Kitap 3
And real Philetas and Anacreon's verse,Philetas was a native of the island of Cos in the AEgean sea; a celebrated poet and writer of elegies, and flourished under Philip and his son Alexander the Great. Ovid calls Anacreon the old man of Teios, who loved drinking so well. He was a lyric poet, and Pliny tells us he choked himself with a grape-stone as he was drinking.
Terentian plays may much the mind improve;The ancients used to call their servants by the names of the countries from whence they came, as Lydus, Syrus. Dacus; so Geta comes from the country of Getae. The French to this day do the same, and call their footmen Champagne, le Picard, le Gascon, le Bourginon. etc. And Sir George Etheridge, in his Sir Fopling Flutter, the Hampshire, etc., speaking to his valet imitates this custom.
405
But softest Sappho best instructs to love.Sappho is made famous by almost all the poets of antiquity, as well as by her own writings. She was born at Mytelene in the Isle of Lesbos, and was contemporary with Alceus. She wrote nine books of elegy, and several epigrams and satires. The Sapphic verges took their name from her. There is nothing of her compositions extant, besides a hymn to Venus, and an ode to a young girl whom she loved. According to some authors, she flung herself into the sea because Phaon neglected her. Her sentiments were very tender in her verses, wherefore Ovid advises lovers to read them.
