(l-rU ~l1'tpo~ cp6~cp, l11Cat tcp' i<J'tC/l t<J'tllK£t 
MO'\.)<JECJ)V Aa'tP1.~ £cpa1t'to~EVl1. For more on Marmo see West 107. 



RAUK, JOHN, Erinna's "Distaff" and Sappho Fr.94 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:1 
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114 ER1NNA'S DISTAFF AND SAPPHO FR.94 

and Baucis when Baucis married; Baucis forgets the life she led, 
just as Helen, the exemplum of the infatuated bride, forgot her 
ties in Sappho fr.16. 37 Erinna's statement that she still cherishes 
these memories parallels Sappho's assertion that the past has 
been good, KClt KclA' E1tclOXOJl£V fr.94.11); but like Sappho, Erin­
na is left behind when her companion marries, and grieves over 
the memories of their former life. 

Recognition that Erinna has bid farewell to Baucis and that the 
latter has left to join her husband helps clarify a problematical 
circumstance in the poem. Erinna for some reason is unable to 
join in public mourning for Baucis (31-35, cf. 43): 

'tOO 't'U KCl'tClKACl[(]OlOCl'tCl[ 
OU [yJclP JlOl 1tOO£<; .. :. [ . .].[ 
QUO' EOlOTlV <pCl£. [ 
yu,ivCllolv XCll't(Il<;.V[ 
OPU1t't£l Jl' aJl<P~ .. [ 

].[ ] ... £ A£l1tro[·J 
J .. 0 OOOJlCl ~£~ClAOl' 
]K'UV OUOE 'YO(iOCll 
]. VlK£O<;' atOw<; 

And so bewailing you (I lament those things but) leave off (the 
rest), for my feet are not profane (to leave the house); nor (am I 
allowed) to see (your body with my eyes) nor to mourn with 
my hair unbound. (But) blushing shame marks me about (my 
cheeks). 

Several interpretations have been offered: Erinna might have 
been a priestess and hence debarred from funerals (cf ~£~ClAOl 
in 32);38 she might have been excluded as a woman of child­
bearing age,39 or because she was not Baucis' blood relative, 40 or 
again because of her status as an unmarried woman. 41 However, 
a more natural reason for Erinna's absence is at hand if we rec­
ognize the context of Erinna's farewell to Baucis as it must have 
appeared earlier, namely that Baucis did not die on Telos, but 

37 Cf Scholz 3M, who stresses Baucis' specific disregard of some warning 
received from her mother as suggested by line 29. 

38 Bowra (supra n.2) 160. 

39 West 108f, who also observes on the basis of 'too in 31 that the fact of Bau­
cis' marriage somehow seems to prevent Erinna from mourning. 

40 Skinner (supra 0.1) 268. 
41 Arthur (supra n.6) 63f. 



RAUK, JOHN, Erinna's "Distaff" and Sappho Fr.94 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:1 
(1989) p.101 

JOHN RAUK 115 

abroad, where she had gone to join her husband,42 and con­
sequently that Erinna can only imagine the actual funeral that 
has perhaps already taken place far away.43 

One final point in this regard remains to be considered: Erin­
na's inabili ty to mourn is somehow connected to feelings of 
shame (34f). Why should this be so? Quite probably because 
Erinna and Baucis, like Sappho and her companion, were lovers. 
Erinna's reaction to the loss of Baucis, who died as a married 
woman, is inappropriate, and the blush of shame that marks 
Erinna's cheeks serves to reveal her true feelings, feelings 
which now must be suppressed. 44 Under normal circumstances 
lament is a public rite that integrates mourners with their com­
munity; but Erinna's grief is an isolating force; she must remain 
at her spindle, the emblem both of her former life with Baucis 
and of her present seclusion. "You are nineteen years old," 
Aidos apparently tells her, "and still with your mother, looking 
upon your distaff" (37ff, Evv£a[Kat]8EKa'to~ .[ I 'Hptvva[ .. ]£ 
<pLAUt 1t. [ I uAaKa'tav EO'o pel.): In a very real sense' Erirma re­
mains tied to her companion 'and unable to let go of the life they 
shared. 45 

In summary, this reconsideration of the Distaff and of the 
place that the pompilos farewell must have occupied in it 
throws some light on the similarities between Erinna's poem 
and Sappho fr.94. Both poems present farewells made to wom­
en; in both the speaker remembers times that she and her de­
parting friend have shared and when doing so accuses the friend 
of forgetting those times. Both works contain laments over the 
departed friend, and finally, both are primarily concerned with 
the speaker's state and emotions, not with those of the com­
panion. These similarities are thematic. There is nothing in any 

42 This situation was suggested by Wilamowitz (supra n.30) 229f on the 
basis of Anth.PaL 7.71 O. 

43 Line 50, oopuya<; au)tO'.o, seems to imply that Erinna hears someone wail­
ing, but we do not know whom, nor does this necessarily imply that the 
funeral itself was literally within earshot. 

44 Cf the inhibiting power of 0. iow<; in Sappho fr.137, apparently also in an 
erotic context. 

45 It is interesting to note the reappearance of o.iow<; at line 42, somehow in 
connection with Erinna' s virginity and the threat of spinsterhood; see West 
111. 



RAUK, JOHN, Erinna's "Distaff" and Sappho Fr.94 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:1 
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116 ERINNA'S DISTAFF AND SAPPHO FR.94 

of this to indicate that Erinna simply imitated Sappho directly; 
rather, the nature of the affinity between the two poems sug­
gests that a farewell addressed to women who married might 
have been a recognized type. Although both the Distaff and 
Sappho fr.94 have marriage as their occasion, they are not in any 
sense epithalamia; they are instead personal poems that take the 
form of a farewell. Companions were no doubt frequently sep­
arated at marriage, and goodbyes must have been spoken. The 
reality of such a personal experience perhaps provided material 
for a poem in which a woman did not simply say farewell to her 
companion, but also lamented the loss of her love to the 
powers of Aphrodite. 46 

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY 
July, 1989 

46 I would like to thank the anonymous referee for many improvements. 
Thanks are also due to Peter Bing for criticisms of this paper when it was 
delivered at the 118th annual meeting of the APA in San Antonio, December, 
1986, and to my colleagues Carl A. Anderson and William Blake Tyrrell.