1805.^ Epigrams-, Fragments, icfc. from the Greel. 



213 



iLer your own Sappho lead the lovely choir, 

 And to the altar bear her golden lyie. 

 Then firft in graceful order flow advance. 

 And weave the mazes of the holy dance, 

 Wliile, plac'd on high, the beav n-wrapt 



Maid (hall p .ur 

 Such (trains that men (hall wonder and adore. 



Such were the hards to whom the foun- 

 dation "t amorous poetry among ine 

 Greeks may n ifcriben. It WDuld lead 

 us into digrefllons much too .'ar reniilved 

 from the delit;n of the prefent treatilie to 

 Continue our obfervations through the 

 other pnets ot antiquity who dedictcd 

 their talents to tie lame lafcinaiing pur- 

 fuit ; but it may not amifs to introduce, 

 after the fpecimen I have given of lyrical 

 poem^, cue ot a dilferen; I'pecies of com- 

 pofition, hy way of variety. It is among 

 thePaltorals of Bion. 



*£5-7r£p6, taq itunrai p^fus-Eov <))aof 'A<}>fO>EVfiaj. 



Mila Star of Eve, whofe tranquil beams 



Are grateful to the gueen of Love ;— 

 Sweet Planet, whole etfulgence gleams 



More bright than all the Pow'rs above, 

 And only to the Moon's clear light 

 Yields the firft honours of the night ; 

 All hail, thou foft, thou holy Star, 



Fair glory of the midnight (ky ! 

 And when my (teps are wanderingfar. 



Leading the (hcpherd min(trelfy. 

 Then if the Moon deny her ray, 

 Oh light me, Helper, on my way I 

 No favsge robber of the dark. 



Mo fou! afl'ahn, claims thy aid 

 To point his dagger to its maik. 



Or guide him in his plund'ring trade.— 

 Wy gentle r errand is to prove 

 The iranfports of requited love. 



I will now add to thefe obfervafions a 

 ftiort account of the otner female baids 

 who dillinguifhed the earlier ages of 

 Greece. 



Etinne, the fair contemporary of Sap- 

 pho, h»!. been ulually callrd a Lcfb'an j 

 bpt there arc fome who nnke the idnid of 

 Teos, ,ind otheis that of Trios, the i iace 

 of her birth. Thouoh her life was fhoi t, 

 it was (ufficiently extended to piocure lier 

 an immortal fame. " The role (l^ys 

 Atbil e» I atius, in the L ves nf Clito. 

 phon and Leucippe) is .herefore called 

 ihc moll braniitul ot flowers, bccaule it 

 is moll Oiort-lived." He fays alio, 

 " There are two kinds of beauty, the 

 one pure and celeftial, the other grols -^nd 

 earthly." The latter kIIicics to the boily 

 in w:iich it relidcs, is fixcJ m the lorm of 

 a face or of a bofom, in the regular arch 

 ef an eye-brow, the ju(t fymn»etry of a 

 nofe, or the unfading coral of a lip. Its 

 Very cflence conlilU in the feature* in 



which it dvells. There is no attempt at 

 efcaping, no llruggling to afpire. Hence 

 the body which i inhabits, und'iUirbed, 

 and a! mo ft unanimatsd, generally laifs on 

 eirth dunnj the lonj^eK term that is allot- 

 ted to man, and when at iaif it dies, the 

 beauty whici; once dwelt there periflie* 

 alfo, nnd is b'-K'ed w^th it in tht earth — 

 This is grois esrthly beauty. The other 

 owes its origin to He?.ven, always afpires 

 to the place of its birth, and is only 

 fli.wn to us in the world before it is called 

 back again to '. s lioir.e. It cm hardly 

 bear tc be united to a mortal form. It 

 feems always anxious to break its prifon 

 and mount int > the ikies. Hence the fire 

 th^t enlightens the eyes, that feems trying 

 to cicape, and that darts it> luit'e upwards 

 info Heaven Hence the " eloquent 

 blood" that mounts into the face, that 

 animates the couritenance with rclcuit 

 perpetunlly varying and always lovely.— 

 Hence the quick inegulai pantings ot the 

 bteail ; nnd hence the gliitening moiflure 

 of the lips and eyes, which lo k as if the 

 Ibul were always nn the wing to efcape, 

 and fluttermg between the fpeech and the 

 fight. 



It is certain that fome degree of melan- 

 choly slw^'ys accompanies our admiration 

 of premature genius or of extraordinary 

 I'enfihility in early youth. The thread of 

 life feems toofiiely drawn to iaft ; and we 

 generally anticipate the (peedy lofs of fo 

 mucli lovelinefs and fweetnefs. Such wat 

 the fate of the beautiful Ennne. A po- 

 efefs from her cradle, in the Ih irt fpace of 

 eighteen years (he eftablirtied a reputation 

 which tier admirers have not h^litated to 

 place on a level with that of the great fa- 

 ther of epic poetry. Yet durii.g all this 

 time (he w,is apparently occi!picd only in 

 thole domellic concerns which in that age 

 Were the univerlial employmens of the 

 high-born as well as of the cottage mai- 

 den. She courted neither fame nor ho- 

 nour j but the Miifcs themfelvts delcend- 

 ed to her; they inlpired her foul with rap. 

 tures unknown to her laborious compa- 

 nions. 



Scarce nineteen fummer''uns had rtied 

 Youth's rofcs o'er the Virgin's head. 

 While by a guardi m-mother's fide 

 Her culloma y tafks (lie plied ; 

 Bade her ruh filki the loom prepare, 

 Or witch'd the dillaff's humb'.'- care: 

 Hermodeft worth the Mufes knew. 

 Brought her liih talents foith to view ; 

 With their own fires they fill'd her foul. 

 Bade her yoingeyc in tranlport roll, 

 And (ah! too foon from human eves !) 

 Bore her, their handmaid, to the (kics. 



She 



