Oh night more pleafing than the brightest day, 145
When fancy gives what abfence takes away, -
And, dress'd in all its vifionary charms,
Reftores my fair deferter to my arms!
Then round your neck in wanton wreaths I twine,
Then you, methinks, as fondly circle mine:
A thousand tender words I hear and fpeak;
A thousand melting kisses give, and take :
Then fiercer joys, I blush to mention these,
Yet, while I blush, confefs how much they please.
But when, with day, the sweet delusions fly,
And all things wake to life and joy, but I,
As if once more forfaken, I complain,
And close my eyes to dream of you again :
Then frantic rife, and like fome Fury rove
Thro' lonely plains, and thro' the filent grove, 160
As if the filent grove, and lonely plains,
That knew my pleafures, could relieve my pains.
I view the Grotto, once the scene of love,
The rocks around, the hanging roofs above,
That charm'd me more, with native mofs o'ergrown,
Than Phrygian marble, or the Parian ftone. 166
I find the fhades that veil'd our joys before;
But, Phaon gone, thofe fhades delight no more.
Here the prefs'd herbs with bending tops betray
Where oft entwin'd in am'rous folds we lay;
Agnovi preffas noti mihi cefpitis herbas:
De noftro curvum pondere gramen erat.
Incubui, tetigique locum qua parte fuifti;
Grata prius lacrymas combibit herba meas.
Quinetiam rami pofitis lugere videntur
Frondibus; et nullae dulce queruntur aves.
Sola virum non ulta pie moeftiffima mater
Concinit Ifmarium Daulias ales Ityn.
Ales Ityn, Sappho defertos cantat amores:
Hactenus, ut media caetera nocte filent.
Eft nitidus, vitroque magis perlucidus omni, Fons facer; hunc multi numen habere putant. Quem fupra ramos expandit aquatica lotos, Una nemus; tenero cespite terra viret. Hic ego cum laffos pofuiffem fletibus artus, Conftitit ante oculos Naïas una meos. Conftitit, et dixit, "Quoniam non ignibus aequis « Ureris, Ambracias terra petenda tibi. "Phoebus ab excelfo, quantum patet, afpicit aequor: "Actiacum populi Leucadiumque vocant. "Hinc fe Deucalion Pyrrhae fuccenfus amore "Mifit, et illaefo corpore preffit aquas. "Nec mora: verfus Amor tetigit lentiffima Pyrrhae "Pectora ; Deucalion igne levatus erat.
I kifs that earth which once was prefs'd by you,
And all with tears the with'ring herbs bedew.
For thee the fading trees appear to mourn,
And birds defer their fongs till thy return:
Night fhades the groves, and all in filence lie, 175
All but the mournful Philomel and I:
With mournful Philomel I join my strain,
Of Tereus fhe, of Phaon I complain.
A fpring there is, whose filver waters show,
Clear as a glafs, the fhining fands below:
A flow'ry Lotos spreads its arms above,
Shades all the banks, and seems itself a grove;
Eternal greens the moffy margin grace,
Watch'd by the fylvan Genius of the place.
Here as I lay, and swell'd with tears the flood, 185
Before my fight a wat'ry Virgin ftood:
She stood and cry'd, "O you that love in vain !
Fly hence, and feek the fair Leucadian main; "There stands a rock, from whose impending steep "Apollo's fane furveys the rolling deep; "There injur'd lovers leaping from above, "Their flames extinguish, and forget to love. "Deucalion once with hopeless fury burn'd, "In vain he lov'd, relentless Pyrrha scorn'd: "But when from hence he plung'd into the main, "Deucalion scorn'd, and Pyrrha lov'd in vain.
"Hanc legem locus ille tenet, pete protinus altam
"Leucada; nec faxo defiluiffe time."
Ut monuit; cum voce abiit. Ego frigida furgo: 200
Nec gravidae lacrymas continuere genae.
Ibimus, O Nymphae, monftrataque faxa petemus.
Sit procul infano victus amore timor.
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 posui 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 :
Et forma et meritis tu mihi Phoebus eris.
An potes, o fcopulis undaque ferocior illa,
Si moriar, titulum mortis habere meae ?
*Hafte, Sappho, hafte, from high Leucadia throw
"Thy wretched weight, nor dread the deeps below!
She spoke, and vanish'd with the voice- I rife,
And filent tears fall trickling from my eyes.
I go, ye Nymphs! those rocks and feas to prove.
How much I fear, but ah, how much I love!
I go, ye Nymphs, where furious love inspires;
Let female fears fubmit to female fires.
To rocks and seas I fly from Phaon's hate,
And hope from feas and rocks a milder fate.
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 Phoebus' fhrine my harp I'll then beftow,
And this Infcription fhall be plac'd below.
"Here the who fung, to him that did inspirê,
"Sappho to Phoebus confecrates her Lyre;
"What suits with Sappho, Phoebus, fuits with thee;
The gift, the giver, and the God agree."
But why, alas, relentless youth, ah why
To distant feas must tender Sappho fly?
Thy charms than those may far more pow'rful be,
And Phoebus' felf is lefs a God to me.
Ah! can't thou doom me to the rocks and fea,
O far more faithlefs and more hard than they?
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