Fragment 5 (Voigt 2)
5 · Voigt 2Come, goddess of Cyprus, and in golden cups serve nectar delicately mixed with delights.
–⏑–⏑–⏑⏑ Ἔλθε Κύπρι
χρυσίαισιν ἐν κυλίκεσσιν ἄβρως
συμμεμιγμένον θαλίαισι νέκταρ
οἰνοχοεῦσα.
Come, Venus, come
Hither with thy golden cup,
Where nectar-floated flowerets swim.
Fill, fill the goblet up;
These laughing lips shall kiss the brim,—
Come, Venus, come!
— Anon. (Edin. Rev., 1832).
Kupris, hither
Come, and pour from goblets of gold the nectar
Mixed for love’s and pleasure’s delight with dainty
Joys of the banquet.
— J. A. Symonds, 1883.
Athenaeus, a native of Naucratis, who flourished about 230 A.D., quotes these verses as an example of the poets’ custom of invoking Aphrodite in their pledges. Applying them to himself and his fellow-guests, he adds the words τούτοισι τοῖς ἑταίροις ἐμοῖς γε καὶ σοῖς. Some scholars believe that Sappho actually wrote—
ταῖσδε ταῖς ἔμαις ἐτάραισι καὶ σαῖς,
For these my companions and thine.
Aphrodite was called Cypris, ‘the Cyprian,’ because it was mythologically believed that when she rose from the sea she was first received as a goddess on the shore of Cyprus (Homeric Hymns, vi.). Sappho seems to be here figuratively referring to the nectar of love.