>> Nope. Sappho is referring to the bridegroom, and jealous because he has
>> the
>> attention of the bride.
>>
>
> You'll find this theory in some older books but it's been pretty much
> discredited.
Hm ... I'm not sure I go with this, Jon. Do you mean that the (admittedly
inferrential) construction of the (unspecified) situation in the fragment,
that it is wedding celebration rather than say a dinner party or any of the
various other possible subtexts that could be posited has been challenged
(and is currently out of favour)?
If so, I'd go with that -- my own translation (like the fragment itself)
doesn't specify what the event which Sappho is reflecting is. I'm drawn to
the wedding-celebration idea (and admittedly, I shouldn't have conflated
that with Judy's sense of the sex of the figure Sappho is feeling jealous
*of) because it seems that there is a sense that the male figure has some
sort of (special) right to the woman he is talking to, and I don't think
this would be the case in various other possible scenarios.
But finally, it's a matter of interperatation, surely?
Robin
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