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 

SAPPHO'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 Poetry 2 (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. 
I Page. 18. 
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 SL(OK£LV (21) to the pursuit of an object in 
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 

may style the 'neo-orthodox' point of view: "La convenzionalidl [del sorriso] ... e 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. 
14 Restated by R. Merkelbach, "Sappho und ihr Kreis," Philologus 101 (1957) 1-29; but cf 

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) ;25 the other two, while non-Homeric, are of 
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 Z€tJe. 
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's striking alteration of the common formu­
laic line-end 1T6TVLa f-L~T7IP r 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. 

31 To the point of a certain confusion: HOlneric parallels may be adduced for construing 
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 €CCO (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]X€EC (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. 

34 W. Castle, "Observations on Sappho's To Aphrodite," TAPA 89 (1958) 66-76, esp. 73. 
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:XKaLpaJ

36 her smile is not recalled with a predictable epi­
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 of cav 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-rtfL€VT"Jc fL£lS€ovca; 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 
STJOTE IIE{()wv I [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. 
t3 Cf West, op.cit. (supra n.3) 322 n.43. 



KEITH STANLEY 315 

as it may be, the military metaphor of Fr. 1 is more appropriate to the 
jealous anger of betrayal than to unrequited longing. 

Aphrodite's questions reveal that she, at any rate, suffers no un­
certainty about the reason for her summons, and there is a distinctly 
teasing irony in the way in which she proceeds, with Homeric rhetoric 
in a paratactic crescendo of questions,44 from the general to the specific 
source of unhappiness. Again, as Page notes, Aphrodite's triple 
repetition of 8"1VT€ underlines the effect of humorous chiding :45 this 
is not the first time this has happened nor, clearly, the first time 
Aphrodite's assistance in fulfilling Sappho's desires has gone awry. 
Her climactic TLC c' ... a8tK~€L, though strong, as Rivier observed46-

too strong, perhaps. for mere indifference or rejection-would be 
perfectly right for the goddess of love to use in characterising a rup­
ture and betrayal of the bond of love. right for a poet who places 
prime importance upon the world of her emotions; but in the context 
of smiling mockery and pretended exasperation this strikingly non­
Homeric usage conveys a note of melodramatic exaggeration: "What 
ails you this time? .. Why have you summoned me this time? .. What 
are you so bent on in your mad desire? ... Whom must I reconcile 
with you this time? ... Who, 0 Sappho. is doing you this dreadful 
injustice ?" 

The blend of humorous solicitude. hyperbole and assumed ignor­
ance. though far more elaborate here. is not unlike Dione's address to 
Aphrodite herself on her inglorious rout from the field of battle in 
Iliad 5.373. TLC JIll C€ TOtaO' EP€t€, cp{)\oJI T€KOC, OvpaJlulJJlwJI ... ;, and just 
as Dione proceeds to comment with resignation on the sorrows the 
gods bring on themselves when they intervene in human affairs (383ff. 

U cf. G. S. Kirk, The Songs of Homer (Cambridge 1962) 169, and Marzullo, op.cit. (supra 
n.19) 49 on 17f. 

45 Page, 13; cf. also Sappho fr.130.1; the citations from Aleman, Ibycus and Anacreon 
listed by West, op.cit. (supra n.3) 130; and the similar Homeric usage of au discussed by P. 
Shorey, "The Pathos and Humor of au," CP 23 (1928) 285-87, notably Odysseus' weary 
(though not yet erotic) plaint on awakening on theisland of Scheria (6.119): of} fLOt eyw, 'TEWV 

a~" {Jpo'TWV £c yaiav lKavw; To Shorey's list may be added perhaps the most heartfelt and 
amusing of all, PI. Soph. 249c-D, where one feels that Theaetetus' au is drawn truly from the 
depths. These examples should be sufficient evidence that commonplace words do not 
necessarily convey naive emotions, as Kirkwood would have it, op.cit. (supra n.3) 112 (or 
religious ones, as Privitera believes, op.cit. [supra n.3] 43f). 

46 Rivier, op.cit. (supra n.13). The commonly-accepted parallel from Theognis, 1283f (cf 
Krischer, op.cit. [supra n.11] 3 n.1, and Saake, p.66), is rejected rather defensively by Rivier, 
p.86 n.3: "L'association de deux £'Ta'ipot comprenait d'autres liens que la seul 7TatlltK(k £pwc, 
a supposer que celui-ci fUt present." 



316 THE ROLE OF APHRODITE IN SAPPHO FR.l 

7TOAAOt yap S1J TMj/L£v 'OAV/L7TLa OW/LaT' EXOVT£C I €~ avopWv, xaM7T' aAY£' 
€7T' aAA1JAoLCL n8tfvT£C) , so Sappho's Aphrodite passes on almost 
casually, certainly calmly, to what is neither a pact to join in the battle 
nor an explicit promise of aid but rather a simple prediction of the 
future. For against the notion that we have in stanza 6 the binding 
formulas of magical incantation'7 must be set the fact that the 'spells' 
of this 7TOTVLa Oa/LVaLCa have been short-lived at best, or the occasion 
for the summons would not have arisen. Thus with tender but amused 
reserve Aphrodite is reminding Sappho that with or without her aid 
things will take the course they always do willy-nilly, given the ironic 
reversals in love, as in all things human.'s 

In the context of the present, the irony of the situation-another 
difficulty with another relationship-gains in complexity, Sappho's 
awareness of which is betrayed by the element of flattery in 
her reminder of her previous makarismos (JJ WxKaLpa ... a8avaTCp 
7TPOCW7TCP ). 

Again on Sappho's lips the repetition of Aphrodite's chiding ques­
tions and the mimicry of her direct quotation with its insistent 0TJOT£ 
and emphatic JJ 1Jfa7TCl>' resemble the strategy of a child coyly attempt­
ing to disarm a scolding by anticipating it; for in her present appeal, 
as Cameron observed. Sappho could hardly be asking for another 
lecture.'9 

There is, of course, no reason to suppose with Page that Sappho 
avoided the reconciliation (however short-lived) when it was offered 
in the past or that she is likely to do so again. Saake and others have 
pointed out that it is unlikely Sappho would pray for something she 
knows she will reject.50 More than that, Aphrodite's language (21ff) 

47 Saake, 51f; Cameron, op.cit. (supra n.2) 8ff. 
48 While I cannot agree with Privitera Cop.cit. [supra n.3] 45) that Aphrodite's words are 

"incalzanti, suonano minacciose, vengono da una dea dopo che la sua norma e stata calpe­
stata," he rightly perceives that they possess "il carattere di assolutezza che si addice 
all'affermazione di una legge generale." That this law, however, can be interpreted more 
positively than I have done above would, on the face of it, hardly accord with Aphrodite's 
view of Sappho's recurrent experience of separation and loss. It is perhaps surprising to 

hear Aphrodite enunciate a principle of rhythmic alternation in mortal experience which 
we associate with early lyric, preeminently with Archil. 58, 67 A and 68 D. (cf Fraenkel, 
op.cit. [supra n.3] 149ft", Engl. ed. 134if); but Archilochus is elaborating ideas already im­
plicit in the Iliad (24.527ff) and eloquently stated by Odysseus (Od. 18.129ff). The question 
is rather one of divine responsibility-and here Aphrodite seems to hedge. 

4t A. Cameron, "Sappho and Aphrodite Again," HThR 57 (1964) 237-39, esp. 238, arguing 
against Page's interpretation of Aphrodite's tone. 

so Saake, 51f, a criticism which applies equally to Privitera's interpretation of line 24 



KEITH STANLEY 317 

describes the actions and the attitudes of the friend, not of Sappho 
herself. On the other hand, taking OL<;'~€L as equivalent to 'love's1 
weakens the effect of cfotA~eEL in 23 as the climax of an artful progres­
sion from external juxtaposition (flee/chase), through gestures of 
feeling (spurning/offering gifts) to the inner emotion itself (absence of 
love/love, with the same involuntary affection for Sappho that 
Sappho herself now feels). We lose nothing in subtlety if we assume 
Aphrodite intended cfo€vYEL as 'shun', 'avoid', and Otw~EL as 'come 
running after'. Whatever mixed emotions Sappho felt at the previous 
reunion are simply not expressed. What is at issue here is her ambiv­
alence now, indicated by the dramatic pause following stanza 6.52 

For as Sappho repeats the speech in the midst of her present turmoil, 
recalling Aphrodite's former reminder of the irrational reversals that 
characterize her relationships, the folly of her evocation of Aphrodite 
as warrior-goddess is exposed to the light of common-sense; the 
ephemeral nature of the upheavals and the reconciliations of the past 
become inescapably clear. 

The progression of style reflects the movement of the poem to this 
point: the union of epic and lyric language forged by the willful 
emotion of the first two stanzas dissolves in stanza 3, where, as we 
have seen, a virtual invasion of Homeric words and phrases accom­
panies Aphrodite's arrival. In Aphrodite's address to Sappho (stanzas 
4-5) her last two questions alone contain usage alien to epic, both 
critical of Sappho's emotion: KWTTt /LOt ••• /LatvoAf!- 8v/L4J, TLe e' ... 

aOtK~€t;53 But while Homer does not normally couple forms of 
/Lalvo/Lat with BV/Loe, it is clear from Od. 18.406f (oat/Lovwt, /LalvuB€ 

(op.cit. [supra n.3] 48ft"). KWV C£ 8£Aotcall or KWV K£ 8£Aotcall: "sii sicura; ti amera comunque; 
persino se tu non volessi piu; perche la sua colpa esiste ormai di per sC"-an interpretation 
which Privitera seeks to justify by placing the ode in the context of archaic conceptions of 
the lex talionis. 

51 Cf n.15 above. 
51 Cf Saake. 74f (where the quotation from Cameron is taken out of the context of a 

criticism of Page. not of Sappho). 
53 Cf the parallels in language and structure cited by Marzullo. op.cit. (supra n.19) 48ff. 

and Longo. op.cit. (supra n.7) 363ff; Longo's treatment of lines 15-24 as a unit leads him to 
mischaracterize the second half of the poem: "la componente omerica appare qui assai piu 
modesta. sia sui piano formulare che su quello lessicale"; in describing the style of Aphro­
dite's speech merely as that of "linguaggio parlato" he overlooks the patterns of Homeric 
rhetoric involved; nevertheless, on the basis of structural parallels to KWTTL .•. p.rZ).tCTa 8£Aw 

Y'"£c8aL and p.atIlOA!il 8vp.<p he concedes" qui, ancora piu sensibilmente che altrove, l' epicita si 
mantiene dunque sui piano di una polivalenza allusiva che conferisce aU'insieme un 
carattere composito, musivo." 



318 THE ROLE OF APHRODITE IN SAPPHO FR.l 

, " 'f} f} ~ I f1 ' ,~ , - ) h h f} ,. h Kat OVKE'Tt KEV E'TE VfLCfJ pW'TVV OVOE 1TO'TT}'Ta . .• t at t e vfLoc IS t e 
seat of fLav{a. Thus while Aphrodite's words do not reproduce formu­
laic usage, they serve nevertheless to answer, in terms conceptually 
Homeric, Sappho's collocation of 1T<hvLa, (}ufLoV in line 4: for although 
Sappho has anempted to associate her impetuous desire with Aphro­
dite, Aphrodite is here revealed as having already rejected respon­
sibility with a certain humorous disdain: the persistent fault, the 
continuing excess, is Sappho's.54 And the impression of teasing exag­
geration in a8tK~Et is confirmed by the fact that Aphrodite does not 
suggest vengeful punishment but rather that more subtle form of 
retribution, a reconciliation; for the Aphrodite here is not Sappho's 
violent deity of stanza 1 but the traditional goddess of persuasion and 
beguilement: 'T{va 8T}O'TE 1TE{(}W •.. ;55 In line 24 at the close of a speech 
quoted with an Aeolic inflection, Aphrodite's last word (e(}IAOtca) 

nevertheless retains the Homeric augment :56 goddess and lover re­
main separated by language and by mood; Sappho's attempt to 
assimilate the Aphrodite of epic into her world of lyric intensity has 
failed. How then to conclude her appeal? 

We fail Sappho if we attempt to explain stanza 7 simply as the ful­
fillment of liturgical or formal requirements or as her response to a 
belligerence on Aphrodite's part supported neither by language nor 
by logic. After the pause of insight provoked by the recollection of 
Aphrodite's speech, Sappho appears to abandon the lesson of her 
fantasy and the counsels of self-knowledge with a sudden return to 

the vehemence of stanza 1 and a renewed attempt to refashion 
Aphrodite to suit her emotion of the moment. Refusing to heed the 

5( For Homeric 9vp.oc as the 'organ of feeling' cf Dodds, The Greeks . .. (supra n.l) 16, and 
B. Snell, The Discovery of the Mind (Oxford 1953) 18ft'. p.alvop.m is used in the Iliad commonly 
of savage abandon in battle (as in II. 5.717, and Zeus' rebuke of Hera and Athena in 8.413); 
but for consuming desire, cf £.7TLp.alvop.m in II. 6.160, of Anteia (cf Anacreon's use of 
(J:7rt)p.a.lvop.aL in 359 and 398, and the suggestion of nymphomania in p.aLVoA" i'vvtl of line 20 
of the Cologne Epode currently attributed to Archilochus). 

55 Saake, 60, is forced by his insistence on a rigid unity in the ode to assert, "dass Aphro­
dite nicht mit Oberredung, sondern durch die ihrer Art eigene bereits erwahnte Kraft und 
Gewalt eingreift." 

58 Assuming, of course, that the much-disputed KWVK E9'>'OLca is justified; cf the survey of 
discussion in Saake, 67ft', and Privitera, op.cit. (supra n.3) 46ft'. Notwithstanding Gomme's 
unconvincing suggestion ("Interpretations of Some Poems of Alkaios and Sappho," JHS 77 

[1957] 255~, esp. 264) that Lesbian 9'>'w becomes E9'>'w after OVK, it seems right that Sappho 
should say 9'>'w (line 17) and that Aphrodite should use a recurrent Homeric formula for 
reluctance, feigned or real (cf II. 6.165; Od. 2.110, 19.156 and 24.146; cf 2.50 and 5.155). See 
also E.-M. Hamm, Grammatik zu Sappho und Alkaios (Berlin 1957) 126 n.297. 



KEITH STANLEY 319 

criticism implied in fLatllOAff, she seizes upon the Homeric military 
connotations of Aphrodite's cPEVYEt ... DtWgEL, and interpreting KWVK 

JO€AOtW as a threat, turns the speech to her own use, forcing both 
Aphrodite's role and the meaning of her words.57 Sappho's ;AOE fLat 

,~ ,,~ , " I 8'" )' " . f f Kat IIVIl ... occa 010 fLOL TEI\ECCaL U/LOC L/LEppEL TEI\ECOIl 1S as ar rom 
conventional piety as her militance is from the self-submission of the 
mystic:58 her language, with the sole lyric intrusion of fLEp{fLllall, 

seems in fact to be a brusque paraphrase of the formulaic courtesy 
with which Homeric divinities speak of their respective areas of 
potency, whether one think of the response of Aphrodite to Hera's 
lying appeal for aid in resolving another 'discord' in Iliad 14. 195f, 
Hephaistos' cordiality to Thetis in Iliad 18.426f, or Calypso's ironical 
reception of Hermes in Odyssey 5.89f:59 aiJ8a, 07"L c/>POIl€ELC 7"€A€WL 8€ fLE 

O ,,, I' ~ , , , "", '() Th VfLOC allwyEII, €t oUllafLaL TEI\ECaL yE KaL €t TETEI\ECfLEIlOIl ECTL II • ere 
is a certain pertness, not to say insolence, in the way in which Sappho 
reasserts the demands of her OVfLoC in the face of Aphrodite's reproach; 
and her pointed omission of the conditional d 7"€7"€AEC/L'1I01l JCTL sug­
gests the arrogation of a quasi-divine status of equality on Sappho's 
part which is strikingly reinforced by the climactic belligerence of 
CVfLfLaxoc ECCO, where we have in the final Adonic a last emphatic 
collocation of a lyric coinage with an epic form.60 But the calm for­
mality of Homeric discourse, seen beyond the distorting medium of 
Sappho's resurgent emotion, serves to expose once again the degree 
of her self-dramatization and her presumption. 

The reader is left with a series of contradictions emphasized by 
disjunctions of time, of tone and of language: a Sappho torn between 
an uncharacteristically militant state of frenzy and a reflective sense 

57 As does Marzullo, op.cit. (supra n.19) 50, citing II. 22.158: 7Tp6cfh fLEIi edJ}"oc £<pt;vyt;, a{WKt; 

ai fLLlI fLiy' afLdllwlI, "La contrastata vicenda di amore viene espressa in crudi termini di 
combattimento. " 

58 For Tt;'MW in more casual invocation, cf Od. 2.34,4.699,10.483,15.112,17.399,20.236 and 
344. The usage in Sappho fr.5.4 is of this type. 

59 Saake, p.62, following Puccioni and Putnam, stresses the first of these occurrences only, 
drawing no conclusions about the attitude of Sappho; Privitera, op.cit. (supra n.3) 33ff, on 
the basis of differences in situation, denies that there is any intentional dependence on 
Homer in Sappho. 

60 Cf Marzullo, op.cit. (supra n.19) 51: "Un ultimo a piu clamoroso omerismo e nel finale 
£cco ... di cui sconcerta la desinenza media." Regarding cvp.p.axoc, Longo's citations (366 
n.99) from Aeschylus seem insufficient to establish its 'sacral' connotations for Sappho; 
despite the brevity of the quotation in Plutarch, Archilochus' usage (in 75 D.) appears to 
confirm the specifically military emphasis of Sappho. For the novel character of the com­
pound itself, cf B. Snell in Entretiens Hardt 10 (1964) 169. 



320 THE ROLE OF APHRODITE IN SAPPHO FR.1 

of irony; a visionary evocation of an Aphrodite at once potent and 
calmly chiding, whose equipment and fitness to join in Sappho's 
amorous battles are in question and who can offer only reversals, not 
permanent peace; and an unstable---certainly changing-stylistic 
mixture whose Homeric component Sappho forces beyond fantasy 
close to the point of fustian. A partial resolution of these contrasts 
may be found if we see beneath the dramatic charm of Aphrodite's 
epiphany, beyond the formal structure of invocation, sanction and 
petition, a dialogue between momentary passion and reflection, be­
tween present illusion and self-knowledge gained from the past, in 
which Aphrodite speaks in the epic language of collective experience 
as Sappho's alter ego, by her words and her manner of appearance 
exposing Sappho's individual lyric extravagance to the scrutiny of 
truth.61 

At the same time, the failure of Sappho's persona to heed the voice 
of self-knowledge emerges as apparent only, if we observe that the 
use of &;OaVCtToc in equivalent position both in line 1 and again at the 
midpoint of the ode in line 14 links the Aphrodite of deception and 
heartache with the Aphrodite of insight and smiling reminder: it 
appears that Sappho the artist means to indicate that the two con­
ceptions of the goddess are not mutually exclusive but represent 
rather the two enduring and inseparable aspects of the same experi­
ence of love (or desire) of which the epiphany of 7TOLKLA60pov'62 

Aphrodite in her sparrow-drawn war-chariot serves as an integrating 
symbol, uniting aspects of strength and weakness, persistence and 
inconstancy, violence and charm, anguish and delight. From this 
perspective it becomes clear why Sappho has not expressed her dis­
missal of 'collective experience' with a schematic displacement of 
Homeric language by characteristicall y lyric speech: her final petition, 
phrased in a mixture of epic and lyric elements even more boldly 
juxtaposed than earlier, reveals her consciously reuniting the two 
Aphrodites in a commitment to the total experience of love. In terms 
whose paradoxical character suggests that she is observing herself 

61 Cf Castle, op.cit. (supra n.34) 76: Aphrodite is the "unconscious personification of the 
self-critical faculty of her personality which stands aside and views with detached amuse­
ment the appetitive element of her nature ... :' Cf Sappho 22.15, where, though the text 
is uncertain, there may be reference to a criticism by Aphrodite of Sappho's prayers (West, 
op.cit. [supra n.3] 310). Kirkwood, op.cit. (supra n.3) 113, prefers the simple view: "Sappho 
... is creating a picture of the beneficent sway of Aphrodite over the loves of Sappho." 

52 Cf n.26 above. 



KEITH STANLEY 321 

with both irony and humor, Sappho rejects not self-knowledge but 
impotent withdrawal, preferring the risk of involvement and the 
tears of answered prayers. For unlike Archilochus (76a D.), who re­
gards his OVJ.L6c as the source of reckless as well as trustworthy 
impulses, Sappho here as elsewhere (e.g., 16 L.-P.) relies upon her 
emotions-even when their quality is divided (as in fr.130)-to provide 
the source and principle of consistency and unity in her existence. 
Above all, she persists in asserting a link between Aphrodite and the 
urgings of her OVJ.L6c; and in thus clinging to the divine dimension of 
her experience of the law of alternation as enunciated by Aphrodite, 
Sappho, ica OloLcL", transcends it.63 

Viewed thus, the ode is not simply a Kultlied or a purely subjective 
expression of momentary passion,64 still less a merely playful jest on 
the theme of invocation, but rather an essay in self-observation and 
self-understanding that transforms its immediate provocation into the 
occasion for a complex and embracing statement about the central 
concern of Sappho's life. Appropriately, the Alexandrians accorded it 
the place of epigraph to her collection.65 

DUKE UNIVERSITY 

October, 1976 

sa This interpretation appears to support Snell's observation, op.cit. (supra n.54) 59f, that 
"Sappho and Anacreon ... begin to suspect that the contradiction inherent in all feelings 
cannot be explained merely by an alternation in time, an unending oscillation between 
passion and tranquillity, between good fortune and misery, but that the present moment 
itself contains the seeds of discord ... Sappho ... discovers the area of the soul and defines 
it as fundamentally distinct from the body ... For the death-likeness oflove is, particularly 
in Sappho's view, the greatest tension of which the soul is capable. The early poets conceive 
of this new mode of feeling as something supranatural; a divine impulse powerful enough 
to determine their values for them." 

.. Cf Saake, 77 and n.210. 
16 Cf E. Lobel, IAfltPOYI MEAH (Oxford 1925) xv.