AN ECHO OF FRAGMENT 16 L-P AT , AGAMEMNON 403-419?

Sappho evidently was known in fifth century Athens 1. Pottery proves that 2. Another islander, the Cean Bacchylides (9. 27-29 Maehler), echoes Sappho (96. 6-10 L-P) 3. But 1 do not know of any certain echo of her work in fifth century Athenian poetry, of the sort familiar in, e.g., Ca- tullus, , or Longus, al1 of whom had easy access to the Alexan- drine edition. On the other hand Plato depicts Socrates familiar enough with Sappho's poetry that her language even colors his discourse 4. In an epigram falsely attributed to him (AP 9. 506), he calls her the tenth Muse. The dialect and epichoric orthography of her poems incline me to believe that in V B.C. .her songs were heard and learned rather than read, as seems to have been the case for the sarne reasons with Archilochus 5. That means that traces in later authors would lack the precision that Apollo- nius' and Vergil's references to have, but rather would reflect mood or sentiment with perhaps a verbal echo or two 6. 1 should like to suggest an example of Sapphic influence that 1 have not seen noticed'in a beautiful lyric passage of Aeschylus, namely Aga- memnon 403-419. The. dramatist describes the home of Menelaos now that Helen has left it. Here is the text of Sir 7:

1 Wilhelrn SCHMID,Geschichte der Griechischen Literatur 1. 1, Munich, 1929, 426. For Sappho's influence see Horst RODIGER,Das Erbe der Alten 21: Sappho Zhr Ruf und Ruhm be¿ der Nachwelt, Leipzig, 1933. A modern study of the reception of Sappho in an- tiquity would be welcome. Especially the kalathoid vase with spout by the Brygos Painter (Munich 2416 = ARV~385 No. 228), showing Alcaeus and Sappho and dated ea. 470 B.C. 3 See Herwig MAEHLER,Die Lieder des Bakchylides, 1: Die Siegeslieder, 11: Kom- mentar, Leiden, 1982, 156-157, who considers Bacchylides' verses to be a direct imitation and not a commonplace. 4 See William W. FORTENBAUGH,«Plato Phaedrus 235 C 3», CP 61, 1966, 108-109. 1 should add the echo of Sappho 31 L-P at Phdr 251a: G. J. DE VRIES,A Commentary on the Phaedrus of Plato, Amsterdam, 1969, 154 ad loc. 5 See the cogent argument of D. L. PAGE, «Archilochus and the Oral Tradition)), Archiloque: Entretiens sur I'Antiquité classique, 10, Vandoeuvres-Geneve, 1963, 162- 163. 6 1 should like to draw attention to three classical papers by A. B. COOK:«ASSO- ciated Reminiscences», CR 15, 1901, 338-345, 466; «Unconscious Iterationsn, CR 16, 1902, 146-158, 256-267. Aeschyli Septem quae supersunt Tragoediae, edidit Denys PAGE,, 1972, 153. 1 cannot discuss here the textual problems in either Aeschylus or Sappho. WILLIAM M. CALDER 111

hinoUca 6' hc~oTctvhcnic~opac xhóvovc ho~tcpoúcTE xai vavpá~ac6nhicpoúc, ayovcá e' hvcicpspvov 'Ihiot cpeopáv, $E(J~xEI.i)ipcpa 8th nvhüv üzhq~achaca. nohU 6' &vÉccsvov 766' EvvÉnov~sc6ópov npocpqzat- «id icb 6Q.m S0pa xai npópoi, icb hé~ocxai ccípot cpihávopac' nápacct tctyac ü~tpoc&hoibopoc &~~CTOC&cpspÉvovt i8sTv' nó0oi 6' 6nspnov~íac

~I)pÓpcpmv6E XO~OCC~V E~0s~ai~ápic &vSpi, bppácov 6' EV &~qvíatc Eppst nác' 'AcppoGica.

Eduard Fraenkel translated the passage 8: She, leaving behind her, for the folk of her city, bustling stir of men with shield and spear and armarnent of seamen, and bringing to Ilion for dowry, destruction, was gone stepping nimbly through the gates, having dared a deed not to be dared; while the seers in the house, with many a groan, spake thus: «Alas, alas for the house, alas for the prin- ces! Alas for the bed and the husband-loving steps! One may see the si- lente of those who are forsaken, a silence without honour, without re- viling, without belief. Through longing for her who is beyond the sea, a phantom will seem to rule the house. The grace of shapely statues is hateful to the husband, and when the eyes are starved, al1 charm of lo- ve is gone. 1 think that Aeschylus here recalls Sappho fragment 16 L-P, «the priarnel poem» 9. The most recent text reads 10: o]i pEv inní)wv CJTPÓTOV oi SE RÉBSOV oi SE váov cpaTo' En[i] Y&V pÉhat[v]av EIpp~vaixáhht~~ov, Eyo 6E xqv' OT- 4 m e15 Epacat.

8 ,Aeschylus Agamemnon 1: Prolegomena, Text Translation, Ox- ford, 1950, 115, 117. 9 See Denys PACE, Sappho and Alcaetu: An Zntroduction to the Study of Ancient Lesbian Poetry, Oxford, 1955, 42-57; Helmut SAAKE, Zur Kunst Sapphos: Motiv- analy- tische und kompositionstechnische Interpretationen, Munich/Paderborn/Vienna, 1971, 1.25-144; and most recently W. L. LIEBERMANN,euberlegungen zu Sapphos Hochswert)), AuA 26, 1980, 51-74. 10 David A. CAMPBELL,Greek Lyric 1: Sappho Alcaeus, Carnbridge/London, 1982,66. AN ECHO OF SAPPHO FRAGMENT 16 L-P

nály~u6' sU~aps

Iayx~ovyap ] l.. .xoúcpo~T[ 1016[ . lv ..]MEVUV 'Avaxzopi[a~6]v&pvat- 16 o' odl napsoioaq

Both poems concern Ares and Aphrodite. Both have as background, war, cavalry, fleets of warships, chariots, soldiers, shields. Both concern the legendary cause of the Trojan War, Paris' abduction of Helen from the palace of Menelaus. More specifically, both poets stress the bereave- ment of the abandoned Menelaus, whose beloved has been snatched away across the sea by the heartless young Paris. Aphrodite, with a cruelty that presages Hippolytus, is to blarne. In the personal lyric of Sappho, Menelaus provides a mythological paradeigma for the poetess, who, as he, has been deprived of the girl she loved, (Anactoria far away)). Biographical critics would speculate that a favorite pupil had been married off to an Asian dynast, who has carried her across the sea. Helen is the bride, Paris the successful suitor, Menelaus Sappho. Even with the imperfect transmission of both texts, striking verbal si- milarities survive. 1 have noticed the following. Compare Aeschylus' AmoGoa (403) with Sappho's xaAh[inoi]o' (9); his &oniozopac (403) with her nÉo8ov (1) and n~oOop]á~~vza~(20), SC. men who fight on foot with shields; his vaupázac (405) with her váov (2); his pcpáxsi. (407) with her %Da (9); and finally his 'Ihiq (406) with her 'S Tpoiav (9). A harsh critic might dismiss these parallels as fortuitous. Three others, however, cannot be fortuitous. Aeschylus has reworked three passages in Sappho's poem that are peculiarly her own and not com- monplaces of Trojan saga. olcp~~pÉvov(413) includes, along with Mene- laus, Sappho's naT60~... zofiov (10). 1 propose that Sappho's Epazov ... pá~a(17) suggested the poignant ozipot cpihávop~c(41 1). 1 plopose too that the memorable Pipcpa (407), nimbly, descends from Sappho's 218 WILLIAM M. CALDER 111 xoijqoq (14)' lightly. We have lost the precise Sapphic context; but Aeschylus could not forget the adverb. The thoughtless girl ran off without a care in the world for al1 the darnage she would do. Finally, if indeed Kijnpq has been lost at 12, there was Sapphic precedent for 'AqpoGi~a(419). As expected, Sappho again has influenced choral lyric, not dialogue, as already in Bacchylides. The Aeschylean variation on Sappho may serve to remedy what Page thought obscure and inelegant in her poem 11. When the poetess says that the most beautiful thing on the dark earth is what you love, she is not thinking of Helen's love for Pa- ris, but rather of Menelaus' love for Helen. The enormity of their love made the pain of desertion so hard to bear for Menelaus and for Sappho. Sappho's emphasis on this pain of desertion caused Aeschylus to stress the abandoned Menelaus rather than the young seducer, Paris.

William M. CALDER111 University of Colorado, Boulder USA

11 See PAGE,O.C. (supra, n. 9) 53 (ad 7), 56-57. Page wrongly emphasizes Helen-Paris rather than Menelaus-Helen. Addendum: Professor R. L. Fowl