Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/723

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SAPPHO.
SARDANAPALUS.
711

would be accented), these two chief modes of divi- sion give respective!}' two members, each contain- ing three accented syllables, and three members, each containing two. In the first case, there are two subdivisions (Nos. 1 and 2, above), the diffe- rence being merely that between the feminine and masculine caesura, and its effect simply the use of a single or a double unaccented syllable as an in- troduction to the second half of the verse. In the second mode of division, we get various subdivi- sions, resulting from the various combinations of the caesurae in the examples (3), (4), (5), and (6). When (3) and (5) are combined, the result is a line divided into three parts perfectly equal in time, and which are in fact the three primary elements of the verse, as,

uei5id<Tai(T^ adavdrcfi irpoa-dir^.

When (4) and (5) are combined, t.he line only d lifers from the above by having the last syllable of the base converted into an introductory syllable for the centre, as in the example in No. 5. Verses of this form generally have also the principal central caesura, which must be regarded as over- powering the others ; as in the example. When (3) and (6) are combined, the effect is that the line consists, rhythmically, of a ditrochaic base and a ditrochaic termination, the central member being imperfect ; as in both the examples (3) and (6). The combination of (4) and (6) produces a verse evidently almost the same as the last ; as in the example (4).

The several effects produced by the caesurae in the third prolonged line of the stanza, are too varied to be discussed further : the reader who has entered into what has been already said, can easily deduce them for himself. Enough has been said to show the true structure of the verse, and the immense variety of rhythm of which it is susceptible. How skilfully Sappho avails her- self of these varieties is evident from the mere fact, that all the above examples are taken from her first fragment, which only contains seven stanzas. The subject of Latin Sapphics cannot be entered upon here : it must suffice to lay down the princi- ple, that their laws must be deduced from those of the Greek metre ; and to state the fact, that Horace confines himself almost entirely to the forms (1) and (2), as in

Merciiri facunde |I nepos Atlantis Qui feros cultus || hommum recentum,

using the former very sparingly indeed in his earlier odes, but more frequently in his later ones ; his taste, it may be presumed, having been improved by practice. The other metres used by Sappho are fully discussed by Neue, pp. 12, &c.

The first edition of any part of Sappho's frag- ments was that of the hymn to Aphrodite, by H. Stephanus, in his edition of Anacreon, 1554, 4to. The subsequent editions of Anacreon, in 1556, 1660, 1680, 1681, 1684, 1690, 1699, 1700, 1710, 1712, 1716, 1733, 1735, 1740, 1742,1744, 1751, 1754, &c., contained also the fragments of Sappho in a form more or less complete. (See Hoffmann, Lex. Bihliog. Script. Graec. art. Anacieon.) They were also contivined in the Curmina Novem ILlustrium Foeminarum, Sdpphus, &c., with the Scholia of Fulvius Ursinus, Aatverp. 1568, 8vo., and in the Cologne collection of the Greek poets, 1614, fol. Is. Vossius pub- lished an amended text of the two principal fni'^- ments in his edition of Catullus, pp. 1 13, &c. Lond. 1684, 4to. Jo. Chr. Wolf edited the fragments, with notes, indices, and a life of Sappho, separately in 1733, 4to. Hamb., and again in his Novem £1- lustrium Foevmiarum^ Sapphus, &c,, Fragmenta et Elogia, Gr. et Lot. Hamb. 1735, 4to. They again appeared in Brunck's Anulecta, vol. i. pp. 54, &c., vol. iii. p. 8, &c., 1772, 8vo. The two chief odes were inserted by G. C. Harless, in his Anihol. Poet. Graec. 1792, 8vo ; and the whole fragments by A. Schneider, in his Mou(r&5i/ "Ai/flrj, Giesae, 1802, 8vo. Since that period there have been numerous collections and critical editions of the fragments, of which those of the greatest pretensions are the two following : — Sapphus Leshiae Carmina et Frag- menta rece?istnt, commentario illustravit, schemata musica adjecit et indices cor/fecit II. F. Magnus Volger, Lips. 1810, 8vo. ; a'ld Sapphonis Mytile- naeae Frugmenta., Specimen Operae in omnibus Artis Graecorum Lyricae Beliguiis, excepto Pindar o., collocandae, proposuit D. Christia?ms Fridericus Neue. Berol, 1827,. 4to. Of these two editions, that of Volger stands at the head of the modern editions in point of date and of cumbrous elabora- tion ; that of Neue is by far the first in point of excellence. An important supplement to the edi- tion of Neue is Welcker's review of it in Jahn's Jahrbucher for 1828, and in AYelcker's Kleine Schriften, vol. i. p. 110. The fragments of Sappho have also been edited by Bp. Blomfield, in the Museum Criticum, vol. i. ; by Gaisford, in his PoUtae Minores Graed ; by Schneidewin, in his Delectus Potseos Graecorum ; by Bergk, in his Pottae Lyiici Graeciae ; b}' Ahrens, in his treatise de Graecue Linguae iJialectis, vol. i. ; and also se- parately by A. L. Moebius, in Greek and German, Hannov. 1815, 8vo. ; not to mention some other editions of the two chief fragments. There are numerous translations both of these two fragments, and of the whole, into English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. (See Hoffmann, Lex. BibU Scr. Graec.)

Some of the principal modern works upon Sappho have been incidentally referred to in the course of this article. To these should be added Plehn's Lesbiaca, Bode and Ulrici, Gcsch. d. Hellen. Dichtk., and Bernhardy, Gesch. d. Griech. Litt. vol. ii. pp. 483—490. [P. S.]


SARAPIS. [Serapis.]


SARAS, a freedman of Cleopatra. (Cic. ad AtU XV. 1 5, comp. XV. 1 7, a Siregiro, q^ a Sara regio.)


SARANTE'NUS, MA'NUEL. [Manuel, literarv. No. 4. J


SARDANAPA'LUS (SopSovaTraAoj), the last king of the Assyrian empire of Ninus or Nineveh, according to Ctesias. This writer related that the Assyrian empire lasted 1306 years[1]; that the first king was Ninus, who was succeeded by his wife Serairamis, and she by her son Ninyas, and that he was followed by thirty kings, son succeeding father in uninterrupted order. All these kings, from Ninyas downwards, were sunk in luxury and

  1. In the present copies of Diodorus (ii. 21) we have 1360 years, but it appears that Syncellus (p. 359, c.) and Agathias (ii. 25, p. 1 20) read 1 306, and this number is confirmed by Augrstine {de Civ. Dei, xviii. 21), who has 1305 year«. (See Clin- ton, F. H. voL L p. 263, note d.)