FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153  
154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   >>   >|  
he stars that the dawn was not far off. As the two approached the house, they discovered that the noise which had awakened the old slave, proceeded from the guests, who were preparing for departure. Urging her to make the greatest haste, Melitta pushed the frightened girl into the house, took her at once to her sleeping-room, and was beginning to undress her when Rhodopis entered. "You are still up, Sappho?" she asked. "What is this, my child?" Melitta trembled and had a falsehood ready on her lips, but Sappho, throwing herself into her grandmother's arms, embraced her tenderly and told the whole story of her love. Rhodopis turned pale, ordered Melitta to leave the chamber, and, placing herself in front of her grandchild, laid both hands on her shoulders and said earnestly, "Look into my eyes, Sappho. Canst thou look at me as happily and as innocently, as thou couldst before this Persian came to us?" The girl raised her eyes at once with a joyful smile; then Rhodopis clasped her to her bosom, kissed her and continued: "Since thou wert a little child my constant effort has been to train thee to a noble maidenhood and guard thee from the approach of love. I had intended, in accordance with the customs of our country, to choose a fitting husband for thee shortly myself, to whose care I should have committed thee; but the gods willed differently. [The Spartans married for love, but the Athenians were accustomed to negotiate their marriages with the parents of the bride alone.] Eros mocks all human efforts to resist or confine him; warm AEolian blood runs in thy veins and demands love; the passionate heart of thy Lesbian forefathers beats in thy breast. [Charaxus, the grandfather of our heroine, and brother of the poetess Sappho, was, as a Lesbian, an AEolian Greek.] What has happened cannot now be undone. Treasure these happy hours of a first, pure love; hold them fast in the chambers of memory, for to every human being there must come, sooner or later, a present so sad and desolate, that the beautiful past is all he has to live upon. Remember this handsome prince in silence, bid him farewell when he departs to his native country, but beware of hoping to see him again. The Persians are fickle and inconstant, lovers of everything new and foreign. The prince has been fascinated by thy sweetness and grace. He loves thee ardently now, but remember, he is young and handsome, courted by every o
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153  
154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Sappho
 

Melitta

 

Rhodopis

 

handsome

 

Lesbian

 
AEolian
 
prince
 

country

 
married
 

Spartans


heroine

 

grandfather

 
Athenians
 

accustomed

 
breast
 

Charaxus

 
differently
 
brother
 

happened

 

willed


poetess

 

forefathers

 

efforts

 

parents

 

marriages

 

demands

 

negotiate

 

passionate

 

resist

 

confine


Persians

 
fickle
 

inconstant

 

hoping

 

beware

 
farewell
 

departs

 
native
 

lovers

 
remember

ardently
 

courted

 
foreign
 
fascinated
 

sweetness

 

silence

 
Remember
 

chambers

 
memory
 

Treasure