a

65

The fair Sicilians now thy soul inflame ;
Why was I born, ye Gods! a Lesbian dame ?
But ah, beware, Sicilian nymphs ! nor boast
That wandering heart which I fo lately lost;
Nor be with all those tempting words abus'd,
Those tempting words were all to Sappho us’d.
And you that rule Sicilia's happy plains,
Have pity, Venus, on your poet's pains !
Shall fortune still in one fad tenor run,
And still increase the woes so soon begun!
Inur'd to forrow from my tender years,
My parent's alhes drank my early tears ;

70

My

65

Quique, ubi jam amborum fuerat confusa voluptas,

Plurimus in laffo corpore languor erat.
Nunc tibi Sicelides veniunt noya praeda puellae ;

Quid mihi cum Lesbo ? Șicelis esse volo,
At vos erronem tellure remittite nostrum,

Nifiades matres, Niliadesque nurus.
Neu vos decipiant blandae mendacia linguae :

Quae dicit vobis, dixerat ante mihi.
Tu quoque quae montes celebras, Erycina, Sicanos,

(Nam tua sum) vati confule, diva, tuae. An gravis inceptum peragit fortuna tenorem?

Et manet in cursu semper acerba suo? Sex mihi natales ierant, cum lecta parentis

Ante diem lacrymas offa bibere meas. Arsit inops frater, victus meretricis amore ;

Miftaque cum turpi damna pudore tulit.

70

My brother next, neglecting wealth and fame, 75
Ignobly burn'd in a destructive flame:
An infant daughter late my griefs increasid,
And all a mother's cares distract my breast.
Alas, what more could fate itself impose,
But thee, the last and greatest of my woes?

80 No more my robes in waving purple flow,

my hand the sparkling diamonds glow;
No more my locks in ringlets curl'd diffuse
The costly sweetness of Arabian dews,
Nor braids of gold the varied tresses bind,
That fly disorder'd with the wanton wind :
For whom should Sappho use such arts as these ?
He's gone, whom only the desir'd to please !

Cupid's

Nor on

85

meas.

80

Factus inops agili peragit freta coerula remo: 75

Quasque male amisit, nunc male quaerit opes :
Me quoque, quod monui bene multa fideliter, odit.

Hoc mihi libertas, hoc pia lingua dedit.
Et tanquam desint, quae me fine fine fatigent,

Accumulat curas filia parva
Ultima tu noftris accedis causa querelis :

Non agitur vento noftra carina suo.
Ecce jacent collo sparsi fine lege capilli;

Nec premit articulos lucida gemma meos.
Veste tegor yili : nullum eft in crinibus aurum :

Non Arabo nofter rore capillus olet.
Cui colar infelix ? aut cui placuisse laborem ?

Ille mihi cultus unicus auctor abest

:

85 90

Cupid's light darts my tender bosom move,
Still is there cause for Sappho still to love:
So from

my

birth the Sisters fix'd my doom, And gave to Venus all my life to come ; Or, while my Mufe in melting notes complains, My yielding heart keeps measure to my strains. By charms like thine which all my foul have won, 95 Who might not--ah! who would not be undone? For those Aurora Cephalus might scorn, And with fresh blushes paint the conscious morn. For those might Cynthia lengthen Phaon's sleep, And bid Endymion nightly tend-his sheep. Venus for those had rapt thee to the skies, But Mars on thee might look with Venus' eyes.

O foarce

IO

Molle meum levibus cor eft violabile telis ;

Et semper causa est, cur ego femper amem.
Sive ita nascenti-legem dixere forores,

Nec data funt vitae fila severa meae;
Sive abeunt ftudia in mores, artesque magiftrae,

Ingenium nobis molle Thalia facit.
Quid mirum, fi me primae lanuginis aetas

Abstulit, atque anni, quos vir amare poteft?
Hunc ne pro Cephalo raperes, Aurora, timebam:

Et faceres; fed te prima rapina tenet.
Hunc fi confpiciat, quae confpicit omnia, Phoebe ;

Jussus erit fomnos continuare Phaon.
Hunc Venus in coelum curru vexiffet eburno;

Sed videt et Marti posse placere suo.

100

Oscarce a youth, yet scarce a tender boy!
O useful time for lovers to employ!
Pride of thy age, and glory of thy race,

105
Come to these arms, and melt in this embrace !
The vows you never will return, receive;
And take at leaft the love you

will not give. See, while I write, my words are loft in tears ! The less my sense, the more my love appears. I 110 Sure 'twas not much to bid one kind adieu; (At least to feign was never hard to you !) Farewell, my Lesbian love, you might have faid; Or coldly thus, Farewell, oh Lesbian maid ! No tear did you, - no parting kiss receive,

115 Nor knew. I then how much I was to grieve. No lover's gift your Sappho could confer, And wrongs and woes were all you left with her.

No

O nec adhuc juvenis, nec jam puer! utilis aetas !

O decus, atque aevi gloria magna tui! Huc ades, inque finus, formose, relabere noftros: 105

Non ut ames oro, verum ut amare finas. Scribimus, et lacrymis oculi rorantur abortis:

Aspice, quam fit in hoc multa litara loco. Si tam certus eras hinc-ire, modeftius iffes,

"I10 Et modo dixiffes : Lesbi puella, vale. Non tecum lacrymas, non oscula fumma tulifti;

Denique non timui, quod dolitura fui.
Nil de te mecum eft, nifi tantum injuria : pec tu,

Admoneat quod te, pignus amantis-habes.

120

No charge I gave you, and no charge could give,
But this, Be mindful of our loves, and live.
Now by the Nine, those powers ador'd by me,
And Love, the God that ever waits on thee,
When first I heard (from whom I hardly knew)
That you were fled, and all my joys with you,
Like some fad ftatue, speechless, pale I stood, 125
Grief chill'd my breast, and stopp'd my freezing blood;
No figh to rise, no tear had power to flow,
Fix'd in a stupid lethargy of woe :
But when its way th' impetuous passion found,
I rend my tresses, and my breast I wound;

130
I rave, then weep; I curse, and then complain;
Now swell to rage, now melt in tears again.
Not fiercer pangs distract the mournful dame,
Whose first-born infant feeds the funeral flame.

My

120

Non mandata dedi ; neque enim mandata dedissem

Ulla, nisi ut nolles immemor esse mei.
Per tibi, qui nunquam longe discedat, Amorem,

Perque novem juro, numina noftra, Deas;
Cum mihi nefcio quis, Fugiunt tua gaudia, dixit:

Nec me flere diu, nec potuisse loqui :
Et lacrymae deerant oculis, et lingua palato

Astrictum gelido frigore pectus erat.
Poftquam fe dolor invenit ; nec pectora plangi,

Nec puduit scissis exululare comis :
Non aliter quam fi nati pia mater adempti

Portet ad extructos corpus inane rogos,

: