LIFE OF SAPPHO

better information in this matter ?—Socrares: I
cannot say off-hand ; but I have certainly got it from
one of them, from the beautiful Sappho perhaps, or
from the wise Anacreon, or some writer of history.
Maximus of Tyre: . . . the beautiful Sappho, for
so Socrates rejoices to eall her because of the beauty
of her lyrie verse, although she was small and dark.

Ovid Letters of the Heroines [Sappho to Phaon|]:
If crabbed Nature has denied me beauty, I make
up for the laek of it with wit; nor should you
despise me for one that hath both small stature
and little fame. Little I am indeed, but I have
a name which fills the world, and ‘tis by the measure
of that I go. If I am not fair, remember that
Cepheian Andromeda found favour with Perseus,
dark though she was with the hue of her birthplace,
remember that white doves mate with pied, dark
turtle-doves with green.

Lucian Porfrails [on an ideal picture of Wit and
Wisdom|: For a second and third model (after
Aspasia) we might take Theano and the Lesbian
lyrist, and for a fourth Divtima, Theano contributing
to our picture greatness of mind and Sappho refine-
ment of character...

Scholiast on the passage: Physically Sappho was
very ill-favoured, being read and dark, like a nightin-
gale with ill- shapen wings enfolding a tiny body.

Porphyrio on Horace [ Lucilius used to confide
his secrets to his books as though to a faithful
eomrade|: This idea comes from Ἂν istoxenus, who

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