Page:The Poems of Sappho (1924).djvu/13



HE general English reader, as distinguished from the classical student, has not had presented to him any edition approaching completeness of the remains of Sappho’s poetic genius since that of H. T. Wharton, first published in 1885, and subsequently reprinted several times during the succeeding two decades. That edition was comprehensive and satisfactory as far as it went. The translations which it contained were however, not the work of its editor, but were reprinted by him from various sources and, since the publication of the book, a considerable quantity of new material has come to light in the fragmentary papyri found in the delta of the Nile. This present edition is an attempt to bring the subject more up to date, and at the same time to offer a number of new translations which it is hoped will be acceptable. In some instances a number of the older translations which seemed most suitable and interesting have also been printed. In the case of some of the fragments there have been previously only literal translations, and furthermore, some of them are so short and defective that they are insusceptible of anything but a literal rendering, though they often consist of words or phrases of great beauty, both in idea and in language. The plan adopted in this edition has