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THE POEMS OF SAPPHO
Finally, the following verse may be quoted:
Κεῖνον ὦ χρυσόθρονε Μοῦσ᾽, ἔνισπες
ὗμνον ἐκ τᾶς καλλιγύναικος ἐσθλᾶς
Τηιος χώρας ὃν ἀείδε τερπνῶς
πρέσβυς ἀγαυός.
O Muse, golden throned, sing that strain which the revered elder of Teos, from the rich land of fair women, sang so melodiously.
This verse was almost certainly not written by Sappho. Athenaeus says that “Hermesianax was mistaken when he represented Sappho and Anacreon as contemporaries, for Anacreon lived in the time of Cyrus and Polycrates [about 563–478 B.C.], while Sappho lived in the reign of Alyattes, father of Croesus.” It is extremely improbable that Sappho was still living when Anacreon was born.
