Kissing Sappho is like... Greek Anthology V.246

Mollia quidem Sapphonis basia, molles artuum

plexus niveorum, mollia cuncta membra:

anima vero ex adamante duro facta: usque enim ad sola

est amor labra, cetera vero sunt virginitatis

Ac quis haec ferat? fortasse aliquis, fortasse, 

hoc quisitim Tantaleam sustinebit facile.

Μαλθακά μέν Σαπφούς τα φιλήματα μαλθακά γυίων

 πλέγματα χιονέων μαλθακά πάντα μέλη

ψυχή δ εξ αδάμαντος απειθέος άχρι γάρ οίων

έστιν έρως στoμάτων τάλλα δε παρθενίης

 Και τις υποτλαίη τάχα τις τάχα τούτο ταλάσσος

δίψαν Τανταλέην τλήσεται εύμαρέως

--Paulus Silentiarius, Greek Anthology V.246; Translated into Latin by Fred. Dubner

Soft...

Sappho’s kisses are soft

Soft...

Is her

Embrace—snow-white limbs—

Soft

Are all her limbs.

But her mind?

Nope!

Tougher than steel

Unyielding

Cannot be persuaded (απειθέος)

Only her lips are open for love,

The rest are for the ladies*

Who’s going to put up with that?

Someone, maybe—someone who can endure

The thirst of Tantalus.

 

* pun: παρθενίης, “belonging to maidens,” here refers to both chastity and / or a love of women

Paul the Silentiary	MAP:
Name:  Paulus Silentiarius Date:  6th century CE Works:  [poetry]	REGION  5
BIO:	Timeline:
Paul the Silentiary was a bureaucrat in the court of the Roman Emperor Justinian I in Constantinople. Dozens of his poems are preserved in the Greek Anthology.	BYZANTINE / LATE GREEK

<Anonymous>	MAP:
Name:  ???? Date:  Works:  Greek Anthology; Anthologia Graeca; Florilegii Graecii	REGION  UNKNOWN
BIO:	Timeline:
The Greek Anthology is a modern collection of Greek lyric poetry compiled from various sources over the course of Greco-Roman literature. The current collection was created from two major sources, one from the 10th century CE and one from the 14th century CE. The anthology contains authors spanning the entirety of Greek literature, from archaic poets to Byzantine Christian poets.	Byzantine Greek