Dear Robin,
I am back, from Italy and back to the old issue: Saffo and lesbism.
I made up my mind to a softer approach, and decided to strictly look for
textual evidences, many of which have been fully acknowledged.
In Salerno, I had at my disposal old text books, so I gave a second reading
to the fragments in which Saffo
utters her feelings towards young girls(fr. 130 , 31, 94). The direction is
clearly homoerotic.
Well, in Fragment 1, the ode to Aphrodite is very telling, "indeed, even if
she runs away, soon she will be after/ and even if she rejects gifts, soon
she will offer them/and even if she does not love, soon she will love/even
against her will..." (mine the rough translation).
Why an invocation to Aphrodite, why a request to be reciprocated? The mere
affection of the teacher towards the pupil should not expect such a Divine
intervention. It is important, in this contest, the sequence of stanzas in
fragment 94, when (line 21... the Berlin paper... ""kai stromn{an e}pi
molthakan ("on the soft cuscins"), line 23, exies potho{n (which means" you
satisfied the desire" (accents missing). One should keep in mind the
expression used by Homer "ex eron hento (they satisfied the desire ) in
relation to eating and drinking. In Saffo's line 23, it is unlikely that the
satisfactory action is related to sleeping.
In fragment 94, the last stanza is also allusive of common erotic
experiences "but if you do nor remember...then I want you to remember...all
the moments... and beautiful that we enjoyed together....(...) and the
flowery balms...and regal , you made yourself fragrant with/and on soft
cuscins...delicate...you satisfied the desire....and there was
neither(party) nor rite or...which we would miss..."(mine the rough
translation into English).
To return to Fragment 31
I did not find any translation in Latin or Italian in which the simile to
the grass is enhanced with dryness.
I found "greener than grass" solely. Therefore, I am reluctant to accept the
association to pallor.
Nevertheless, I now think that you were right when you said that such a
color (green or light green, whatever...) is given not by jealousy - as I
claimed- but by the emotional turmoil caused by intense passion, which Saffo
perceives here as an illness:
Yet, I am not sure the man here is necessarily a bridegroom. Saffo is maybe
referring to any (possible) man sitting by the desired girl, which laughs in
such a provoking manner as to stimulate desire in all men as well as a
suffering passion in Saffo.
"This truly inside my heart shakes me: as when even briefly looking at you,
I can no longer speak, so that the tongue is broken and a thin fire quickly
runs under my skin and spreads and my eyes can no longer see and my ear
throbs with a loud noise, and I am covered with sweat, and all shaken, as to
seem greener than grass to myself and feel close to death......."(mine the
very rough translation...Sorry)
Now, I have some comments on Catullo's translation into Latin of this
fragment...and on the appropriation...
EP
From: Robin Hamilton <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, April 22, 2000 2:08 PM
Subject: Re: Saffo/Catullo - comment on the adjective
> Erminia:
>
> "
> Well, happy Catullian life, then (I hope a Lesbia (Lesbian) won't destroy
> your life).
> "
>
> Well, if it inspired me to write poems as good as Catullus', I'd be
> prepared to pay the price!
>
> Cheers
>
> Robin
>
>
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