He said to me: “What seekest thou?--I follow the tracks of a satyr. His little cloven steps alternate like holes in a white mantle.” He said to me: “The satyrs are dead. “The satyrs and the nymphs also. For thirty years there has been no winter so terrible. The track thou seest is that of a buck. But let us rest here, where their tomb is.” And with the iron of his hoe, he broke the ice of the spring where once laughed the naiads. He lifted the great cold masses and, raising them toward the pale sky, he gazed about him. ELEGIACS AT MYTILENE Εὐμορφοτέρα Μνασιδίκα τᾶς ἁπαλᾶς Γυριννῶς. SAPPHO. “Mnasidika is more shapely than the tender Gyrinno.” (F. 76. Wharton.) XLV TO THE VESSEL Beautiful ship that has brought me here, along the shores of Ionia, I abandon thee to the glistening waves, and, with a light foot, I leap upon the beach. Thou wilt return to the country where the virgin is the friend of the nymphs. Forget not to thank those invisible counsellors, and carry them, as an offering, this branch plucked by my hands. Thou wert once a pine, and, on the mountains, the vast hot Notos shook thy branches with their squirrels and birds. Let Boreos be now thy guide and push thee softly toward the port, black ship, escorted by dolphins, at the will of the kindly sea. XLVI PSAPPHA I rub my eyes.... Is it already day, I wonder. Ah! who is this near me?... a woman?... By Paphia, I had forgotten.... O Charites; how I am shamed. To what country am I come, and what is this island where one learns thus of love? If I were not all wearied, I would believe it a dream.... Is it possible that this is the Psappha? She sleeps.... She is certainly beautiful, although her hair is cut like that of an athlete. But this astonishing countenance, this virile breast, and these narrow hips.... I would like to go before she awakens. Alas! I am against the wall. I must step over her. I am afraid lest I touch her hip and that she will take me as I pass. XLVII THE DANCE OF GLOTTIS AND KYSE Two little girls carried me away to their house and, with the door firmly closed, they lighted the wick of a lamp and wished to dance for me. Their cheeks were not painted and were brown as their little bellies. They pulled each other by the arms and talked at the same time in an agony of gaiety. Seated on a mattress raised upon two trestles, Glottis sang in a sharp voice and struck the measures with her sonorous little palms. Kyse danced shakily, then stopped, suffocated with laughter, took her sister by the breasts, bit her on the shoulder and threw her down like a goat that wishes to play. XLVIII COUNSELS