Tempus est Te-cum abeundi.

Saepe supplicavi tibi,
ut nondum venias mihi,
o domine Hermes, -- qui
deducis manes in aedes Hadis !!

['sé:-pé ,su-pli-'ka:-vi ti-'bi
'ut nòn-'dum vé-'ni:-as mi-'hi
,ó 'dó:-mi-né 'hèr-mès 'kwi
'dé:-du-tsji(s) 'ma:-né zî 'né:-dé za-'di(s)]

Often I have besought you
not to come for me as yet,
o lord Hermes, who lead(s) the souls
of the dead down into Hades !!

Nunc male valeo vero, desidero
valde e vita decedere, domine:
deduce me in tenebras negras
ripas-que praeter Acherontis,

['nuŋk ,ma:-lé 'va:-lé-jó 'vé-ró dé-'si:-dé-ró
'val-dé ,é 'vi:-ta dé-'sé:-dĕ-ré 'dó:-mi-né
'dé:-du-tsjĕ 'mé: ,in té-'né:-bra(s) 'né:-gras
'ri:-pas kĕ 'pré:-tè ,ra-χè-ròn-'di(s)]

Now my health is failing, I hunger
strongly to leave this life, lord,
lead me down into the black darkness
and along the banks of the Acheron,

ut videam illam lotum aeternam
cuius gustare frugem velim,
oblituram mei-me;

[,ut 'vi:-dé-am 'il-lam 'ló:-tum é-'tèr-nam
'ku-ju(z) gus-'ta:-ré 'fru:-dzjèm ,vé:-lim
,ó-bli-'tu:-ram 'mé:-ji 'mé:]

so I may see that eternal lotus-tree,
of which I wish to taste the fruit
that will make me forget myself;

ut videam illam, de quibus foliis
linguere guttas frigidas velim,
oblituras mei-me !!

[,ut 'vi:-dé-am 'il-lam 'dé: ,kwi-bu(s) 'fó:-li-jis
'liŋ-gwĕ-ré ,gut-ta(s) fri-'dzji:-da(s) ,vé:-lim
,ó-bli-'tu:-ra(z) 'mé:-ji 'mé:]

so I may see that tree, from which leaves
I wish to lick the cold drops
that will make me forget myself !!

O domine Hermes, -- qui
deducis manes in aedes Hadis,
tempus est te-cum abeundi
usque ad ripas Acherontis !!

[,ó 'dó:-mi-né 'hèr-mès 'kwi
'dé:-du-tsji(s) 'ma:-né zî 'né:-dé za-'di(s)
'tèm-pu ,zès 'té:-kum ,a-bé-un-di
'us-kĕ ,at 'ri:-pas ,a-χè-ròn-'di(s)]

O lord Hermes, who lead(s) the souls
of the dead down into Hades,
it's time to go off with you
all the way to the banks of the Acheron !!

By Sappho and 白狐.

-- NOTES --

[χ = Greek chi, here like in German "Bach",
in Latin usually pronounced a "k" //
î = nasalised short "ee" // ĕ = like in unstressed "the" //
Å‹ = ng // (s) and (z) optionally silent]

Sappho #97 > Mary Barnard's numbering.
MB > "I have often asked you not to come now,
Hermes, Lord, you who lead the ghosts home:
But this time I am not happy; I want to die,
to see the moist lotus open along Acheron."

Hadis > pronounce [(h)a-'di] > in aedes Hadis [î 'né:-dé za-'di]
aedes = quarters, rooms, building(s), temple(s), house(s)
Hades, genitive: Hadis = literally: of the Unseen One [a-(v)id-]

tempus est te-cum abeundi >
literally: "the time it-is together-with-you of going-off"
> it's the time of leaving with you

Acc. to my Latin dictionaries lotus or lotos is something feminine when referring to a tree and its fruit; otherwise it's masculine: horse/stone/honey-clover, Spanish clover, Italian date-prune. Yet acc. to my Greek dictionaries it's only masculine with further meanings: a bush that grows on the northcoast of Africa with fruit like cherries, or a North-African tree that has dry, hard wood useful for making fluits and effigies; or the Egyptian waterlily with white and red flowers, acc. to my Dutch-Latin dictionary it's feminine !! > with referrence to a river this one may be another good candidate for plant-life along the banks of the Acheron !!

Proper nouns like Styx and Lethe and Charon look to me like later inventions: Styx = Acheron; Lethe is derived from the verb for "to hide" with secundary meaning "to forget"; Charon seems to me to be an epithet to Hermes and is derived from the name of the Underworld-river Acheron !!

My earlier version of [Sappho #97]: "I desire to die."

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20-04-2016

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Doodswens Hades Hermes Levenseinde Lotus Sappho