89
Πέρροχος ὠς ὄτ᾽ ἄοιδος ὀ Λέσβιος ἀλλοδάποισιν.
Towering like the singer of Lesbos among men of other lands.
Quoted by Demetrius about A.D. 150. It is possible that Terpander is meant, but the line may be merely a reference to Lesbian poets in general.
90
Οἶον τὸ γλυκύμαλον ἐρεύθεται ἄκρῳ ἐπ᾽ ὔσδῳ
ἄκρον ἐπ᾽ ἀκροτάτῳ, λελάθοντο δὲ μαλοδρόπηες,
οὐ μὰν ἐκλελάθοντ᾽, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐδύναντ᾽ ἐπίκεσθαι.
As the sweet apple blushes on the end of the bough, the very end of the bough which the gatherers missed, nay missed not, but could not reach.
At the end of the bough—its uttermost end,
Missed by the harvesters, ripens the apple,
Nay, not overlooked, but far out of their reach,
So with all best things.
Quoted by the Scholiast on Hermogenes and elsewhere. The “sweet-apple” to which Sappho refers was probably the result of a graft of apple on quince.
