El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-01-14
SapphO, First CIubwOman
Her Supposed Love Affairs Were
Fiction. but Her Genius Was I'm
questioned Through the Ages.
Madison C.. Peters
PHO, the divine muse of Plato

-By Madison C.. Peters
APPHO the divine muse of Plato"
who shared the lyric throne with
- Pindar, whom Horace and CatuIus
initiated and Aristotle quoted. though
she was woman" whose poems so af-
fected Scion that he expressed the de-
termination to learn them before he
died; whom Plutarch likened to ''the
heart of a volcano" yet none Of whom
ever caught the essence of her fiery
spirit. flourished about $40 years be-
fore the Christian era and today still
stands supreme in her own field She
was born in Mitylene. whose citizens
stamped their coin with her image in
honor of her birth and in testimony Of
respect for her memory hOnOred her
with affairs and temples after her death.
She was married young to CercOla,
and not many years after lost her hus-
band and determined against a second
marriage. The tradition that she fol-
lowed PhaOn across the sea, died Of
love and took the fatal leap from the
prOmOntOry of LeucaS, is now fairly
settled as a dream That she was eX-
lied is reasonably certain. There were
political cOnspiracies for which men
were banished and she may have writ
ten revolutionary songs. She probably
held too radical opinions on the privi-
leges of her sex, but her exile to Sicily
was brief. and she returned to Nifty
lene, where she was adOred by a tickle
populace as the glory Of her native
city
Famed For Her Poetry.
Her fame as a pOetess rivaled that
of Homer-she was called 'the pOetess,"
he "the poet" She was styled the
tenth muse" and the flower of the
graces" Her poems were sung to the
MixO-Lydian mode. Of which she was
herself the inventress, Astounding in
variety of novel and happy expressions
with which she enriched her native
language
of all Grecian women who cultivated
poetry, none equaled SapphO; of men,
very few, If any, surpassed her. Her
verses thrilled the world in a period
when lyric poetry reached its zenith,
and she was its finest representative
In the perfection of every line, the cor
respondence Of sense and sound and the
requisite symmetry Of the complete
odes raised her to the first rank OF
technical poetry. while her direct and
ferVid painting of passion has never
been surpassed The Romans erected
statue to her honor, and both ancient
and mOdernS have Wed with each other
in enthusiastic admiration Of her
genius There were nine volumes of
her works in existence in the days OF
Horace. scarcely 200 words survive to-
day, but what has descended to pos
terity justifies the panegyrics which
-
The attic comedians said unpleasant
things about her century after she
died. Her supposed love affairs were
inventions. Under the leadership OF
SapphO. women formed a center of in
tellectual light and it was no unusual
thing to see them at banquets and fes-
tivals with men The sO-called we'll
born Athenian women, the conserva-
tives, were decOrously ignorant stayed
at home, and it was a fOregOne con-
clusiOn that a woman who was educated
and a poet could not be respectable,
and If the facts were against this con-
clusiOn, 50 much the worse for the facts.
Founder Of First WOman's Club.
Aloeus, her fellow poet and rival ad-
dressed her as pure, sWeetly smiling
Sappho." She was the leader of an in
tellectual movement without parallel in
classic times and the founder of the
first wOman's club. The women who
came TO SapphO from the isles Of the
Aegean and the far hills of Greece
were as intent about writing poems
as they were enthusiastic in talking
about them
Sappho's most gifted friend. Erinna,
who died at 19, left a poem of 500
verses thought TO surpaSs her teachers
in hexameters and deserving a place
beside Homer. The women who sat at
Sappho's feet carried back to their dis
tant homes the spirit Of poesy and song
which inspired so many Hellenic women
to heroic words and brave deeds.
Sappho comes down not only as
woman, but as the peer Of great men
even $500 years ago wOman's genius
did not lack recognition.