The harp and bow would you like Phabus bear,
A brighter Phœbus, Phaon might appear;
Would you with ivy wreath your flowing hair,
Not Bacchus' felf with Phaon could compare :
Yet Phœbus lov'd, and Bacchus felt the flame,
One Daphne warm'd, and one the Cretan dame,
Nymphs that in verse no more could rival me,
Than ev'n those Gods contend in charms with thee. 30
The Muses teach me all their softest lays,
And the wide world resounds with Sapho's praise.
Tho' great Alceus more fublimely fings,
And strikes with boider rage the founding strings,
No less renown attends the moving lyre,
Which Venus tunes, and all her loves inspire.
To me what nature has in charms deny'd,
Is well by wit's more lasting charms supply'd.
Tho' short my stature, yet my name extends
To heav'n itself, and earth's remotest ends.
Sume fidem & pharetram; fies manifeftus Apollo :
Accedant capiti cornua; Bacchus eris.
Et Phœbus Daphnen, & Gnofida Bacchus amavit;
Nec norat lyricos illa, vel illa modos.
At mihi Pegafides blandissima carmina dictant;
Jam canitur toto nomen in orbe meum. Nec plus Alcaus, confors patriæque lyræque, Laudis habet, quamvis grandius ille fonet.
Si mihi difficilis formam natura negavit;
Ingenio forma damna rependo mea.
Sum brevis; at nomen, quod terras impleat omnes,
Eft mihi; menfuram nominis ipfa fero.
Brown as I am, an Æthiopian dame
Inspir'd young Perseus with a gen'rous flame.
Turtles and doves of diff'ring hues, unite,
And glossy jett is pair'd with shining white.
If to no charms thou wilt thy heart resign,
But such as merit, such as equal thine,
By none alas! by none thou can'st be mov'd,
Phaon alone by Phaon must be lov'd!
Yet once thy Sapho could thy cares employ,
Once in her arms you center'd all your joy:
Still all those joys to my remembrance move,
For oh! how vast a memory has Love?
My music, then, you could for ever hear,
And all my words were music to your ear.
You stop'd with kisles my inchanting tongue,
And found my kisles sweeter than my fong.
In all I pleas'd, but most in what was beit;
And the last joy was dearer than the rest.
Candida fi non fum, placuit Cepheia Perfeo
Andromede, patriæ fufca colore fuæ;
Et variis albæ junguntur fæpe columba,
Et niger à viridi turtur amatur ave.
Si, nifi quæ facie poterit te digna videri,
Nulla futura tua est; nulla futura tua eft.
At me cum legeres, etiam formosa videbar;
Unam jurabas usque decere loqui.
Cantabam: memini (meminerunt omnia amantes)
Ofcula cantanti tu mihi rapta dabas.
Hæc quoque laudabas; omnique à parte placebam,
Sed tunc præcipue, cum fit amoris opus.
Then with each word, each glance, each motion fir'd, :
You still enjoy'd, and yet you still defir'd,
Till all dissolving in the trance we lay,
And in tumultuous raptures dy'd away.
The fair Sicilians now thy foul inflame;
Why was I born, ye Gods, a Lesbian dame?
But ah beware, Sicilian nymphs! nor boaît
That wandring heart which I so lately loft;
Nor be with all those tempting words abus'd,
Those tempting words were all to Sapho us'd.
And you that rule Sicilia's happy plains,
Have pity, Venus, on your Poet's pains!
Shall fortune still in one sad tenor run,
And still increase the woes so soon begun?
Tunc te plus folito lafcivia noftra juvabat,
Crebraque mobilitas, aptaque verba joco.
Quique, ubi jam amborum fuerat confufa voluptas,
Plurimus in lasso corpore languor erat.
Nunc tibi Sicelides veniunt nova præda puellæ;
Quid mihi cum Lesbo? Sicelis efsse volo.
O vos erronem tellure remittite nostrum
Nifiades matres, Nifiadesque nurus.
Neu vos decipiant blandæ mendacia linguæ,
Quæ dicit vobis, dixerat ante mihi.
Tu quoque que montes celebras, Erycina, Sicanos,
(Nam tua fum) vati consule, diva, tuæ.
An gravis inceptum peragit fortuna tenorem?
Et manet in curfu femper acerba fuo?
Enur'd to forrows from my tender years,
My parent's ashes drank my early tears :
My brother next, neglecting wealth and fame,
Ignobly burn'd in a destructive flame:
An infant daughter late my griefs increas'd,
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?
No more my robes in waving purple flow,
Nor on 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 vary'd tresses bind,
That fly diforder'd with the wanton wind:
Sex mihi natales ierant, cum lecta parentis
Ante diem lacrymas ofssa bibere meas.
Arfit inops frater, victus meretricis amores
Miftaque cum turpi damna pudore tulit.
Factus inops agili peragit freta cærula remo:
Quasque male amifit, nunc male quærit opes:
Me quoque, quod monui bene multa fideliter odit.
Hoc mihi libertas, hoc pia lingua dedit.
Et tanquam defint, quæ me fine fine fatigent,
Accumulat curas filia parva meas.
Ultima tu noftris accedis caufa querelis,
Non agitur vento noftra carina fuo.
Ecce jacent collo sparsi fine lege capilli;
Nec premit articulos lucida gemma meos. Veste tegor vili: nullum eft in crinibus aurum:
Non Arabum nofter dona capillus olet.
For whom should Sapho use such arts as these?
He's gone, whom only she defir'd to please!
Cupid's light darts my tender bosom move,
Still is there cause for Sapho 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 Muse in melting notes complains,
My yielding heart keeps measure to my strains.
By charms like thine which all my foul have won,
Who might not-ah! who would not be undone ?
For those Aurora Cephalus might scorn,
And with fresh blushes paint the confcious morn.
For those might Cynthia lengthen Phaon's sleep,
And bid Endymion nightly tend his sheep.
Cui color infelix? aut cui placuisse laborem?
Ille mihi cultus unicus autor abeft.
Molle meum levibus cor eft violabile telis.
Et femper causa est, cur ego semper amem.
Sive ita nafcenti legem dixere forores,
Nec data funt vitæ fila severa mea;
Sive abeunt ftudia in mores, artesque magiftræ,
Ingenium nobis molle Thalia dedit.
Quid mirum, fi me primæ lanuginis ætas
Abftulit, atque anni, quos vir amare poteft?
Hunc ne pro Cephalo raperes, Aurora, timebam;
Et faceres: fed te prima rapina tenet.
Hunc fi confpiciat, quæ confpicit omnia, Phœbe;
Jussus erit fomnos continuare Phaon.
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