Sappho. If thy desire had been for aught
Noble or honourable, not
For vileness which a vile heart taught
Thy tongue, thine eyes had drooped not so
With shame: thy tongue had voiced a thought
So honest, all the world might know.
XII.
A last word at parting.
(Fragment 29.)
Stand face to face with me a space,
Friend of my heart,
For one long gaze on thine eyes' grace
Before we part.
XIII.
Leto and Niobe.
It is recorded by Hesiod that Zeus wedded Leto before Hera his sister became his queen. It is here assumed that the Niobe referred to is not that one whose arrogant boast against Leto drew on her the vengeance of Apollo and Artemis in the slaughter of all her children, but the Niobe of an older legend, who became by Zeus the mother of Argus and Pelasgus.
(Fragments 31, 30, 49, 51, 65, 60, 73, 46, 54, 53, 57, 43, 39, 64 combined.)
In the childhood of time, in the infancy
Of Heaven and Earth and Ocean's tide,
Dear friends were Leto and Niobe;
And these twain paced together beside
