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 CHOLARS HAVE frequently noticed a general similarity in Ssituation 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 (1989) p.101 102 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.