Your Morning Sappho
Week 58 of our regular morning feature here at Friedman of the Plains Worldwide in which we highlight the great words and works of great men and women, as well as those who are insufferable, delusional, and even fictional.
This week Sappho
“And when you are gone, there will be no memory of you and no regret. For you do not share the Pierian roses, but unseen in the house of Hades you will stray, breathed out, among the ghostly dead.”
Bonus Sappho
“Some say thronging cavalry, some say foot soldiers, others call a fleet the most beautiful of sights the dark earth offers, but I say it's what- ever you love best.
But that reminds me:
now my Anactória is gone,
and I'd rather see her lovely step, her sparkling glance and her face than gaze on all the troops in Lydia in their chariots and glittering armor.”
I had to look up that Pierian roses business. I gather that Pieria, in Macedon, was the legendary home of the Muses, and that to "share the Pierian roses" meant to participate in the activities that the Muses inspired, the various arts and learning.
So that first quote is an Ancient Greek sick burn (άρρωστο έγκαυμα), that someone without learning or love for the arts and culture will be a meaningless shade amongst the unhonored forgotten dead.
Damn girl, but that's harsh.