John Lyly's Sappho and Phao: a Retelling by David Bruce

Author:David Bruce
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: retelling, david bruce, john lyly, sapho and phao, sappho and phao
Publisher: David Bruce

CHAPTER 4

— 4.1 —

Venus and Cupid visited Sappho in her bedchamber.

“Sappho, I have heard thy complaints, and pitied thine agonies,” Venus said.

Sappho said:

“Oh, Venus, my cares and griefs are known only to thee, and from thee only came the cause.

“Cupid, why did thou wound me so deeply?”

“My mother told me to draw my arrow to the head,” Cupid replied.

“Venus, why did thou prove so hateful?” Sappho asked.

“Cupid took a wrong shaft — a wrong arrow,” Venus said.

Cupid had gold arrows and lead arrows. A person hit with a gold arrow feels love. A person hit with a lead arrow feels hate.

“Oh, Cupid, too unkind [cruel and unnatural], to make me so kind [so much in love], that I almost transgress the modesty of my kind [my gender],” Sappho said.

“I was blind, and I could not see my arrow,” Cupid said.

“How did it come to pass that thou did hit my heart?” Sappho asked.

“That came by the nature of the head, which being once let out of the bow, can find no other alighting — landing — place but the heart,” Cupid said.

“Don’t be dismayed,” Venus said. “Phao shall yield.”

Sappho replied, “If he does yield, then I shall be ashamed to embrace one so mean and socially low; if he does not yield, I shall die, because I cannot embrace one so mean and cruel. Thus do I find no mean.”

A mean is a middle ground. Sappho’s two options each ended in an extreme: shame or her death.

“Well, I will work for thee and help thee,” Venus said. “Farewell.”

“Farewell, sweet Venus, and thou, Cupid, who are sweetest in thy sharpness,” Sappho said.

Sappho exited.

— 4.2 —

Venus and Cupid talked together in Sappho’s bedchamber.

“Cupid, what have thou done?” Venus asked. “Put thine arrows in Phao’s eyes, and wounded thy mother’s heart?”

“You gave him a face to allure, so then why shouldn’t I give him eyes to pierce?” Cupid replied.

A glance from Phao had caused Venus to fall in love with him. It was if Phao’s eyes were shooting Cupid’s gold arrows.

Venus said:

“Oh, Venus! Unhappy Venus! In bestowing a benefit upon a man, thou have brought a bane — a poison — to a goddess. What perplexities and bewilderment do thou feel?

“Oh, fair Phao! And therefore made fair to breed in me a frenzy!

“Oh, I wish that when I gave thee golden locks to curl thy head, I had shackled thee with iron locks on thy feet! And when I nursed thee, Sappho, with lettuce, I wish that it had turned to hemlock!”

Lettuce is an edible plant, and hemlock is a poisonous plant.

Venus continued:

“Have I brought a smooth skin over thy — Phao’s — face, to make a rough scar in my heart?

Lettuce is a smooth plant, and hemlock is a rough plant.

Venus continued:

“And have I given thee a fresh color like the damask rose, to make mine pale like the stained turquoise?”

In this society, people believed that turquoise would turn lighter if the wearer was about to be in danger.

Venus continued:

“Oh, Cupid, thy

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.