Hymn to Aphrodite  

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The surviving proportion of the nine-volume corpus of poetry by Sappho read in antiquity is small but still constitutes a poetic corpus of major importance. There is a single complete poem, Fragment 1, the Hymn to Aphrodite, quoted in its entirety as a model of the "polished and exuberant" style of composition by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, with admiration of its consummate artistry:

"Here the euphonious effect and the grace of the language arise from the coherence and smoothness of the junctures. The words nestle close to one another and are woven together according to certain affinities and natural attractions of the letters."

Other major fragments include three virtually-complete poems (in the standard numeration, fragments 16, 31, and the recently supplemented 58).

<poem> Ποικιλόθρον᾽ ὰθάνατ᾽ ᾽Αφροδιτα, παῖ Δίοσ, δολόπλοκε, λίσσομαί σε μή μ᾽ ἄσαισι μήτ᾽ ὀνίαισι δάμνα, πότνια, θῦμον.

ἀλλά τυίδ᾽ ἔλθ᾽, αἴποτα κἀτέρωτα τᾶσ ἔμασ αύδωσ αἴοισα πήλγι ἔκλυεσ πάτροσ δὲ δόμον λίποισα χρύσιον ἦλθεσ

ἄρμ᾽ ὐποζεύξαια, κάλοι δέ σ᾽ ἆγον ὤκεεσ στροῦθοι περὶ γᾶσ μελαίνασ πύκνα δινεῦντεσ πτέῤ ἀπ᾽ ὠράνω αἴθεροσ διὰ μέσσω.

αῖψα δ᾽ ἐχίκοντο, σὺ δ᾽, ὦ μάσαιρα μειδιάσαισ᾽ ἀθάνατῳ προσώπῳ, ἤρἐ ὄττι δηὖτε πέπονθα κὤττι δἦγτε κάλημι

κὤττι μοι μάλιστα θέλω γένεσθαι μαινόλᾳ θύμῳ, τίνα δηὖτε πείθω μαῖσ ἄγην ἐσ σὰν φιλότατα τίσ τ, ὦ Πσάπφ᾽, ἀδίκηει;

καὶ γάρ αἰ φεύγει, ταχέωσ διώξει, αἰ δὲ δῶρα μὴ δέκετ ἀλλά δώσει, αἰ δὲ μὴ φίλει ταχέωσ φιλήσει, κωὐκ ἐθέλοισα.

ἔλθε μοι καὶ νῦν, χαλεπᾶν δὲ λῦσον ἐκ μερίμναν ὄσσα δέ μοι τέλεσσαι θῦμοσ ἰμμέρρει τέλεσον, σὐ δ᾽ αὔτα σύμμαχοσ ἔσσο.