r 



456 PHAON. 



Didft thou alio caft thyfelf headlong from the leu- 

 cadian rock ? 



Phaon.] Pardon me thy deaths o charming Sappho ! 



— I never thought that love would have driven thee 

 into fo ferious a defpair. 



Sappho.] What we called life, above, was a very 

 childifh ftate ! When I -now think upon my fonnets, 

 Pliaon — [_Sbe holds her hand bef ore her face. 



Phaon.] Let it not grieve thee, beautiful Sappho ! 

 Phaon regards thee, now with different eyes — 



Sappho, cut ling him floor t in his fpeech~] O certainly 

 not with eves more different than thofe with which 

 Sappho beholds the beautiful Phaon. 



Phaon, alarmed.'] How fo ? What doft thou mean ? 



— Afide] Gods ! I have not furely been flattering my- 

 felf too much ? 



Sappho.] Then I am really more agreeable to thee 

 here than I was at Mifylene ? 



Phaon.] And tli 011 — doft thou find me fo much 1 

 altered from what I was, when thou didft ftrive, by 

 thy impaffioned longs, to melt my heart to love — that 

 heart which Venus rnuft certainly have hardened in her 

 wrath ? 



Sapofio.! Forbear to call them to mv mind ! It is 

 fo furpriiing to me here — [She lays her hand on her 

 hmfii] — I find not the leaft alteration in thee. 



Phaon, faiflkly rffetutg at the fame time to take her by 

 the hand.] Really not ? 



Sappho, holding back her hand, j I fhtd thee juft as 

 fair, with juft the fame curled Jocks, the fame blue 

 eves, the fame rofy cheeks, the fame cherry iips, juft 

 as delicate and foft, and juft as much glowing with 

 t kifies- 



