xerted great influence on the course of events; but it cannot
be said that they have been intellectual. At the time mentioned, there
occurred an unusual movement in the intellectual realm. This remarkable
movement centres about the name of the first great historical woman of
Greece--Lesbian Sappho, "the Tenth Muse." In the history of universal
woman, Sappho holds a position altogether unique; for she is not only
regarded as the greatest of lyric poets, but she was also the founder of
the first woman's club of which we have any record. Sappho consecrated
herself heart and soul to the elevation of her sex. As poetry and art
constitute the natural channels for the aesthetic cultivation of woman,
she trained her pupils to be poets like herself. The result of her
lifelong devotion to the service of Aphrodite and the Muses was that she
herself not only achieved an immortal reputation as a poet, but through
her inspiring influence her pupils carried the love of poetry and of
intellectual and artistic pursuits back to their distant homes. Hence,
it is not surprising to learn that from this time there were to be
found here and there in the Greek world women who in intellectual
pursuits were the peers of their male compeers, and that there should be
found among women the nine terrestrial Muses, so called as a counterpart
to the celestial Nine.

Sappho's unique greatness is best appreciated when we consider how she
has been regarded by the great men of antiquity and of modern times.

Among the Greeks, she possessed the unique renown of being called "The
Poetess," just as Homer was "The Poet." Solon, hearing one of her poems,
prayed that he might not see death until he had learned it. Plato
numbered her among the wise. Aristotle quotes without reservation a
judgment that placed her in the same rank as Homer and Archilochus.
Plutarch likens her "to the heart of a volcano," and says that the grace
of her poems acted on her listeners like an enchantment, and that when
he read them he set aside the drinking cup in very shame. Strabo called
her "a wonderful something," and says that "at no period within memory
has any woman been known who, in any way, even the least degree, could
be compared to her for poetry." Demetrius of Phaleron adds his word of
praise: "Wherefore Sappho is eloquent and sweet when she sings of beauty
and of love and spring, and of the kingfisher; and every beautiful
expression is woven into her poetry besides what s