Once in a Pink Moon (Sappho 96.8 LP)

νῦν δὲ Λύδαισιν ἐμπρέπεται γυναί-κεσσιν ὤς ποτ' ἀελίωδύντος ἀ βροδοδάκτυλος †μήνα

πάντα περ‹ρ›έχοις' ἄστρα· φάος δ' ἐπί-σχει θάλασσαν ἐπ' ἀλμύραν            10ἴσως καὶ πολυανθέμοις ἀρούραις·

ἀ δ' ‹ἐ›έρσα κάλα κέχυται τεθά-λαισι δὲ βρόδα κἄπαλ' ἄν-θρυσκα καὶ μελίλωτος ἀνθεμώδης·

(96.6–14 LP)

But now she is conspicuous among Lydian women just like, after sunset, the rose-fingered moon surpasses all the stars, and its light spreads equally over salt sea and flowery fields, and the beautiful dew is poured forth and roses bloom and tender chervil and flowery sweet-clover.¹

In the eighth line of 96 LP, the adjective βροδοδάκτυλος or 'rose-fingered', as in Homer's ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς or 'rose-fingered Dawn' (Od. 2.1), is used by Sappho to describe the moon (μήνα). This juxtaposition's seeming incongruity has elicited much consternation. However, in this note I will defend βροδοδάκτυλος as indispensable to 96 LP by proposing three arguments for the function of this adjective within the fragment: (1) the language of the moon simile in lines 7–9 mimics the transition from afternoon to night and the adjective βροδοδάκτυλος plays an important role in this process, (2) the adjective 'rose-fingered' creates an equivalency between Sappho's 'moon' and the traditional personification of the dawn, and (3) the use of rose symbolism emphasizes the youth and beauty of the girl being compared. Ultimately, these three arguments for βροδοδάκτυλος will illuminate the integral role that this seemingly unusual adjective plays in 96 LP.

The scholarly interest in 96.8 LP has prompted several challenges to the suitability of βροδοδάκτυλος.² Page has indicated that the eighth line may be corrupt³ and Beattie has suggested 'something like βροδοδακτύληα' in place of βροδοδάκτυλος.⁴ Campbell has also characterized the epithet as abstruse, writing that 'βροδο- can be explained if we assume that the roses were white.'⁵ More recently, Hindley has proposed that 96.8 LP should read δύντος ἀργυροδάκτυλος σελάννα, thereby referring to a 'silver-fingered moon'.⁶ In making a case for ἀργυροδάκτυλος, Hindley states that, rather than βροδοδάκτυλος, Sappho would likely have used 'a word which reflects the poet's known description of the moon, and is more appropriate to the context in sense than is the traditional reading.'⁷

However, and contra Hindley, my first argument for the suitability of βροδοδάκτυλος is that this adjective plays an important mimetic role in the simile of 96.7–9 LP, whose word choice evokes the progression of afternoon, sunset, and evening before completing the image of the moon surpassing the stars (which must take place during the night). Specifically, the end of the seventh line (ποτ' ἀελίω), by referring to the sun, suggests in the mind of the audience a time when the sun is shining. This evocation is emphasized by the line break at 96.7–8 LP, which compels a brief pause before the beginning of the eighth line. Then, the first word of the eighth line is the aorist participle δύντος, meaning 'sunk' or 'had sunk', which evokes the setting of the sun. Next, in the latter half of the eighth line, the phrase ἀ βροδοδάκτυλος σελάννα imitates the period of twilight. The adjective βροδοδάκτυλος or 'rose-fingered' is applicable to twilight just as it is applicable to dawn, and this adjective is suitable for a moon which appears in the roseate glow of the late evening when the last rays of the sun are still fading away. Finally, in the ninth line, the moon is πάντα περρέχοις' ἄστρα, or 'surpassing all stars'. In this phrase, the word 'stars' is withheld until the middle of the line, and its appearance represents the completion of the transition to night-time, when the stars would be visible. Accordingly, the simile of 96.7–9 LP evokes the transition from day to night through its diction and syntax, and the adjective βροδοδάκτυλος plays an indispensable role in this evocation.

Another way of demonstrating the presence (and importance) of this evocation is to ask why the sun sets in 96.7–8 LP. Specifically, the simile states that the 'Lydian women' are surpassed by the unnamed girl in the same way that the stars are surpassed by the moon, but the descent of the sun (ποτ' ἀελίω / δύντος) is explicitly mentioned before the superior behavior of the moon is described. Yet, one might reason, if the vehicle of comparison requires both the moon and the stars to be visible in the sky, then clearly the simile is occurring...