The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-04-12
poErEss OF ANCIENT GREECE

IF. Myron Colby. ia Chronological Journal Probably there has been no age of the world when women did not exercise a commanding influence. We know o none at least in which representatives ol the sex have not either by dazzing beauty passionate devotion, augus, abilities, ol splendid sovereignty rYiumphed cyer usage or conversation a..11 1ol tor them
 selves reverence and fame. The stage oi history is illumin ated by a constant sue
 cession of feminine characters whose glory IS not surpassed by that ot ter masculine rivals. Brilliant gleams shine here and there aloag t%e stream of time
 marking the epoch of some gifted wo- man. Through the mist and ,he gloom the ignorance and the crime of centuries, we catch ever and anon the glimpse oi some fair head ciowned-,his one with the laurel of Apollo. that one with inc diadem of sovereignty; now with the olive Of Minerva, and then with the au- reole of the saint. The line has no be- ginning. even as il sill have no ending. In old Egypt. as long ago as when the pyramids were young. queenly heroines vied with the Rameses and the Tho.hmes Tn the claims to greatness. Ever since then the brightest gleams of light centre about some women AS the principal tig urc of her epoch. In k,ng Solomon $ time it was the queen of Sheba; Tn the early days of the Christian church. a Mo nlca or d Hydatia: in the fcudal ages. an Elizabeth of Hungary Heloise, and a i loan of Arc.
 Sappho. Ar,emisia. and Aspasia are H { .,aaI. A-l ,b are not the only representative women of their age. bu, they are the best represent atives of their race Moreover. each represented one ot the three great f,mi- lies into which the Hellenic race was dl- ylded Sappho belonged 10 the i.tolian gems : sine had the ire, the peetical gen rus. the sensuousness of her "a re- Arie- misla was Dorian; no ire. nc passion. no genus for for poetic numbers here {: bat there was the adaptabilty 10 com mand, the genus for making political combinations. courage. enterprise, and cunning. The quick Ionian blood of i Aspasia could have made her poet ike Slppho. or d warrior-queen like Artemi- sla but circumstances made her phi losopher, grammarian. a wom .n of wit and of learning. They were separated i by centuries as well as by race.
 Three consecutive centuries marked 1 their epochs, and each vas the woman of her century. The sixth century before the Christian era was the age of lyric 1 poetry. No sweeter singer than Slppho ] ever touched the Tyre. The hfth century was An age of warlike eonques,s and po- l litioal combinations. Artemisia and Ze- nobia and Maria Theresa combined. The fourth century saw the elimination of Grecian art, philosophy. and literature In that august galaxy around the Parihe- non and the Agora there IS no preuder ! figure than Aspasia $. So much for gen erals-let us now go into particulars.
 Sappho was married quite early Tn life to Ccrcolas, a native of the island of An thos, by whom she had a daughter named Cleis. Cercolas died in the course of two or three years. and his young widow returned to Mitylene with her child, which she speaks of as being re- markedly beautiful. Sappho herselfwas also beautiful-of this there is scarcely a doubt. Her portrait on the coins of Nifty lcne IS that of a tall, stately woman, with a face of exquisite beauty. On a Girgen- tan vase of the fifth century B. (. she is represented with Alcus. who was her contemporary and perhaps her lover ad- dressed her in one of his songs as the dark-haired, spotiess, sxeetly- Sappho." Plato, Plutaroh and A,heneus all term her Beautiful. an expression winch some, withou, sufficient reason, think, have taken to refer to her poetcal merits and not her person. She is said Tn particular to have had eyes of great brIllianoy.
 The age in whic ch Sappho lived was one of intellectual activity. IL was the era of the wise men-of Solon, of Pi,la- GUS. and of Thales. Especially was she fortunate in the place of her birth. Les bos was the most eligible as to scenery, climate, and situation of all the Greek islands. IL was the home ot several of the most eminent men ot that day. Nifty lene was one of the principal seats of Grecian intelligence and refinement. Po- etry and music and philosophy appear to have fiourished here al an earlier date than anywhere else in the Hellenic world. Arion and Terpander had already won their well-eaned laurels in the field of lyric poetry, and Alo.eus was awaken ing his muse to follow in a noble flight, while revered through all Asia and Greece was the wisdom of,he sage P,ta- GUS, her countryman. whose famous maxim. Know occasion." aues,s his practical ability as well as his intelll- gence.
 In this intellectual atmosphere Sappho had grown ap. She seems to have been poet from childhood. for she had al- ready won a reputation a, her husbands death. And she was something more than poetess. She had mind graced with the best culture and learning of the time. She loved knowledge, and she strove 10 educate her sex. Her address 10 an uneducated woman shows how dearly she prized knowledge The though, of lying in the tomb forgotten having never scented the roses of pieria. and walking undis,insuished among the ghosts of Hades-spurred Sappho on 10 fame. No other woman of her age ever thought of such an inspiration, but Sap pho's example was no, lost,