105, Like the sweet-apple

SAPPHO

(Lobel-Page 105 – Σαπφώ – English translation)



Fragment 105.1

(Note: The "sweet-apple" here probably refers to another fruit entirely, and is interpreted by some as a double entendre.)

... Just like the sweet-apple that blushes red on the highest branch

– Atop the topmost – yet is forgotten by the apple-pickers;

No, in fact, not forgotten: but that they couldn't reach.



Fragment 105.2


... Just like the hyacinth in the mountains that the shepherd-men's

Feet tread down, and on the ground the purple blossom...



Fragment 105.3


Sappho says, therefore, that the apple she indeed likens to a girl... the bridegroom, too – to Achilles she

Compares him; and likewise she'd convey, then, as though they were a hero's – the young man and his feats.