6 WOMAN IN SCIENCE 



little better than paraphrase and feeble imitation. Her 

 features were stamped on coins, " though she was but a 

 woman," and, after her death, altars were raised and 

 temples erected in honor of this "flower of the Graces, " of 



"That mighty songstress, whose unrivaled powers 

 Weave for the Muse a crown of deathless flowers." 



Second only to the "violet-crowned, pure, sweetly- 

 smiling Sappho," as her rival, Alcaeus, calls her, were 

 Gorgo, Andromeda and Corinna. The last of these was 

 the teacher of Pindar, the celebrated lyric poet, whom she 

 defeated five times in poetic contests in Thebes. 1 She was 

 one of the nine lyrical muses, corresponding to "the celes- 

 tial nine," who dwelt on the sacred slopes of Helicon. 2 

 Telesilla and Praxilla were two others. The last named 

 was by her countrymen ranked with Anacreon. 



Scarcely inferior to Corinna were those ardent pupils of 

 Sappho, who had flocked from the sunny isles of the JEgean 



1 Ariosto, referring to the undying fame of Sappho and Corinna, 

 expresses himself in words as beautiful as they are true, as witness 

 the following couplet: 



Saffo e Corinna, perche furon dotte, 

 Splendono illustri, e mai non veggon notte. 



ORLANDO FURIOSO, Canto XX, strophe I. 



2 The nine ' ' Terrestrial Muses ' ' were Sappho, Erinna, Myrus, 

 Myrtis, Corinna, Telesilla, Praxilla, Nossis and Anyta. 



The Greek poet Antipater embodies the names of the "Terres- 

 trial Nine" in an epigram which is well rendered in the appended 

 Latin translation: 



Has divinis linguis Helicon nutrivit mulieres 



Hymnis, et Macedon Pierias scopulus, 

 Prexillam, Myro, AnytsB os, f OBminam Homerum, 



Lesbidum Sappho ornamentum capillatarum. 

 Erinnam, Telesillam nobilem, teque Corinna, 



Strenuum Palladis scutum quae cecinit. 

 Nossidem muliebri lingua, et dulsisonam Myrtin, 



Omnes immortalium operatrices librorum. 

 Novem quidem Musas magnum coalum, novem vero illas 

 Terra genuit hominibus, immortalem laetitiam. 



