80

[Cypris and] Nereids,† grant that my brother‡

will return here to me without harm and that

everything which he wishes for in his heart

will come to pass;

grant that he atone for all his former crimes

and become a joy to his friends, a torment

to his enemies and let no one ever cause

us grief again;

grant too that he may wish his sister to have

her share of honour, and wretched sorrow …

*****

† Cypris and Nereids: Cypris: Aphrodite, invoked as goddess of the sea. Nereids: sea-nymphs. A new papyrus find has shown that, rather than ‘Cypris’, the poem’s opening word is instead the adjective potniai, or ‘revered’, used of the Nereids. See ‘The New Fragments: Texts, Translations and Retranslations’.

‡ brother: some ancient sources name Sappho’s brother as Charaxus, a wine-merchant. This fragment might well refer to the political troubles in Mytilene during Sappho’s lifetime and to her family’s involvement in them. See also No.122.