Quicquid erit, melius quam nunc erit: aura, fubito.

Et mea non magnum corpora pondus habent. Tu quoque, mollis Amor, pennas fuppone cadenti: Ne fim Leucadiae mortua crimen aquae. Inde chelyn Phoebo communia munera ponam: Et fub ea verfus unus et alter erunt. "Grata lyram pofui tibi, Phoebe, poëtria Sappho: "Convenit illa mihi, convenit illa tibi." Cur tamen Actiacas miferam me mittis ad oras, Cum profugum poffis ipfe referre pedem ?

Tu mihi Leucadia potes effe falubrior unda : 220

Et forma et meritis tu mihi Phoebus eris.

An potes, o fcopulis undaque ferocior illa,
Si moriar, titulum mortis habere meae ?
At quanto melius jungi mea pectora tecum,

Quam poterant faxis praecipitanda dari! 225 Haec funt illa, Phaon, quae tu laudare folebas; Vifaque funt toties ingeniofa tibi.

Nunc vellem facunda forent: dolor artibus obftat; Ingeniumque meis fubftitit omne malis.

Ye gentle gales, beneath my body blow, And foftly lay me on the waves below! And thou, kind Love, my finking limbs sustain, Spread thy foft wings, and waft me o'er the main, Nor let a Lover's death the guiltless flood profane! On Phœbus' shrine my harp I'll then bestow, 212 And this Inscription shall be plac'd below, "Here she who sung, to him that did inspire, Sappho to Phœbus confecrates her Lyre; 215 "Whatsuits with Sappho, Phœbus, fuits with thee; "The gift, the giver, and the God agree."

But why, alas, relentless youth, ah why To distant Seas must tender Sappho fly ? Thy charms than those may far more pow'rful be, And Phœbus' felf is lefs a God to me. Ah! canft thou doom me to the rocks and fea, Oh far more faithless and more hard than they? Ah! canft thou rather fee this tender breast

221

Dash'don these rocks than to thy bofom preft? 225 This breaft which once, in vain! you lik'd fo well; Where the Loves play'd, and where the Muses dwell.

Alas! the Mufes now no more inspire,
Untun'd my lute, and filent is my lyre,

Non mihi refpondent veteres in carmina vires. 230
Plectra dolore tacent: muta dolore lyra eft.
Lefbides aequoreae, nupturaque nuptaque proles;
Lesbides, Aeolia nomina dicta lyra;
Lesbides, infamem quae me feciftis amatae;
Definite ad citharas turba venire meas. 234
Abftulit omne Phaon, quod vobis ante placebat.

240

(Me miferam! dixi quam modo pene, meus!) Efficite ut redeat: vates quoque veftra redibit. Ingenio vires ille dat, ille rapit, Ecquid ago precibus? pectufne agrefte movetur? An riget? et Zephyri verba caduca ferunt? Qui mea verba ferunt, vellem tua vela referrent.

Hoc te, fi faperes, lente, decebat opus, Sive redis, puppique tuae votiva parantur

Munera; quid laceras pectora noftra mora ? Solve ratem: Venus orta mari, mare praeftet eunti, Aura dabit curfum; tu modo folve ratem,

My languid numbers have forgot to flow, 230
And fancy finks beneath a weight of woe.
Ye Lesbian Virgins, and ye Lesbian dames,
Themes of my verfe, and objects of my flames,
No more your groves with my glad fongs fhall ring,
No more these hands fhall touch the trembling
string:
235

My Phaon's fled, and I those arts refign
(Wretch that I am, to call that Phaon mine!)
Return, fair youth, return, and bring along
Joy to my foul, and vigour to my song :
Absent from thee, the Poet's flame expires; 240
But ah! how fiercely burn the Lover's fires?
Gods! can no pray'rs, no fighs, no numbers move
One favage heart, or teach it how to love?
The winds my pray'rs, my fighs, my numbers
bear,

The flying winds have lost them all in air! 245
Or when, alas! fhall more aufpicious gales
To these fond eyes restore thy welcome fails?
If
you return---ah why these long delays?
Poor Sappho dies while careless Phaon stays.
O launch thy bark, nor fear the wat'ry plain; 250
Venus for thee shall smooth her native main.

Ipfe gubernabit refidens in puppe Cupido :
Ipfe dabit tenera vela legetque manu.
Sive juvat longe fugiffe Pelafgida Sappho ;
(Non tamen invenies, cur ego digna fuga.) 255
[O faltem miferae, Crudelis, epiftola dicat:
Ut mihi Leucadiae fața petantur aquae.]