Turtles and doves of different hues unite,
And gloffy jet is pair'd with fhining white.
If to no charms thou wilt thy heart refign,
But fuch as merit, fuch as equal thine,
By none, alas! by none thou can't be mov'd,
Phaon alone by Phaon must be lov❜d!
Yet once thy Sappho could thy cares employ,
Once in her arms you center'd all your joy :
No time the dear remembrance can remove,
For oh! how vast a memory has love?
My mufic, then, you could for ever hear,
And all my words were mufic to your ear.
You ftopp'd with kiffes my enchanting tongue,
And found my kiffes fweeter than my fong.
In all I pleas'd, but most in what was best;
And the last joy was dearer than the rest
Then with each word, each glance, each motion fir'd,
You still enjoy'd, and yet you still defir'd,
Till all diffolving 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 boast
That wand'ring heart which I fo lately lost;
Nor be with all thofe tempting words abus'd,
Those tempting words were all to Sappho us'd.
VER. 51. No time, c.] This is very inferior to the concifeness and fimplicity of the original, memini (meminerunt omnia amantes).
An gravis inceptum peragit fortuna tenorem?
Et manet in curfu femper acerba fuo?
Sex mihi natales ierant, cum lecta parentis
Ante diem lacrymas offa bibere meas.
Arfit inops frater, victus meretricis amore;
Miftaque cum turpi damna pudore tulit.
Factus inops agili peragit freta corula remo:
Quafque 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 fparfi fine lege capilli;
Nec premit articulos lucida gemma meos.
Veste tegor vili: nullum eft in crinibus aurum :
Non Arabo nofter rore capillus olet.
Cui colar infelix? aut cui placuiffe laborem?
Ille mihi cultus unicus auctor abeft.
Molle meum levibus cor eft violabile telis ;
Et femper caufa eft, cur ego femper amem.
Sive ita nafcenti legem dixere forores,
Nec data funt vitæ fila fevera meæ ;
Sive abeunt ftudia in mores, artefque magiftræ,
Ingenium nobis molle Thalia facit.
Quid mirum, fi me primæ lanuginis ætas
Abftulit, atque anni, quos vir amare potest?
you that rule Sicilia's happy plains,
Have pity, Venus, on your Poet's pains!
Shall fortune ftill in one fad tenor run,
And still increase the woes fo foon begun?
Inur'd to forrow from my tender years,
My parent's afhes drank my early tears;
My brother next, neglecting wealth and fame,
Ignobly burn'd in a deftructive flame:
An infant daughter late my griefs increas'd,
And all a mother's cares diftract 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 di'monds glow;
No more my locks in ringlets curl'd diffuse
The coftly sweetness of Arabian dews,
Nor braids of gold the varied treffes bind,
That fly difordered with the wanton wind:
For whom should Sappho ufe fuch arts as these?
He's gone, whom only the desir❜d to please!
Cupid's light darts my tender bofom move,
Still is there cause for Sappho still to love:
So from my birth the Sifters fix'd my doom,
And
gave to Venus all my
life to come;
Or, while my Mufe 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?
Hunc ne pro Cephalo raperes, Aurora, timebam:
Et faceres; fed te prima rapina tenet.
Hunc fi confpiciat quæ confpicit omnia, Phœbe;
Juffus erit fomnos continuare Phaon.
Hunc Venus in cœlum curru vexiffet eburno;
Sed videt et Marti poffe placere fuo.
O nec adhuc juvenis, nec jam puer! utilis ætas!
O decus, atque ævi gloria magna tui!
Huc ades, inque finus, formofe, relabere noftros:
Non ut ames oro, verum ut amare finas.
Scribimus, et lacrymis oculi rorantur obortis :
Afpice, quam fit in hoc multa litura loco.
Si tam certus eras hinc ire, modeftius iffes,
Et modo dixiffes: Lefbi puella, vale.
Non tecum lacrymas, non ofcula fumma tulifti ;
Denique non timui, quod dolitura fui.
Nil de te mecum eft, nifi tantum injuria: nec tu,
Admoneat quod te, pignus amantis habes.
VER. 107. Scribimus,] Scrope's tranflation in this paffage again excels Pope's:
"My conftant falling tears the paper stain,
And my weak hand, &c."
For thofe Aurora Cephalus might scorn,
And with fresh blushes paint the conscious morn.
For thofe might Cynthia lengthen Phaon's fleep,
And bid Endymion nightly tend his fheep.
Venus for thofe had rapt thee to the fkies,
But Mars on thee might look with Venus' eyes.
O fcarce a youth, yet scarce a tender boy!
O useful time for lovers to employ !
Pride of thy age, and glory of thy race,
Come to these arms, and melt in this embrace!
The vows you never will return, receive;
And take at least the love you will not give.
See, while I write, my words are loft in tears!
The less my fenfe, the more my love appears.
Sure 'twas not much to bid one kind adieu,
(At least to feign was never hard to you,)
Farewell, my Lesbian love, you might have faid;
Or coldly thus, Farewell, O Lesbian maid!
No tear did you, no parting kiss receive,
Nor knew I then how much I was to grieve.
No lover's gift your Sappho could confer,
And wrongs and woes were all you left with her.
VER. 110. The lefs my fenfe, the more my love appears.] Ruffhead obferves, that this line is fuperior to the original,
Afpice, quam fit in hoc multa litura loco;
which he thinks flat and languid: but the fimplicity of the appeal to the blot on her paper is admirable, and fhould be only mentioned as a fact. The imitator has deftroyed the whole beauty of the line, by a quaint antithefis, and a laboured arrangement of words, which are not natural in affliction.
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