full as that of Archilochus, but much more generous. He is a fiery AEolian noble, open-handed, free-drinking, frank, and passionate; and though he fought to order in case of need, he seems never to have written to order.
His younger contemporary SAPPHO-the name is variously spelt; there is authority for Psappha, Psaffo, and even Pspha-born at Ephesus, dwelling at Mitylene, shared the political fortunes of Alcaeus's party. We hear of a husband, whose name, Kerkylas of Andros, is not above suspicion; and of a daughter Kleis, whose existence is perhaps erroneously inferred from a poem-"I have a fair little child, with a shape like a golden flower, Kleis, my darling." She seems to have been the leader of a band of literary women, students and poetesses, held together by strong ties of intimacy and affection. It is compared in antiquity (Maximus Tyrius) to the circle of Socrates. Sappho wrote in the most varied styles-there are fifty different metres in our scanty remains of her-but all bear a strong impress of personal character. By the side of Alcaeus, one feels her to be a woman. Her dialect is more the native speech of Mitylene, where she lived; his the more literary. His interests cover war and drinking and adventure and politics; hers are all in personal feeling, mostly tender and introspective. Her suggestions of nature-the line, "I heard the footfall of the flowery spring"; the marvellously musical comparison, "Like the one sweet apple very red, up high on the highest bough, that the apple-gatherers have forgotten; no, not forgotten, but could never reach so far"-are perhaps more definitely beautiful than the love-poems which have made Sappho's name immortal. Two of these are preserved by accident; the rest of Sappho's poetry was publicly burned in 1073
