107†

When you die, you will lie unremembered for ever more;

for you there will be no regret, no share in the roses

of Pieria;‡ invisible in Hades, as on earth,

you will wander aimlessly among the unknown dead …

*****

† Stobaeus quoted this fragment and claimed that it was addressed to a woman of no education. Plutarch also wrote that it was to a rich woman or an ignorant woman, without culture. Modern commentators cite it as an example of Sappho’s bitchiness. However, as the fragment stands, its tone is as much elegiac as satirical.

‡ Pieria: In Macedonia, birthplace of the Muses.