rrent tradition in his ideal representation
of Sappho's school at Lesbos--a marble exedra on the seashore at
Mytilene. The poetess is seated on the front row of seats, with her
favorite pupil, Erinna, standing by her side. Her chin rests on her
hands as she leans forward against the desk, listening intently as
Alcaeus plays the lyre. She is small, dark, beautiful, intense; and the
artist has "subtly caught the prophetic light of her soul, her eager
intellect, her unconscious grace, and the slumbering passion in her
eloquent eyes."

[Illustration 120 _SAPPHO IN HER SCHOOL OF POETRY IN LESBOS. After the
painting by Hector Leroux. Wharton, in his great_ Memoir of Sappho,
_says she "seems to have been the centre of society in
Mitylene,--capital of Lesbos,--a kind of aesthetic club devoted to the
service of the Muses. Around her gathered maidens from even
comparatively distant places, attracted by her fame, to study, under her
guidance, all that related to poetry and music". In the memoir he
defends her character and speaks of "the fervor of her love and the
purity of her life." The_ Encyclopedia Britannica _ranks her as
"incomparably the greatest poetess the world has ever seen."_]

Let us now consider the conditions under which Sappho's genius blossomed
to fruition.

There is a legend that after the Thracian women's murder of Orpheus, the
mythical singer of Hellas, his head and his lyre were thrown into the
sea and were wafted upon its waves to the island of Lesbos. This legend
is an allegory of the island's supremacy in song, and of the unbroken
continuity of lyric poetry from its budding in prehistoric times up to
its full flower among the Lesbian poets of the sixth century before the
Christian era. Every condition existed in Lesbos for the fostering of
the love of beauty and the cultivation of all the refinements of life.
The land itself presented mountain and coast, hill and dale, in pleasing
and harmonious variety, while about it billowed a brilliant sapphire
sea. The island was renowned for the salubrity of its climate, the
purity of its atmosphere, and the transparency of its skies. Its
inhabitants, owing to the variety of the products of the soil and their
attention to commerce, enjoyed unbounded prosperity. They gave
themselves up to the enjoyments of life, and cultivated everything that
contributed to luxury, elegance, and material well-being. The men
devoted their energies to politics and war and the pursuits