You may need a drink

After yesterday's discussion about the lyric metre, you may feel like you need a stiff drink. Why not accompany it with an ancient drinking song or two? The scolia (scolion in the singular) were popular drinking and banquet songs, especially in 5th century Athens. Many of them written by the best and most famous poets. They would have been sung in chorus by all present, or by the best singers in succession, accompanied by the lyre. A myrtle branch would be passed around to designate the singers, skipping the bad ones along the way. It is on account of its zig-zag course around the room that the scolia received their name, which is literally "crooked songs."


The subjects varied greatly, and the following two examples honoured the Athenian heroes Harmodius and Aristogeiton, who killed the tyrant Hipparchus at the festival of the goddess Athena. They had a famous statue of them set up in the Agora which is now lost, but thankfully, a very nice Roman copy survives which is now kept in Naples.

In the midst of myrtle branches I shall bear the sword
As Harmodius and Aristogeiton did
When they both killed the tyrant
And made Athens a city where all have equal rights.

In the midst of myrtle branches I shall bear the sword
As Harmodius and Aristogeiton did
When at the festival of Athena
They both killed the man Hipparchus, a tyrant.

1. κλαδι: dative sg. of το κλαδος, young shoots broken off and tied into a bundle, which were presented by suppliants to a god.
3. κτανετην: 3 pers. dual aorist act. ind. of –εκτανον with no augment, an alternative stem to απεκτεινα found in poetry.
8. εκαινετην: 3 pers. dual aorist act. ind. of καινω, a poetic variant of –κτεινω.

And here is the metre for both songs.

ˉ × ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ ˉ
ˉ × ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ ˉ
˘ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ
ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ

The Tenth Muse

This post is about the Sapphic meter, but I cannot get to that before saying a few things about its creator by way of introduction.

I don’t know what you may have heard about Sappho, but it’s probably all wrong so just delete it from your memory. Perhaps you have read or been told she was a Lesbian, which is perfectly true. She lived on the island of Lesbos, born sometime around 630 B.C. Both the towns of Eresos and Mytilene claim the honour being her birthplace, and an honour indeed it is, for this poetess’ fame was so great in the ancient world, that she was popularly styled the “Tenth Muse.” She also belonged to the great canon of the “Nine Lyric Poets” in antiquity. In short, she was very well esteemed.

“But hold on,” I can almost hear you say, “Wasn’t she also the other sort of Lesbian?” No. Rather than listening to what modern “scholars” have to say on the subject, why don’t we look at what people had to say in the ancient world?

“What else was the love of the Lesbian woman except Socrates' art of love? [That is to say, “Platonic.” For further details consult that dusty thing nobody likes to use anymore called a dictionary, or better yet, read Plato’s Symposium] For they seem to me to have practiced love each in their own way, she that of women, he that of men. For they say that both loved many and were captivated by all things beautiful. What Alcibiades and Charmides and Phaedrus were to him, Gyrinna and Atthis and Anactoria were to the Lesbian.” (Cassius Maximus Tyrius)

Furthermore, even if she was a Lesbian of the “other type”, (and that would seem very unlikely since we know she was married to a very wealthy and politically important man, Cercolas of Andros, and had at least one daughter, Cleis,) it would not matter. See, over here we like to read and appreciate good literature based on its ability to represent human experience and contribute to the moral and social formation of the reader, and unlike feminist-marxist-liberal-queers, we have no need to find our narcissistic selves reflected in everything we read in order to find it of interest.

Other things we know about Sappho are that her family was important enough that they were all exiled to Sicily sometime around 600 B.C., (in case you did not know, Sicily was considered a land far far away at the edge of the world,) and she was famous enough even during her own life time on account of her poetry, that the Sicilians were thrilled to have her as their guest and erected a statue to her honour.

For the most part though, (and apparently she lived to a ripe old age,) her life was rather ordinary. She did not have fascinating adventures in Egypt like her brothers, but spent her time at home, where she ran some sort of finishing school for upper class girls. Her poetry concerns itself with the ordinary experiences around her: marriage, love, friendship, family. One can say that her poetry is akin to what Mary Cassatt did in her painting. By the way, I like Cassatt’s art a lot.

Sappho wrote many poems, and in antiquity, the standard collection of all her works filled nine volumes. Almost all of it is lost. We have only one complete poem, and several fragments, some of which are only one verse long. The majority of authors from the ancient world suffered the same fate, including the “divine Sappho, tenth Muse.” This should give you an idea of just how much has perished. I think it a great pity.

Alright, now we get down to business and talk about the Sapphic metre. It is the second most popular in the Latin Church hymnal, and the same metre used by the hymn we looked at yesterday, in honour of Saint Benedict.

Classical metres, and usually Church metres, are developed by grouping repeating patterns of short and long syllables, not accent, as is the case in a lot of mediaeval poetry and in the vernacular languages. Learning to distinguish long syllables from short requires a little bit of practice in the beginning, but ultimately is not hard to do at all. I will save that for another post however, since this one is already too long. Anybody still reading this?

Sappho wrote lyric poetry, which is distinguished from the other “type” of poetry in the classical world (mostly epic) both in its subject matter and its metre. Lyric metre consists of groups of verses known as cola, (colon in the singular) arranged into stanzas. If we take the following symbol ˘ to mean a short syllable, and this ˉ a long syllable, cola are built up around the following pattern ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ , known as a nucleus. The nucleus of a lyric colon is always the same. To the nucleus can be added a pattern of short and long syllables in front known as a base, and one at the end known as a tail.

Sappho developed a colon, known as the Sapphic hendecasyllable (because it has 11 syllables) that looks like this:

ˉ ˘ ˉ x    ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ    ˘ ˉ ˉ

I’m sure you can see the nucleus in the middle. The “x” at the end of the base means that the syllable can be either short or long. No other variety is permitted in the colon.

Another colon which Sappho used but did not invent is called the Adonic. It looks like this:

ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ    ˉ

Notice how we have a nucleus (it is the one thing which can never change) but no base, and the tail is only one syllable long.

Now like I said before, lyric metres are composed of cola arranged into stanzas. The stanza which Sappho developed and used very often also bears her name. The Sapphic Stanza, or Sapphics for short, consists of three Sapphic hendecasyllables followed by one Adonic. So it looks like this:

ˉ ˘ ˉ x    ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ    ˘ ˉ ˉ
ˉ ˘ ˉ x    ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ    ˘ ˉ ˉ
ˉ ˘ ˉ x    ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ    ˘ ˉ ˉ
               ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ    ˉ

Now if you compare this with yesterday’s hymn to Saint Benedict, you will be able to check that it follows this pattern. You might even be able to figure out how to tell long syllables from short syllables. Try it.

Feast of Saint Benedict

So, several months ago, I boldly proclaimed myself a Dux etc., and cautioned you to ask whither I would lead you etc. etc. Clearly, the answer to "whither?" has been "nowhere." Truly contrite to all the people out there who were half expecting me to continue (I think there are two of you, right?) I offer the following for the feast of Saint Benedict.



This is the hymn used in the Liturgia Horarum for Lauds on the Feast of Saint Benedict, July 11. It is a new composition by one of spiritual sons, Don Anselmo Lentini. It was first published in Latinitas, 1954. The meter is sapphic stanzas (more on that later). It is a very fine composition, and the language isn't too difficult. Feel free to ask any grammatical questions I have not addressed in the comment box.



Lēgifer prūdens, venerande doctor
Quī nitēs celsīs meritīs per orbem,
Dēnuō complē, Benedīcte, mundum
      Lūmine Christī.


Flōruit per tē novus atque mīrō
Gentium nexū sociātus ordō;
Jūribus sacrīs tua vox subēgit
      Dulciter omnēs.


Līberōs Jēsū pariterque servōs
Rēgulā magnā statuisti alumnōs,
Quōs amor fōtus precibus revinxit
      Et labor ūnus.


Jamque frāternē, duce tē, labōrent,
Mūtuō certent populī favōre,
Gaudeant pācis refovēre semper
      Dōna beātæ.


Clāritas Pātrī genitæque Prōlī,
Flāminī Sanctō decus atque cultus,
Grātiā quōrum tibi tanta laudis
      Glōria lūcet.


Expert lawgiver, learned man worthy of honour, by thy noble merits resplendent throughout the earth, O Benedict, fill and perfect the world anew with the light of Christ.

1. prudens: it means "learned", especially in the law, hence our English word "jurisprudence"
3. comple: imperative of complere, which means primarily to "fill", but also "to finish" or "make perfect", from this latter meaning the English word "complete" is derived.

The first stanza begins with a direct address to Saint Benedict, and the first word, legifer, emphatically places first his most important attribute: the Rule.


Through thee a new company of men united by an admirable bond flourished; thy voice didst by sweetness bring them all under the sacred law.

5&6. The subject is ordo gentium, which is both novus and miro nexu sociatus.
7. subegit: perfect of subigo, which + dative means "to bring under" in this context, not the harsher English derivative "to subject". juribus sacris: plural for the sake of the meter.
8. omnes: refers to the "ordo gentium".

The second stanza highlights St. Benedict’s second most important gift to the Church, his Order, which has not merely flourished in all lands itself, but caused Europe to flourish by preserving and fostering culture and learning after the fall of the classical world, but more importantly, by their great service of regular prayer throughout the day on behalf of the Church. Vox: Saint Benedict speaks to us through his rule. Juribus sacris: either refers to the Christian life in general, or to the Rule specifically.

Equally freemen and slaves to Christ, in the great Rule thou didst decree thy pupils to be, whom a love fostered in prayer and one and the same work have restored to life.

9. Jesu: dative. Liberos & servos: both are predicates of alumnos, not attributive.
10. statuisti: perfect of statuere, which literally means "to set upright". In this context it means "to decree" or "prescribe", from where the English word "statute" comes. This is usually followed with a jussive clause with ut + the subjunctive, but here the construction is an accusative (alumnos) plus an implied infinitive esse. This is the common construction when statuere means "to regard", or "consider", but the context does not really allow the verb to be construed as such. The final "i" of statuisti is elided.
11. fotus: past participle of foveo, to be construed with precibus, an ablative of means.

In this stanza, we have Dom Lentini’s summation of Saint Benedict’s Rule. On being both servant and free cf. “qui enim in Domino vocatus est servus libertus est Domini similiter qui liber vocatus est servus est Christi” (I Corinthians 7.22) (For he that is called in the Lord, being a bondman, is the freeman of the Lord. Likewise he that is called, being free, is the bondman of Christ.) The amor fotus precibus and the labor of lines 11 & 12 echo the famous Benedictine motto “Ora et Labora” which sums the monk’s way of life as prayer and work.


With thee as their leader, let all people labour and toil now as brothers with mutual good-will; may they always delight in restoring the gift of blessed peace.

13. Jamque: very emphatic, because of its place at the beginning of the line, the –que, and because it accompanies the jussive subjunctive (laborent & certent), so that it means "straightway", "at once". duce te: ablative absolute.
14. certent: an odd choice of verb because of its connotations which do not fit the context particularly well, but probably chosen because its basic meaning implies great exertion.
15. gaudeant: to be construed with the infinitive refovere, replacing the more common construction with an object clause to give the reason for rejoicing. The direct object of refovere is dona pacis beatæ

This stanza highlights the reasons why Pope Paul VI declared Saint Benedict the principal patron of Europe.

Fame, glory and worship, be to the Father, the only-begotten Son, and Holy Ghost, on whose account the glory of thy great renown shines forth.

17. Claritas: literally means "brightness", but here "fame" or "renown".
18. Flamen: "wind", almost indentical to the more common spiritus, "breath", and often used interchangeably in hymns for the sake of the meter.
19. Gratia: ablative; adverbial use meaning “for the sake of” or “on account of” + the genitive. tibi: dative energicus or of “interest”, shows towards whom the action is directed. The most convenient translation into English is by using a possessive. tanta: nominative, grammatically modifies the subject gloria, but is probably a transferred epithet, agreeing with laudis according to the sense.
20. lucet: "shines", but in poetry it commonly means "is manifest" or "visible".

The doxology continues to address the main subject of the hymn, Saint Benedict, which is a typical stylistic choice of Dom Anselmo Lentini. As the principal editor of the new hymnal for the Liturgia Horarum, he took special care to revise all the common doxologies in this way. For his reasons, see Introduction, sections 63, 64, 67, 68 in Lentini, Anselmo. Hymni Instaurandi Breviarii Romani. Vatican City: 1968.