My scornful brother with a smile appears, 135
Infults my woes, and triumphs in my tears,
His hated image ever haunts my eyes,
And why this grief? thy daughter lives, he cries.
Stung with my love, and furious with despair,
All torn my garments, and my bosom bare, 140
My woes, thy crimes, I to the world proclaim;
Such inconfiftent things are love and shame!
'Tis thou art all my care and
my delight,
My daily longing, and my dream by night :
Oh night more pleafing than the brightest day,145
When fancy gives what absence takes away,
And, drefs'd in all its vifionary charms,
Reftores my fair deferter to my arms!
Then round your neck in wanton wreaths Itwine,
Then you, methinks, as fondly circle mine: 150
A thousand tender words I hear and speak;
A thousand melting kiffes give, and take:
Then fiercer joys, I blush to mention these,
Yet, while I blush, confess how much they please.
But when, with day, the fweet delufions fly, 155
And all things wake to life and joy, but I,
As if once more forfaken, I complain,
And close my eyes to dream of you again :
Antra nemufque peto, tanquam nemus antraque
Confcia deliciis illa fuere tuis.
Illuc mentis inops, ut quam furialis Erichtho
Impulit, in collo crine jacente feror.
Antra vident oculi fcabro pendentia topho,
Quae mihi Mygdonii marmoris instar erant.
Invenio fylvam, quae faepe cubilia nobis
Praebuit, et multa texit opaca coma.
At non invenio dominum fylvaeque, meumque.
Vile folum locus eft: dos erat ille loci.
Agnovi preffas noti mihi cefpitis herbas : 170
De noftro curvum pondere gramen erat.
Incubui, tetigique locum qua parte fuisti;
Grata prius lacrymas combibit herba meas.
Quinetiam rami pofitis lugere videntur
Frondibus; et nullae dulce queruntur aves.
Sola virum non ulta pie moeftiffima mater 175
Concinit Ifmarium Daulias ales Ityn.
Ales Ityn, Sappho desertos cantat amores:
Hactenus, ut media caetera nocte filent.
Eft nitidus, vitroque magis perlucidus omni, 180
Fons facer; hunc multi numen habere putant.
Quem fuprà ramos expandit aquatica lotos,
Una nemus; tenero cespite terra viret.
Then frantic rife, and like fome Fury rove
Thro' lonely plains, and thro' the filent grove, 160
As if the filent grove, and lonely plains,
That knew my pleasures, could relieve my pains.
I view the grotto, once the scene of love,
The rocks around, the hanging roofs above, That charm'd me more, with native mofs o'er
Than Phrygian marble, or the Parian stone.
I find the shades that veil'd our joys before;
But, Phaon gone, thofe fhades delight no more.
Here the prefs'd herbs with bending tops betray
Where oft entwin'd in am'rous folds we lay; 170.
I kiss that earth which once was prefs'd by you,
And all with tears the with'ring herbs bedew.
For thee the fading trees appear to mourn,
And birds defer their fongs till thy return:
Night fhades the groves, and all in filence lie,
All but the mournful Philomel and I:
With mournful Philomel I join my strain,
Of Tereus fhe, of Phaon I complain.
A spring there is, whose filver waters show, Clear as a glass, the fhining fands below: 180 A flow'ry Lotos fpreads its arms above,
Shades all the banks, and feems itself a grove; VOL. II.
Hic ego cum laffos pofuiffem fletibus artus, 185 Conftitit ante oculos Naïas una meos.
Conftitit, et dixit, "Quoniam non ignibus aequis "Ureris, Ambracias terra petenda tibi. "Phoebus ab excelfo, quantum patet, afpicit ae
"Actiacum populi Leucadiumque vocant. "Hinc fe Deucalion Pyrrhae fuccenfus amore "Mifit, et illaefo corpore preffit aquas. 195 "Nec mora: verfus Amor tetigit lentiffima Pyr"rhae
"Pectora; Deucalion igne levatus erat. "Hanc legem locus ille tenet, pete protinus altam "Leucada; nec faxo defiluiffe time.”
Ut monuit, cum voce abiit. Ego frigida furgo: 200 Nec gravidae lacrymas continuere genae. Ibimus, o Nymphae, monstrataque faxa petemus. Sit procul infano victus amore timor.
Watch'd by the fylvan Genius of the place.
Here as I lay, and fwell'd with tears the flood, 185
Before my fight a wat❜ry Virgin stood:
She stood and cry'd, "O you that love in vain!
Fly hence, and feek the fair Leucadian main ; "Thereftands a rock, from whofe impending steep Apollo's fane furveys the rolling deep; “There injur'd lovers, leaping from above, “Their flames extinguish, and forget to love. "Deucalion once with hopeless fury burn'd, "In vain he lov'd, relentless Pyrrha fcorn'd: 194 "But when from hence he plung'd into the main, "Deucalion scorn'd, and Pyrrha lov'd in vain. Hafte, Sappho, hafte, from high Leucadia throw Thy wretched weight, nor dread the deeps be " low!"
She spoke, and vanish'd with the voice—I rise,
And filent tears fall trickling from my eyes. 200
I go, ye Nymphs! those rocks and feas to prove;
How much I fear, but ah, how much I love!
I go, ye Nymphs, where furious love inspires;
Let female fears submit to female fires.
To rocks and feas I fly from Phaon's hate, 205 And hope from feas and rocks a milder fate.
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