SAPPHO
(Lobel-Page 98 – Σαπφώ – English translation)
NOTE: The Kleanactidae (descendents of Kleanax) here may refer to Myrsilus, a tyrannical ruler of Lesbos, who is responsible for Alcaeus' and perhaps Sappho's exile.
]; as my mother would've said once.
For her in her girlhood, it was a great
Accessory for somebody's tresses to be bound
In purple, wrapped up with a headband;
That it truly was, back then.
But whoever yellower locks does have
For hair, even than a torch in vibrance:
With circlets array her – wreathed
From flowers in luxuriant bloom – as her
Headdress; yet such a thing right now, Cleis,
A particolored one from Sardis,
Only the city of Maeonia
[
Yet for you, my Cleis: of the particolored ones,
None's yet come under my hold – whence will it,
Such a headdress? – But thus the Mytilenean
]
] to have [
If [⠀⠀⠀] particolored [
These – since the Kleanactidae have made an
Exile in throngs, whom this city holds – are
The memories: for they dreadfully leak away