Page:The Poems of Sappho (1924).djvu/70

64 Among the translations of the nineteenth century that of John Addington Symonds is one of the best.

Glittering-throned undying Aphrodite,

Wile-weaving daughter of high Zeus, I pray thee

Tame not my soul with heavy woe, dread mistress,

Nay, nor with anguish,

But hither come, if ever erst of old time

Thou didst incline, and listenedst to my crying,

And from thy father’s palace down descending

Camest with golden

Chariot yoked: thee fair swift flying sparrows

Over dark earth with multitudinous fluttering,

Pinion on pinion through middle ether

Down from heaven hurried.

Quickly they came like light, and thou, blest lady,

Smiling with clear undying eyes, didst ask me

What was the woe that troubled me, and wherefore

I had cried to thee;