49

Πλήρησ μὲν ἐφαίνετ᾽ ἀ σελάννα
αἰ δ᾽ ὠσ περὶ Βῶμον ἐσταθησαν. [transcription]

The moon rose full, and as around an altar, stood the women.

Now rose the moon, full and argentine,
While round stood the maidens, as at a shrine.

Quoted by Hephaestion as an example of the metre known as the Ionic a majore trimeter brachycatalectic. Poetically the figure is a fine one, and shows Sappho's wonderful power of visualizing a scene in a few unerringly chosen words. The moon and its light had a great attraction for her, as a number of fragments shows.