m. \ 
 
TRANSLATIONS 
 
 INTO ENGLISH AND LATIN. 
 
Clambrftigc : 
 
 PRINTED BY C. J. CLAf. M.A. 
 AT THE UNmiKSlTY PRESS. 
 
TRANSLATIONS 
 
 INTO ENGLISH AND LATIN. 
 
 BY 
 
 C. S. CALVERLEY, 
 
 LATE FELLOW OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 arambritfnc : 
 
 DEIGHTON, BELL, AND CO. 
 
 LONDON: BELL AND DALDY. 
 
 1866 
 
ml 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 OF the following Translations, those into Latin 
 were done for pupils at College, and a few, 
 both of them and of the English ones, have been in 
 print before. As they were mixed np with verses 
 of a lighter kind, and probably did not come under 
 the notice of most of those who will read the pre- 
 sent volume, they have been reprinted here. On 
 one (Horace, Book i. Ode 11) a reviewer observed 
 that the last Hne was "a reminiscence of the 
 Princess," as of course it was. To anticipate any 
 similar criticisms it may be worth while to say a few 
 words. 
 
 4-^9844 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 I have nowhere adopted a phrase or word of 
 any previous translator, I had translated the first 
 Iliad before Lord Derby's or Mr Wright's Homer 
 appeared, and the second before I had seen their 
 versions. The same remark applies, mutatis mu- 
 tandis, to Professor Conington's Horace. I did 
 not know till I had finished the Eclogues that any 
 translation of them existed, for Dryden's, I suppose, 
 scarcely counts as a translation. Since then I have 
 met with Mr Kennedy's Virgil, and availed myself 
 of it to correct my rendering of line 79 of Eclogue ill. 
 
 On the other hand, I have taken without scru- 
 ple any expression of an original writer which 
 seemed to me to be the equivalent of the Latin 
 or Greek with which I had to deal. And as I 
 happen to have borrowed in all cases from well- 
 known writers, and passages which must be familiar 
 to every one who reads at all, I have not thought 
 it necessary to call attention to the fact each time, 
 
PREFACE. vii 
 
 by quotation commas or otherwise. Quotation com- 
 mas for this purpose are, I think, open to more 
 objections than one : and surely it would be super- 
 fluous to specify in a note that e.g. such a phrase 
 as " catch the blossom of to-day " was caught from 
 Tennyson. 
 
 c. s. c. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 TRANSLATIONS INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 Homer, Iliad I. . 
 
 . 
 
 • 
 
 PAGE 
 I 
 
 J) >» 
 
 II. . 
 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 ViEGiL, Eclogue I. 
 
 
 . 
 
 85 
 
 ., 
 
 II.. 
 
 . 
 
 
 9T 
 
 „ 
 
 III. 
 
 
 
 95 
 
 51 )> 
 
 IV. 
 
 V. 
 
 VI. 
 
 • 
 
 . 
 
 102 
 106 
 112 
 
 )> >> 
 
 VII. 
 
 
 . 
 
 117 
 
 
 VIII. 
 IX. 
 
 • 
 
 • 
 
 121 
 
 129 
 
 )> J> 
 
 X. 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 134 
 
 HoBACE's Odes, Ek. I. 
 
 Ode 9. 
 
 To Thaliarchus . 
 
 141 
 
 » » 
 
 » 
 
 II. 
 
 To Leuconoe 
 
 M3 
 
 )> j> 
 
 )» 
 
 14. 
 
 To a Ship . 
 
 144 
 
 }> )) 
 
 >) 
 
 24. 
 
 To Virgil 
 
 146 
 
 >) j> 
 
 „ 
 
 28. 
 
 To Archytas 
 
 14S 
 
 )> !? 
 
 J! 
 
 38. 
 
 To his Slave . 
 
 151 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Hobace'3 Odes, Bk. III. i. Odi profanum . . 152 
 
 „ „ 2. Angustam, amice . 155 
 
 „ „ 3. Justum et tenacem . 157 
 
 ,, ,, 4. Descende ccelo . . 161 
 
 ,, ,, 5. Ccelo tonantem . . 166 
 
 „ ,, 6. Delicta majorum . 169 
 
 „ ,, 13. To the Fount of Bandusia 172 
 
 „ ,, 18. To a Faun . . 173 
 
 „ „ IV. 13. To Lyce . . . 174 
 
 Horace, Epode 2. Beatus ille .... 1 76 
 
 From ViEGiL, Georgic, iii. 515 180 
 
 ,, Sophocles, Ajax, 646 182 
 
 ,, Catullus, Sirmio 185 
 
 TRANSLATIONS INTO LATIN. 
 
 Lycidas {Milton) 186 
 
 Boadicea {Cowper) 204 
 
 Come live with me (Marloive) . . . . . 210 
 
 If all the world {BaleUjh) 212 
 
 While musing thus (Bradstreet) . . . . 214 
 
 Sweet day {Ilcrhert} 218 
 
 In memoriam {Tennyson) ...... 220 
 
 Tears, idle tears {Tennyson) 224 
 
 Pa. Iv. verses 4 — 8 226 
 
 Of holier joy {Trench) 228 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 PAGE 
 
 From the Analogy (Butler) 230 
 
 Fountain that sparkiest ...... 232 
 
 Go up and watch (Kcble) ..... 234 
 
 Winter {Thomson) ■23S 
 
 Leaves have their time (Hcvians) .... 24'i 
 
 My Brother's Grave {Moultrie) . . . • 246 
 
 Let us turn {Trench) "250 
 
 (Enone {Tennyson) .....•• ^54 
 
 The Soldier's Dream {Campbell) .... 256 
 
 From the Giaour {Byron) ^60 
 
 Gleniffer {Tannahlll) ^64 
 
 He sung what spirit {Cowley) ■J^S 
 
 The Nereid maids {Landor) 270 
 
 Weep no more {Fletcher) ^74 
 
 Glumdalitch's Lament {Pope) . . . . 176 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 132, line 7, /or now read how. 
 ' „ 135, „ I3> /o»" goat read goat." 
 ,, 163, ,, 2, /or thorpe read thorj). 
 
HOMER'S ILIAD. Book I. 
 
 rpHE A\Tatli of Peleus' son, that evil wrath 
 -*- Which on Achaia piled a myriad woes, 
 Oh Goddess, sing : which down to darkness hurled 
 Brave souls of mighty men, and made their flesh 
 A prey to dogs and every ravening fowl. 5 
 
 Yet Zeus his will was working: since the day 
 ^Yl\en first 'twixt Atreus son, the King of men, 
 And proud Achilles there arose up war. 
 
 Whsd sfod, then, bade those twain stand forth 
 and strive? 
 Zeus's and Leto's son. He, angered sore 10 
 
 Against the King, sent pestilence abroad 
 
 B 
 
f'.{''/-l\ ; /; HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book I. 
 
 Among the army, that the people died : 
 
 For that of Atreus' son had been disdained 
 
 His servant, Chryses. To redeem his child 
 
 With ransom measureless had Chryses come 15 
 
 Ev'n to the Achaian war-ships — in his hand 
 
 The emblem of the god who smites from far, 
 
 Apollo, high upon a staff of gold. 
 
 To all the Greeks he prayed, but most of all 
 
 To Atreus' sons, twin captains of the host. 20 
 
 " O Ati'eus' sons, and bravely-harnessed Greeks ! 
 The gods, whose dwelling is Olympus, grant 
 That ye may sack Priam's city, and regain 
 Your homes rejoicing ! Yea and unto me 
 May give my child, my own, and take her price, 25 
 Since gi'eat is Zeus's son, the god who smites from 
 far." 
 
 Forthwith from all the host came loud ac- 
 claim : 
 "Take the rich ransom, reverence the priest." 
 The soul of Agamemnon, Atreus' son. 
 Alone it liked not : scornfully he bade him 30 
 
Book I.] HOMEE'S ILIAD. 3 
 
 Begone, and laid on him a hard command. 
 
 "Let me not find thee by the hollow siiips 
 Or lingering now, old man, or yet again 
 Returning ! Little shall avail thee then 
 Apollo's staff and emblem. For the girl, ;^^ 
 
 I yield her not, till old age come on her 
 Ev'n in my home, in Ai'gos, far away 
 From her. own country; while she plies the loom 
 And tends my bed. But go, provoke me not : 
 So peradventure shall we part in peace." 40 
 
 So spake he ; and the old man feared, and did 
 His bidding. Mute he moved along the shore. 
 Among the noises of the boisterous sea : 
 And there, apart from men, prayed many a prayer 
 To gold-haired Leto's son, his King, Apollo. 45 
 
 "Oh hear me, thou who standest round about 
 Chryse and sacred Cilia — mighty lord 
 Of Tenedos, who wield'st the silver bow 1 
 Sminthian ! If ever I have budded up 
 From floor to roof a temple in thy praise, 50 
 
 Or ever burned to thee fat flesh of goats 
 
 b2 
 
4 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book I. 
 
 And oxen : then accomplish this my prayer : 
 And let thy shafts avenge my tears upon the 
 Greeks." 
 
 So prayed he, and Apollo heard his prayer. 
 Yea from Olympus' heights he gat him down, ^^ 
 Wrath in his sovil : upon his shoulder hung 
 The bow, and quiver covered all around. 
 Rang on the shoulder of the angiy god 
 The aiTows, as he stirred him : on he came 
 Like night: and by the ships he sate him down. 60 
 Twang-ed with a terrible twang the silver bow 
 As he sent forth one shaft. And first of all 
 He visited the mules and swift-paced dogs : 
 Next at their own flesh levelling his keen dart 
 Smote, and for aye burned on the thick-strown pyres 
 of slain. 6^ 
 
 Nine days his arrows went abroad among 
 The host : and on the tenth Achilles called 
 Tlie folk to council. Moved thereto was he 
 By Here, white-armed goddess; for she saw 
 Achaians dying, and it pitied her. 70 
 
Book I.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 5 
 
 To whom when met, and ranged in meet condave, 
 Achilles swift of foot arose and spake. 
 
 "Oh sons of Atreus! Now, I trow, will we 
 Turn us again, and drift — if flee we may 
 From death — ev'n thither whence we came : since 
 war 75 
 
 And pestilence at once lay low the Greeks. 
 But hearken. Seek we now some seer, or priest ; 
 Or dream-interpreter ; — dreams come from Zeus ; — 
 To tell us what hath stirred Apollo thus. 
 If of a prayer, a sacrifice withheld, So 
 
 He doth rebuke us : should it be his will, 
 Incense of lambs and goodliest of the goats 
 Accepting, to remove from us this plague." 
 
 He spake and sate him down. Then rose to them 
 High chief of augurs, Calchas, Thestor's son, 85 
 "Who knew what is and was and is to be, 
 Who into Ilion piloted the Greeks, 
 By virtue of his art, Apollo's gift. 
 He friendly-minded rose and spake in the midst. 
 
 " Lo 1 thou command'st me, oh beloved of Zeus, 
 
G HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book I. 
 
 Achilles, to declare Apollo's wrath, 91 
 
 The far-off-smiting King. Now therefore I 
 Will speak : heed thou, and swear that of a tnitli 
 Freely thou'lt aid me both with tongue and arm. 
 Yea, for I think to anger one who rules 95 
 
 With might the Argives; and upon him wait 
 The Achaians. Now a vantage hath a King, 
 Let but a meaner man have angered him : 
 For though to-day his fury simmer down. 
 Yet thenceforth wrath abideth — till it work 100 
 Its purpose — in the bosom of the King. 
 Wherefore bethink thee, wilt thou succour me ?" 
 
 And then Achilles swift o^ foot replied. 
 " The thing that thou dost know take heart and speak. 
 For by Apollo, loved of Zeus, whom thou, 105 
 Oh Calchas, worshipping interpretest 
 Unto the Danaans the things of God : — 
 The hand of no man out of all this host 
 Shall, while 1 live and see the light of day, 
 By yon broad ships be heavy upon thee: no 
 
 Not if thou namest Agamemnon, him 
 Who vaunts himself this day the chiefest Greek." 
 
Book!.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 7 
 
 Then the good prophet took him heart and spake. 
 " Not of a prayer or of a sacrifice 
 Doth he rebuke: but for his servant's sake, 115 
 Whom Agamemnon did disdain, nor gave 
 His chiki, nor took her price : for this, I ween, 
 The Smiter deals us, and shall deal us, woe. 
 And heavy still shall be his wasting hand. 
 Till to her father dear the bright-eyed maid 120 
 Be giv'n, unbought, unransomed ; and w^e bear 
 To Chryse holy sacrifice. This done. 
 It may be he will hear us and repent." 
 
 He spake, and sate him down. Then rose to 
 them 
 Broad-realm^d Agamemnon, Atreus' son, 125 
 
 A mighty man, sore angered. Fury filled 
 His heart's dark places : gleamed his eyes like fires. 
 First Calchas, boding mischief, he bespake. 
 
 " Prophet of ill ! Thou spak'st me never yet 
 A fair word. For thy soul loves evil still, 130 
 Nor aught good spak'st thou e'er, or brought'st to 
 pass. 
 
8 HOMEH'S ILIAD. [Book L 
 
 What propliesiest tliou now before the host ? 
 Sooth, that for this the Smiter works them 
 
 woe; 
 Because I would not for rich ransom loose 
 • The girl Chryseis, No! at home would I 135 
 
 Possess her : I prefer her to my wife, ■ 
 My first-wed wife : she is Clytemnestra's match 
 In stature, shape, and mind, and handicraft. 
 Yet will I yield her up, if this be best. 
 I'd liefer see my people live than die. 140 
 
 Ye deck me straight a gift, lest I alone 
 Of Greeks ungifted be. That were not meet. 
 For see all men, my gift goes otherwhere." 
 
 And then the swift Achilles answered him. 
 " Most honoured, most gain-greedy of mankind ! 145 
 How may the generous Greeks find gifts for thee? 
 We wot not yet of public treasury : 
 The spoils of cities sacked we've parted all, 
 And should do ill re-levying these anew. 
 Now yield her to the god — and threefold we 150 
 And fourfold will repay thee, let but Zeus 
 Grant us to level yon fair walls of Troy." 
 
Book I.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 9 
 
 And royal Agamemnon made reply. 
 "Brave though thou art, great chief, yet play not 
 
 thus 
 The knave: thou shalt not dupe me nor cajole. 155 
 Would'st thou — so thou have honour — that I sit 
 With empty hands? and bidd'st me yield her up? 
 Now if the generous Greeks will grant a gift — 
 One my soul loves, a meet equivalent — 
 Well : but if not, I'll take with mine own arm 
 Thine, or thine, Aias, or, Odysseus, thine, 161 
 
 And bear it off: and wrath mayhap he'll be 
 Whom I shall visit. — But of this anon. — 
 Launch we a dark ship on the great sea now. 
 Give her her tale of oars, and place on board 
 A hundred oxen, and embark therein i65 
 
 Fair-cheeked Briseis. And be one, a king, 
 Her captain ; Aias, or Idomeneus, 
 Or great Odysseus, or, Achilles, thou 
 Most terrible of men; that thou may est win 170 
 Back with thy rites the god who smites from far." 
 
 Answered the swiftfoot chief with lowering brow : 
 " Oh clothed with shamelessness ! oh selfish-souled ! 
 
10 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book I. 
 
 What Greek will do ungrudging tliy behests, 
 Speed on thy missions, bear the brunt of war ? 
 I came not for the warrior Trojans' sake 176 
 
 Hither to fight. They owe no debt to me ; 
 Ne'er in rich Phthia, nurse of mighty men, 
 Spoiled they my orchards :— for betwixt us lay 
 Long tracts of shadowy fell and sounding sea. 
 Shameless! 'Twas thou, thy pleasure, brought us 
 
 here; 181 
 
 For Menelaiis, and thee, dog, to wreak 
 Vengeance on Troy — which things thou heedest not 
 Nor reck'st of Lo ! thou boast'st that thou wilt seize 
 With thine own arm my meed, my hardwon meed. 
 Assigned me by the children of the Greeks! 186 
 My gifts are not as thy gifts, when the Greeks 
 Lay low some goodly-peopled town of Troy : 
 My hands the burden of the weary war 
 Must bear ; but thy share, when we part the spoil 
 Is greatest; I some small sweet morsel take 191 
 Back to my ships, when I am faint with strife. 
 But now I go to Phthia. Best to wend 
 Home with my beaked ships. And scarce wilt 
 
 thou — 
 
Book!.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 11 
 
 Say I, disdained I — fill high thy cup 195 
 
 "With treasure and with wealth, abiding here." 
 
 Then answered Agamemnon, King of men. 
 "Go, if thy soul so j^rompts thee. I shall not 
 Say 'Stay' for my sake. I have others near 
 To prize me : first of all the all-wise Zeus. 200 
 Of Kings, the sons of heaven, I hate thee most. 
 Dear to thee aye are feuds and wars and strifes. 
 Strong art thou? Then 'twas heaven that gave 
 
 thy strength. 
 Go with thy ships and with thy followers home, 
 Eule Myrmidons. I care not aught for thee 205 
 Nor for thy wrath. And I will tell thee this. 
 Chryseis Phoebus takes from me : and her 
 I'll send, with my ships and my followers, back. 
 But to thy tent I'll go, ev'n I, and take 
 Thy prize, the fair Briseis : that thou learn 210 
 How I am thy better : and that others shrink 
 To deem themselves my mates and cope with me." 
 
 He spake. And moved was Peleus' son : his 
 heart 
 
12 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book I. 
 
 'Neath his rough breast was this way rent and 
 
 that. 
 Should he, his keen sword drawing from his thigh, 
 Scatter the multitude and slay the King? 216 
 
 Or curb his spirit, and forego his wrath ? 
 This was he turning in his brain and breast, 
 His great sword half unscabbarded ; when lo ! 
 From heaven Athene came : a messeno^er 220 
 
 From white-armed Here, to whose soul both chiefs 
 Were dear and precious. In the rear she stood, 
 , And gi-asped Achilles by his yellow hair : 
 Seen by him only — all the rest were blind. 
 He marvelling, turned round : and straightway knew 
 Pallas Athene ; dreadful gleamed her eyes. 226 
 And thus he spake to her with winged words. 
 
 " Why com'st thou, child of ^Egis-armM Zeus ? 
 To witness Agamemnon's insolence? 
 This say I, and methinks 'twill come to pass. 230 
 One day he'll perish in his pride of heart." 
 
 To whom the blue-eyed goddess spake again. 
 " To stay thine anger, if so be thou'lt hear 
 
Book I.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 13 
 
 My voice, I came from heaven : a messenger 
 From white-armed Here, to whose soul both chiefs 
 Are dear and precious. But leave off from strife. 
 And draw not forth the sword : but with thy 
 tongue 237 
 
 Only revile him, as it needs must be. 
 For this / say, and this shall come to pass. 
 Trebled shall one day be thy rich reward 240 
 
 All through this insult. Hear then, and be calm." 
 
 Again Achilles swift of foot replied. 
 "I must abide, oh goddess, by thy word. 
 Though angered sore in soul : for this is right. 
 To him that heeds them will the gods give ear." 
 
 He said, and hearkening to Athene, stayed 246 
 Ev'n on the silver hilt, his ponderous hand. 
 Heavenward meanwhile she had flown, to join her 
 
 peers 
 Up in the home of ^gis-armbd Zeus. 
 
 Then straight Achilles spake with harmful words 
 To Atreus' son, nor put his anger by. 251 
 
 • 
 
U HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book I. 
 
 " Oh gorged with wine ! dog-faced, but hind at heart ! 
 To arm thee with the people for the fray 
 Or with our captains crouch in ambuscade 
 Ne'er hadst thou courage. That were death to 
 thee! 2^5 
 
 Better no doubt to range the broad host through, 
 And confiscate his prize who saith thee nay. 
 Thou glutton King ! Thou rulest men of straw ! 
 Else, son of Atreus, thou hadst bragged thy last. 
 But this I say and swear it with an oath. 260 
 Yea by this staff — where never leaf nor branch 
 May grow, since first 'twas sundered from the 
 
 trunk 
 Upon the mountains, ne'er to blossom more — 
 (For that the axe hath stripped off bud and 
 
 bark) — 
 Now in their hands the children of the Greeks 265 
 Bear it, who sit in judgment ; whom Zeus calls 
 To guard the right ; and men shall swear thereby — 
 The children of the Greeks shall one day long 
 All, for Achilles. Thou shalt grieve, but find 
 No succour; while 'neath slaughtering Hector's 
 hand 370 
 
Book!.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 15 
 
 Fall, and die, troops : but sit and gnash thy teeth, 
 Mad that thou sett'st at naught the noblest 
 Greek." 
 
 Achilles spake : and flung to earth his staff 
 Studded with golden nails ; and sate him do^\-n. 
 The King sat o'er against him gathering WTath. 
 Then up sprang Nestor of the gi-acious tongue, 276 
 Clear orator of Pylos, from whose lips 
 Dropped music sweeter than the honeycomb. 
 Two generations , now of speaking men 
 Had he seen bom and bred and passed away 280 
 In sacred Pylos : and he ruled a third. 
 "Who friendly-minded rose and spake in the midst. 
 
 " Lo ! a great sorrow comes upon our land. 
 Sure now would Priam and Priam's sons rejoice. 
 And every Trojan laugh within his heart, 285 
 
 Could he but learn how ye twain are at strife. 
 The first of Greeks in council and in war. 
 But hear me. I can count more years than you. 
 Time was, when with a nobler race than ours 
 I mated : and they thought not scorn of me. 290 
 
IG HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book I. 
 
 For ne'er yet saw I, nor shall see, their likes, 
 
 Cseneus, Pirithous, Exadius, 
 
 Dryas, who led the people as a flock, 
 
 And Pol3rphemus, equal of the gods. 
 
 And Theseus, uS^geus' son, a very god. 295 
 
 These were the mightiest of the sons of earth. 
 
 Mightiest themselves, they fought with mightiest 
 
 foes, 
 The Beasts of the Hill, and slew them horribly. 
 And I, to mate with these, from Pylos came. 
 From a far country ; for they ba<ie me come. 300 
 I fought for my own hand. No mortal man, 
 As men are now, would list to fight with such. 
 And they my counsels heard, my voice obeyed. 
 Ye too obey me. To obey is good. 
 Nor thou, thou mighty, take the maid aw^ay, 305 
 But quit her, since the Greeks first made her his. 
 Nor thou, Achilles, stand against the King 
 And strive: for never honour like to his 
 Had sceptred King, whose glory is of Zeus. 
 So, son of Atreus, stay thy rage. And him, 310 
 Our mighty ramjjart against evil war, 
 I do beseech to put his anger by." 
 
Book!.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 17 
 
 Then royal Agamemnon answered him. 
 " Nought hast thou said, oh sire, but what is meet. 
 But yonder man would overtop us all, 315 
 
 Be all men's lord and master, deal to all 
 Dictates, which one, at least, will scarce obey. 
 The gods who live for ever made him brave: 
 But did they thereby hcence him to rail?" 
 
 Then words of warning great Achilles spake. 320 
 " Call me a coward and a thing of naught. 
 If I yield all at every word of thine. 
 Talk thus to others — dictate not to me: 
 Tor I shall hearken to thy words no more. 
 But this I tell thee — cast it in thy mind I 325 
 I Mill not draw the sword for yon girl's sake 
 On thee or on another; since ye take 
 The thing ye gave. But of all else that's mine. 
 Treasured in my dark war-ship, not a thing 
 Without my licence shalt thou take or touch. 330 
 Doubts't thou? Then tiy, that all this host may 
 
 see. 
 Thy blood that instant spouts around my spear." 
 
IS HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book I. 
 
 So stood they face to face in wordy war. 
 And ended was the council at the ships. 
 
 Achilles to his tents and stately fleet 335 
 
 Went with Patroclus, and his followers all. 
 The other launched a war-ship on the main, 
 Manned her with twenty oars, and stowed therein 
 A holy hecatomb, and seated there 
 Fair-cheeked Chryseis: and for captain, stept 340 
 On board Odysseus, he of many wiles. 
 
 So they set forth and sailed the watery ways. 
 Then the King bade the people cleanse them- 
 selves. 
 They cleansed themselves, and cast into the sea 
 All their uncleanness: to Apollo next 345 
 
 They slew full hecatombs of bulls and goats 
 All by the barren waters: up to heaven 
 Went the sweet savour with the curling smoke. 
 
 In such wise toiled the host. Nor aught mean- 
 while 
 Paused Agamemnon in his threatened WTath, 350 
 
 ( 
 
Book L] HOMER'S ILIAD. 19 
 
 But to Talthybius and Eurybates, 
 
 His heralds twain and busy servants, spake. 
 
 " Go to Acbilles' tent. Take thence and bring 
 The fair Briseis. If he say you nay, 
 I'll go, ov'n I, Vith yet a larger force, ^t^^ 
 
 And take her. And 'twill be the worse for him." 
 
 So forth he sent them, charged with hard 
 commands. 
 On, by the waters of the barren main 
 Unwillingly they fared: and reached at last 
 The vessels of the tented Myrmidons. 360 
 
 By his dark ship they found him in his tent; — 
 Little Achilles joyed at seeing them; — 
 Awe-struck and trembling they before the chief 
 Stood; nor accosted him, nor uttered sound: 
 But he knew well their purpose, and began. ^6j 
 
 " Hail, heralds, messengers of Zeus and men ! 
 Draw near. I blame not you; I blame the King, 
 Who sent you here for fair Briseis' sake. 
 But come, oh prince Patroclus, lead her forth, 
 C2 
 
20 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book I. 
 
 And give her to their hand. And be these twain 
 My Avitnesses before the blessed gods 371 
 
 And mortal men and that untoward King: — 
 
 When one day there ariseth need of me 
 
 « 
 
 Their shield from foul destruction! For the King 
 Eaves, a doomed madman; nor can look at once 
 Before him and behind, and see whose arm 376 
 Let the Greeks battle by the ships and live." 
 
 He said. Patroclus his loved lord obeyed. 
 And led the fair Briseis from the tent. 
 And gave her to their hand. And straightway they 
 Made for the Achaian ships; and with them, 
 fared 381 
 
 The damsel all unwilling. But the chief 
 Wept; and from all his fellows gat apart. 
 And by the gray seas sate him down, and gazed 
 Far o'er the purpling waters: and to her 385 
 
 Who bore him lifted up his hands and prayed. 
 
 "Mother! Thou brought'st me forth not long 
 to live: 
 Therefore should Zeus, the Thunderer, of high 
 heaven. 
 
Book!.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 21 
 
 Put glory in my hand. But not a whit 
 Honours he me: yea scorned am I of one, 390 
 Broad-realmed Agamemnon, Atreus' son; 
 With his o-wTi arm he seized, and hath, my gift." 
 
 "Weeping he spake. His queenly mother heard, 
 'Neath ocean sitting by her ancient sire: 
 And rose from the gi'ay waters as a mist, 395 
 And sate her do'WTi beside her weeping son. 
 Fondled his hand, and spake, and called him by 
 his name. 
 
 " "VMiy weep'st thou, Son? What grief is on 
 thy soul? 
 Speak, and nought hide: that / too know this 
 thing." 
 
 And with a heavy groan the swift chief spake. 
 ''Shall I tell all to thee who know'st it all? 4c i 
 We came to sacred Thebes, Eetion's Thebes, 
 And spoiled her, and brought hither all the spoil. 
 And fairly did the children of the Greeks, 
 Part it amongst them, and for Atreus' son 405 
 
22 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book I. 
 
 Chose out fair-cheeked Briseis. Thereupon 
 
 Came Chryses, priest of him who smites from far, 
 
 Ev'n to the war-ships of the steel-clad Greeks, 
 
 With ransom measureless to buy his child: 
 
 And in his hands Apollo's emblem sat, 410 
 
 The Smiter's, high upon a staff of gold. 
 
 To all the Greeks he prayed, but chief of all 
 
 To Atreus' sons, twin captains of the host. — 
 
 Forthwith from all the Greeks came loud acclaim: 
 
 'Take the rich ransom, reverence the priest.' 415 
 
 The soul of Agamemnon, Atreus' son, 
 
 Alone it liked not: scornfully he bade him 
 
 Begone, and laid on him a hard command. 
 
 " Back went in wrath that old man : and his 
 prayer 
 Apollo heard, because he loved him well: 420 
 
 And hurled his fell shaft on us; heaps on heaps 
 The people died. Amongst Achaia's hosts 
 His arrows went abroad. Then spake the seer. 
 Who knew it well, the Far-destroyer's will. 
 
 "My voice first bid them reconcile the god. 
 But rage seized Atreus' son. He rose up straight, 426 
 And threatened that which, lo! is brought to pass. 
 
Book I] HOMER'S ILIAD. 23 
 
 For lier tlie keen-eyed Greeks are carrying now 
 To Cliryse in yon war-ship: but that other, 
 Briseis — whom the children of the Greeks 430 
 
 Gave to my hand — the heralds from my tent 
 Have but this instant taken, and are gone. — - 
 Now stand by thy brave son, if stand thou maycst. 
 Hie thee to heaven; pray Zeus^ — if ever word 
 Or deed of thine made glad the soul of Zeus: — 
 For in my fathers halls I have heard thee tell 436 
 Of times when of immortals thou alone 
 Didst shield from foul destruction him who dwells 
 In darkness and in clouds, Cronion named ; 
 When Here, Pallas, and Poseidon — all 440 
 
 The blessed gods — would bind him. Thou didst 
 
 come. 
 Goddess, and loose his bonds, and summon quick 
 Into the broad heaven him of hundred hands — 
 Gods call him Briareus, -^geon men — 
 Him who excels in botUly force his sire. 445 
 
 By Zeus he sate down, glorying in his might. 
 Cowed were the blessed gods, and bound him not. 
 " Remember this : sit near him : clasj) his knees : 
 Pray that he find some way to succour Troy: 
 
24 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book I. 
 
 And them— the Greeks — push ev'n to their ships' 
 sterns, 45° 
 
 To die amid the waters, that all know 
 How much they owe their King ; and Atreus' son, 
 Broad-realm^d Agamemnon, learn how mad 
 Was he, to set at naught the noblest Greek." 
 
 And Thetis answered, letting fall a tear. 455 
 " Why did I rear thee, born — alas my son ! — 
 In sorrow? Would that tearless and unpained 
 Thou wert sitting by thy ships: for lo! thy life 
 Is but a little while, a little while. 
 Now passing sad thy days, as passing brief: 460 
 Surely in evil hour I brought thee forth. 
 But with this tale I go to those snowpeaks, 
 To Zeus, whose plaything is the thunderbolt, 
 Will he but hear me. Thou by thy swift ships 
 Sit, curse the Greeks, and stay thy hand from war. 
 For Zeus to the good ^thiops yesterday, 466 
 
 To ocean, went, with all the gods, to feast. 
 The twelfth day he'll return Ol3mnipusward. 
 Then to his brassfloored palace will I go. 
 And clasp his knees; and surely he'll repent." 470 
 
Book!.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 25 
 
 She said: and vanishing left him, vexed at 
 heart 
 All for that graceful maiden, whom by force 
 And violence they had ta'en. 
 
 Odysseus reached 
 Chr}^se meanwhile, with holy sacrifice. 
 Now, the deep harbour gained, they furled and 
 stoAved 475 
 
 In the dark ship their sails; placed mast in crutch, 
 Lowered on stays all swiftly; and the rowers 
 Into her moorings rowed her. Anchor-stones 
 They cast out next, and made the hawsers fast. 
 And leapt out on the sea-strand; and bore forth 480 
 The holy sacrifice: and last stepped out 
 From the sea-travelling ship that damsel fair. 
 Whom to the altar led the wily chief. 
 Placed in her father's hand her hand, and spake. 
 
 "Priest! Atreus' son hath sent me. King of 
 men, 485 
 
 To bring thy child, and holy sacrifice 
 Make for the Greeks ; and reconcile the King, 
 Who now brings many sorrows on the host." 
 
26 HOMER'S ILIAD, [Book I. 
 
 He spake, and gave her to his hand: who took 
 His child rejoicing. Swiftly then they ranged 490 
 Round the fair altar that brave sacrifice : 
 Held up, with washen hands, the barley grains: 
 And then with lifted arm the priest made solemn 
 prayer. 
 
 "Oh! hear me, thou who standest round about 
 Chryse and sacred Cilia: mighty lord 495 
 
 Of Tenedos, who wield'st the silver bow ! 
 Surely thou heard'st me heretofore ; and sore. 
 To honour me, didst plague Achaia's hosts. 
 And now accomplish this, ev'n this my prayer. 
 From foul destruction shield this day the 
 Greeks." 500 
 
 So spake he : and Apollo heard his prayer. 
 They having knelt, and strewed the barley gi'ains, 
 Drew back the victim's head, and slew, and flayed, 
 And cut the thighs off, and around them wrapped 
 The fat in layers, and sprinkled flesh thereon. 505 
 These the sire burned on wood; poured sparkHng 
 
 wine, 
 The warriors standing by with fivepronged forks: 
 
Book!.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 27 
 
 They burned the thighs, and tasted of the heart, 
 And mashed and fixed on spits the residue. 
 And made roast cunningly, and drew all off. 510 
 At last the feast was decked. They ceased from toil, 
 And supped, nor aught lacked at that equal 
 
 board. 
 And when the lust of meat and drink was gone, 
 The wamors filled the goblets to the brim. 
 And, first oblation made, they served to all. 515 
 With songs the livelong day they soothed the god. 
 Those Grecian warriors. Sweet the hymns they 
 
 sang. 
 The Far-destroyer listened and was glad. 
 
 But when the sun set and the dusk came on, 
 They slept beside the cables of the ship. 520 
 
 And when Mom's daughter, rosy-fingered DawTi, 
 Rose, for the broad Achaian host they steered : 
 The Far-destroyer sent a steady gale. 
 They raised the mast, and spread white sails thereon. 
 Bellied the sails ; and purpling round the*keel 525 
 Sounded the dark waves as the ship went on: 
 She scudded o'er the seas and made her way. 
 
28 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book I. 
 
 They, when they had reached the broad Achaian 
 
 host, 
 Drew the dark ship to land; high on the sands 
 They left her, and set great stones underneath, 530 
 And went home each man to his tent and ship. 
 
 Meanwhile the swift-foot chief, great Peleus' son, 
 By his sea-travelling ships sat nursing wrath: 
 To the high council went not day by day. 
 Went not to war: but wasted his sweet soul, ^^^ 
 Abiding there, and dreamed of turmoil and of strife. 
 
 The twelfth day dawned : and to Olympus 
 trooped, 
 Zeus in the van, the ever-living gods. 
 Thetis forgat not then her son's behests ; 
 But mounted on the sea-wave, and in mist 540 
 Rose to the gi-eat heaven and the holy mount. 
 Seated apart she found the All-seeing One, 
 On many-peaked Olympus' topmost crag: 
 Sat at his feet, with one hand clasped his knees. 
 With the other held his beard; and prayed and 
 spake 545 
 
 Tlius to the son of Cronos, royal Zeus. 
 
Book!.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 29 
 
 " Zeus ! Sire ! If ever word or deed of mine 
 Among the immortals welcome was to thee, 
 Accomplish this my prayer. Exalt my son. 
 Whose days are briefer than are other mens'. 550 
 Of Agamemnon now is he disdained ; 
 He took, he hath, his gift. But thou, who dwell'st 
 In the high heaven, exalt him, all-wise Zeus ! 
 Put victory on the Trojans, till the Greeks 
 Exalt my son, and spread abroad his praise." ^^^ 
 
 She spake. Cloud-circled Zeus said ne'er a word. 
 Long he sat voiceless. Thetis to his knees 
 Clung as the flesh clings, and she spake again. 
 
 " Now bow thy head, and pledge thy changeless 
 word, 
 Or else refuse — for fears come not nigh thee. 560 
 Say that of all the gods thou hold'st me least." 
 
 Spake, big with anger, then cloud-circled Zeus. 
 " Lo ! there is woe to be, if I must strive 
 With Here, whensoe'er she taunts and rails. 
 Ev'n now she wars with me from day to day 565 
 
30 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book I. 
 
 Before the Gods, and saith I fight for Troy. 
 Now go thou hence again, lest Here know 
 This thing ; and leave the issue in my hand. 
 Yea, that thou mayest have faith, I bow my head. 
 For this is my great token with the gods. 570 
 Irrevocable, true, each word of mine. 
 Sure of its purpose, when I bow my head." 
 
 Cronlon spake : his dark brows bent, and 
 bowed. 
 From his immortal head fell rippling down 
 The glory of his hair. The great rock reeled. ^y^ 
 
 Such counsel took those twain, and parted. She 
 Plunged from the bright heaven into ocean's 
 
 depths, 
 And Zeus went homeward. Kose up all the gods 
 And stood before the Sire. None dared abide 
 His coming ; all stood up and fronted him. 580 
 High on his throne he sate him. Here marked: 
 And well she knew what counsel he had ta'en 
 With that old sea-god's silvery-footed child. 
 Forthwith in bitterness she spake to Zeus. 
 
Book I.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 31 
 
 "And Avliich of all the gods, oh wily one, 585 
 Was partner in thy counsels? Aye thou lov'st 
 To sit, and scheme, and settle, far from me. 
 And never yet didst thou of thy free-will 
 Deign to tell me one word of thy designs." 
 
 Then spake to her the sire of gods and men. 590 
 "Look not, oh Here, all my mind to know. 
 Hard were such knowledge, though thou art my 
 
 wife. 
 That which 'tis fit for thee to hear, nor god 
 Nor man shall learn before thee. But such plans 
 As I may plan, and hide from every god — 595 
 Ask not of these things straitly nor inquire." 
 
 Then answered Here, the gazelle-eyed Queen. 
 "Dread son of Cronos, have I heard thee 
 right ? 
 
 Long time too little asked I or enquired ; 
 
 Thou plotting that which pleased thee, undis- 
 turbed. • 600 
 
 But now sore fears my soul, lest thou be duped 
 
 By that old sea-god's silvery-footed child. 
 
 Mist-clad she sat by thee and clasped thy knees: 
 
32 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book I. 
 
 And tliou, as I suspect, didst bow thy head, 
 
 In token that thou would'st exalt her son, 605 
 
 And by the Achaian ships make many fall." 
 
 Then spake in answer cloud-encircled Zeus 
 Wayward ! thou wilt aye ' susiiect.' I know thee 
 well. 
 But all thou wilt not compass — farther still 
 Wilt set me from thee. All the worse for thee. 610 
 Sit down, be silent, and obey my words: 
 Lest all the gods heaven holds avail thee naught. 
 Let me but lift my matchless arm on thee." 
 
 He spake ; and trembled the gazelle-eyed Queen ; 
 Silent sat down, and bent her to his will. 615 
 
 Then with big wrath were swelled the heavenly ones 
 In Zeus's palace : till Hephaestus rose, 
 The gi-eat Artificer, and welcome words 
 To white-armed Here spake, his mother dear. 
 
 "Woe shall there be, intolerable woe, 620 
 
 If ye twain battle thire for mortals' sake. 
 And stir up war in heaven. All joyless then 
 Shall seem the fair feast, since the worst prevails. 
 But I my mother warn (though wise is she) 
 
Book!.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 33 
 
 To pleasure Zeus our sire : lest he sliould strive 625 
 A second time with her, and mar our feast. 
 What if the lord of lightning from her seat 
 Should choose to hurl her? for none else is strong 
 But thou with softest words ajiproach him now. 
 Straightway the heavenly one will smile on us." 630 
 
 He said, and leapt up, and a ponderous cup 
 Placed in his mother's hand, and spake to her. 
 "Be patient, mother, and though vexed, endure: 
 Lest mine eyes see her smitten whom I love. 
 Then shall I sorrow, yet may aid thee naught : 6^j 
 Hard 'tis to fight against the heavenly one. 
 Yea, for aforetime did he hurl me down. 
 Burning to aid thee, from the gates of heaven, 
 Grasped by one foot. All day I fell and fell, 
 And lighted at the setting of the sun 640 
 
 Li Lemnos. Little life was in me then. 
 There lighting I became the Sintians' care." 
 
 He spake. The white-armed goddess smiled and 
 took 
 The cup her son gave in her hand : while he 
 
 D 
 
34 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book I. 
 
 Filled for the others all, from left to right, 645 
 And poured the luscious nectar from the bowl. 
 Quenchless the laughter of the blessed gods, 
 To see him puff and pant about the hall. 
 
 So they the live-long day, till set of sun. 
 Feasted, nor lacked aught at that equal board : 650 
 Lacked not Apollo's lovely lyre, lacked not 
 The Muses, whose sweet voice took up the song. 
 
 But when the bright sun's glory had gone down. 
 Ready for rest they parted each to his home : 
 To where the CriiDj^led Deity for each 6^^ 
 
 Had wrought a palace with a cunning hand. 
 The Lord of lightning went and laid him down 
 Where he had slept full oft at sweet Sleep's call : 
 Thither ascended he, and there he slej)t ; 
 And golden-throned Here by his side. 660 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 35 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 OO all else — gods, and charioted chiefs — 
 
 Slept the night through. But sweet sleep bound 
 not Zeus ; 
 Pondering what way Achilles to exalt, 
 And by the Achaian ships make many fall. 
 
 This to his soul the fairest counsel seemed ; 5 
 To send to Atreus' son an e^dl Dream : 
 And to the Dream he spake v.-itli winged words. 
 
 "Go, e\dl Dream, to yon Greek war-ships; seek 
 The tent of Agamemnon Atreus' son ; 
 And tell him, truly, all I tell to thee. 10 
 
 Say, 'Arm right speedily thy imshorn Greeks; 
 This hour is Ilion and her broad streets thine. 
 For lo! no longer are the immortals — they 
 Whose home is heaven — divided. Here's prayer 
 Hath bent them all; and woes are nigh to Troy.'" 15 
 d2 
 
36 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book II. 
 
 He spake. The Dream, obedient, went his way; 
 Came swiftly to the war-ships of the Greeks, 
 And sought out Atreus' son: — (at rest he lay, 
 Divine sleep floating o'er him, in his tent:) — 
 And stood above his head ; in form most like 20 
 To Nestor, Neleus' son : of all who sat 
 In council Agamemnon ranked him first. 
 In such shape spake to him the heaven-sent Dream. 
 
 "Sleep'st thou, O son of Atreus? son of one 
 At heart a warrior, tamer of the steed ? 25 
 
 Not all night long a counsellor should sleep, 
 A people's guard, whose cares are manifold. 
 Now hear me. Zeus's messenger am I ; 
 Who, though far off, yet cares, yet grieves for 
 
 thee. 
 He bids thee arm in haste the unshorn Greeks ; 30 
 Saying, 'Now is Ilion and her broad streets thine. 
 For lo! no longer are the immortals — they 
 Whose home is heaven — divided. Here's prayer 
 Hath bent them all ; and woes are nigh to Troy/ 
 Woes which Zeus sends. This j)onder in thy 
 mind: ^^ 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 37 
 
 Nor be the captive of forgetfulness, 
 
 So soon as thou shalt wake from honeyed sleejJ." 
 
 He spake: and parting left liim there, to muse 
 In secret on the thing that might not be. 
 For in that day he thought to scale Priam's 
 
 walls, 40 
 
 And knew not, simple one, the wiles of Zeus; 
 How he would bring more woes, more groanings 
 
 yet. 
 On Trojan and on Greek in hard-fought fields. 
 He woke: and sate erect — the heavenly voice 
 Still floating o'er him: doimed his tunic soft 45 
 And fair and new : flung o'er him his gTeat robe, 
 Harnessed fair sandals to his shining feet, 
 And o'er his shoulder swung his silver-studded 
 
 sword. 
 And took his fathers' sceptre in his hand. 
 Imperishable aye: and sought therewith. 50 
 
 The vessels of the brazen-coated Greeks. 
 
 At broad Olympus' gate stood sacred Dawn, 
 To Zeus and all the gods proclaiming light. 
 
38 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book II. 
 
 Then the king bade his shrill-tongued heralds go 
 And summon council-ward the unshorn Greeks ; ^^ 
 Who came all swiftly at their heralding. 
 
 But first a council of high elders sat 
 At Nestor's ship, the Pylos-nurtured king. 
 Thither he called them : there framed shrewd 
 advice.' 
 
 "Hear, friends! In holy night a heaven-sent 
 Dream 60 
 
 Came near me while I slept : in face, and form, 
 And bulk, it seemed great Nestor's counterpart. 
 Above my head it stood, and spake to me. 
 ' Sleep'st thou, O son of Atreus ? son of one 
 At heart a warrior, tamer of the steed? 6^ 
 
 Not all night long a counsellor should sleep, 
 A people's guard, whose cares are manifold. 
 Now hear me. Zeus's messenger am I; 
 "Who, though far off, yet cares, yet grieves for 
 
 thee. 
 He bids thee arm in haste thy unshorn Greeks ; 70 
 Saying, Now is IHon and her broad streets thine. 
 
BookIL] HOMER'S ILIAD. 39 
 
 For lo: no longer are the immortals — they 
 Whose home is heaven — divided. Here's prayer 
 Hath bent them all; and woes are nigh to Troy, 
 "Woes which Zeus sends. This ponder in thy 
 
 mind.' 75 
 
 So spake the Dream; and spread his wings, and fled. 
 And sweet sleep gat from me. But up and look 
 How we may arm for war Achaia's sons. 
 And first I will prove them, as is meet, witli 
 
 words, 
 And bid them deck for flight their oared ships. 8o 
 Ye, wending separate ways, forbid their flight." 
 
 He spake, and sate him down. Then Nestor 
 rose. 
 That Nestor who in sandy Pylos reig-ned. 
 y\fh.o friendly-minded rose and spake in the midst. 
 
 "Friends! lords and captains of the Argive 
 hosts ! 85 
 
 Now had another Greek this vision told. 
 We had said, ' Thou liest ;' and put us far from 
 him. 
 
40 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book 11. 
 
 But lo! he saw it, of Acliaians all 
 
 "Who vaunts him noblest. Nay then, up and look 
 
 How we may arm for war Achaia's sons," 90 
 
 He spake; and slowly from the council moved. 
 They rose, and followed in their leaders' wake, 
 Those sceiDtred kings ; the host flocked after them. 
 As when from some rock's hollow, swarm on swarm. 
 Rise multitudes of thickly-thronging bees: 95 
 
 And hang in clusters o'er the flowers of spring, 
 And fly in myriads, this way some, some that; 
 They in such multitudes from tent and ship, 
 Skirting the bottomless sea-sand, marched in troops 
 To council. With them sped a voice of fire 100 
 Bidding them on : Zeus sent it : and they met. 
 TJnquietly they met: earth groaned beneath 
 The trampling of the hosts as they sate down: 
 And there was tumult. Then did heralds nine 
 Shout out, entreating them to stay their strife, 105 
 And listen to the kings, the sons of heaven. 
 In haste they sate down, halting each in his 
 
 place, 
 And stilled their noise. Then Agamemnon rose. 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 41 
 
 Bearing that sceptre which Hephoestus wrought, 
 
 And gave unto Cronion, royal Zeus. iio 
 
 Zeus to the courier-god, the Argus-slayer : 
 
 Hermes to Pelops, lasher of the steed: 
 
 Pelops to Atreus, shepherd of the host: 
 
 And Atreus to Thyestes rich iu lambs 
 
 Dying bequeathed it. And Thyestes last 115 
 
 Gave it to Agamemnon's arm to wield. 
 
 And be th^ lord of Ai'gos and the isles. 
 
 Leaning whereon he spake before the host. 
 
 "Friends, sons of Ares, mighty men of Greece! 
 Me hath Zeus bound to heaviness and woe. 120 
 Once (reckless onel) he swore, and bowed his 
 
 head, 
 That I should raze Troy's walls and get me home. 
 But mischief doth he plot against me now: 
 Sends me to Argos, shamed; for I have slain 
 Much people. Thus then fare the favourites 125 
 Of Zeus the all-mighty: who hath bent the crests 
 Of many cities; yea, and who shall bend 
 The crests of many more; for strong is he. 
 Our sons shall one day hear it, and cry 'Shame! 
 
42 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book II. 
 
 Did Greece's chosen in sucli numbers come, 130 
 
 To battle, and to fight a bootless fight' — 
 
 (For still we see no end) — 'against a few?' 
 
 Few, say I. For suppose we struck a truce, 
 
 Trojans and Greeks, and numbered each our hosts : 
 
 They singling all who sit beside their hearths, 135 
 
 We parting into companies of ten; 
 
 And to each ten one Trojan served the wine : — 
 
 Unserved would sit full many a compliny. 
 
 So do the Greeks exceed in multitude 
 
 The Trojans in yon city. Yet have they 140 
 
 Allies from many cities; sworded chiefs. 
 
 Who thwart me mightily, and say me nay, 
 
 When I would level those fair walls of Troy. 
 
 Nine of the years of royal Zeus are past: 
 
 And lo! the rigging of our ships is torn, 145 
 
 Rotted their timbers ; and our wives, I ween, 
 
 And lisping children sit within our halls. 
 
 And wait us: and our work, for which we came 
 
 To Troy, is unaccomplished. Nay but up 
 
 And do my bidding. Set we sail and fly 150 
 
 To our dear fatherland: for never more 
 
 May we deem Ilion and her broad streets ours." 
 
Book II] HOMER'S ILIAD. 43 
 
 He si^alvo; and stirred the inmost soul of all 
 The broad host: all save those who knew his wiles. 
 Then surged the council. On the Icarian main 155 
 So surge great sea-waves, when the clouds of Zeus 
 Let loose upon them winds from North and East. 
 And as the West wind meets the standing corn, 
 And stirs it to its depths, and ravens on, 
 A hurricane; and all the ears bow down: — 160 
 Ev'n so was stirred the council. Seaward they 
 Rushed with a cry. The dust rose under-foot. 
 In volumes. Each called each, to lend a hand 
 And drag the vessels down to the great sea. 
 Cleared were the trenches: rose to heaven their 
 
 cry, 165 
 
 As, homeward-bound, they dragged their ships 
 
 from shore. 
 
 Then had the Greeks fled home before their 
 time ; 
 But Here to Athenfe spake and said: 
 "Oh me! oh child of ^^Egis-armed Zeus, 
 Untiring one! shall Argives thus flee home, 170 
 Riding the broad seas, to their fatherland; 
 
U HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book 11. 
 
 And leave, that Priam and bis hosts may boast, 
 Helen of Argos — for whom here in Troy, 
 Far from his fatherland, died many a Greek? 
 Now range the armies of the brass-clad Greeks: 175 
 And with thy soft words stay them, man by man; 
 Nor seaward let them drag their rocking ships." 
 
 She spake; the blue-eyed maid gave ear to her: 
 Yea, from Olympus' heights went hurrying down. 
 And- came to the Greek war-ships speedily. 180 
 And there she found Odysseus, Zeus's match 
 In cunning, standing still. He had not laid 
 A finger on his dark and oared ship; 
 For sorrow sat upon his heart and soul. 
 Standing beside him spake the blue-eyed maid. 1 85 
 
 "Laertes' son I the man of many wiles! 
 What! leaping thus iiito your oared ships 
 Shall ye flee home unto your fatherland: 
 And leave, that Priam and his hosts may boast, 
 Helen of Argos — for whom here in Troy, 190 
 
 Far from his fatherland, died many a Greek? 
 Now range the armies of the brass-clad Greeks; 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 45 
 
 And with thy soft words stay them, man by man, 
 Nor seaward let them drag their rocking ships." 
 
 She spake. He knew her voice who spake to 
 him: ^95 
 
 Girt him for speed, and flung his robe away. 
 Eurybates the herald picked it up, 
 That Ithacan, his servant. He himself 
 Came straight to Agamemnon Atreus' son; 
 And took from him the sceptre of his sires, 200 
 Imperishable aye; and sought therewith 
 The vessels of the brazen-coated Greeks. 
 
 Oft as he met a king, or foremost man. 
 
 He checked him, halting near, with softest words. 
 
 "Fair sir! thou shouldst not cower as doth a 
 knave ; 205 
 
 Now seat thyself, and likewise seat thy hosts. 
 Thou know'st not yet the mind of Atreus' son. 
 Now proves he, but anon shall plague, the Greeks. 
 We know not, all, the purport of his words 
 In council. Should his wrath wax hot, and 
 work 210 
 
46 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book II. 
 
 A mischief to tlic children of the Greeks ! 
 For high the soul of kings, the sons of heaven. 
 Of Zeus their glory: wise Zeus loves them well. 
 
 Then when he saw, or heard uplift his voice. 
 One of the people: with his sceptre he 215 
 
 Would thrust at him, and shout that he might 
 hear. 
 
 "Sirrah! sit down, and stir not, but obey 
 Thy betters. Helpless and unwarlike thou, 
 Of none account in council or in strife. 
 We may not, look you, all be monarchs here. 220 
 The multitude of rulers bodes but ill. 
 Be one our lord, our king; to whom the son 
 Of wily Cronos gave it : sceptre gave 
 And sovereignty, that he should reign o'er us. 
 
 Ev'n thus he dealt his mandates through the 
 
 host; . 225 
 
 And councilward they rushed from tent and ship. 
 
 The noise was as the noise of boisterous seas. 
 
 That break on some broad beach, and ocean howls. 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 47 
 
 So all sate down, and halted each in his place. 
 Still one — Thersites of ungoverned tongue — 230 
 Brawled on. Much store had he of scurrilous 
 
 words, 
 Idle and scurrilous words, to hurl at kings : 
 Aught that he deemed the Greeks would hear 
 
 and laugh. 
 To Troy's gates none had come so base as he. 
 Bow-legged he was, and halted on one foot: 235 
 His shoulders, hunched, encroached upon his chest ; 
 And bore a peaked head — scant hairs grew thereon. 
 Achilles and Odysseus most he loathed; 
 At them railed aye: but Agamemnon now 
 He taunted in shrill treble. All the Greeks 240 
 Were angered sore, and vexed within their soul. 
 At Agamemnon did he rail and cry. 
 
 " Wliat lack'st thou ? Why complainest, Atreus' 
 son? 
 With brass thy tents abound: and in them wait 
 Many and peerless maidens; whom we Greeks, 245 
 Whene'er we take a town, choose first for thee. 
 
48 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book II. 
 
 Ask'st thou yet gold; whicli one mayhap shall 
 
 bring — 
 A tamer of the steed — from Ilion, 
 To buy his son? whom peradventure I, 
 Or some Greek else hath bound and made his 
 
 prize ? 250 
 
 Or yet a damsel to ascend thy bed, 
 Kept for thine own self? Nay, unkingly 'tis 
 To bring this mischief on Achaia's sons. 
 Oh cowards! oh base and mean — not men, but 
 
 maids! 
 Home fare we with our ships: and leave him 
 
 here, 255 
 
 To gorge him with his honours— here in Troy: 
 And see if we will fight for him or no. 
 For him, who scorned one better far than he; 
 For his hand took, he hath, Achilles' gift. 
 Yet naught Achilles frets, good easy man. 260 
 Else, son of Atreus, thou hadst bragged thy last." 
 
 So chode Thersites him who led the host. 
 But straightway was Odysseus at his side. 
 And, scowling, with hard words encountered him. 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 49 
 
 " Thou word-entangier ! Clear thy voice and 
 slirill : 265 
 
 Yet think not singly to contend with kings. 
 I say no mortal, out of all that came 
 With Atreus' sons to Troy, is base as thou. 
 Wherefore thou should'st not lift thy voice and 
 roar 269 
 
 And rail at kings, thy watchword still 'Return.' 
 We know not yet the end: whether for weal 
 Or woe we shall return, we sons of Greece. 
 So thou at Agamemnon, Atreus' son. 
 The shepherd of the host, must sit and rail, 
 For that on him the mighty men of Greece 275 
 Heap gifts : and cut him to the heart with words. 
 But this I say, and this shall come to pass. 
 Forget thyself, as now thou hast, again: — • 
 And — from Odysseus' shoulders drop his head, 
 Nor be he called Telemachus's sire, 280 
 
 If this hand strip not all thy garments off. 
 Mantle and tunic, and lay bare thy loins. 
 And send thee to the war-ships, wailing loud; 
 Driven from the council with the blows of shame. ' 
 
50 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book II. 
 
 He spake: and with his sceptre smote his back 
 And shoulders. Writhed Thersites, and the tears 
 Came gushing : and a crimson wale appeared, 
 Wliere lit the golden sceptre, on his back. 
 Down sate he, trembling all and woe-begone ; 289 
 And dried his eyes; and looked round helplessly. 
 Then laughed they fairly, tho' their souls were 
 
 grieved, 
 And each unto his neighbour looked and said; 
 
 " Now many a brave deed hath Odysseus done ; 
 Fathered fair counsels, reared the crest of war : 294 
 But bravest this which he hath wrought to-day. 
 Hushing that scorn er's speech, who smites with 
 
 words. 
 Sure never more that o'er-great soul of his 
 Shall raise him up to gibe and scoff at kings." 
 
 So spake the people. Then Odysseus rose, 
 Sacker of towns, his sceptre in his hand, 300 
 
 The blue-eyed goddess in a herald's shape 
 Stood near: that all, both high and low, might 
 hear 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 51 
 
 His counsel, and acquaint them with his mind. 
 He friendly-minded rose and spake in the midst. 
 
 « 
 
 "Prince! Atreus' son! Lo! now they will that 
 
 thou 305 
 
 Should'st do in all men's eyes a deed of shame: 
 Nor keep the pledge they pledged, when on their 
 
 way 
 Hither from Argos, pasture of the steed, 
 That thou should'st raze yon walls and get thee 
 
 home : 009 
 
 But ev'n as babes or widowed wives, they wail 
 Each to his fellow, 'Get we home agfain.' 
 And such indeed the toil we have toiled, that one 
 Might get him home in very weariness. 
 For let a man abide one single month, 
 He and his fair-oared ship — let blast and storm 315 
 And angiy ocean keep him prisoner — 
 Far from his wife : and sad shall be his soul. 
 But we — we see the ninth year rolling on. 
 And bide here still. Wherefore small blame to 
 
 them 319 
 
 That fret beside their ships. And yet 'twere base 
 e2 
 
52 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book XL 
 
 To stay, and stay, and then go empty home. 
 Bear, friends: bide yet a little: till we learn 
 If Calchas speak true prophecies or false. 
 For this we know full well : — bear witness all 
 Not yet led captive by the Powers of Death: — 325 
 When — 'twas as yesterday — to Aulis flocked 
 Achaia's ships, the messengers of woe 
 To Priam and to Troy; and round about 
 The fountain, at the holy altar, we 
 Made to the immortals choicest sacrifice, 330 
 
 By the fair plane, whence glistening waters rolled: 
 Then saw we a great sign. A snake whose back 
 Was blood-red; sent, of him wdio dwells in heaven. 
 From darkness into light — a fearful thing — 
 Sprang sudden from the altar to the plane. 335 
 Whereon were young birds sitting, tiny things. 
 On the tree-top; and cowered amidst the leaves; 
 Eight of them: she, who bare the brood, made 
 
 nine. 
 He ate them; chirping, all eight, j)iteously; 339 
 And as the mother fluttered round and round 
 And wailed her offspring; darting from his coils 
 He seized the shrieking creature by the wing. 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 53 
 
 And when he had eaten bird and brood, the god 
 Appeared, and wrought in him a miracle. 
 As we stood marveUing to see such things. 
 Wise Cronos' son transformed him into stone. 
 Such portents minghng with our sacrifice, 
 Then forthwith Calchas prophesied and spake. 
 'What struck ye speechless, oh ye unshorn 
 
 Greeks ? 
 To us this mighty sign w^se Zeus hath shewed, 350 
 Late coming, late in its accomplishment, 
 The fame whereof shall never pass awa}^. 
 Ev'n as that serpent ate up bird and brood, 
 Eiffht of them; she who bare the brood made 
 
 nine ; — 
 Shall we, for years so many waning here, 
 Take Ilion and her broad streets in the ninth.' 
 So spake he, and behold ! it comes to pass. 
 Nay then, abide, O bravely-harnessed Greeks, 
 Here, until yon great citadel be ours." 359 
 
 He spake, and from the Greeks a mighty cry 
 Went up: and all the vessels round about 
 Rang fiercely at the shouting of the hosts, 
 
54 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book IL 
 
 Who liked divine Odysseus' counsel well. 
 
 To whom spake Nestor the Gerenian knight. 364 
 
 " Oh gods ! Your speech is as the speech of babes 
 Too young to busy them with warfare yet. 
 Where then our oaths, our contracts? Fling we 
 
 now 
 Our plots and manly counsels to the flames. 
 Our pledges pledged in wine, and our right hands 
 Wherein we trusted. For behold! we strive 370 
 Idly with words; and, long time tanying here. 
 See yet no end. But thou, oh Atreus' son, 
 Stablished of purpose ev'n as heretofore, 
 Lead on the Argives still through hard-fought fields: 
 While they drop off, those two or three, who sit 
 Aloof, and plot — (and shall accomplish naught) — 
 To turn them Argos-ward, or e'er we see 
 If ^gis-armed Zeus keep faith or no. 
 Yea for I say Cronlon bowed his head, 379 
 
 The all-mighty, in that day when first the Greeks 
 Stept on their swift ships, messengers of blood 
 And death to Troy— and, thundering to the right. 
 Signalled fair fortune. So let none speed home. 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 55 
 
 Till each liatli lain beside a Trojan wife, 
 
 And Helen's cares and anguish are avenged. 385 
 
 But whoso longs amazingly for home, 
 
 Let him upon his dark and oared ship 
 
 Lay hold; and ere his fellows, drop and die. 
 
 But do thou, King, consider and obey. 
 
 Not idle are the words which Nestor speaks. 390 
 
 Tell into clans and tribes, oh King, thy men : 
 
 That clan may stand by clan, and tribe by tribe. 
 
 So shalt thou — if the Greeks obey thy voice — 
 
 See which be base, which brave, of all the host. 
 
 Leaders and led : — for singly they will fight : — 
 
 And know if it be Fate, or man's imskill 
 
 And cowardice, that bars thy road to Troy." 
 
 And royal Agamemnon spake again. 
 "Yea, and in council none is like to thee 
 Old man, of all the children of the Greeks. 400 
 
 Zeus, Phoebus, and Athene ! would 
 
 1 had ten such counsellors! Soon would bow yon 
 
 walls. 
 By our arm ta'en and sacked. But Cronos' son 
 Makes woe my portion, ^gis-arm^d Zeus 404 
 
56 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book II. 
 
 Doth cast my lot in bootless feuds and strifes. 
 Lo ! for a girl's sake strive with warring tongues 
 I and Achilles — my wrath roused the strife. 
 Should but we twain be one in purpose, then 
 Not for an hour shall hnger Ilion's doom. 
 But break ye now your fast, and then to war. 410 
 Let each whet well his spear, and hold his shield 
 Heady, feed well his swift-foot steeds, and look. 
 For battle bound, his chariot o'er and o'er : 
 That in stern war we strive the livelong day. 
 For rest there shall be none, no not an hour, 415 
 Until night coming part the strong men's arms. 
 The leathern fastenings of the broad-orbed shield 
 Shall drip with sweat ; the hands that close around 
 The spear-shaft falter : steeds shall drip with sweat. 
 Drawing their polished cars. And should I 
 mark 420 
 
 One, minded by his beaked ships to abide. 
 Aloof from battle^ — slender hope were his 
 Thenceforth, to 'scape the vulture and the dog." 
 
 He spake. The Argives gave a mighty roar. 
 So roars a billow — by the South wind stirred, 425 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 57 
 
 On some high beach — against a jutting rock, 
 Lashed evermore by waves from every wind 
 Of heaven, on this side gathering and on that. 
 They rose, and sprang forth, parting each to his ship; 
 And, kindhng each his tent-fire, brake their 
 fast : 43° 
 
 And to the gods who hve for ever prayed, 
 This one or that, with sacrifice, to flee 
 Death and the moil of war. An ox meanwhile 
 Did Agamemnon slaughter. King of men, 
 Fat, in its fifth year, to most mighty Zeus: 435 
 And called the reverend chiefs of all the Greeks, 
 First Nestor, and the prince Idomeneus ; 
 Then the two Aiases, and Tydeus' son ; 
 Odysseus sixth, in craft a match for Zeus. 
 TJnbid the clear- voiced Menelaiis came; 440 
 
 His soul well wotted how his brother toiled. 
 Ranged round the ox, they raised the barley grains, 
 And royal Agamemnon spake in prayer. 
 
 " Most high, most mighty, dweller in the heaven, 
 Zeus, hid in clouds and darkness ! ere yon 
 sun 445 
 
58 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book II. 
 
 Set, and the dark draw on, may I have laid 
 Priam's blackening palace low, and Priam's gates 
 Burned with avenging flame : and rent the clothes 
 Of Hector with the sword's edge on his breast. 
 And round about him seen much people fall 450 
 In dust, and with their teeth lay hold on earth." 
 
 He spake. Cronion heard not yet his prayer: 
 His offering took, but multiplied his woe. 
 They having knelt, and strewed the barley grains. 
 Drew back the victim's head, and slew, and 
 flayed, 455 
 
 And cut the thighs off, and around them wrapped 
 The fat in layers, and sprinkled flesh thereon. 
 And these they burned on leafless logs; and held. 
 Pierced with their knives, the entrails o'er the flame. 
 They burned the thighs, and tasted of the 
 heart, 4*^° 
 
 And mashed and fixed on spits the residue. 
 And made roast cunningly, and drew all off. 
 And when the lust of meat and drink was gone. 
 First spake out Nestor, the Gerenian knight. 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 59 
 
 " Most glorious Agamemnon, King of men ! 465 
 Sit we not talking here, nor still forego 
 The thing that lo ! heaven putteth in our hand. 
 But up. Let heralds of the brass-mailed Greeks 
 Cry, and collect the folk from ship and ship : . 
 While tlirough the broad host thus in multitude 
 We go, and swiftly bid keen war awake." 471 
 
 He spake. Nor heedless was the King of men. 
 Forthwith he bade his shrill-voiced heralds go 
 And summon council-ward the unshorn Greeks, 
 Who came all swiftly at their heralding. 475 
 
 Round Atreus' son the kings, the sons of heaven, 
 Eanged and arrayed them. And Athene helped, 
 The blue-eyed maid, her ^gis in her hand. 
 That precious thing, that grows not old nor 
 
 fades. 
 A hundred tassels hang from it, all gold, 480 
 
 All deftly wov'n; worth each a hecatomb. 
 Therewith she ran wild-eyed amid the host, 
 Bidding them on : and roused in every breast 
 The will to fight and cease not. And behold ! 
 Sweeter to them seemed warfare, than to steer 485 
 
60 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book II. 
 
 Their hollow ships unto their fatherland. 
 
 As on the mountain peaks destroying flame 
 Fires a great forest ; far is seen the glare : — 
 From off the glorious steel the full-orbed light 489 
 Went skyward on through ether as they marched. 
 
 And even as great hosts of winged birds, 
 Storks, cranes, or long-necked swans, flit here and 
 
 there 
 In Asian meadow round Cayster's stream 
 On jubilant wing : and, making van-ward each. 
 Scream, that the whole mead rings : — so poured 
 
 their hosts 495 
 
 From tent and ship into Scamander's plain. 
 Earth underfoot rang fiercely, to the tramp 
 Of warriors and of horses. There they stood 
 Upon Scamander's richly-blossomed plain, 
 • Innumerable, as flowers and leaves in spring. 500 
 
 And as great hosts of swarming flies that flit 
 In springtime, when the milk is in the cans, 
 About the herdsman's hut : so numerous stood 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 61 
 
 Before Troy's ranks the Greeks upon the plain, 
 And thirsted to destroy them utterly. 505 
 
 And as the goatherds sunder easily 
 Broad droVes, as one flock feeding : even so 
 Their captains marshalled each his company 
 For war ; amidst them Atreus' royal son, 
 In eye and front like Zeus, Ares in bulk, 510 
 
 In chest Poseidon. As among the herd 
 The bull ranks noblest, o'er the gathered kine 
 Preeminent : such glory in that hour 
 Gave Zeus to Agamemnon, to be first 
 And chiefest among hosts of mighty men. 515 
 
 Now name me. Muses, ye that dwell in heaven — 
 For ye are goddesses, see all, all know ; 
 We are but told a tale, and know not aught— 
 The captains and commanders of the Greeks. 
 I could not tell nor speak their multitude 520 
 Had I ten tongues, ten mouths; were this my 
 
 voice 
 Untiring, and the heart within me brass : — 
 But that those children of Olympus, spmng 
 
62 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book II. 
 
 Of -lEgis-armed Zeus, the Muses, know 524 
 
 Full well what numbers came 'neath Ilion's walls. 
 Now tell I all the captains, all the ships. 
 
 Of the Boeotians Peneleus was chief, 
 Archesilaiis, Clonius, Leitus, 
 And Prothoenor. Some in Hyria dwelt, 
 Schoenus or stony Aulis, or the dells 530 
 
 Of Eteonus : in Thespeia some, 
 Scholus and Graia, and the broad champaign 
 Of Mycalessus, Harma, Eilesius, 
 Erythrse, Eleon, Hyle, Peneon, 
 Ochalese, and Medeon, well-walled town, S;^^ 
 
 Copse, Eutresis, and the haunt of doves 
 Thisbe, In Coroneia, on the lawns 
 Of Haliartus; by Plataia, by 
 Glisas, and Hypothebae, well-walled town : 
 Onchestus, or Poseidon's holy grove, 540 
 
 Mideia, Arne, where the grapes grow thick. 
 Or sacred Cilia, or the frontier-town 
 Anthedon. Fifty ships went forth of these. 
 A hundred men and twenty sailed in each. 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. G3 
 
 They of Aspledon and Orcbomenos 545 
 
 Obeyed AscaLapbus and lalmenus, 
 Chiefs whom in Actor's palace, Azeus' son, 
 The young Astyoch^ to Ares bore, 
 Her secret bridegroom, in her maiden's tower. 
 Full thirty chiselled ships did these array. 550 
 
 Of Phocians Schedius and Epistrophus 
 Ranked foremost, sons of proud Iphitus, son 
 Of Nauboleus. Of C^-jjarissus these 
 Were lords, and stony P}i;hon, Crisa's grove, 
 Daulis and Panopeus ; dwelt round about ^jj 
 
 Anemoreia and Hyampolis, 
 Or drank of holiest Cephissus' stream, 
 Or held Lilaia, whence Cephissus springs. 
 And forty dark ships were their retinue. 
 These two were captains of the Phocian lines, 560 
 Next the Boeotians ranging, on the left. 
 
 The Locrian's prince, fleet Aias, Oileus' son. 
 Slighter than Aias son of Telamon, 
 Far slighter — small and linen-corsleted — 564 
 
64 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book 11. 
 
 Yet witli the spear surpassed the hosts of Greece. 
 From C}Tius, Opoeis, Calliarus, these, 
 Bessa or Scarphe, sweet Aiigese came, 
 Thronius, or Tarph^ by Boagrius' stream. 
 Forty dark ships were theirs, who o'er against 
 The gi'eat Eubcea dwelt — the Locrians. 570 
 
 Euboea's hosts, the Abantians — men whose lips 
 Breathe war — from Chalcis, Histiaia's vines, 
 Cerinthus' sands, Eirethria, Dion's steep, 
 Or Styra or Carystus : that proud race 
 Brave Elephenor led, Chalcodon's son. ^^^ 
 
 He led the fleet Abantians : warriors, shorn 
 Of their front locks ; with outstretched spears 
 
 athirst 
 To rive the breastplate on the foeman's breast. 
 Forty dark vessels followed in his wake. 
 
 And they who dwelt in Athens, well-walled 
 town, 5^° 
 
 Land of gi'eat-souled Erechtheus — whom in days 
 Gone by the child of Zeus, Athen^, reared 
 (From bounteous Earth he sprang,) and bade him 
 dwell 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 66 
 
 In Athens, in her own rich sanctuary : 
 
 There do Athenian warriors worship him, 585 
 
 As years roll round, with bullocks and with rams — 
 
 Their captain was Menestheus, Peteos' son. 
 
 In all the earth his like hath not arisen 
 
 To marshal steeds and shielded infantry. 589 
 
 Nestor alone might match him : Nestor's years 
 
 Were more. — And fifty dark ships followed him. 
 
 Next, Aias brought twelve ships from Salamis ; 
 And moored them by the Athenian phalanxes. 
 
 And them whom Argos reared ; from Tiryns' 
 walls, 
 Hermion^ and Asine — that front 595 
 
 Each a deep bay — from Troezen, Eion, 
 And vine-clad Epidaurus : all who came 
 From Mases or ^gina, men of war : 
 Loud Diomedes ruled, and Sthenelus, 
 Famed Capaneus's son : Euryalus third, 600 
 
 His sire Mecisteus, Ms Talaion. 
 Loud Diomedes ruled the whole array, 
 In eighty dark ships mustering. 
 
 F 
 
6G HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book 11. 
 
 Those who held 
 Mycenas or Cleona?, well-walled towns, 605 
 
 Or sumptuous Corinth, Araithyria sweet, 
 Orneia, or where first Adrastus reigned, 
 Sicyon ; who dwelt on Gonoessa's steep, 
 Or Hyperesia; by Pellene dwelt 
 And ^gius, and all along the coast, 610 
 
 And round broad Helice : their hundred ships 
 Were led by Agamemnon Atreus' son. 
 Most noble as most numerous were the hosts 
 That followed him. Amongst them he stood armed 
 In dazzling brass, exulting: and of all 615 
 
 The mighty men stood chiefest, as of all 
 Noblest was he, and most his following. 
 
 And those who tilled Laconia's rugged dales, 
 
 Pharis or Sparta, or the haunt of doves 
 
 Messe ; Amyclae, Helos' sea-washed walls, 620 
 
 Laas or (Etylus : Menelaiis led. 
 
 The king's own brother, of the ringing voice. 
 
 Full fifty ships. They mixed not with the rest. 
 
 He moved amongst them, trusting in his might, 
 
 And urged to battle : this his heart's desire, 625 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 67 
 
 That Helen's tears and anofiiish be aveno-ed. 
 
 And those from Pylos, from Arene fair, 
 Thrios, the ford of Alphens, ^py's walls, 
 Cyparisseis, Helos, Pteleon, 
 
 Amphigeneia, Dorion : — where the Nine 630 
 
 Fell in ^"ith Thracian Thamyris, on his road 
 From Thessaly, the home of Eur}i:us, 
 And silenced all his songs : because he stood 
 Their vaunted conqueror, would they but appear — 
 Those Muses, sprung of ^gis-armed Zeus — 6^^ 
 And sing against him: they, thereat enraged. 
 Smote him with blindness, took awav that frift 
 Divine, that he forgat his minstrelsy : — 
 Their chief was Nestor, the Gerenian knicdit. 
 And ninety chiselled ships were their array. 640 
 
 Them of Arcadia, neath Cyllene's steep. 
 
 By yEpytus's tomi), where dwells a race 
 
 Of wi-estlers : them of Rhipse, Pheneus, 
 
 Orchomenos white with sheep, and Stratia, 
 
 "\^'ind-swept Enisp^, fair Mantinea, 645 
 
 Tegea, Stymphelus, and Parrhasia: — 
 f2 
 
68 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book II. 
 
 King Agapenor led, Anchaeus' son. 
 
 Their ships were sixty : each ship furnished well 
 
 With men inured to war, Ai'cadia's sons. 
 
 To these did Agamemnon, King of men — 650 
 
 Tor they were landsmen — give of his own store 
 
 Ships and good oars, to cross the purple seas. 
 
 They of Buprasium and great Elis : all 
 Whom utmost M}Tsinus, OLenia's crags, 
 Hyrmine and Aleisium compass round ; 6^^ 
 
 These had four chiefs — on each chief war-ships ten 
 Attended, with Epeans freighted well. 
 Part did Amphimachus, part Thalpius lead, 
 (Sprung, this from Cteatus, that from Eurytus 
 The seed of Actor;) stout Diores part 660 
 
 Whose sire was Amarynceus : o'er the fourth 
 Euled brave Polyxenus — his sire the king 
 Agasthenes, who sprang from ^geus' loins. 
 
 Them of Dulichium, and the sacred isles 
 That fronting Elis he, beyond the sea, 66 j 
 
 The Echinse: Meges marshalled, Phyleus' son. 
 In fight an Ares. Zeus loved well the knight 
 Phyleus his sire; who with his grandsire wroth 
 
Book II.] HOMEE'S ILIAD. 69 
 
 Came down unto Dulicliium lono- afro. 
 
 Forty dark vessels followed after him. 670 
 
 The Cephalenians, haughty race, and all 
 Who called the c^uivering woods of Neritos, 
 Or Ithaca, or rugged ^gilips. 
 Their home, or Crocylsea : all who dwelt 
 Round Samos or Zac\Tithus ; and whoe'er ^'j 5 
 
 Peopled, or faced, the mainland : these obeyed 
 Odysseus, like in counsel unto Zeus. 
 And -\^•ith him sailed twelve scarlet-painted ships. 
 
 The JStolians Thoas led, Androemon's son ; 
 By Pleuron, Olenus, Pylene, reared, 680 
 
 Or Chalcis' beach, or rocky Calydon. 
 For (Eneus bold sons w^ere not ; he himself 
 Was not, nor fair-haired Meleao-er, now. 
 So o'er yEtoHa's hosts supreme command 
 Held Thoas. Forty dark ships followed him. 685 
 
 Idomeneus, brave lance, the Cretans led. 
 From Cnosus and Miletus, Gortyn's walls, 
 And Lyttus, and Lycastus, glistening white, 
 Phsestus and Rhytius, peopled towns, they came, 
 
70 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book 11. 
 
 And all tlie parts of hundred-citied Crete. 690 
 Idomeneus led those, and Meriones, 
 Match of the war-god, when he lift his arm 
 For slaughter. Eighty dark ships followed them. 
 
 Tlepolemus, the son of Heracles, 
 Yahant and tall, led on nine vessels, manned 695 
 By noble Rhodians, dwelling round about 
 Hhodes in three j)ortions : in lelysus. 
 And Lindus, and Cameirus glistening white. 
 These did Tlepolemus, brave lance, command : 
 Astyocheia bare him to the might 700 
 
 Of Heracles : who led the maid away 
 From Sella's stream, from Ephyre, many a town 
 Of warriors, sons of heaven, laid first in dust. 
 He, grown to manhood in his stately home. 
 Slew straightway his sire's uncle, now in years, 705 
 Licymnius, sprung from Ares ; built him ships 
 Forthwith, and fled, much people in his train, 
 O'er ocean ; for he feared the other sons 
 And grandsons of the might of Heracles. 
 To Rhodes, much hardship past, the wanderer 
 came: 710 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 71 
 
 There in three clans he settled ; there obtained 
 The love of Zeus, whom heaven and earth ol)ey. 
 Cronlon's hand shed o'er them boundless wealth. 
 
 Nireus from S}tii^ led three shapely ships : 
 Nireus, to Charopus and Aglaia born, 715 
 
 Nireus, of all the Greeks that came to Troy 
 The goodliest ; all, save Peleus' noble sou. 
 Yet poor his prowess, scant his following. 
 
 Them of NisjTus, Crapathus, Cases, Cos, 
 Where reigned Eurypylus, and Calydnse's isles, 720 
 Pheidippus led and Antij^hus, two sons 
 Of Thessalus, who sprang from Heracles. 
 And thirty chiselled ships were their array, 
 
 Next, all who in Pelasgic Argos dwelt. 
 Whose home was Trachis, Alos, Alope, 725 
 
 Phthia, and Hellas, for sweet damsels famed; — 
 Their fifty ships Achilles led to war : 
 Myrmidons, or Hellens, or Achaians hight. 
 Yet the dread din of battle woke not them : 
 For there was no man to array their hosts. 730 
 For in his ship their great swift leader lay. 
 
72 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book II. 
 
 Wroth for Briseis' sake, that fair-hah'ed maid 
 Whom from Lyrnessus in hard fight he won, 
 When fell Lyrnessus and the walls of Thebes ; 
 Epistrophus and M}Ties, spearmen bold, 735 
 
 Smiting, Evenus' sons, of Sclepius' blood : — 
 For her sake lay he still — but not for long. 
 
 From Phylact; and flowery Pyrasus, 
 Demeter's own ; from sheep-clad Iton some. 
 And sea-washed Antron, and green Pteleus, 
 
 came. 74° 
 
 Protesilaiis was their warrior chief 
 Once: but the dark soil was his lodging now. 
 In Phylace his widow tore her cheeks. 
 Unfinished stood his home : for, first of Greeks 
 Leaping to land, a Dardan struck him do-svn. 745 
 They mourned their chief, yet were not chiefless 
 
 still : 
 Podarces led them, bred to warfare, son 
 Of rich Iphiclus, son of Phylacus'; 
 Of proud Protesilaiis brother born : 
 But younger, and less brave, than that great 
 
 chief 750 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 73 
 
 Protesilaiis. Leader lacked tliey not ; 
 
 Yet thought, regretful, on the brave man dead. 
 
 Forty dark ships these manned. 
 
 And those who tilled 
 Pheras by Lake Bosbeis, Glaphyrte, 
 Or Bcebe or lolcos, -well-walled toAvn : 755 
 
 Admetus' son led their eleven ships, 
 Eumelus, whom Alcestis, lady fair. 
 Of Pelias' daughters loveliest, bare to him. 
 
 Those whom Methone, whom Thaumachia reared, 
 Or Meliboea, or Olizon's crags ; 760 
 
 Them Philoctetes led, an archer trained. 
 Seven ships: in each sat fifty rowers, trained 
 Archers, in fight right valiant. But he lay. 
 Backed by strong pangs, in Lemnos' sacred isle, 
 Abandoned of the children of the Greeks 765 
 
 To rue the fell bite of the deadly snake. 
 There he lay son-owing. But the Greeks were soon 
 To think of Philoctetes once again. 
 Chiefless they were not, though they mourned 
 their chief. 
 
7i HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book II. 
 
 Medon arrayed them, Khene's bastard child, 770 
 By city-sackiug Oileus. 
 
 Them who held 
 (Echalia, where (Echalian Eurytus 
 Was king, or Tricce, or Ithome's rocks : 
 These Podaleirius and Machaon led, 
 Asclepius' two sons, of healing arts 775 
 
 Each master. Thirty chiselled ships ranged they. 
 
 Them from Ormeniiis, Hypereia's rill, 
 Asterius, and Titanus' white-faced cliffs ; 
 Eusemon's glorious son, Eurypylus, 
 Led forth. And forty dark ships followed him. 780 
 
 Argissa's, Orthe's and Gyrtona's hosts. 
 White Oloessa's, and Elone's ; led 
 The sturdy Pol}^oetes, son of him 
 Whom deathless Zeus begat, Peirithous. 
 Him to Peirithous famed HiiDpodame 785 
 
 Bore, wdien those shaggy Beasts his vengeance felt. 
 From Pelion unto far-off Pindus driven. 
 Leonteus, bred to warfare, shared his toil. 
 
Book II.] HOMEE'S ILIAD. 75 
 
 Haughty Coronus' son, of Caeneus' blood. 
 
 And forty dark ships followed after these. 790 
 
 Gouneus from Cyphos twenty ships and two 
 Led. Enienians thronged them, and the men 
 Whose homes were round Dodona's storm-beat 
 
 crags, 
 Sturdy Peroebians, or who tilled the meads 
 Of Titaresius, that pleasant stream 795 
 
 That flows in beauty down to Peneus ; 
 Yet with that silver-eddied river ne'er 
 Mingleth, but oil-like, on the surface swims : 
 For Peneus is an arm of that oath-wdtness, Styx. 
 
 Prothoiis, Tenthredon's son, led Magne's hosts, 800 
 By Peneus reared, and Pelion's quivering woods. 
 Forty dark ships of theirs swift Prothoiis led. 
 
 These were the chiefs and captains of the host. 
 Now, tell me, Muse, who far surpassed their mates. 
 Horsemen or steeds, in all that chivalry. 805 
 
 Of steeds the noblest far Eumelus drave, 
 Driv'n once by Pheres ; swift in flight as birds, 
 
76 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book II. 
 
 In age, Ime, deptli of shoulder, ' fairly matched. 
 Those mares the Monarch of the Silver Bow 
 Bred in Pereia, couriers of dread war. 810 
 
 Of men far first was Aias, Telamon's son, 
 "While Peleus' son was wroth. For all unmatched 
 Was great Achilles, all unmatched his steeds. 
 But in his beaked sea-vessels wroth he lay 
 At Agamemnon, shepherd of the host. 8 15 
 
 His army by the breakers on the beach 
 With spear and quoit and bow made holiday: 
 While, ranged beside their several cars, their steeds 
 On lotus browsed and parsley of the lake. 
 Tented, in canvass, stood the chieftains' cars. 820 
 Reft of their warrior prince, they roamed at will 
 Among the host, and went not forth to war. 
 
 On came they: so might fire o'errun the lands. 
 Groaned earth beneath : as Avheu Zeus smites in 
 wrath, 
 
Book II.J HOMER'S ILIAD. 77 
 
 Revelling iu thunderstorm, the soil that hides 825 
 Tlie Dragon, where in Arimi men shew 
 The D]-agon's grave. Beneath their coming feet 
 Groaned she right sore. They swiftly scoured the 
 plain. 
 
 And now wind-swift to Troy fleet Iris came 
 From ^gis-armed Zeus, to tell a tale 830 
 
 Of woe. By Priam's gates assembled all 
 The assembly, young and old. Then, standing near, 
 Spake swift-foot Iris in Polites' voice, 
 Priam's son, who, trusting to his feats of speed. 
 High upon ancient ^sy^etes' tomb 835 
 
 A spy sat watching till the Achaians moved 
 From shipboard. So disguised, fleet Iris spake. 
 
 " Sire ! Thou aye lov'st entanglements of words. 
 Thus erst in peace-time: but 'tis stern war now. 
 Lo ! I have looked on many a foughten field : 840 
 But ne'er saw yet so vast, so stout, a host, 
 As, even Uke the leaves or hke the sand, 
 March o'er the plain, to fight beneath our w^alls. 
 But, Hector, be my message first to thee. 
 
78 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book II. 
 
 This do. In Priam's great city many allies 845 
 Dwell, late o'er earth wide-scattered, and their 
 
 speech 
 Is diverse. Let each captain then command, 
 Each head, his own troops : marshalling first his 
 
 hosts." 
 
 She spake. He knew her voice who spake to him. 
 And brake the assembly up. To arms they 
 rushed. 850 
 
 The gates flew open, and the hosts poured forth, 
 Horsemen and footmen. Mighty was their din. 
 
 Far in the plain, a steep hill fronts the walls ; 
 A man may walk all round it: called by men 
 The Bramble-hiU, but by the gods the tomb 855 
 Of supple-limbed Myrine. There were ranged 
 Both Trojans and allies. 
 
 The Trojan host 
 Obeyed tall Hector of the glancing plume, 
 Priam's son. Most noble as most numerous 
 shewed 859 
 
 His hosts: each spear-arm lusting for the fra}^ 
 
Book II.] HOMER'S ILIAD. 79 
 
 Gallant ^neas led the Dardau lines; 
 "Whom Aplii-odite's self to Anchises bore 
 lu Ida's glens; a goddess loved a man. 
 Ai'cliilochus and Acamas shared his toil, 
 Trained in all arts of war, Antenor's sons. 865 
 
 Seleia's dwellers, low at Ida's foot. 
 Rich Trojans, that drink dark ^sepus' stream, 
 These Pandarus led, Lycaon's brilliant son; 
 His very bow was great Apollo's gift. 
 
 From Adrasteia and Apaesus' realm, 870 
 
 Tereia's steep and Pityeia, came 
 Hosts by Adrastus and Amphius led 
 Of Hnen corslet, Merops' sons, who ruled 
 Percote. He, a seer among the seers, 
 Had said, "My children, go not up to war." 875 
 Yet recked tliey not — drawn on by the dark Powers 
 of Death. 
 
 Them who round Practium and Percote dwelt, 
 Sestus, Abydos, and Arisbes gi'ove ; 
 
80 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book II. 
 
 Ruled Asius, prince of warriors, Asius, son 
 
 Of Hyrtacus, whom vast and fiery-liued 880 
 
 Steeds from Arisbe brought, from Sella's stream. 
 
 The fierce Pelasgian spearmen — tribes who 
 ploughed 
 Larissa s rich domain — Hippothoiis led : 
 Hippothoiis and Pylseus, warriors, sprung 
 Through Lethus from Pelasgian Teutamus. 88-; 
 
 Peirolis and Acamas, mighty men, from Thrace, 
 Led all whom Hellespont, strong-rushing, belts. 
 Euphemus all Ciconia's spears: his sire 
 Troezenus, son of Ceas, son of heaven. 889 
 
 Then the Pseonians, them who bend the bow, 
 From far-off Amydon Pyrtscmes brouglit, 
 From Axius: Axius, whose vast-volumed tide, 
 Matchless in beauty, broadens o'er the la.nds. 
 
 The hairy bulk of stout Pylajmenes 
 The Paphlagonians roused from Eneti, 895 
 
 That breeds wild mules: Cytorus, Sesamos, 
 
Book II-] HOMER'S ILIAD. 81 
 
 Their fair homes : Cromna or Parthenia's banks, 
 -^gialus, or Erythinse tall. 
 
 Odius, Epistrophus, Calydon's hosts 
 Led from far Alyboe. There is silver found. 900 
 
 The Mysians Cromis led, and Eunomiis 
 The augvir. Not by augury to escape 
 Black death. By fleet Achilles' hand he died 
 In Xanthus. Other Trojans fell that day. 
 
 Godlike Ascanius led, and Phorcys, troops 905 
 From far Ascania; Phrygians, war- at hirst. 
 Meeonians, Antiphus and Mesthles, born 
 By Lake Gygeis to Talaimenes. 
 They led Mseonians, born at Tmolus' foot. 
 
 The barbarous-talking Carians Nastes led, 910 
 
 These held Miletus, and Mseander's stream, 
 And rocky Phtheirse's leaf-entangled shades, 
 And Mycales steep heights. Amphimachus 
 Led these, and Nastes, Nomion's brilliant sons, 
 Amphimachus and Nastes. Gold he had; 915 
 
 G 
 
82 HOMER'S ILIAD. [Book II. 
 
 Yet, child-like, went to war. Poor fool ! what shield 
 Is orold acjainst the bitterness of death ? 
 He too must die by fleet Achilles' hand 
 In Xanthus. Brave Achilles took his gold. 
 
 Sarpedon and good Glaucus Lycians led 920 
 
 From Lycia far, where whirls Scamander's stream. 
 
VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 
 
 g2 
 
VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 
 
 ECLOGUE I. 
 Melibceus. Tityrus. 
 
 M. Stretched in the shadow of the broad beech, 
 thou 
 Rehearsest, Tityrus, on the slender pipe 
 Thy woodland music. We our fatherland 
 Are leaving, we must shun the fields we love: 
 While, Tityrus, thou, at ease amid the shade, 
 Bidd'st answering woods call Amaryllis 'fair.' 
 T. O Melibceus! 'Tis a god that made 
 For me this holiday : for god I'll aye 
 Account him ; many a young lamb from my fold 
 Shall stain his altar. Thanks to him, my kine lo 
 Range, as thou seest them: thanks to him, I 
 
 play 
 What songs I list upon my shepherd's pipe. 
 M. For me, I grudge thee not ; I marvel much : 
 So sore a trouble is in all the land. 
 
86 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. L 
 
 Lo ! feeble / am driving hence my goats — 
 Nay dragging, Tityrus, one, and that with pain. 
 For, yeaning here amidst the hazel-stems, 
 She left her twin kids— on the naked flint 
 She left them ; and I lost my promised flock. 
 This evil, I remember, oftentimes, 20 
 
 (Had not my wits been wandering,) oaks foretold 
 By heaven's hand smitten : oft the wicked crow 
 Croaked the same message from the rifted 
 
 holm. 
 —Yet tell me, Tityrus, of this ' God' of thine. 
 T. The city men call Rome my folly deemed 
 Was e'en like this of ours, where week by week 
 We shepherds journey with our weanhng flocks. 
 So whelp to dog, so kid (I knew) to dam 
 Was likest : and I judged great things by 
 
 small. 
 But o'er all cities this so lifts her head, 30 
 As doth o'er osiers lithe the cypress tree. 
 M. What made thee then so keen to look on 
 
 Rome? 
 T. Freedom: who marked, at last, my helpless 
 state : 
 
EcL. I.] VIEGIL'S ECLOGUES. 87 
 
 Now that a -vvliiter beard than that of 3'ore 
 Fell from my razor : still she marked, and 
 
 came 
 (All late) to help me — now that all my thought 
 Is Amaryllis, Galatea gone. 
 "While Galatea's, I despaired, I own, 
 Of freedom, and of thrift. Though from my 
 
 farm 
 Full many a victim stept, though rich the 
 
 cheese 40 
 
 Pressed for yon thankless city : still my hand 
 Returned not, heavy with brass pieces, home. 
 M. I wondered, AmarylKs, whence that woe, 
 
 And those appeals to heav'n : for whom the 
 
 peach 
 Hung undisturbed upon the parent tree. 
 Tityrus was gone ! Why, TitjTus, j)ine and rill, 
 And all these copses, cried to thee, "Come 
 
 home :" 
 T. What could I do ? I could not step from out 
 My bonds ; nor meet, save there, with Pow'rs 
 
 so kind 
 There, Meliboeus, I beheld that youth 50 
 
88 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. I. 
 
 For whom each year twelve days my altars 
 
 smoke. 
 Thus answered he my yet unanswered prayer ; 
 "Feed still, my lads, your kine, and yoke^ 
 
 your bulls." 
 3L Happy old man ! Thy lands are yet thine own ! 
 Lands broad enough for thee, although bare 
 
 stones 
 And marsh choke every field with reedy mud. 
 Strange pastures shall not vex thy teeming ewes, 
 Nor neighbouring flocks shed o'er them rank 
 
 disease. 
 Happy old man ! Here, by familiar streams 
 And holy springs, thou'lt catch the leafy cool. 60 
 Here, as of old, yon hedge, thy boundary line. 
 Its willow-buds a feast for Hybla's bees, 
 Shall with soft whisperings woo thee to thy 
 
 sleep. 
 Here, 'neath the tall cliff, shall the vinta^rer 
 Sing carols to the winds : while all the time 
 Thy pets, the stockdoves, and the turtles make 
 Incessantly their moan from aery elms. 
 T. Aye, and for this shall slim stags graze in air. 
 
EcL. I.] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 89 
 
 And ocean cast on shore the shrinking fish; 
 For this, each realm by either wandered o'er, 70 
 Parthians shall Arar drink, or Tigris Gauls ; 
 Ere from this memory shall fade that face ! 
 M. And we the while must thirst on Libya's sands, 
 O'er Scythia roam, and where the Cretan stems 
 • The swift Oaxes ; or, with Britons, live 
 Shut out from all the world. Shall I e'er see, 
 In far-off years, my fatherland? the turf 
 That roofs my meagre hut? see, wondering, last, 
 Those few scant cornblades that are realms 
 
 to me ? 79 
 
 What ! must rude soldiers hold these fallows trim? 
 That corn barbarians? See what comes of strife, 
 Poor people — where we sowed, what hands shall 
 
 reap ! 
 Now, Meliboeus, pr'ythee graft thy pears, 
 And range thy vines ! Nay on, my she-goats, on, 
 Once happy flock ! For never more must I, 
 Outstretched in some gi-een hollow, watch you 
 
 hang 
 From tufted crags, far up : no carols more 
 I'll sing : nor, shepherded by me, shall ye 
 
90 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. L 
 
 Crop the tart willow and the clover-bloom. 
 T. Yet here, this one night, thou may'st rest with 
 me, 90 
 
 Thy bed green branches. Chestnuts soft have I 
 And mealy ajDples, and our fill of cheese. 
 Already, see, the far-off chimneys smoke. 
 And deeper grow the shadows of the hills. 
 
EcL. II.] VIEGIL'S ECLOGUES. 91 
 
 ECLOGUE IL 
 
 CORYDOX. 
 
 For one fair face — his master's idol — burned 
 The shepherd Corjdon ; and hope had none. 
 Day after day he came ('twas all he could) 
 Where, piles of shadow, thick the beeches rose : 
 There, all alone, his unwrought phrases flung, 
 Bootless as passionate, to copse and crag. 
 
 " Hardhearted ! Naught car'st thou for all my 
 songs. 
 Naught pitiest. I shall die, one day, for thee. 
 The very cattle court cool shadows now, 
 Now the green lizard hides beneath the thorn : lo 
 And for the reaper, faint with driving heat. 
 The handmaids mix the garlic-salad strong. 
 My only mates, the crickets — as I track 
 'Neath the fierce sun thy steps — make shrill the 
 
 woods. 
 Better to endure the passion and the pride 
 Of Amaryllis : better to endure 
 Menalcas — dark albeit as thou art fair. 
 
92 YIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. II. 
 
 Put not, oh fair, in difference of hue 
 
 Faith overmuch : the wliite May-blossoms drop 
 
 And die; the hyacinth swart, men gather it. 20 
 
 Thy scorn am I : thou ask'st not whence I am, 
 
 How rich in snowy flocks, how stored with milk. 
 
 O'er Sicily's green hills a thousand lambs 
 
 Wander, all mine : my new milk fails me not 
 
 In summer or in snow. Then I can sing 
 
 All songs Amphion the Dircsean sang. 
 
 Piping his flocks from Attic Aracynth. 
 
 Nor am I all uncouth. For yesterday, 
 
 When winds had laid the seas, I, from the shore. 
 
 Beheld my image. Little need I fear 30 
 
 Daphnis, though thou wert judge, or mirrors lie. 
 
 — Oh ! be content to. haunt ungentle fields, 
 
 A cottager, with me; bring down the stag, 
 
 And with green switch drive home thy flocks of 
 
 kids : 
 Like mine, thy woodland songs shall rival Pan's! 
 — ^"Twas Pan first taught us reed on reed to fit 
 With wax : Pan watches herd and herdsman too. 
 — Nor blush that reeds should chafe thy pretty lip. 
 What pains Amyntas took, this skill to gain! 
 
EcL. II.] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 93 
 
 I have a pipe — seven stalks of different lengths 
 Compose it — which Damoetas gave me once. 41 
 Dying he said, "At last 'tis all thine own." 
 The fool Amyntas heard, and grudged, the praise. 
 Two fawns moreover (perilous was the gorge 
 Down which I tracked them !) — dappled still each 
 
 skin — 
 Drain daily two ewe-udders ; all for thee. 
 Long Thestylis has cried to make them hers. 
 Hers be they — since to thee my gifts are dross. 
 
 Be mine, oh fairest ! See ! for thee the Nymphs 
 Bear baskets lily-laden : Naiads bright 50 
 
 For thee crop poppy-crests and violets pale. 
 With daffodil and fragrant fennel-bloom : 
 Then, weaving casia in and all sweet things. 
 Soft hyacinth paint with yellow marigold. 
 Apples J'll bring thee, hoar with tender bloom. 
 And chestnuts — which my Amaryllis loved. 
 And waxen plums : let plums too have their day. 
 And thee I'll pluck, oh bay, and, myrtle, thee 
 Its neighbour : neighboured thus your sweets shall 
 mix. 
 
94 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. II. 
 
 — Pooh ! Thou 'rt a yokel, Corydon. Thy love 60 
 Laughs at thy gifts : if gifts must win the day, 
 Rich is lolas. What vain thing have I, 
 Poor I, been asking — while the winds and boars 
 Ran riot in my pools and o'er my flowers? 
 
 — Yet, fool, whom fliest thou ? Gods have dwelt in 
 
 woods, 
 And Dardan Paris. Citadels let her 
 Who built them, Pallas, haunt: green woods for me. 
 Grim lions hunt the wolf, and wolves the kid, 
 And kids at play the clover-bloom. I hunt 
 Thee only : each one drawn to what he loves. 70 
 See ! trailing from their necks the kine bring home 
 The plough, and, as he sinks, the sun draws out 
 To twice their length the shadows. Still I burn 
 With love. For what can end or alter love? 
 
 Thou'rt raving, simply raving, Corydon. 
 Clings to thy leafy elm thy half-pruned vine." 
 Why not begin, at least, to plait with twigs 
 And limber reeds some useful homely thing ? 
 Thou 'It find another love, if scorned by this. 
 
EcL. III.] VIEGIL'S ECLOGUES. 95 
 
 ECLOGUE III 
 
 Menalcas. Damcetas. Pal^mon, 
 M. Whose flock, Damoetas? Meliboeus's? 
 D. No, .Agon's. Mgon left it in my care. 
 M. Unluckiest of flocks ! Your master courts 
 Neaera, wondering if slie like me more : 
 Meanwhile a stranger milks you twice an hour, 
 Saps the flocks' strength, and robs the suck- 
 ing lambs. 
 D. Yet fling more charily such words at men. 
 You — while the goats looked goatish — we know 
 
 who, 
 And in what chapel — (but the kind Nymphs 
 laughed) — 
 M. Then (was it?) when they saw me Micon's 
 shrubs lo 
 
 And young vines hacking with my rascally 
 knife ? 
 D. Or when by this old beech you broke the 
 bow 
 And shafts of Daphnis : which you cried to see. 
 
96 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. III. 
 
 You crossgrained lad, first given to the boy; 
 And harm him somehow you must needs, or 
 die. 
 IT. Where will lords stop, when knaves are come 
 to this? 
 Did not I see you, scoundrel, in a snare 
 Take Damon's goat, "Wolf barking all the while? 
 And when I shouted, "Where's he off to? Call, 
 Tityi-us, your flock," — you skulked behind the 
 sedge. 20 
 
 D. Beaten in singing, should he have withheld 
 The goat my pipe had by its music earned? 
 That goat was mine, you mayn't p'raps know: 
 
 and he 
 Owned it himself: but said he could not pay. 
 J/. He beat by you? You own a decent pipe? 
 Used you not, dunce, to stand at the crossroads. 
 Stifling some lean tune in a squeaky straw? 
 B. Shall we then try in turn what each can do ? 
 I stake yon cow — nay hang not back — she 
 
 comes 
 Twice daily to the pail, is suckling twins. 30 
 Say what yoitW lay. 
 
EcL. III.] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 07 
 
 M. I durst not wager aught 
 
 Against you from the flock : for I have at home 
 A father, I have a»tjrant stepmother. 
 Both count the flock twice daily, one the kids. 
 But wliat yo%C]\. own far handsomer, I'll stake 
 (Since you will be so mad) two beechen cups. 
 The carved work of the gi'eat Alcimedon. 
 O'er them the chiseller's skill has traced a vine 
 That drapes with ivy pale her wide-flung curls. 
 Two figiircs in the centre : Conon one, 40 
 And — what's that other's name, who'd take a 
 
 wand 
 And shew the nations how the year goes round ; 
 When you should reap, when stoop behind the 
 
 plough ? 
 Ne'er yet my lips came near them, safe hid up. 
 J). For me two cups the selfsame Avorkman made, 
 And clasped with lissom briar the handles round. 
 Oi"pheus i'the centre, with the woods behind. 
 Ne'er yet my lips came near them, safe hid up. 
 • — This talk of cups, if on my cow you've fixed 
 Your eye, is idle. 
 M. Nay you'll not this day 50 
 
 H 
 
9S YIEGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. III. 
 
 Escape me. Name your spot, and I'll be tbere. 
 Our umpire be — Palsemon; here lie comes! 
 I'll teach you how to Challenge folks to sing. 
 
 D. Come on, if aught is in you. I'm not loth, 
 I shrink from no man. Only, neighbour, thou 
 ('Tis no small matter) lay this well to heart. 
 
 P. Say on, since now we sit on softest grass ; 
 And now buds every field and every tree, 
 And woods are green, and passing fair the year. 
 Damoetas, lead. Menalcas, follow next. 60 
 Sing verse for verse: such songs the Muses 
 love. 
 
 D. "With Jove we open. Jove fills everything, 
 
 He walks the earth, he listens when I sing. 
 "if. Me Phoebus loves. I still have offerings meet 
 
 For Phoebus ; bay, and hyacinth blushing sweet. 
 D. Me Galatea pelts with fruit, and flies 
 
 (Wild girl) to the woods : but first would catch 
 my eyes. 
 M. Unbid Amyntas comes to me, my flame ; 
 
 With Delia's self my dogs are not more tame. 
 D. Gifts have I for my fair : who marked but I 70 
 
EcL. III.] YIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 99 
 
 The place where doves had built their nest sky- 
 high? 
 M. I've sent my poor gift, which the wild wood bore, 
 Ten golden apples. Soon I'll send ten more. 
 D. Oft Galatea tells me — what sweet tales ! 
 
 Waft to the god's ears just a part, ye gales. 
 M. At heart Amyntas loves me. Yet what then? 
 
 He mates with hunters, I with servingmen. 
 D. Send me thy PhiUis, good lolas, now. 
 
 Today's my birthday. When I slay my cow 
 To help my harvest — come, and welcome, 
 thou. 80 
 
 M. Phillis is mt/ love. When we part, she'U cry; 
 
 And fain would bid lolas' self ood bye. 
 D. Wolves kill the flocks, and storms the ripened 
 corn; 
 And winds the tree; and me a maiden's scorn. 
 M. Rain is the land's delight, weaned kids' the 
 vine; 
 Big ewes' lithe willow; and one fair face mine. 
 D. PoUio loves well this homely muse of mine. 
 
 For a new votary fat a calf, ye Nine. 
 M. PoUio makes songs. For him a bull demand, 
 h2 
 
100 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. III. 
 
 Who butts, whose hoofs ah-eady spurn the 
 sand. 90 
 
 D. Who loves thee, Pollio, go where thou art gone. 
 For him flow honey, thorns sprout cinnamon. 
 M. WTio loathes not Bavius, let him love thy 
 notes, 
 Msevius: — and yoke the fox, and milk he-goats. 
 D. Flowers and ground-strawberries while your 
 prize ye make. 
 Cold in the grass — fly hence, lads — lurks the 
 snake. 
 J/. Sheep, banks are treacherous: draw not over- 
 nigh : 
 See, now the lordly ram his fleece doth dry. 
 D. Tit}a-us, yon she-goats from the river bring. 
 
 I Id due time "^^dl] wash them at the spring. 
 
 M. Call, lads, your sheep. Once more our hands, 
 
 should heat 10 1 
 
 O'ertake the milk, will press in vain the teat. 
 
 D. How rich these vetches, yet how lean my ox. 
 
 Love kills alike the herdsman and the flocks. 
 
 M. My lambs — and here love's not in fault, you'll 
 
 own — 
 
EcL. Ill] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUtk ^ ^ ' ' I'oi' 
 
 Witched by some jealous eye, are skin and bone. 
 B. Say in what land — and great Apollo be 
 
 To me — heaven's arch extends just cubits three. 
 M. Say in what land with kings' names grav'n are 
 grown 
 Flowers — and be Phyllis yours and yours 
 alone. no 
 
 P. Not mine such strife to settle. You have earned 
 A cow, and you : and whoso else shall e'er 
 Shrink from love's sweets or prove his bitter- 
 ness. 
 Close, lads, the springs. The meads have drunk 
 enough. 
 
102 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. IV. 
 
 ECLOGUE IV. 
 
 Muses of Sicily, a loftier song 
 
 Wake we ! Some tire of shrubs and myrtles low. 
 
 Are woods our theme ? Then princely be the woods. 
 
 Come are those last days that the Sybil sang : 
 The ages' mighty march begins anew. 
 Now comes the virgin, Saturn reigns again : 
 Now from high heaven descends a wondrous race. 
 Thou on the newborn babe — who first shall end 
 That age of iron, bid a golden dawn 
 Upon the broad world — chaste Lucina, smile : lo 
 Now thy Apollo reigns. And, Pollio, thou 
 Shalt be our Prince, when he that gi'ander age 
 Opens, and onward roll the mighty moons : 
 Thou, trampling out what prints our crimes have 
 
 left, 
 Shalt free the nations from perpetual fear. 
 "While he to bliss shall waken; with the Blest 
 See the Brave mingling, and be seen of them, 
 
EcL. lY.] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 103 
 
 Ruling that world o'er which his father's arm shed 
 peace. — 
 
 On thee, child, everywhere shall earth, untilled, 
 Show'r, her first baby-offerings, vagrant steins 20 
 Of ivy, foxglove, and gay briar, and bean ; 
 Unbid the goats shall come big-uddered home, 
 Nor monstrous lions scare the herded kine. 
 Thy cradle shall be full of pretty flowers: 
 Die must the serpent, treacherous poison-plants 
 Must die ; and Syria's roses spring like weeds. 
 
 But, soon as thou canst read of hero-deeds 
 Such as thy father wrought, and understand 
 What is true worth : the champaign day by day 
 Shall grow more yellow with the waving corn ; ^o 
 From the wild bramble purpling then shall hang 
 The gi'ape ; and stubborn oaks drop honeydew. 
 Yet traces of that guile of elder days 
 Shall linger ; bidding men tempt seas in ships. 
 Gird towns with walls, cleave furrows in the land. 
 Then a new Tiphys shall arise, to man 
 New argosies with heroes : then shall be 
 
104 YIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. IY. 
 
 New wars ; and once more shall be bound for Troy, 
 A mightier Achilles. 
 
 After this, 
 When thou hast grown and strengthened into 
 
 man, 4° 
 
 The pilot's self shall range the seas no more; 
 Nor, each land teeming with the wealth of all, 
 The floating pines exchange their merchandise. 
 Vines shall not need the pruning-hook, nor earth 
 The harrow: ploughmen shall unyoke their steers. 
 Nor then need wool be taught to counterfeit 
 This hue and that. At will the meadow ram 
 Shall change to saffron, or the gorgeous tints 
 Of T_)Te, his fair fleece ; and the gi-azing lamb 
 At will put crimson on. 
 
 So grand an age 50 
 
 Did those three Sisters bid their spindles spin ; 
 Three, telling with one voice the changeless will 
 
 of Fate. 
 
 Oh draw — the time is all but present — near 
 To thy great glory, cherished child of heaven, 
 Jove's mighty progeny ! And lo ! the world, 
 
EcL. lY.] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 105 
 
 The round and ponderous world, bows down to thee; 
 
 The earth, the ocean-tracts, the depths of heaven. 
 
 Lo ! nature revels in the comine^ as^e. 
 
 Oh ! may the evening of my days last on, 
 
 May breath be mine, till I have told thy deeds ! 60 
 
 Not Orpheus then, not Linus, shall outsing 
 
 Me : though each vaunts his mother or his sire, 
 
 CalHopea this, Apollo that. 
 
 Let Pan strive with me, Arcady his judge ; 
 
 Pan, Arcady his judge, shall yield the palm. 
 
 •Learn, tiny babe, to read a mother's smile: 
 Already ten long months have wearied her. 
 Learn, tiny babe. Him, who ne'er knew such smiles, 
 Nor god nor goddess bids to board or bed. 
 
lOG VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. Y. 
 
 ECLOGUE V. 
 
 Menalcas. Mopsus. 
 
 Me. Mopsus, suppose, now two good men liave met — 
 You at flute-blowing, as at verses I — 
 "We sit down here, where elm and hazel mix. 
 
 Mo. Menaloas, meet it is that I obey 
 
 Mine elder. Lead, or into shade — that shifts 
 At the wind's fancy — or (mayhap the best) 
 Into some cave. See here's a cave, o'er which 
 A wild vine flings her flimsy foliage. 
 
 Me. On these hills one — Amyntas — vies with you. 
 
 Mo. Suppose he thought to outsing Phcebus' self? lo 
 
 Me. Mopsus, begin. If aught you know of flames 
 That Phyllis kindles ; aught of Alcon's worth, 
 Or Codrus's ill-temper ; then begin : 
 Tityrus meanwhile will watch the grazing kids. 
 
 Mo. Ay, I will sing the song which t'other day 
 On a green beech's bark I cut ; and scored 
 The music, as I wrote. Hear that, and bid 
 Amyntas vie with me. 
 
EcL. Y.] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 107 
 
 Me. As willow lithe 
 
 Yields to pale olive ; as to crimson beds 
 Of roses yields the lowly lavender ; 20 
 
 So, to my mind, Amyntas yields to you. 
 
 Mo. But, lad, no more : we are within the cave. 
 
 (Sings.) The Nymphs wept Daphnis, slain by 
 
 ruthless death. 
 Ye, streams and hazels, were their witnesses: 
 When, clasping tight her son's unhappy corpse, 
 "Ruthless," the mother cried, "are gods and 
 
 stars." 
 None to the cool brooks led in all those 
 
 days, 
 Daphnis, his fed flocks : no four-footed thing 
 Stooped to the pool, or cropped the meadow- 
 grass. 
 How lions of the desert mourned thy death, 30 
 Forests and mountains wild proclaim aloud. 
 'Twas Daphnis taught mankind to yoke in cars 
 The tiger ; lead the winegod's revel on, 
 And round the tough spear twine the bending 
 leaf. 
 
108 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. Y. 
 
 yines are tlie green wood's glory, grapes the 
 
 vine's : 
 The bull the cattle's, and the rich land's corn 
 Thou art thy people's. When thou metst thy 
 
 doom. 
 Both Pales and Apollo left our fields. 
 In furrows where we dropped big barley seeds. 
 Spring now rank darnel and the barren reed : 40 
 Not violet soft and shining daffodil, 
 But thistles rear themselves and sharp-spiked 
 
 thorn. 
 Shepherds, strow earth with leaves, and hang 
 
 the springs 
 With darkness ! Daphnis asks of you such 
 
 rites : 
 And raise a tomb, and place this rh3ane thereon : 
 "Famed in the green woods, famed beyond 
 
 the skies, 
 A fair flock's fairer lord, here Daphnis lies." 
 
 Me. Welcome thy song to me, oh sacred bard, 
 As, to the weary, sleep upon the grass : 
 As, in the summer-heat, a bubbling spring 50 
 
EcL. Y.] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 109 
 
 Of sweetest water, that shall slake oar thirst. 
 In song, as on the jjipe, thy master's match, 
 Thou, gifted lad, shalt now our master be. 
 Yet will I sing in turn, in my poor way. 
 My song, and raise thy Daphnis to the stars — 
 Eaise Daphnis to the stars. He loved me too. 
 
 Mo. Could aught in my eyes such a boon outweigh ? 
 Song-worthy was thy theme : and Stimichon 
 Told me long since of that same lay of thine. 
 
 Me. (Sijijs.) Heaven's unfamiliar floor, and clouds 
 and stars, 60 
 
 Fair Daphnis, wondering, sees beneath his feet. 
 Therefore gay revelries fill wood and field, 
 Pan, and the shepherds, and the Dryad maids. 
 Wolves plot not harm to sheep, nor nets to 
 
 deer; 
 Because kind Daphnis makes it holiday. 
 The unshorn mountains fling their jubilant voice 
 Up to the stars : the crags and copses shout 
 Aloud, " A god, Menalcas, lo ! a god." 
 Oh ! be thou kind and good unto thine own ! 
 Behold four altars, Daphnis : two for thee, 70 
 Two, piled for Phoebus. Thereupon I'll place 
 
110 YIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. V. 
 
 Two cups, with new milk foaming, year by. 
 
 year; 
 Two goblets filled witb richest olive-oil: 
 And, first with much wine making glad the 
 
 feast — 
 At the fireside in snowtime, 'neath the trees 
 In harvest — pour, rare nectar, from the can 
 The wines of Chios, Lyctian ^gon then 
 Shall sing me songs, and to Damoetas' pipe 
 Alphesiboeus dance his Satyr-dance. 
 And this shalt thou lack never: when we 
 
 pay 80 
 
 The Nymphs our vows, and when we cleanse 
 
 the fields. 
 While boars haunt mountain-heights, and fishes 
 
 streams. 
 Bees feed on thyme, and grasshoppers on dew, 
 Thy name, thy deeds, thy glory shall abide. 
 As Bacchus and as Ceres, so shalt thou 
 Year after year the shepherd's vows receive ; 
 So bind him to the letter of his vow. 
 
 Mo. What can I give thee, what, for such a song ? 
 
EcL. v.] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. Ill 
 
 Less sweet to me the coming South-wind's sigh, 
 
 The sea-wave breaking on the shore, the 
 noise 90 
 
 Of rivers, rushing through the stony vales. 
 Me. First I shall offer you this brittle pipe. 
 
 This taught me how to sing, "For one fair 
 face :" 
 
 This taught me "Whose flock? Meliboeus's ?" 
 3fo. Take thou this crook ; which oft Antigenes 
 
 Asked — and he then was loveable — in vain ; 
 
 Brass-tipped and even-knotted — beautiful ! 
 
112 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. VI. 
 
 ECLOGUE VL 
 
 My muse first stooped to trifle, like tlie Greek's, 
 In numbers; and, unblushing, dwelt in woods. 
 I sang embattled kings: but Cyntliius plucked 
 My ear, and warned me : " Tityrus, fat should be 
 A shepherd's wethers, but his lays thin-drawn." 
 go — for enough and more will strive to tell, 
 Varus, thy deeds, and pile up grisly wars — 
 On pipe of straw will I my wood-notes sing : 
 I sinsf not all imbid. Yet oh ! should one 
 Smit by great love, should one read this my 
 lay— lo 
 
 Then with thee. Varus, shall our myrtle-groves. 
 And all these copses, ring. Eight dearly loves 
 Phoebus the page that opens with thy name. 
 
 On, sisters ! 
 
 — Chromis and Mnasylus saw 
 (Two lads) Silenus in a cave asleep : 
 As usual, swoln with yesterday's debauch. 
 
EcL. YL] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 113 
 
 Just where it fell his garland lay hard by ; 
 And on worn handle hung his ponderous can. 
 They — for the old man oft had cheated each 
 Of promised songs — draw near, and make his 
 wreaths 20 
 
 Fetters to bind him. .^gle makes a third, 
 (^gle, the loveliest of the Naiad maids,) 
 To back their fears : and, as his eyes unclose,- 
 Paints brow and temples red with mulberry. 
 He, laughing at the trick, cries, "Wherefore weave 
 These fetters ? Lads, unbind me : 'tis enough 
 But to have seemed to have me in your power. 
 Ye ask a song; then listen. You I'll pay 
 With song : for her I've other meed in store." 
 And forthwith he begins. Then might you see 30 
 Move to the music Faun and forest-beast. 
 And tall oaks bow their heads. Not so delights 
 Parnassus in Apollo : not so charmed 
 At Orpheus Rhodope and Ismarus. 
 
 For this he sang : — How, drawn from that vast 
 void. 
 Gathered the germs of earth and air and sea 
 
 I 
 
114 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. YL 
 
 And liquid flame. How the Beginning sprang 
 Thence, and the young world waxed into a ball. 
 Then Earth, grown harder, walled the sea-god off 
 In seas, and slowly took substantial form : 40 
 
 Till on an awed world dawned the wondrous sun, 
 And straight from heaven, by clouds unbroken, fell 
 The showers: as woods first bourgeoned, here and 
 
 there 
 A wild beast wandering over hills unknown. 
 Of Pyrrha casting stones, and Saturn's reign, 
 The stolen fire, the eagles of the rock. 
 He sings : and then, beside what spring last 
 
 seen 
 The sailors called for Hylas — till the shore 
 All rang wath ' Hylas,' ' Hylas :' — and consoles 
 (Happy if horned herds never had been born,) 50 
 "With some fair bullock's love Pasiphae. 
 Ah ! hapless maid ! What madness this of thine ? 
 Once a king's daughters made believe to low, 
 And ranged the leas : but neither stooped to ask 
 Those base beasts' love : though each had often 
 
 feared 
 To find the ploughman's gear about her neck, 
 
EcL. VI.] YIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 115 
 
 And felt on her smooth brow for budding horns. 
 Ah ! hapless maid ! Thou roam'st from hill to hill : 
 He under some dark oak — his snowy side 
 Cushioned on hyacinths — chews the pale -green 
 
 grass, 60 
 
 Or woos some favourite from the herd. " Close, 
 
 Nymphs, 
 Dictcean Nymphs, oh close the forest-glades ! 
 If a bull's random footprints by some chance 
 Should greet me ! Lured, may be, by greener 
 
 grass, 
 Or in the herd's wake following, vagrant kine 
 May bring him straight into my father's fold !" 
 — Then sings he of that maid who paused to gaze 
 At the charmed apples : — and suiTOunds with moss. 
 Bitter tree-moss, the daughters of the Sun, 
 Till up they spring tall alders. — Then he sings 70 
 How Gallus, w^andering to Parnassus' stream, 
 A sister led to the Aonian hills, 
 And, in a mortal's honour, straight uprose 
 The choir of Phoebus : How that priest of song, 
 The shepherd Linus, — all his hair with flowers 
 And bitter parsley shining, — spake to him. 
 
 i2 
 
116 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. YI. 
 
 " Take — lo ! the Muses give it thee — this pipe, 
 Once that Ascrsean's old : to this would he 
 Sing till the sturdy mountain-ash came down. 
 Sing thou on this, whence sprang folia's grove, 8c 
 Till in no wood Apollo glory more." 
 
 So on and on he sang: — How Nisus, famed 
 In story, troubled the Dulichian ships ; 
 And in the deep seas bid her sea-dogs rend 
 The trembling sailors. Tereus' tale he told. 
 How he was changed : what banquet Philomel, 
 What present, decked for him : and how she flew 
 To the far wilderness ; and flying paused — 
 (Poor thing) — to flutter round her ancient home. 
 
 All songs which one day Phoebus sang to 
 charmed 90 
 
 Eurotas — and the laurels learnt them off — ■ 
 He sanof. The thrilled vales fling them to the stars. 
 Till Hesper bade them house and count their flocks. 
 And journeyed all unwelcome up the sky. 
 
ECL.YIT.] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 117 
 
 ECLOGUE VIL 
 
 Melibceus, Corydox, Thyrsis. 
 
 M. Daphnis was seated 'neath a murmurous oak. 
 When Corydon and Thyrsis (so it chanced) 
 Had driv'n their two flocks — one of sheep, and 
 
 one 
 Of teeming goats — together : herdsmen both, 
 Both in life's spring, and able well to sing, 
 Or, challenged, to reply. To that same spot 
 I, guarding my young myrtles from the frost. 
 Find my goat strayed, the patriarch of the 
 
 herd : 
 And straight spy Daphnis. He, espjdng me 
 In turn, cries, "Meliboeus! hither, quick! lo 
 Thy goat, and kids, are safe. And if thou 
 
 hast 
 An hour to spare, sit do^ai beneath the shade. 
 Hither unbid will troop across the leas 
 The kine to drink : green Mincius fringes here 
 
118 YIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. VII. 
 
 His banks witli delicate buUrasb, and a noise 
 Of wild bees rises from tbe sacred oak." 
 
 What could I do? Alcippe I bad none, 
 Nor Phyllis, to sbut up my new-weaned 
 
 lambs : 
 Then, there was war on foot — a mighty war — 
 Thyrsis and Corydon! — So in the end 20 
 
 I made my business wait upon their sport. — 
 So singing verse for verse — that well the Muse 
 Might mark it — they began their singing-match. 
 Thus Corydon, thus Thyrsis sang in turn. 
 
 {They sing) 
 C. " Ye Fountain Nymphs, my loves ! Grant me 
 to sing 
 
 Like Codrus : — next Apollo's rank his hues : — 
 Or here — if all may scarce do everything — 
 
 I'll hang my pipe up on these sacred pines." 
 T. " Swains ! a new minstrel deck with ivy now. 
 
 Till Codrus burst with envy ! Or, should 
 
 he 30 
 
 Flatter o'ermuch, twine foxglove o'er my brow, 
 
 Lest his knave's-flattery spoil the bard to be." 
 
EcL. VII.] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 119 
 
 C. '' ' To Dian, from young Micon : this boar's head, 
 And these broad antlers of a veteran buck.' 
 Full-length in marble — ancle-bound with red 
 Buskins — I'll rear her, should to-day bring 
 luck." 
 T. "Ask but this bowl, Priapus, and this cake 
 Each year : for poor the garden thou dost keep. 
 Our small means made thee marble : whom 
 we'll make 
 Of gold, should lambing multiply our 
 sheep." 40 
 
 C. " Maid of the seas ! more sweet than Hybla's 
 thyme. 
 Graceful as ivy, white as is the swan ! 
 When home the fed flocks wend at evening's 
 prime. 
 Then come — if aught thou car'st for Cory- 
 don." 
 T. " Hark ! bitterer than wormwood may I be, 
 Bristling as broom, as drifted sea-weed cheap, 
 If this day seem not a long year to me ! 
 Home, home for very shame, my o'er-fed 
 sheep !" 
 
120 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. VIL 
 
 C. "Ye mossy rills, and la^\^ls more soft ihan 
 dreams. 
 Thinly roofed over by these leaves of 
 green : 5° 
 
 From the great heat — now summer's come, 
 now teems 
 The jocund vine with buds — my cattle 
 screen." 
 T. "Warm hearth, good faggots, and gi-eat fires 
 you'U find 
 In my home : black with smoke are all its 
 planks : 
 We laugh, who re in it, at the chill north 
 wind. 
 As wolves at troops of sheep, mad streams 
 at banks." 
 C. " Here furry chesnuts rise and juniper: 
 
 Heaped 'neath each tree the fallen apples 
 he: 
 All smiles. But, once let fair Alexis stir 
 From off these hills — and lo ! the streams 
 are dry." 60 
 
EcL. VII.] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 121 
 
 T. " Thirsts in parched lands and dies the bhghted 
 grass ; 
 Vines lend no shadow to the mountain-height ; 
 But groves shall bloom again, when comes my 
 lass ; 
 And in glad showers Jove descend in might," 
 C. " Poplars Alcides likes, and Bacchus vines ; 
 Fair Venus myrtle, and Apollo bay : 
 But while to hazel-leaves my love inclines. 
 Nor bays nor myrtles greater are than they." 
 T. "Fair in woods ash; and j)ine on garden-grass: 
 On tall cliffs fir; by pools the poplar-tree. 70 
 But if thou come here oft, sweet Lycidas, 
 Lawn-pine and mountain-ash must yield to 
 thee." 
 M. All this I've heard before : remember well 
 How Thyrsis strove in vain against defeat. 
 From that day forth 'twas 'Cory don' for me. 
 
123 YIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. VIII. 
 
 ECLOGUE VIII. 
 
 AlpTiesibceus's and Damon's muse — 
 Charmed by whose strife the steer forgot to graze ; 
 Whose notes made lynxes motionless, and bade 
 Rivers turn back and listen — sing we next: 
 Alphesiboeus's and Damon's muse. 
 
 "Winn'st thou the crags of great Timavus now, 
 Or skirtest strands where break Ulyrian seas? 
 I know not. But oh when shall that day dawn 
 When I may tell thy deeds? give earth thy lays, 
 That match alone the pomp of Sophocles? lo 
 
 With thee began, with thee shall end, my song: 
 Accept wdiat thou didst ask; and round thy brow 
 Twine this poor ivy with thy victor bays. 
 
 'Twas at the hour when night's cold shadow scarce 
 Had left the skies ; w^hen, blest by herdsmen, hangs 
 The dewdrop on the grass; that Damon leaned 
 On his smooth olive-staff, and thus began. 
 
EcL. YIII] YIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 123 
 
 " Wake, morning star ! Prevent warm day, and come ! 
 Wliile, duped and humbled, I — because I loved 
 Nisa -with all a husband's love — complain; 20 
 
 And call the gods, (though naught their cognizance 
 Availed,) at my last hour, a dying man. 
 Begin, my flute, a song of Arcady. 
 
 'There forests murmur aye, and pines discourse; 
 And lovelorn swains, and Pan, who first reclaimed 
 From idleness the reed, hath audience there. 
 Begin, my flute, a song of Ai'cady. 
 
 "Nisa — is aught impossible in love? — 
 Is given to Mopsus. Griffins next will mate 
 With mares: our children see the coward deer 30 
 Come with the hound to drink. Go, shape the 
 
 torch, 
 Mopsus! fling, bridegi-oom, nuts! Thou lead'st a wife 
 Home, and o'er Q^ta peers the evening star. 
 Begin, my flute, a song of Arcady. 
 
 "Oh, mated with a worthy husband! thou 
 
124 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. YIIL 
 
 Who scorn'st mankind — abhorr'st this pipe, these 
 
 goats 
 Of mine, and shaggy brows, and hanging beard: 
 Nor think'st that gods can see what mortals do! 
 Begin, my flute, a song of Arcady. 
 
 "Within our orchard-walls I saw thee first, 40 
 
 A wee child with her mother — (I was sent 
 
 To guide you) — gathering apples wet with dew. 
 
 Ten years and one I scarce had numbered then; 
 
 Could scarce on tiptoe reach the brittle boughs. 
 
 I saw, I fell, I was myself no more. 
 
 Begin, my flute, a song of Arcady. 
 
 "Now know I what love is. On hard rocks bom 
 
 Tmaros, or Rhodope, or they who dwell 
 
 In utmost Africa do father him; 
 
 No child of mortal blood or lineage. 50 
 
 Begin, my flute, a song of Arcady. 
 
 " In her son's blood a mother dipped her hands 
 At fierce love's bidding. Hard was her heart 
 too — 
 
EcL. YIIL] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 125 
 
 Which harder? her heart or that knavish 
 
 boy's ? 
 Kiia\4sh the boy, and hard was her heart too. 
 Begin, my flute, a song of Arcady. 
 
 " Now let the wolf first turn and fly the sheep : 
 Hard oaks bear golden apples: daffodil 
 Bloom on the alder: and from myrtle-stems 
 Ooze richest amber. Let owls vie with swans; 
 And be as Orpheus — Orpheus in the woods, 
 Arion with the dolphins — every swain, 
 (Begin, my flute, a song of Arcady) 
 
 And earth become mid ocean. Woods, farewell ! 
 Down from some breezy mountain height to 
 
 the waves 
 I'll fling me. Take this last gift ere I die. 
 Unlearn, my flute, the songs of Arcady." 
 
 Thus Damon. How the other made reply 
 Sing, sisters. Scarce may all do everything. 
 A. "Fetch water: wreathe yon altar with soft 
 wool : 70 
 
12G VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. YIIL 
 
 And burn rich vervain and brave frankincense : 
 That I may try my lord's clear sense to warp 
 With dark rites. Naught is lacking sav^e the 
 
 songs. 
 Bring, songs, bring Daphnis from the city 
 
 home. 
 
 " Songs can bring do"wn the very moon from 
 heaven. 
 
 Circe with songs transformed Ulysses' crew. 
 
 Songs shall in sunder burst the cold grass- 
 snake. 
 
 Bring, songs, bring Daphnis from the city 
 home, 
 
 "Three threads about thee, of three several 
 
 hues, 
 I twine; and thrice — (odd numbers please the 
 
 god) — 80 
 
 Carry thy image round the altar-stones. 
 Bring, songs, bring Daphnis from the city 
 
 home. 
 "Weave, Amaryllis, in three knots three hues. 
 
EcL. VIII.] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 127 
 
 Just weave and say 'I'm weaving chains of love.' 
 Bring, songs, bring Daphnis from the city home. 
 
 "As this clay hardens, melts this wax, at one 
 And the same flame: so Daphnis 'neath my love. 
 Strew meal, and light with pitch the crackling bay. 
 Daphnis bums me ; for Daphnis burn these bays. 
 Bring, songs, bring Daphnis from the city home. 90 
 
 "Be his such longing as the heifer feels, 
 
 When, faint with seeking her lost mate through 
 
 copse 
 And deepest grove, beside some water-brook 
 In the green grass she sinks in her despair. 
 Nor cares to yield possession to the night. 
 Be his such longing: mine no wish to heal. 
 Bring, songs, bring Daphnis from the city home. 
 
 "Pledges of love, these clothes the traitor once 
 Bequeathed me. I commit them, Earth, to thee 
 Here at my threshold. He is bound by these. 100 
 Bring, songs, bring Daphnis from the city home. 
 
128 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. VIII. 
 
 "These deadly plants great Moeris gave to me, 
 In Pontus plucked: in Pontus thousands grow. 
 By their aid have I seen him skulk in woods 
 A wolf, unsepulchre the buried dead, 
 And charm to other fields the standing corn. 
 Bring, songs, bring Daphnis from the city home. 
 
 "Go, Amaryllis, ashes in thy hand: 
 Throw them — and look not backwards — o'er thy head 
 Into a running stream. These next I'll try no 
 On Daphnis ; who regards not gods nor songs. 
 Bring, songs, bring Daphnis from the city home. 
 
 " See ! While I hesitate, a quivering flame 
 Hath clutched the wood, self-issuing from the ash. 
 May this mean good! Something — for Hylas too 
 Barks at the gate — it must mean. Is it true? 
 Or are we lovers dupes of our own dreams? 
 Cease, songs, cease. Daphnis comes from the city 
 home !" 
 
EcL. IX.] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 129 
 
 ECLOGUE IX. 
 
 Lycidas. Mceris. 
 
 L. Mceris, on foot? and on the road to to"vvn? 
 M. Oh Lycidas ! — we live to tell, how one — 
 
 (Who dreamed of this?) — a stranger — holds 
 
 our farm. 
 And says, " 'Tis mine : its ancient lords, 
 
 begone !" 
 Beaten, cast down — for Chance is lord of all — 
 We send him — bootlessly mayhap — these kids. 
 L. Yet all, I heard, from where we lose yon hills. 
 With gradual bend down-sloping to the brook, 
 And those old beeches, broken columns now. 
 Had your Menalcas rescued by his songs. lo 
 M. Thou heardst. Fame said so. But our songs 
 avail, 
 Mceris, no more 'mid warspears than, they say, 
 Dodona's doves may, when the eagle stoops. 
 A boding raven from a rifted oak 
 K 
 
130 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. IX. 
 
 Warned me, by this meaus or by that to nip 
 This strange strife in the bud: or dead were 
 
 now 
 Thy Moeris; dead were great Menalcas too. 
 L. Could such curse fall on man ? Had we so 
 
 near 
 Lost thee, Menalcas, and th}^ pleasantries? 
 Who then would sing the nymphs ? WTio strow 
 
 with flowers 20 
 
 The ground, or train green darkness o'er the 
 
 springs ? 
 And oh ! that song, which I (saying ne'er a 
 
 word) 
 Copied one day — (while thou wert off to see 
 My darling, Amaryllis,) — from thy notes: 
 '•Feed, while I journey but a few short steps, 
 Tityrus, my goats: and, Tityrus, when they've 
 
 fed. 
 Lead them to drink : and cross not by the way 
 The he-goat's path : his horns are dangerous." 
 M, But that to Varus, that unfinished one ! 
 
 " Varus ! thy name, if Mantua still be ours — 30 
 (Mantua ! to poor Cremona all too near,) — 
 
EcL. IX.] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 131 
 
 Shall tuneful swans exalt unto the stars." 
 L. Begin, if in tliee 's aught. So may not yews 
 Of Cyrnus lure thy bees : so, clover-fed. 
 Thy cattle teem with milk. Me too the muse 
 Hath made a minstrel : I have songs ; and me 
 The swains call 'poet.' But I heed them not. 
 For scarce yet sing I as the great ones sing, 
 But, a goose, cackle among piping swans. 
 M. Indeed, I am busy turning o'er and o'er — 40 
 In hopes to recollect it — in my brain 
 A song, and not a mean one, Lycidas. 
 
 " Come, Galatea ! sport'st thou in the waves ? 
 Here spring is purpling ; thick by river-banks 
 Bloom the gay flowers ; white poplar climbs 
 
 above 
 The caves, and young vines plait a roof 
 
 between. 
 Come ! and let mad seas beat against the 
 
 shore." 
 L. WTiat were those lines that once I heard thee 
 
 sing, 
 All uncompanioned on a summer night — 
 I know the music, if I had the words. 50 
 £2 
 
132 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. IX. 
 
 M, " Daphnis ! why watch those old-world planets 
 
 rise? 
 Lo ! onward marches sacred Csesar's star. 
 The star that made the valleys laugh with corn. 
 And grapes grow ruddier upon sunny hills. 
 Sow, Daphnis, pears, whereof thy sons shall 
 
 eat." 
 ' — Time carries all — our memories e'en — away. 
 Well I remember now my boyish songs 
 Would oft outlast the livelong summer day. 
 And now they're aU forgot. His very voice 
 Hath Moeris lost : on Moeris wolves have 
 
 looked. 60 
 
 — But oft thou 'It hear them from Menalcas yet. 
 L. Thy pleas but draw my passion out. And lo ! 
 All hushed to listen is the wide sea-floor, 
 And laid the murmurings of the soughing 
 
 winds. 
 And now we're half-way there. I can descry 
 Bianor's grave. Here, Moeris, where the swains 
 Are raking off the thick leaves, let us sing. 
 t3r, if we fear lest night meanwhile bring up 
 The rain clouds, singing let us journey on — 
 
EcL. IX.] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 133 
 
 (The way will seem less tedious)— journey on 
 Singing : and I will ease thee of thy load. 
 M. Cease, lad. We'll do what lies before us 
 now : 
 Then sing our best, when comes the Master 
 home. 
 
134 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. X. 
 
 ECLOGUE X. 
 
 Gallus. 
 Oh Arethuse, let this last task be mine ! 
 One song — a song Lycoris' self may read — 
 My Gallus asks: who'd grudge one song to him? 
 So, when thou slid'st beneath Sicihan seas, 
 May ne'er salt Doris mix her stream with thine : 
 Begin : and sing — while yon blunt muzzles search 
 The underwood — of Gallus torn by love. 
 We lack not audience: woods take up the notes. 
 Where were ye, Naiad nymphs, in grove or 
 glen, 
 When Gallus died of unrequited love? lo 
 
 Not heights of Pindus or Parnassus, no 
 Aonian Aganippe kept ye then. 
 Him e'en the laurels wept and myrtle-groves. 
 Stretched 'neath the lone cliff, piny Maenalus 
 And chill Lycseum's stones all wept for him. 
 The sheep stood round. They think not scorn of us ; 
 Ajid think not scorn, priest of song, of them. 
 Sheep fair Adonis fed beside the brooks. 
 
EcL. X.] VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 135 
 
 The shepherds came. The lazy herdsmen came. 
 Came, from the winter acorns dripping-wet, 20 
 Menalcas. "Whence," all ask, "this love of thine?" 
 Apollo came: and, "Art thou mad," he saith, 
 " Gallus ? Thy love, through bristling camps and 
 
 snows. 
 Tracks now another's steps." Silvanus came. 
 Crowned with his woodland glories : to and fro 
 Rocked the great lilies and the fennel bloom. 
 Pan came, Arcadia's Pan : (I have seen him, red 
 With elder-berries and with cinnabar :) 
 " Is there no end ?" quoth he : " Love heeds not this : 
 Tears sate not cruel Love: nor rills the leas, 30 
 Nor the bees clover, nor green boughs the goat. 
 But he rejoins sad-faced: "Yet sing this song 
 Upon your hills. Arcadians ! none but ye 
 Can sing. Oh ! pleasantly will rest my bones, 
 If pipe of yours shall one day tell my loves. 
 Oh ! had I been as you are ! kept your flocks. 
 Or gleaned, a vintager, your mellow grapes ! 
 A Phyllis, an Amyntas — whom you will — ■ 
 Had been my passion — what if he be dark ? 
 Violets are dark and hyacinths are dark. — 40 
 
136 YIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. [Ecl. X. 
 
 And now should we be sitting side by side, 
 
 Willows around us and a vine o'erhead, 
 
 He carolling, or plucking garlands she. 
 
 — Here are cold springs, Lycoris, and soft lawns, 
 
 And woods : with thee I'd here decay and die. 
 
 Now, for grim war accoutred, all for love, 
 
 In the fray's centre I await the foe: 
 
 Thou, in a far land — out the very thought ! — 
 
 Gazest (ah wilful !) upon Alpine snows 
 
 And the froz'n Rhine — without me — all alone ! 50 
 
 May that frost harm not thee ! that jagged ice 
 
 Cut ne'er thy dainty feet ! I'll go, and play 
 
 My stores of music — fashioned for the lyre 
 
 Of Chalcis — on the pipe of Arcady. 
 
 My choice is made. In woods, mid wild beasts' dens, 
 
 I'll bear my love, and carve it on the trees : 
 
 That with their growth, my loves may grow and 
 
 grow. 
 Banded with nymphs I'll roam o'er Masnalus, 
 Or hunt swift boars; and circle with my dogs, 
 Unrecking of the cold, Parthenia's glades. 60 
 
 Already over crag and ringing grove 
 I am borne in fancy: laugh as I let loose 
 
Ecx. X.] YIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 137 
 
 The Cretan arrow from the Parthian bow: — 
 
 Pooh ! will this heal thy madness ? will that god 
 Learn mercy from the agonies of men? 
 'Tis past: again nymj)hs, music, fail to please. 
 Again I bid the very woods begone. 
 No deed of mine can change him: tho' I drink 
 Hebrus in mid December: tho' I plunge 
 In snows of Thrace, the dripping winter's snows : 70 
 Tho', when the parched bark dies on the tall elm, 
 'Neath Cancer's star I tend the -^thiop's sheep. 
 Love 's lord of all. Let me too yield to Love. 
 * * * * 
 
 — Sung are, oh holy ones, your minstrel's songs: 
 Who sits here framing pipes with slender reed. 
 In Gallus' eyes will ye enhance their worth: 
 Gallus — for whom each hour my passion gi'ows, 
 As swell green alders when the spring is young. 
 I rise. The shadows are the singer's bane : 
 Baneful the shadow of the juniper. 80 
 
 E'en the flocks like not shadow. Go — the star 
 Of morning breaks — go home, my full-fed sheep. 
 
Note on Eclogue III. 78, 79. 
 
 Putting the vocative " lolla " in line 79, as Mi- 
 Kennedy does, into the mouth of Menalcas, not of 
 Phyllis, I woiild substitute these lines for my original 
 ones : — 
 
 Phillis is my dear love. She wept when I — 
 (Yes I, loUas,) — left her: and "Good-bye", 
 She said, "lollas fair; a long Good-bye". 
 
FROM HORACE'S ODES. 
 
FROM HORACE'S ODES. 
 
 BOOK L 
 
 ODE 9. 
 To Thaliarchus. 
 
 One dazzling mass of solid snow 
 
 Soracte stands ; the bent woods fret 
 Beneath their load ; and, sharpest-set 
 
 With frost, the streams have ceased to flow. 
 
 Pile on great faggots and break up 
 The ice: let influence more benign 
 Enter with four-years-treasured wine, 
 
 Fetched in the ponderous Sabine cup: 
 
142 HORACE'S ODES. [Bk. I. 
 
 Leave to the gods all else. When they 
 Have once bid rest the winds that war 
 Over the passionate seas, no more 
 
 Grey ash and cypress rock and sway. 
 
 Ask not what future suns shall bring. 
 Count to-day gain, whate'er it chance 
 To be : nor, young man, scorn the dance, 
 Nor deem sweet Love an idle thing, 
 
 Ere Time thy April youth hath changed 
 To sourness. Park and public walk 
 Attract thee now, and whispered talk 
 
 At twilight meetings pre-arranged ; 
 
 Hear now the pretty laugh that tells 
 In what dim corner lurks thy love ; 
 And snatch a bracelet or a glove 
 
 From wrist or hand that scarce rebels. 
 
Ode 11.] HORACE'S ODES. Ii3 
 
 ODE 11. 
 
 To Leuconoe. 
 
 Seek not, for thou shalt not find it, what my end, 
 
 what thine shall be ; 
 Ask not of Chaldgea's science what God wills, 
 
 Leuconoe : 
 Better far, what comes, to bear it. Haply many a 
 
 wintry blast 
 Waits thee still ; and this, it may be, Jove ordains 
 
 to be thy last. 
 Which flings now the flagging sea-wave on the 
 
 obstinate sandstone-reef. 
 Be thou wise : fill up the wine-cup ; shortening, 
 
 since the time is brief, 
 Hopes that reach into the future. While I speak, 
 
 hath stol'n away 
 Jealous Time. Mistrust To-morrow, catch the blos- 
 som of To-day. 
 
144 HORACE'S ODES. [Bk. I. 
 
 ODE U. 
 
 To A Ship, 
 
 Yet on fresh billows seaward wilt thou ride, 
 ship ? What dost thou ? Seek a hav'n, and there 
 Rest thee : for lo ! thy side 
 Is oarless all and bare. 
 
 And the swift south-west wind hath maimed thy mast, 
 And thy yards creak, and, every cable lost, 
 Yield must thy keel at last 
 On tyrannous sea-waves tossed 
 
 Too rudely. Goodly canvass is not thine, 
 Nor gods, to hear thee when thy need is sorest : — 
 True, thou — a Pontic pine. 
 Child of a stately forest — 
 
 Boast'st rank and empty name : but little trust 
 The frightened seamen in a painted stem. 
 Stay — or be mocked thou must 
 By every wind in turn. 
 
Ode 14.] HORACE'S ODES. 145 
 
 Flee — what of late sore burden was to me, 
 Now a sad memory and a bitter pain, — 
 Those shining Cyclads flee, 
 That stud the far-oflf main. 
 
146 HORACE'S ODES. [Bk. I. 
 
 ODE 24. 
 
 To YlRGIL. 
 
 Unshamed, unchecked, for one so dear 
 We sorrow. Lead the mournful choir, 
 Melpomene, to whom thy sire 
 
 Gave harp, and song-notes liquid-clear! 
 
 Sleeps He the sleep that knows no morn? 
 Oh Honour, oh twin-born with Right 
 Pure Faith, and Truth that loves the light, 
 
 When shall again his like be born? 
 
 Many a kind heart for Him makes moan ; 
 Thine, Virgil, first. But ah! in vain 
 Thy love bids heaven restore again 
 
 That which it took not as a loan: 
 
Ode 24.] HOE ACE'S ODES. UT 
 
 Were sweeter lute than Orpheus given 
 To thee, did trees thy voice obey; 
 The blood revisits not the clay 
 
 Which He, with lifted wand, hath driven 
 
 Into his dark assemblage, who 
 
 Unlocks not fate to mortal's prayer. 
 
 Hard lot! Yet light their griefs who bear 
 
 The ills, which they may not undo. 
 
 l2 
 
148 HORACE'S ODES. [Bk. I. 
 
 ODE 28. 
 
 To Archytas. 
 
 Measurer of earth and ocean and the multitudi- 
 nous sand, 
 Scant the gi-ains of tributary dust, 
 Lack whereof, Archytas, holds thee captive on Apu- 
 lia's strand. 
 Vainly in his wisdom did he trust. 
 Who could journey disembodied o'er the firmament, 
 and stand 
 At the gates of heaven; for die he must. 
 Perished thus the sire of Pelops, messmate of the 
 gods above: 
 Thus Tithonus, caught into the air: 
 Minos too, the man admitted to the hidden things 
 of Jove. 
 Panthous' son himself is prisoner there — 
 
Ode 28.] HORACE'S ODES. 149 
 
 In those shades — twice doomed to Orcus: tho' the 
 letters on the shield 
 Proved how he had lived in Ilion's day, 
 Nor had aught, save skin and sinew^, unto gi'im 
 death deigned to yield. 
 No mean scholar he, e'en thou would'st say, 
 In the lore of truth and nature. But the fate of 
 all is sealed : 
 All must tread, unlighted, death's highway. 
 — Into gTisly War's arena some are by the Furies 
 flung : 
 'Neath the hungry sea-wave some lie dead : 
 Fused in undistinguished slaughter die the old man 
 and the young : 
 Spares not Hell's fierce queen a single head. 
 Me too westw^ard-boi.md Orion's constant mate, the 
 South-west-wind, 
 Whelmed but lately in tlie Illjnrian wave : 
 And, oh mariner, deny not — to a dead man's bones 
 unkind, 
 And a head that must not own a grave — 
 One scant heap of homeless sea-sand. So whene'er 
 the Eastern gale 
 
150 HORACE'S ODES. [Bk. I. 
 
 Chides the South seas, may his fury lay 
 Green Etruria's woods in ruin, sparing thee: so 
 many a bale 
 Drop to thee, whence only drop it may. 
 From great Jove, and Neptune watching o'er Ta- 
 
 rentum's holy soil. 
 — Wilt commit, unrecking, an offence 
 Which shall harm thy innocent offspring ? On thine 
 own head may recoil 
 Righteous vengeance, and a recompense 
 That shall bow thy pride. Abandoned, unavenged, 
 I will not be : 
 For such crime no offerings shall atone. 
 Though mayhap thy time is precious, small the boon 
 I ask of thee : 
 Throw three handfuls o'er me, and begone. 
 
Ode 38.] HORACE'S ODES. 151 
 
 ODE 38. 
 
 To HIS Slave. 
 
 Persian grandeur I abhor; 
 
 Linden-wreathed crowns, avaunt : 
 Boy, I bid thee not explore 
 
 Woods which latest roses haunt : 
 
 Try on naught thy busy craft 
 Save plain myrtle ; so arrayed 
 
 Thou shalt fetch, I drain, the draught 
 Fitliest 'neath the scant vine-shade. 
 
152 HORACE'S ODES. [Bk. III. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 ODE 1. 
 
 I SCORN and shun the rabble's noise. 
 Abstain from idle talk. A thing 
 That ear hath not yet heard, I sing, 
 
 The Muses' priest, to maids and boys. 
 
 To Jove the flocks which great kings sway, 
 To Jove great kings allegiance owe. 
 Praise him : he laid the giants low : 
 
 All things that are, his nod obey. 
 
 This man may plant in broader lines 
 
 His fruit-trees : that, the pride of race 
 Enlists a candidate for place : 
 
 In worth, in fame, a third outshines 
 
 His mates ; or, thronged with clients, claims 
 Precedence. Even-handed Fate 
 Hath but one law for small and great : 
 
 That ample urn holds all men's names. 
 
Ode 1.] HORACE'S ODES. 153 
 
 He o'er whose doomed neck hangs the sword 
 ■ Unsheathed, the dainties of the South 
 Shall lack their sweetness in his mouth : 
 No note of bird or harpsichord 
 
 Shall bring him Sleep. Yet Sleep is kind, 
 Nor scorns the huts of labouring men ; 
 The bank where shadows play, the glen 
 
 Of Tempe dancing in the wind. 
 
 He, who but asks 'Enough/ defies 
 
 Wild waves to rob him of his ease ; 
 He fears no rude shocks, when he sees 
 
 Ai'cturus set or Ha;dus rise : 
 
 When hailstones lash his vines, or fails 
 His farm its promise, now of rains 
 And now of stars that parch the plains 
 
 Complaining, or unkindly gales. 
 
 — In straitened seas the fish are pent ; 
 For dams are sunk into the deep : 
 Pile upon pile the builders heap, 
 
 And he, whom earth could not content, 
 
154 HORACE'S ODES. [Bk. III. 
 
 The Master. Yet shall Fear and Hate 
 
 Climb where the Master climbs : nor e'er 
 From the armed trireme parts black Care ; 
 
 He sits behind, the horseman's mate. 
 
 And if red marble shall not ease 
 
 The heartache ; nor the shell that shines 
 Star-bright ; nor all Falernum's vines. 
 
 All scents that charmed Achsemenes : 
 
 Why should I rear me halls of rare 
 
 Design, on proud shafts mounting high? 
 Why bid my Sabine vale goodbye 
 
 For doubled wealth and doubled care ? 
 
Ode 2.] HORACE'S ODES. 155 
 
 ODE 2. 
 
 Friend ! with a poor man's straits to fight 
 Let warfare teach thy stalwart boy: 
 Let him the Parthian's front annoy 
 
 With lance in rest, a dreaded knight: 
 
 * 
 
 Live in the field, inure his eye 
 
 To danger. From the foeman's wall 
 May the armed tyrant's dame, with all 
 
 Her damsels, gaze on him, and sigh, 
 
 "Dare not, in war unschooled, to rouse 
 Yon Lion — whom to touch is death. 
 To whom red Anger ever saith, 
 
 ' Slay and slay on—0 prince, my spouse 1" 
 
 — Honoured and blest the patriot dies. 
 
 From death the recreant may not flee : 
 Death shall not spare the faltering knee 
 
 And coward back of him that flies. 
 
156 HOE ACE'S ODES. [Bk. III. 
 
 Valour — unbeat, unsullied still — 
 
 Shines with pure lustre : all too great 
 To seize or drop the sword of state, 
 
 Swayed by a people's veering will. 
 
 Valour — to souls too great for death 
 
 Heav'n op'ning — treads the untrodden way : 
 And this dull world, this damp cold clay, 
 
 On wings of scorn, abandoneth. 
 
 — Let too the sealed lip honoured be. 
 
 The babbler, who'd the secrets tell 
 
 Of holy Ceres, shall not dwell 
 Where I dwell; shall not launch with me 
 
 A shallop. Heaven full many a time 
 
 Hath with the unclean slain the just : 
 And halting-footed Vengeance must 
 
 O'ertake at last the steps of crime. 
 
Ode 3.] HORACE'S ODES. 157 
 
 ODE 3. 
 
 The just man's single-purposed mind 
 
 Not furious mobs that prompt to ill 
 May move, nor kings' frowns shake his \vill 
 
 Which is as rock; not warrior winds 
 
 That keep the seas in wild unrest; 
 
 Nor bolt by Jove's own finger hurled: 
 The fragments of a shivered world 
 
 Would crash round him still self-possest. 
 
 Jove's wandering son reached, thus endowed, 
 The fiery bastions of the skies; 
 Thus Pollux; with tliem Csesar lies 
 
 Beside his nectar, radiant-browed. 
 
 Honoured for this, by tigers drawn 
 
 Rode Bacchus, reining necks before 
 Untamed; for this War's horses bore 
 
 Qnirinus up from Acheron. 
 
158 HOEACE'S ODES. [Bk. III. 
 
 To the pleased gods had Juno said 
 
 In conclave : " Troy is in the dust ; 
 Troy, by a judge accursed, unjust, 
 
 And that strange woman prostrated. 
 
 " The day Laomedon ignored 
 
 His god-pledged word, resigned to me 
 And Pallas ever pure, was she, 
 
 Her people, and their traitor lord. 
 
 "Now the Greek woman's guilty guest 
 
 Dazzles no more : Priam's perjured sons 
 Find not against the mighty ones 
 
 Of Greece a shield in Hector's breast : 
 
 "And, long drawn out by private jars. 
 
 The war sleeps. Lo ! my wrath is o'er : 
 And him the Trojan vestal bore 
 
 (Sprung of that hated line) to Mars, 
 
 "To Mars restore I. His be rest 
 
 In halls of light : by him be drained 
 The nectar-bowl, his place obtained 
 
 In the calm companies of the blest. 
 
Ode 3.] HORACE'S ODES. 159 
 
 "While betwixt Rome and Ilion raves 
 A length of ocean, where they will 
 Rise empires for the exiles still : 
 
 WTiile Paris's and Priam's graves 
 
 "Are trod by kine, and she-wolves breed 
 Securely there, imharmed shall stand 
 Rome's lustrous Capitol, her hand 
 
 Curb with proud laws the trampled Mede. 
 
 " Wide-feared, to far-off climes be borne 
 Her story ; where the central main 
 Europe and Libya parts in twain, 
 
 Wliere full Nile laves a land of corn : 
 
 " The buried secret of the mine, 
 
 (Best left there) let her dare to spurn, 
 Nor unto man's base uses turn 
 
 Profane hands laying on things divine. 
 
 "Earth's utmost end, where'er it be. 
 
 Let her hosts reach ; careering proud 
 O'er lands where watery rain and cloud, 
 
 Or where wild suns hold revelry. 
 
160 HORACE'S ODES. [Bk. III. 
 
 " But, to the warriors of Rome, 
 
 Tied by this law, such fates are willed ; 
 
 That they seek never to rebuild. 
 Too fond, too bold, their grandsires' home. 
 
 " With darkest omens, deadliest strife. 
 Shall Troy, raised up again, repeat 
 Her history; I the victor-fleet 
 
 Shall lead, Jove's sister and his wife. 
 
 "Thrice let Apollo rear the wall 
 
 Of brass ; and thrice my Greeks shall hew 
 The fabric down ; thrice matrons rue 
 
 In chains their sons', their husbands' fall." 
 
 Ill my light lyre such notes beseem. 
 
 Stay, Muse ; nor, wayward still, rehearse 
 Sayings of Gods in meagre verse 
 
 That may but mar a mighty theme. 
 
Ode 4.] HORACE'S ODES. IGl 
 
 ODE 4. 
 
 Come, Music's Queen, from yonder sphere : 
 
 Bid thy hai-p speak : sing high and higher- 
 Or take Apollo's lute and l}Te, 
 
 And play, and cease not. Did ye hear? 
 
 Or is some sweet Delusion mine? 
 I seem to hear, to stray beside 
 Groves that are holy ; whither glide 
 
 Fair brooks, where breezes are benign. 
 
 Me, on mount Vultur once — a lad, 
 
 O'ercome with sleepiness and play — 
 (I had left Apulia miles away. 
 
 That nursed me) doves from Fayland clad 
 
 With leaflets. Marvelled all whose nest 
 Is Acherontia's cliff; who fell 
 The Bantine forest trees, or dwell 
 
 On rich Ferentium's lowly breast; 
 M 
 
162 HOKACE'S ODES. [Bk. III. 
 
 How I could sleep, unharmed by bear 
 Or dusky serpent. There I lay, 
 In myrtle hid and holy bay, 
 
 A lusty babe, the Great ones' care. 
 
 Yours, Sisters, yours, the Sabine hiUs 
 I climb : at cool Prseneste yours. 
 Yours by flat Tibur, or the shores 
 
 Of Baise. I have loved your rills, 
 
 Your choirs: for this Philippi's slaughter. 
 
 When fled our captains, harmed not me ; 
 I died not 'neath the cursed tree. 
 
 Nor sank in Palinurus' water: — 
 
 Be with me still : and, fears at rest, 
 
 I'll launch on raving Bosphorus, stand 
 Upon Assyria's sultry sand, 
 
 "With Britons mate, who slay the guest. 
 
 Sit down with Spaniards, wild to sate 
 
 Their thirst with horses' blood; or roam 
 Far o'er the quivered Scythian's home 
 
 By Tanais' banks, inviolate. 
 
Ode 4.] HORACE'S ODES. 163 
 
 — High Caesar ye (his war-worn braves 
 
 Safe housed at last in thorpe and town) 
 Asking to lay his labours down, 
 
 Make welcome in Pierian caves. 
 
 — Kind ones ! Ye give sweet counsel, love 
 Its givers. We know how He slew 
 The Titans, and their hideous crew, 
 
 Hurling his thunder from above, 
 
 Wl]o the dull earth, the windy sea, 
 The cities, and the realms of woe. 
 And gods above, and men below, 
 
 Rules, and none other, righteously. 
 
 In truth Jove's terrors had been great ; 
 
 So bold a front those warriors shewed ; 
 
 Those brethren, on his dark abode 
 Striving to pile all Pelion's weight. 
 
 But Mimas and Typhoeus were 
 
 As naught, and huge Porphyrion too. 
 And Rhoecus, and the arm that threw. 
 
 Undaunted, tree-trunks through the air ; 
 m2 
 
164 HOKACE'S ODES. [Bk. III. 
 
 With ringing shield when Pallas met 
 
 Their rush. Hot Vulcan too stood there, 
 And Juno sage, and he, who ne'er 
 
 Eased from the bow his shoulder yet ; 
 
 Who bathes in pure Castalian dew 
 
 His locks; in Lycian bowers adored, 
 And his own woods, — Apollo, lord 
 
 Of Delos and of Patara too. 
 
 — Brute force its own bulk foils. But force 
 By reason led, the gods make great 
 And greater ; while the strong they hate, 
 
 Wliose brain revolves each evil course. 
 
 This Gyas, hundred-armed, could tell; 
 And that Orion, who with wild 
 Violence assailed the XJndefiled, 
 
 And by Diana's arrows fell. 
 
 — Earth, grieved, her monster brood entombed 
 Mourns them, by Jove's bolts hurled to hell. 
 Still living fires 'neath ^tna dwell, 
 
 Yet j^tna still is unconsumed : 
 
Ode 4.] HORACE'S ODES. 1G5 
 
 O'er wanton Tityus' heart the bird, 
 
 That miscreant's gaoler, still doth hover; 
 And still Pirithous, lawless lover, 
 
 Do thrice a hundred fetters gird. 
 
166 HORACE'S ODES. [Bk. III. 
 
 ODE 5. 
 
 Jove we call King, whose bolts rive heaven : 
 Then a god's presence shall be felt 
 In Caesar, with whose power the Celt 
 
 And Parthian stout in vain have striven. 
 
 Could Crassus' men wed alien wives, 
 And greet, as sons-in-law, the foe? 
 In the foes' land (oh Romans, oh 
 
 Lost honour !) end, in shame, their lives, 
 
 'Neath the Mode's sway? They, Marsians and 
 Apulians — shields and rank and name 
 Forgot, and that undying flame — 
 
 And Jove still reign, and Rome still stand? 
 
 This thing wise Regulus could presage : 
 He brooked not base conditions ; he 
 Set not a precedent to be 
 
 The ruin of a coming age : 
 
Ode 5.] HORACE'S ODES. 1C7 
 
 "No," cried he, "let tlie captives die. 
 
 Spare not. I saw Rome's ensigns hung 
 In Punic shrines ; with sabres, flung 
 
 Down by Rome's sons ere blood shed. I 
 
 " Saw our free citizens with hands 
 
 Fast pinioned; and, through portals now 
 Flung wide, our soldiers troop to plough, 
 
 As once they trooped to waste, the lands. 
 
 " ' Bought by our gold, our men will fight 
 
 But keener.' What ? To shame would you 
 Add loss? As wool, its natural hue 
 
 Once gone, may not be painted white ; 
 
 "True Valour, from her seat once thrust, 
 Is not replaced by meaner wares. 
 Do stags, delivered from the snares. 
 
 Fight? Then shall he fight, who did trust 
 
 "His life to foes who spoke a lie: 
 
 And his sword shatter Carthage yet, 
 Around whose arms the cords have met, 
 
 A sluggard soul, that feared to die! 
 
168 HORACE'S ODES. [Bk. IIL 
 
 " Life, howe'er bought, lie treasured : he 
 
 Deemed war a thing of trade. Ah fie ! — ■ 
 Great art thou, Carthage — towerest high 
 
 O'er shamed and ruined Italy!" 
 
 As one uneitizen'd — men said — 
 
 He put his wife's pure kiss away, 
 His little children ; and did lay 
 
 Stern in the dust his manly head : 
 
 Till those unequalled words had lent 
 
 Strength to the faltering sires of Rome ; 
 Then from his sorrowstricken home 
 
 Went forth to glorious banishment. 
 
 Yet knew he, what wild tortures lay 
 Before him : knowing, put aside 
 His kin, his countrymen — who tried 
 
 To bar his path, and bade him stay : 
 
 He might be hastening on his way, — 
 A lawyer freed from business — down 
 To green Venafrum, or a town 
 
 Of Sparta, for a holiday. 
 
Ode G.] HORACE'S ODES. 169 
 
 Ode 6. 
 
 Thou 'It rue thy fathers' sins, not thine, 
 Till built the temples be, replaced 
 The statues, foul and smoke-defaced,— 
 
 Roman, — and reared each tottering shrine. 
 
 Thou iml'st but under heaven's hand. 
 
 Thence all beginnings come, all ends. 
 
 Neglected, mark what woes it sends 
 On this our miserable land. 
 
 Twice Pacorus and Monseses foiled 
 
 Our luckless onset : huge their glee. 
 When to their necklaces they see 
 
 Hanging the wealth of Eome despoiled. 
 
 Dacian and -^thiop nigh laid low 
 
 Our state, with civil feuds o'errun ; 
 One with his fleet dismayed her, one 
 
 Smote her with arrows from his bow. 
 
170 HORACE'S ODES. [Bk. III. 
 
 A guilty age polluted first 
 
 Our beds, liearths, families : from that source 
 Derived, tlie foul stream, gathering force, 
 
 O'er the broad land, a torrent, burst. 
 
 Pleased, now, the maiden learns to move 
 To soft Greek airs : already knows — 
 Fresh from the nursery — how to pose 
 
 Her graceful limbs ; and dreams of love : 
 
 Next, while her lord drinks deep, invites 
 Her gallants in : nor singles one, 
 Into whose guilty arms to run, 
 
 Stealthy and swift, when dim the lights: 
 
 No! in her lord's sight up springs she: 
 Alike at some small tradesman's beck, 
 As his who walks a Spanish deck 
 
 And barters wealth for infamy. 
 
 — Were those lads of such parents bred 
 Who dyed the seas with Punic blood? 
 Pyrrhus, Antiochus withstood. 
 
 And Hannibal, the nation's dread? 
 
Ode 6.] HORACE'S ODES. 171 
 
 Rude soldiers' sons, a rugged kind, 
 
 They brake the soil -svith Sabine spade : 
 Or shouldered stakes their axe had made 
 
 To a right rigorous mother's mind, 
 
 Wliat time the shadows of the rocks 
 Change, as the sun's departing car 
 Sends on the hours that sweetest are. 
 
 And men unyoke the wearied ox. 
 
 Time mars not — what ? A spoiler he. 
 Our sires were not so brave a breed 
 As their sires : we, a worse, succeed ; 
 
 To raise up sons more base than we. 
 
172 HORACE'S ODES. [Bk. III. 
 
 ODE 13. 
 
 To THE Fountain of Bandusia. 
 
 Bandusia, stainless mirror of the sky ! 
 
 Thine is the flower-crown'd bowl, for thee shall die, 
 
 When dawns yon sun, the kid ; 
 
 Whose horns, half-seen, half-hid, 
 
 Challenge to dalliance or to strife — in vain ! 
 Soon must the firstUng of the wild herd be slain, 
 
 And those cold springs of thine 
 
 With blood incarnadine. 
 
 Fierce glows the Dogstar, but his fiery beam 
 Toucheth not thee : still grateful thy cool stream 
 
 To labour-wearied ox. 
 
 Or wanderer from the flocks : 
 
 And henceforth thou shalt be a royal fountain : 
 My harp shall tell how from yon cavernous mountain. 
 
 Where the brown oak grows tallest, 
 
 All babblingly thou fallest. 
 
Ode 18.] HORACE'S ODES. 173 
 
 ODE 18. 
 
 To A Faun. 
 
 Wooer of young Nymphs who fly thee, 
 
 Lightly o'er my sunlit lawn, 
 Trip, and go, nor injured by thee 
 
 Be my weanling herds, O Faun : 
 
 If the kid his doomed head bows, and 
 
 Brims with wine the loving cup. 
 When the year is full ; and thousand 
 
 Scents from altars hoar go up. 
 
 Each flock in the rich grass gambols 
 When the month comes which is thine ; 
 
 And. the happy village rambles 
 Field ward with the idle kine : 
 
 Lambs play on, the wolf their neighbour : 
 Wild woods deck thee with their spoil; 
 
 And with glee the sons of labour 
 Stamp upon their foe the soil. 
 
174 HORACE'S ODES. [Bk. IV. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 ODE 13. 
 
 To Ltce, 
 
 Ltce, the gods have listened to my prayer : 
 The gods have listened, Lyce. Thou art grey, 
 And still would'st thou seem fair; 
 Still unshamed drink, and play, 
 
 And, wine-flushed, woo slow-answering Love with 
 
 weak 
 Shrill pipings. With young Chia He doth dwell. 
 
 Queen of the harp ; her cheek 
 Is his sweet citadel : — 
 
 He marked the withered oak, and on he flew 
 Intolerant ; shrank from Lyce grim and wrinkled, 
 Whose teeth are ghastly-blue. 
 
 Whose temples snow-besprinkled : — 
 
Ode 13.] HORACE'S ODES. 175 
 
 Not purple, not the brightest gem that glows, 
 Brings back to her the years which, fleeting fast, 
 Time hath once shut in those 
 Dark annals of the Past. 
 
 Oh, where is all thy loveliness ? soft hue 
 And motions soft? Oh, what of Her doth rest. 
 Her, who breathed love, who drew 
 My heart out of my breast? 
 
 Fair, and far-famed, and subtly sweet, thy face 
 Ranked next to Cinara's. But to Cinara fate 
 Gave but a few years' grace ; 
 And lets live, all too late, 
 
 Lyce, the rival of the beldam crow : 
 That fiery youth may see with scornful brow 
 The torch that long ago 
 
 Beamed bright, a cinder now. 
 
176 HORACE'S ODES. [Ep. 2. 
 
 EPODE 2. 
 
 " Happy — who far from turmoil, like the men 
 
 That lived in days gone by, 
 AVith his own oxen ploughs his native glen, 
 
 Nor dreams of usury ! 
 Him the fierce clarion summons not to war; 
 
 He dreads not angry seas : 
 The courts — the stately citizens' proud door — 
 
 He gets him far from these. 
 His maiden-vines it is his gentle craft 
 
 With poplars tall to wed : 
 Or the rank outgi'owth lopj)ing off, ingraft 
 
 Fair branches in its stead; 
 To watch his kine, that wander, lowing, far 
 
 Into the valley deep : 
 Store the prest honey in the taintless jar, 
 
 Or shear his tender sheep. 
 And soon as Autumn, with fair fruitage tricked. 
 
 Peeps o'er the fallows bare ; 
 Then with what glee his purpling grape is picked, 
 
 And newly-grafted pear, 
 
Ep. 2.] HORACE'S ODES. 177 
 
 For you, Priapus and Silvanus — strict 
 
 Guard of his land — to share. 
 — Now 'neath an ancient oak, entangled now 
 
 In green grass, will he lie ; 
 Where streams go by bank-hidden; from the bough 
 
 Is heard the wood-birds' cry ; 
 And brawls the clear brook, as if seeking how 
 
 To sing him lullaby. 
 — But when the wintry skies Jove's thunder rives, 
 
 And down the snow-storms pour ; 
 Towards the set pit-fall, doubling oft, he drives 
 
 The hound-encompassed boar : 
 Or with smooth rods his web of nets prepares, 
 
 The fat thrush to surprise ; 
 Or nooses stranger cranes, or frightened hares — 
 
 Either a glorious prize ! 
 Who, with such pleasures round him, for the cares 
 
 That fret a lover sighs 1 
 
 "Does a pure wife his household cares divide. 
 
 Watch his sweet little ones ; — 
 (The Sabine's thus and swift Apulian's bride 
 
 Toiled 'neath Apulia's suns;) — 
 
 N 
 
178 HORACE'S ODES. [Ep. 2. 
 
 The sacred hearth with seasoned faggots heap, 
 
 When her tired lord draws nigh ; 
 And hurdling, nothing loth, her folded sheep, 
 
 Drain their great udders dry : 
 Then the last vintage draw from the sweet cask, 
 
 To grace the home-made feast? — 
 For Lucrine purple-fish I shall not ask. 
 
 Nor turbots from the East: 
 Not char, which— thundering first o'er other seas — 
 
 Storms carried to our shore, 
 Not woodcocks from Ionia would please. 
 
 Or hens from Guinea, more 
 My taste; than oil that, in the rich boughs hid. 
 
 Her hands did thence obtain; 
 And meadow-dock, and mallow that can rid 
 
 Our suffering frames from pain, 
 With lamb that bled for Terminus ; and kid 
 
 By wolves so nearly slain! 
 
 "So banqueting, how sweet to notice how 
 
 The fed ewes homeward fare : 
 How oxen, half asleep, the inverted plough 
 
 On drooping shoulders bear; 
 
Ep. 2.] HORACE'S ODES. 179 
 
 And slaves — sure signs of wealth — ranged idle now, 
 Swarm round tlie glad hearth's glare !"' 
 
 So did the money-lender Appius speak, 
 
 Resolved to be a swain, 
 And got his money in. Wiihin a week 
 
 Would put it out again. 
 
 N2 
 
180 TKANSLATIONS. [Georg. III. 
 
 THE DEAD OX. 
 
 From Virgil, Georg. III. 
 
 Lo ! smoking in the stubborn plough, the ox 
 Falls, from his lip foam gushing crimson-stained. 
 And sobs his life out. Sad of face the ploughman 
 Moves, disentangling from his comrade's corpse 
 The lone survivor: and its work half-done. 
 Abandoned in the furrow stands the plough. 
 Not shadiest forest-depths, not softest lawns, 
 May move him now: not river amber-pure, 
 That tumbles o'er the cragstones to the plain. 
 Powerless the broad sides, glazed the rayless eye, 
 And low and lower sinks the ponderous neck. 
 What thank hath he for all the toil he toiled, 
 The heavy-clodded land in man's behoof 
 
Georg. III.] YIRGIL. 181 
 
 Upturning? Yet the grape of Italy, 
 The stored-up feast hath wrought no harm to him: 
 Green leaf and taintless grass are all their fare ; 
 The clear rill or the travel-freshened stream 
 Their cup: nor one care mars their honest sleep. 
 
182 TRANSLATIONS. [Aj. 
 
 SPEECH OF AJAX. 
 
 Soph. Aj. 645. 
 
 All strangest things the multitudinous years 
 
 Bring forth, and shadow from us all we know. 
 
 Falter alike great oath and steeled resolve; 
 
 And none shall say of aught, "This may not be." 
 
 Lo! I myself, but yesterday so strong, 
 
 As new-dipt steel am weak and all unsexed 
 
 By yonder woman: yea I mourn for them. 
 
 Widow and orphan, left amid their foes. 
 
 But I will journey seaward — where the shore 
 
 Lies meadow-fringed — so haply wash away 
 
 My sin, and flee that wrath that weighs me down. 
 
 And, lighting somewhere on an untrodden way, 
 
 I will bury this my lance, this hateful thing, 
 
Aj.] SOPHOCLES. 183 
 
 Deep in some earth-hole where no eye shall see — 
 Night and Hell' keep it in the underworld ! 
 For never to this day, since first I grasped 
 The gift that Hector gave, my bitterest foe, 
 Have I reaped aught of honour from the Greeks. 
 So true that byword in the mouths of men, 
 "A foeman's gifts are no gifts, but a curse." 
 
 Wherefore henceforward shall I know that 
 God 
 Is gi'eat ; and strive to honour Atreus' sons. 
 Princes they are, and should be obeyed. How 
 
 else ? 
 Do not all terrible and most puissant things 
 Yet bow to loftier majesties? The Winter, 
 Who walks forth scattering snows, gives place anon 
 To fruitage-laden Summer; and the orb 
 Of weary Night doth in her turn stand by, 
 And let shine out, with his white steeds, the Day. 
 Stern tempest-blasts at. last sing lullaby 
 To groaning seas: even the archtyrant, Sleep, 
 Doth loose his slaves, not hold them chained for 
 
 ever. 
 And shall not mankind too learn discipline? 
 
184 TRANSLATIONS. [Aj. 
 
 I know, of late experience taught, that him 
 
 Who is my foe I must but hate as one 
 
 Whom I may yet call Friend: and him who loves 
 
 me 
 Will I hut serve and cherish as a man 
 Whose love is not abiding. Few be they 
 Who, reaching Friendship's port, have there found 
 rest. 
 But, for these things, they shall be well. Go thou, 
 Lady, within, and there pray that the Gods 
 May fill unto the full my heart's desire. 
 And ye, my mates, do unto me with her 
 Like honour: bid young Teucer, if he come, 
 To care for me, but to be your friend still. 
 For where my way leads, thither I shall go: 
 Do ye my bidding; haply ye may hear. 
 Though now is my dark hour, that I have peace. 
 
CATULLUS. 185 
 
 SONNET. 
 
 To THE Island op Sirmio, 
 From Catullus. 
 
 Gem of all isthmuses and isles that lie, 
 
 Fresh or salt water's children, in clear lake 
 
 Or ampler ocean : with what joy do I 
 
 Approach thee, Sirmio! Oh ! am I awake. 
 
 Or dream that once again mine eye beholds 
 
 Thee, and has looked its last on Thracian wolds? 
 Sweetest of sweets to me that pastime seems, 
 
 When the mind drops her burden : when — the pain 
 
 Of travel past — our own cot we regain. 
 
 And nestle on the pillow of our dreams! 
 
 Tis this one thought that cheers us as we roam. 
 Hail, O fair Sirmio! Joy, thy lord is here I 
 Joy too, ye waters of the Golden Mere ! 
 
 And ring out, all ye laughter-peals of home ! 
 
186 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 Yet once more, ye laurels ! and once more 
 Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere, 
 I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude, 
 And with forced fingers rude 
 Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year. 
 Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear, 
 Compels me to disturb your season due ; 
 For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime. 
 Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer : 
 Who would not sing for Lycidas? He knew 
 Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme. 
 He must not float upon his watery bier 
 Unwept, and welter to the parching wind, 
 Without the meed of some melodious tear. 
 
187 
 
 LYCIDAS. 
 
 En I iterum laurus, iterum salvete myricse 
 Pallentes, nullique hederse qiise ceditis sevo. 
 Has venio baccas, quanquam sapor asper acerbis, 
 Decerptum, quassumque manvi folia ista proterva, 
 Maturescentem prsevortens iinprobus aiiniim. 
 Causa gravis, pia causa, subest, et amara deum lex ; 
 Nee jam sponte mea vobis rata tempora turbo. 
 Nam periit Lycidas, periit superante juventa 
 Imberbis Lycidas, nee par manet illius alter. 
 Quis cantare super Lycida neget ? Ipse quoque artem 
 Norat Apollineam, versumque iraponere versu. 
 Non nullo vitreum fas innatet ille feretrum 
 Flente, voluteturque arentes corpus ad auras, 
 Indotatum adeo et lacrymge vocalis egenum. 
 
188 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 Begin then, sisters, of the sacred well, 
 That from beneath the seat of Jove doth spring ; 
 Begin, and somewhat loudly sweep the string. 
 Hence with denial vain, and coy excuse, 
 So may some gentle muse 
 With lucky words favour my destined urn, 
 And, as he passes, turn 
 And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud ; 
 For we were nursed upon the self-same hill, 
 Fed the same flock by fountain, shade, and rilL 
 
 Together both, ere the high lawns appeared 
 Under the opening eyelids of the morn, 
 We drove afield, and both together heard 
 What time the gray fly winds her sultry horn, 
 Battening our flocks with the fresh dews of night, 
 Oft till the star that rose, at evening, bright, 
 Toward Heaven's descent had sloped his westering 
 
 wheel. 
 Meanwhile the rural ditties were not mute. 
 Tempered to the oaten flute; 
 Rough satyrs danced, and fauns with cloven heel 
 From the glad sound would not be absent long. 
 And old Damoetas loved to hear our song. 
 
LYCIDAS. 189 
 
 Quare agite, o sacri fontis quels cura, sorores, 
 Cui sub inaccessi sella Jovis exit origo : 
 Incipite, et sonitu graviore impellite cliordas. 
 Lingua procul male prompta loqui, suasorque mo- 
 
 raiuin 
 Sit pudor: alloquiis ut moUior una secundis 
 Pieridum faveat, cui mox ego destiner, urnse : 
 Et gressus prsetergrediens convertat, et "Esto", 
 Dicat, "amoena quies atra tibi veste latenti" : 
 Uno namque jugo duo nutribamur ; eosdem 
 Pavit uterque greges ad fontem et rivulum et unibrara. 
 Tempore nos illo, nemorum convexa priusquam, 
 Aurora reserante oculos, coepere videri, 
 Urgebamus equos ad pascua : novimus lioram 
 Aridus audiri soLitus qua clangor asili ; 
 Rore recente greges passi pinguescere noctis 
 Sgepius, albuerat donee quod vespere sidus 
 Hesperios axes prono inclinasset Olympo. 
 At pastorales non cessavere camoense. 
 Fistula disparibus quas temperat apta cicutis : 
 Saltabant Satyri informes, nee murmure Iwto 
 Capripedes potuere diu se avertere Fauni ; 
 Damcetasque modos nostros longsevus amabat. 
 
190 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 But oh, the heavy change, now thou art gone, 
 Now thou art gone, and never must return ! 
 Thee, shepherd, thee the woods, and desert caves 
 With wild thyme and the gadding vine o'ergrown, 
 And all their echoes mourn. 
 Tlie willows, and the hazel-copses green, 
 Shall now no more be seen, 
 Fanning their joyous leaves to thy soft lays. 
 As killing as the canker to the rose. 
 Or taint-worm to the weanling herds that graze, 
 Or frost to flowers, that their gay wardrobe wear. 
 When first the white-thorn blows ; 
 Such, Lycidas, thy loss to shepherds' ear. 
 
 Where were ye, nymphs, when the remorseless deep 
 Closed o'er the head of your loved Lycidas ? 
 For neither were ye playing on the steep. 
 Where your old bards, the famous Druids, lie ; 
 Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high. 
 Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream : 
 Ay me ! I fondly dream ! 
 
 Had ye been there, for what could that have done ? 
 What could the muse herself that Orpheus bore, 
 The muse herself for her enchanting son, 
 
LYCIDAS. 191 
 
 Jamque, relicta tibi, quantum mutata viden- 
 tur 
 R^ara — relicta tibi, cui uon spes ulla regressus ! 
 Te sylvffi, teque antra, puer, deserta ferarum, 
 Incultis obducta tbymis ac vite sequaci, 
 Decessisse gemunt; gemitusque reverberat Echo. 
 Non salices, non glauca ergo coryleta videbo 
 Molles ad numeros Isetum motare cacumen. 
 Quale rosis scabies; quam formidabile vermis 
 Depulso jam lacte gregi, dum tondet agellos ; 
 Sive quod, indutis verna jam veste, pruinse 
 rioribus, albet ubi primum paliurus in agris : 
 Tale fuit nostris, Lycidam periisse, bubulcis. 
 
 Qua, Nymphse, latuistis, ubi crudele profundum 
 Delicias Lycidam vestras sub vortice torsit? 
 Nam neque vos scopulis turn ludebatis in illis 
 Quos veteres, Druidce, vates, illustria servant 
 Nomina; nee celsae setoso in culmine Mouse, 
 Nee, quos Deva locos magicis amplectitur undis. 
 Vse mihi ! delusos exercent somnia sensus : 
 Venissetis enim ; numquid venisse juvaret ? 
 Numquid Pieris ipsa parens interfuit Orphei, 
 Pieris ipsa suae sobolis, qui carmiue rexit 
 
192 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 Whom universal nature did lament, 
 When by the rout that made the hideous roar, 
 His gory visage down the stream was sent, 
 Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore ? 
 
 Alas ! what boots it with incessant care 
 To tend the homely slighted shepherd's trade, 
 And strictly meditate the thankless muse? 
 Were it not better done as others use, 
 To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, 
 Or with the tangles of Nesera's hair? 
 Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise 
 (That last infirmity of noble mind) 
 To scorn delights, and live laborious days. 
 But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, 
 And think to burst out into sudden blaze. 
 Comes the blind fury with the abhorred shears. 
 And slits the thin-spun life. " But not the praise." 
 Phoebus replied, and touched my trembling ears; 
 "Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil. 
 Nor in the glistering foil 
 
 Set off to the world, nor in broad rumour lies, 
 But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes, 
 And perfect witness of all- judging Jove; 
 
LYCIDAS. 193 
 
 Corda virum, quem terra olim, quam magna, dolobat, 
 Tempore quo, dirum audita strepitante caterva, 
 Ora secundo amni missa, ac foedata cniore, 
 Lesbia prsecipitans ad litora dctulit Hebrus ? 
 Eheu quid prodest noctes instare diesque 
 Pastorum curas spretas humilesque tuendo, 
 Nilque relaturam meditari rite Camoenam ? 
 Nonne fuit satius lusus agitare sub umbra, 
 (Ut mos est aliis,) Amaryllida sive Neteram 
 Sectanti, ac tortis digitum impediisse capillis ? 
 Scilicet iugenuum cor Fama, novissimus error 
 Ilia animi majoris, uti calcaribus urget 
 Spernere delicias ac dedi rebus agendis. 
 Quanquam — exoptatam jam spes attingere dotem ; 
 Jam nee opinata remur splendescere flamma : — 
 CaBca sed invisa cum forfice venit Erinnys, 
 Quae resecet tenui haerentem subtemine vitam. 
 "At Famam nou ilia," refert, taugitque trementes 
 Phoebus Apollo aures. " Fama liaud, vulgaris ad instar 
 Floris, amat terrestre solum, fictosque nitores 
 Quels iuliiat populus, nee cum Rumore patescit. 
 Vivere dant illi, dant increbrescere late 
 Puri oculi ac vox summa Jovis, cui sola Potestas. 
 
 
 
194 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 As he pronounces lastly on each deed. 
 
 Of so much fame in Heaven expect thy meed." 
 
 fountain Arethiise, and thou honoured flood, 
 Smooth-sliding Mincius, cro^\^led with vocal reeds. 
 That strain I heard was of a higher mood : 
 But now my oat proceeds, 
 And listens to the herald of the sea 
 That came in Nej^tune's plea ; 
 He asked the waves, and asked the felon winds, 
 What hard mishap had doomed this gentle swain ? 
 And questioned every gust of rugged wings, 
 That blows from off each beaked promontory : 
 They knew not of his story. 
 And sage Hipjiotades their answer brings, 
 That not a blast was from his dungeon strayed. 
 The air was calm, and on the level brine 
 Sleek Panope with all her sisters played. 
 It Avas that fatal and perfidious bark 
 Built in the eclipse, and rigged with curses dark. 
 That sunk so low that sacred head of thine. 
 
 Next Camus, reverend sire, went footing slow, 
 His mantle hairy, and his bonnet sedge. 
 Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge, 
 
LYCIDAS. 195 
 
 Fecerit ille semel de facto qiioque viromm 
 Arljitrium : tantum famge nianet sethera iiactis." 
 
 Fons Aretliu.sa ! sacro placidus qui laberis alveo, 
 Frontem vocali prsetextus arundiue, Minci ! 
 Sensi equidem gravius carmen. Nunc cetera pastor 
 Exsequor. Adstat euim missus pro rege marino, 
 Seque rogasse refert fluctus, ventosque rapaces, 
 Quae sors dura nimis teuerum rapuisset agrestem. 
 Compellasse refert alarum quicquid ab omni 
 Spirat, acerba sonans, scopulo, qui cuspidis instar 
 Prominet in pelagus ; fama baud pervenerat iUuc. 
 Hsec ultro jDater Hippotades responsa ferebat : 
 "Nulli sunt nostro palati carcere venti. 
 Straverat aequor aquas, et sub Jove compta sereno 
 Lusum exercebat Panope njmphseque sorores. 
 Quam Furise struxere per interlunia, leto 
 Foetam ac fraude ratem, — malos velarat Erinnys,— 
 Credas in mala tanta caput mersisse sacratum." 
 
 Proximus huic tardum senior se Camus agebat; 
 
 Cui setosa chlamys, cui pileus ul\'a : figuris 
 
 Idem intertextus dubiis erat, utquc cruentos 
 o 2 
 
196 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe, 
 " Ah ! who hath reft," quoth he, " my dearest 
 
 pledge ?" 
 Last came, and last did go, 
 The pilot of the Galilean lake. 
 Two massy keys he bore, of metals twain 
 (The golden opes, the iron shuts amain). 
 He shook his mitred locks, and stern bespake : 
 " How well could I have spared for thee, young swain. 
 Enow of such as for their bellies' sake 
 Creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold ! 
 Of other cai'e they little reckoning make, 
 Than how to scramble at the shearer's feast, 
 And shove away the worthy bidden guest; 
 Blind mouths ! that scarce themselves know how to 
 
 hold 
 A sheep-hook, or have learned aught else the least 
 That to the faithful herdsman's art belongs ! 
 What recks it then ? What need they ? They are 
 
 sj)ed ; 
 And when they list, their lean and flashy songs 
 Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw; 
 The hungi'y sheep look up, and are not fed, 
 
LYCIDAS. 107 
 
 Quos perliibent flores, inscriptus margine luctum. 
 "Nam qiiis," ait, "praxlulce meum me pignus 
 
 ademit ?" 
 Post lios, qui Galilsea regit per stagna carinas, 
 Post lios venit iturus: habet mamis utraque clavim, 
 (Queis ajDerit clanditquc) auro ferrove gravatam. 
 Mitra tegit criues ; quassis qui bus, acriter iufit : 
 " Scilicet optassem pro te dare corpora leto 
 Sat multa, o juvenis : quot serpunt ventribus acti, 
 Yi quot iter faciunt spretis in ovilia muris. 
 Hie labor, hoc oj)us est, pecus ut tondente magistro 
 Prseripiant epulas, trudatur dignior hospes. 
 Capti oculis, non ore ! pedum tractare nee ipsi 
 Norunt ; quotve bonis sunt upilionibus artes. 
 Sed rpiid enim refert, quove est opus, omnia 
 
 nactis ? 
 Fert ubi mens, tenue ac deductum carmen avenam 
 Radit stridentem stipulis. Pastore negato 
 Suspicit aegi'a pecus : vento gravis ac lue tracta 
 
198 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 But swollen with wind, and the rank mist they draw, 
 Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread : 
 Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw 
 Daily devours apace, and nothing said. 
 But that two-handed engine at the door 
 Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more." 
 
 Eeturn, Alpheus, the dread voice is past, 
 That shrunk thy streams; return Sicilian muse, 
 And call the vales, and bid them hither cast 
 Tlieir bells and flowerets of a thousand hues. 
 Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use 
 Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks. 
 On whose fresh lap the swart star sparely looks, 
 Throw hither all your quaint enamelled eyes. 
 That on the green turf suck the honeyed showers, 
 And purple all the ground with vernal flowers. 
 Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies. 
 The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine. 
 The white pink, and the pansy freaked with jet, 
 The glowing violet. 
 
 The musk-rose, and the well-attired woodbine. 
 With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head, 
 And every flower that sad embroidery wears : 
 
LYCIDAS. 199 
 
 Tabescit; mox foeda capit coutagia valgus. 
 Quid dicam, staljulis ut clandestiuus oberraus 
 Expleat ingluviem tri.stis lupus, indice nullo ? 
 Ilia tameu bimanus custodit macliina portam, 
 Stricta, paratque mails plagam non amplius unam." 
 En, Alphee, redi 1 Quibus ima cobormit unda 
 Voces prseteriere: redux quoque Sicelis omues 
 ]\Iusa voca valles ; buc peudentes byacinthos 
 Fac jaciant, teneros hue flores mille colorura. 
 O nemomm depressa, sonant ubi crebra susurri 
 Umbrarum, et salientis aquce, Zepbyrique protervi ; 
 Queisque virens gremium penetrare Canicula parcit : 
 Hue oeulos, totidem mirandas vertite gemmas, 
 Mellitos imbres quels per viridantia rura 
 Mos haurire, novo quo tellus vere rubeseat. 
 Hue ranunculus, ipse arbos, pallorque ligustri, 
 Quseque relieta perit, vixdum matura feratur 
 Primula : quique ebeno distinctus, ca?tera flavet 
 Flos, et qui specie nomen detreetat eburna. 
 Ardenti violas rosa proxima fundat odores ; 
 
200 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed, 
 
 And daffodillies fill their cups with tears, 
 
 To strow the laureate hearse where Lycid lies. 
 
 For so to interpose a little ease, 
 
 Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise. 
 
 Ay me I whilst thee the shores and sounding seas 
 
 Wash far away, where ere thy bones are hurled, 
 
 Whether beyond the stormy Hebrides, 
 
 Where thou, perhaps, under the whelming tide 
 
 Visit' st the bottom of the monstrous world ; 
 
 Or whether thou to our moist vows denied, 
 
 Sleep'st by the fable of Bellerus old, 
 
 Where the great vision of the guarded mount 
 
 Looks toward Namancos and Bayona's hold ; 
 
 Look homeward, angel now, and melt with ruth : 
 
 And, ye doli^hins, waft the hapless youth. 
 
 Weep no more, woeful shepherds, weep no more, 
 For Lycidas your sorrow is not dead, 
 Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor ; 
 So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed, 
 And yet anon repairs his drooping head. 
 And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore 
 Flames in the forehead of the morning sky : 
 
LYCIDAS. 201 
 
 SeriDyllumqno placcns, et acerbo flexile vultu 
 Verbascum, ac tristem si quid sibi legit amictum. 
 Quicquid babes pulcri fundas, amarante : coronent 
 Narcissi lacrymis calices, sternantque feretrnm 
 Tectus vibi lauro Lycidas jacet : adsit ut oti 
 Saltern alicjuid, ficta ludantur imagine mentes. 
 Me misemml Tua nam litus, pelagusque sonornm 
 Ossa ferunt, (peiscunque prociil jacteris in oris; 
 Sive procellosas ultra Symplegadas ingens 
 Jam subter mare visis, alit qua monstra profundum ; 
 Sive (negarit enim precibus te Jupiter udis) 
 Cum sene Bellero, veterum ([ui fabula, dermis, 
 Qua custoditi montis pra3granc1is imago 
 Namancum atque arces longe prospectat Iberas. 
 Yerte retro te, verte deum, mollire precando : 
 Et vos infaustum juvenem delpliines agatis. 
 
 Ponite jam lacrymas, sat enim flevistis, agrestes. 
 Non periit Lycidas, vestri moeroris origo, 
 Marmorei quanquam fluctus hausere cadentem. 
 Sic et in a'quoreum se condere ssepe cubile 
 Lucifcrum videas ; nee longum tempus, et effert 
 Demissum caput, igne novo vestitus ; et aurum 
 Ceu rutilans, in fronte poli splendescit Eoi. 
 
202 TRANSLATION'S. 
 
 So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high, 
 Throuo-li tlie dear mioht of him that walked the 
 
 waves, 
 Where other groves and other streams along, 
 With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves, 
 And hears the unexpressive nuptial song, 
 In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love. 
 There entertain him all the saints above, 
 In solemn troops, and sweet societies. 
 That sing, and singing in their glory move. 
 And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes. 
 Now, Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more ; 
 Henceforth thou art the genius of the shore. 
 In thy large recompense, and shalt be good 
 To all that wander in that perilous flood. 
 
 Thus sang the uncouth swain to the oaks and rills, 
 AMiile the still morn went out with sandals gray, 
 He touched the tender stops of various quills. 
 With eager thought warbling his Doric lay : 
 And now the sun had stretched out all the hills, 
 And now was dropped into the western bay; 
 At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue, 
 To-moiTow to fresh woods, and pastures new. 
 
LYCIDAS. 203 
 
 Sic obiit Lycidas, sic assurrexit iu altum ; 
 UK), (jueni pcJitom mare sustulit, iisus amico. 
 Nunc cainpos alios, alia errans stagna secimdum 
 Rorantesque lavans integro nectare crines, 
 Audit inauditos nobis cantari Hymenaeos, 
 Fortunatorum sedes ubi mitis araorem 
 Laetitiamque affert. Hie ilium, quotquot Olymj^um 
 Praedulces habitant turboe, venerabilis ordo, 
 Circumstant: aliajque canunt, interque canendun 
 i\Iajestate sua vcniunt abcuutque catervse, 
 Illius ex oculis lacrymas arcere paratfe. 
 Ergo non Lvcidam iam lamentantur ao'restes. 
 Divus eris ripte, puer, hoc ex tempore nobis, 
 Grande, nee immerito, veniens in munus ; opemque 
 Poscent usque tuam, dubiis quot in aestubus errant. 
 
 Usee ineultus aquis puer ilieibusque canebat ; 
 Processit dura mane silens talaribus albis. 
 Multa manu teueris discrimina tentat avenis, 
 Dorica non studio modulatus carmina segni : 
 Et jam sol abiens colles extenderat onmes, 
 Jamque sub Hesperium se praeeipitaverat alveum. 
 Surrexit tandem, glaucumque retraxit amietum ; 
 Cras luci»s, reoi", ille novos, nova pascua quaerct. 
 
204 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 BOADICEA. 
 
 When the British warrior-queen, 
 Bleeding from the Roman rods, 
 
 Sought with an indignant mien, 
 Counsel of her country's gods ; 
 
 Sage beneath the spreading oak 
 Sat the Druid, hoary chief; 
 
 Every burning word he spoke, 
 Full of rage and full of giief. 
 
 " Princess ! if our aged eyes 
 
 Weep upon thy matchless wroug-s, 
 
 'Tis because resentment ties 
 All the terrors of our toncfues. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 205 
 
 " Furens quid Jemina j^ossit." 
 
 Quo secta virgis tempore Romulis, 
 Fastidiosa fronte, Britanniai 
 Regina bellatrix ad aras 
 Indigetum steterat deorum: 
 
 Quercu sedebat sub patula senex 
 Vates, iiivali rex Driiidiim coma ; 
 In carmen exarsurus ira 
 
 Implacidum, implacidumque luctu. 
 
 "Natsene regum nil nisi lacrymam 
 Senas inanem reddimus, hand prius 
 Vulgata perpessse? Minaces 
 
 Stringit enim dolor ipse linguas. 
 
20G TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 "Rome shall perish — write that word 
 In the blood that she has spilt : 
 
 Perish, hopeless and abhorred, 
 Deep in ruin as in guilt. 
 
 " Rome for empire far renowned, 
 Tramples on a thousand states; 
 
 Soon her pride shall kiss the ground- 
 Hark ! the Gaul is at her gates 1 
 
 " Other Romans shall arise, 
 Heedless of a soldier's name ; 
 
 Sounds, not arms, shall win the prize. 
 Harmony the path to fame. 
 
 "Then the progeny that springs 
 From the forests of our land. 
 
 Armed with thunder, clad with wings, 
 Shall a wider world command. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 20) 
 
 "Cadet — mbescant sanguine literse, 
 Qvieni fudit, istte — Roma ; carens cadet 
 Spe quaque, detestata terris; 
 Mersa pari scelerum ruina. 
 
 " Late tyranno sub pede preterit 
 Jam mille gentes, ipsa tamen solo 
 ^quanda. Nunc (adverte !) portas 
 Gallus habet. Nova nequiores 
 
 " ^tas Quirites, pejor avis, feret, 
 Queis vile nomen militias ; sonis, 
 Non marte, qaeusturos honorem ; 
 Voce viam reserante famas. 
 
 "Exinde silv^e quam sobolem sinu 
 Gestant avita), fulmineis potens 
 Pennis et alarum capesset 
 Remigio populum ampli(n-em. 
 
208 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 " Regions Caesar never knew 
 Thy posterity shall sway; 
 
 Where his eagles never flew: 
 None invincible as they," 
 
 Such the bard's prophetic words, 
 Pregnant with celestial fire, 
 
 Bending as he swept the chords 
 Of his sweet but awful lyre. 
 
 She, with all a monarch's pride, 
 Felt them in her bosom glow ; 
 
 Rushed to battle, fought and died ; 
 Dying hurled them at the foe. 
 
 "Ruffians, pitiless as proud. 
 
 Heaven awards the vengeance due ; 
 
 Empire is on us bestowed, 
 
 Shame and ruin wait for you." 
 
 COWPER. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 209 
 
 "Quas ipse nescit Cfiesar, aheneus 
 Quas ales oras non adiit, tuos, 
 Regina, fas torquere natos, 
 InJocilem numerum repulsse." 
 
 Hsec elocutus cgelitus edito 
 Scatebat igni fatidicus senex : 
 
 Dum, pronus in chordas, sonantem 
 Dulce lyram modiilatur irse. 
 
 Queis ilia sentit non humilis calens 
 Regina dictis : queis — ruerat nova 
 In arma — bellatrix sub ipsum 
 Funus adhuc premit acris hostes 
 
 "At, durior grex omnibus, omnium 
 Contemptor ! sequi di quoque vindices 
 Regnare nos optant : probrosa 
 Vos perimi placitum ruina." 
 
210 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 COME LIVE WITH ME. 
 
 Come, live with me, and be my love, 
 And we will all the pleasures prove. 
 That valleys, groves, or hills, or field, 
 Or woods and steepy mountains yield. 
 
 And we will sit upon the rocks, 
 Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks 
 By shallow rivers, to whose falls 
 Melodious birds sing madrigals. 
 
 And I will make thee beds of roses 
 And a thousand fragrant posies : 
 A gown made of the finest wool, 
 Which from our pretty lambs we'll pull. 
 
 The shepherd swains shall dance and sing 
 For thy delight each May morning: 
 If these delights thy mind may move. 
 Then live with me and be my love. 
 
 MARLOW. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 211 
 
 • Et nos cedavius aviori" 
 
 Mopsus. Mopsi vive sodalis, ames age, Lydia, 
 amantem ! 
 
 Ruris uti cunctas experiamur opes : 
 Quot valKs, juga, saltus, ager, quot amoena ministret 
 
 Mons gravis ascensu, quot vel amoena nemus. 
 
 Ssepius acclines saxo spectare jiivarit 
 Ducat uti pastum Thyi'sis herile pecus ; 
 
 Sub vada rivorum, queis adsilientibus infra 
 Concordes avibus suave loquantur aves. 
 
 Ipse rosas, queis fulta cubes caput, ipse recentum 
 Quidquid alant florum pascua mille, feram: 
 
 Pro Isena tibi vellus erit, neque tenuior usquam. 
 Me socio teneras quo spoliaris oves. 
 
 Cantabunt salientque tibi pastoria pubes, 
 Maia novum quoties jusserit ire diem: 
 
 Quae si forte tibi sint oblectamina cordi, 
 Vive comes Mopsi, Lydia, amantis amans. 
 p 2 
 
212 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 If all the world and love were young; 
 And truth in every shepherd's tongue. 
 These pretty pleasures might me move 
 To live with thee and be thy love. 
 
 Time drives the flocks from field to fold, 
 When rivers rage and rocks grow cold ; 
 And Philomel becometh dumb, 
 The rest complain of cares to come. 
 
 But could youth last and love still breed, 
 Had joys no date nor age no need, 
 Then these delights my mind might move 
 To live with thee and be thy love. 
 
 Raleigh. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 213 
 
 Lydia. Finge nee liuic mundo nee amoribus esse 
 seneetam ; 
 
 Pastorumque labris usque subesse fidem : 
 His forte illecebris (est his sua namque venustas) 
 
 Mota, comes Mopsi viverem, amantis amans. 
 
 Tempus agit peeudes eampis in ovile relietis; 
 
 Fitque ferox fluvius frigidiusque jugum. 
 Dediseit Philomela modos et conticet ultro; 
 
 Venturis querimur csetera turba malis. 
 
 Sin amor assidua subolesceret usque juventa, 
 Nee joca cessarent, pluris egeret anus : 
 
 His equidem illecebris (est his sua namque venustas) 
 Mota comes Mopsi viverem, amantis amans. 
 
214 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 WHILE MUSING THUS. 
 
 While musing thus, with contemplation fed 
 And thousand fancies buzzing in my brain. 
 The sweet-tongued Philomel perched o'er my head. 
 And chanted forth a most melodious strain. 
 Which rapt me so with wonder and delight, 
 I judged my hearing better than my sight, 
 And wished me wings with her awhile to take my 
 flight. 
 
 "0 merry bird!" said I, "that fears no snares. 
 That neither toils, nor hoards up in thy bams. 
 Feels no sad thought, nor cniciating cares 
 To gain more good, or shun what might thee 
 
 harm; 
 Thy clothes ne'er wear, thy meat is every where. 
 Thy bed a bough, thy drink the water clear, 
 Remind'st not what is past, nor what's to come 
 dost fear." 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 215 
 
 " Avis in ramo tecta laremque paraf'' 
 
 StabJlM multa movens, studio sic pastus inani, 
 Somnia per vacuum dum fervent mille cerebrum: 
 Jamque canora mihi supra caput adstitit ales, 
 Et liquido Philomela modos e gutture fudit. 
 Obstupui; raptusque nova dulcedine dixi, 
 "Quanto oculis potior, qaam traximus aure, voluptas." 
 Meque simul volui sumtis quatere sethera pennis. 
 
 "Fortunata nimis! Tibi retia nulla timori, 
 
 Te nuUus labor urget, agis nee in borrea messes; 
 
 Nil conscire tibi, nulla tabescere culpa, 
 
 Sorte datum, quo plura petas, quo noxia vites. 
 
 At passim cibus, at sordent velamina nunquam : 
 
 Pocula sunt fontes liquid! tibi, • fronsque cubile. 
 
 Nee memori veterum, nee mox ventura timenti. 
 
216 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 " The dawning morn with songs thou dost pre- 
 vent, 
 Set'st hundred notes unto thy feathered crew, 
 So each one tunes his pretty instrument. 
 And warbling out the old, begins anew. 
 And thus they pass their youth in summer 
 
 season, 
 Then follow thee into a better region, 
 AVhere winter's never felt by that sweet airy 
 legion." 
 
 Anne Bradstreet. 
 
TEANSLATIONS. 217 
 
 Ante dies quam lucet ades, modulansque catervse 
 Dividis aligerse centum discrimina vociim. 
 Continuo ad cantum praeludunt oribus illse 
 Suavisonis; peragunt opus instaurantque peracta. 
 Hisque modis superante fovent sestate juventam. 
 Te duce dein abeunt in fortunatius arvum 
 Blanda volans legio, nuUi penetrabile brumse." 
 
218 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 SWEET DAY. 
 
 Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright, 
 
 The bridal of the earth and sky: 
 The dew shall weep thy fall to-night; 
 For thou must die. 
 
 Sweet rose, whose hue, angry and brave. 
 
 Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye : 
 Thy root is ever in its grave ; 
 
 And thou must die. 
 
 Sweet Spring, full of sweet days and roses, 
 
 A box where sweets compacted lie. 
 My music shows ye have your closes. 
 And all must die. 
 
 Only a sweet and virtuous soul, 
 
 Like seasoned timber, never gives ; 
 But though the whole world turn to coal, 
 Then chiefly lives, 
 
 Geo. Herbekt. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 219 
 
 " Parcent animce fata siqyerstitiy 
 
 Lux dulcis, cui tanta quies et frigus et ardor, 
 
 Terrse polique nuptise, 
 At flebit tua fata tamen sub vesperis horam 
 
 Ros, quippe leto debitse. 
 
 Tuque, color cujus forti similisque minanti 
 
 Temere tuentum lumina 
 Prsestringit ; radice lates tenus usque sepulcro ; 
 
 Et te perii'e fas, Kosa. 
 
 Dulces Maia refers hilaris lucesque rosasque, 
 
 Thesaurus ingens dulcium. 
 Has sed in occasum me vergere disce magistro ; 
 
 Perire nam fas omnia. 
 
 Dulces ergo aninise demum et virtutis amantes 
 
 Durant, ut ilex arida ; 
 In fumura ac cinerem vertatur mundus : at ilte 
 
 Tunc enitescent clarius. 
 
220 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 IN MEMORTAM. 
 
 cvi. 
 
 The time admits not flowers or leaves 
 To deck tlie banquet. Fiercely flies 
 The blast of North and East, and ice 
 
 Makes daggers at the sharpen'd eaves, 
 
 And bristles all the brakes and thorns 
 To yon hard crescent, as she hangs 
 Above the wood which grides and clangs 
 
 Its leafless ribs and iron horns 
 
 Together, in the drifts that pass, 
 
 To darken on the rolling brine 
 
 That breaks the coast. But fetch the wine, 
 Arrange the board and brim the glass; 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 221 
 
 In Memorlam. 
 
 NoN hora myrto, non violis sinit 
 Nitere mensas. Ti-ux Aquilo foras 
 Bacchatur, atque inspicat hastas 
 E foribus glacies acutis ; 
 
 Horretque saltus spinifer, algidse 
 Sub falce lunse; dum nemori imminet. 
 Quod stridet illiditque costis 
 Comua, jam vacuis honorum, 
 
 Ferrata; nimbis pra3tereuntibus, 
 Ut incubent tandem implacido sali 
 Qui curvat oras. Tu Falemum 
 Prome, dapes strue, die coronent 
 
222 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 Bring in great logs and let them lie, 
 
 To make a solid core of beat ; 
 
 Be cheerful-minded, talk and treat 
 Of all things ev'n as he were by : 
 
 We keep the day with festal cheer. 
 With books and music. Surely we 
 Will drink to him whate'er he be, 
 
 And sing the songs he loved to hear. 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
TKANSLATIONS. 223 
 
 Crateras : ignis cor solidum, graves 
 Repone ramos. Jamque doloribus 
 Loquare securus fugatis 
 Qua3 socio loquereris illo ; 
 
 Hunc dedicamus Isetitise diem 
 Lyrgeque musisque. Illius, illiiis 
 Da, quicquid audit : nee silebunt 
 Qui numeri placuere vivo. 
 
224 TKANSLATIONS. 
 
 TEARS, IDLE TEARS. 
 
 Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean. 
 Tears from the depth of some divine despair 
 Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, 
 In looking on the happy Autumn-fields, 
 And thinking of the days that are no more. 
 
 Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail, 
 That brings our friends up from the underworld. 
 Sad as the last which reddens over one 
 That sinks with all we love below the verge ; 
 So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more. 
 
 Ah, sad and strange as in dark Summer dawns 
 The earliest pipe of half-awaken'd birds 
 To dying ears, when unto dying eyes 
 The casement slowly grows a glimmering square ; 
 So sad, so strange, the days that are no more. 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 225 
 
 Surgit amari aliquid. 
 
 Scilicet et lacrymas — quis dixerit unde profectas? — 
 Nescio quod desiderium divinius imo 
 Nil profectiiras e pectore cogit, et udi 
 Stant oculi : quoties auctumni aprica tuemur 
 Rura, diesque animo qui praeteriere recursant. 
 
 DiJce jubar, candent quo primo vela carinae, 
 Altero ab orbe tuos tibi summittentis amicos : 
 Triste, quod in freta longa rubet condentibus isdem 
 Teque tuseque animse partem. Tarn dulcis imago 
 Tam te tristis obit, qui prseteriere, dierum. 
 
 ^grum, ac tanquam aliunde, sonat morientis in 
 aure 
 Excutientum avium sublustri mane sopores 
 ^stivus can or, incipiunt ubi languida circa 
 Lumina majores noto trepidare fenestras. 
 Tanquam aliunde, dies qui praeteriere revortunt. 
 
226 TEANSLATIONS. 
 
 PSALM LY. V. 4. 
 
 My heart is disquieted within me : and 
 The fear of death is fallen upon me. 
 
 Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me 
 And an horrible dread hath overwhelmed me. 
 
 And I said, O that I had wings like a dove : 
 For then Avould I flee away, and be at rest. 
 
 Lo, then would I get me away far off; 
 And remain in the wilderness. 
 
 I would make haste to escape ; 
 
 Because of the stormy wind and tempest. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 227 
 
 '■'• Prcesaga mali mens.'''' 
 
 CoE, concitatum, qiiassaque senseram 
 Instante leto pectora ; senseram 
 Terrore pallescens, at artus 
 Auguriis tremefactus atris : 
 
 Dixiqiie tandem : "Verterer alitem 
 Nunc in columbam ! scilicet in loca 
 Longinqua deportarer, almse 
 Pacis amans ; ct inhospitales 
 
 Inter Gelonos, his fugiens procul 
 TerriSj manerem. Nulla fugam mora 
 Tardaret, exosi procellse 
 
 Ssevitiem, pluviosque ventos. 
 
 Q2 
 
228 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 OF HOLIER JOY. 
 
 Of holier joy he sang, more true dehght, 
 In other happier isles for them reserved. 
 
 Who, faithful here, from constancy and right 
 And truth have never swerved ; 
 
 How evermore the tempered ocean-gales 
 
 Breathe round those hidden islands of the blest. 
 
 Steeped in the glory spread, when day-light fails, 
 Far in the sacred West. 
 
 How unto them, beyond our mortal night. 
 
 Shines ever more in strength the golden day; 
 
 And meadows with purpureal roses bright 
 Bloom round their feet alway ; 
 
 And how 'twas given thro' virtue to aspire 
 
 To golden seats in ever-calm abodes ; 
 
 Of mortal men, admitted to the quire 
 
 Of high immortal Gods. 
 
 Trench. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 229 
 
 '^Arva, heata 
 Petamus arvaP 
 
 TuM graviore canit vera oblectamina plectro, 
 
 Beatiore quels in insula frui 
 Integros maneat vitse ; quae fasque fidesque 
 
 Diuque culta Veritas det assequi. 
 
 Utque marina supra secretos usque piorum 
 
 Agros susurret aura temperatius ; 
 Agros, occidui saturet quos gloria Plioebi, 
 
 Sacris in Occidentis ultimi locis. 
 
 Utque procul nobis, tenebris procul omnibus, illos 
 Inauret usque vividus micans dies ; 
 
 Purpureis distincta rosis ubi gleba perenni 
 Nitore crura condat ambulantium. 
 
 Tanta dari castis. Utque affectetur ab isdem 
 
 In aureis serena sedibus domus; 
 Mortalesque viros tandem immortalis in altum 
 
 Keceperit sedile numinum chorus. 
 
230 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 FROM THE ANALOGY, Ch. I. 
 
 And it is certain, that the bodies of all animals 
 are in a constant flux, from that never-ceasing at- 
 trition which there is in every part of them. Now 
 things of this kind unavoidably teach us to dis- 
 tinguish between these living agents ourselves, and 
 large quantities of matter in which we are very 
 nearly interested : since these may be alienated, 
 and actually are in a daily course of succession, 
 and changing their owners ; while we are assured, 
 that each living agent remains one and the same 
 permanent being. And this general observation 
 leads us to the following ones. 
 
 First ; that we have no way of determining 
 by experience what is the certain bulk of the 
 living being each man calls himself: and yet, till 
 it be determined that it is larger in bulk than 
 the solid elementary particles of matter, which 
 there is no ground to think any natural power 
 can dissolve, there is no sort of reason to think 
 death to be the dissolution of it, of the living 
 being, even though it should not be absolutely 
 indiscerptible. BuTLER. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 231 
 
 '^ Non omnis moriar." 
 
 Id quoque constat, uti, quot corpora sunt animan- 
 
 tum, 
 Non cessent fluere, assiduis quippe obvia plagis 
 Omni ex parte. Quibus monito distare fatendumst 
 Te qui vivis agisque, et molem materiai 
 Quantamvis, quacum sis nexus conque ligatus. 
 Has alienari quoniam vulgoque videmus 
 Trudi alias aliis, nee demuni addicier ulli. 
 At, qui vivis agisque, manes certe unas et idem. 
 Queis animadversis audi quse deinde sequantur. 
 
 Principio, nunquam cognoveris experiundo 
 Mole sit id vivum quanta, quam quisquc vocet se. 
 Quod tamen incerto sit majus mole minusve 
 Quam solida ilia fuant corpuscula materiai, 
 (QusB quis enim reputet natura posse resolvi ?) 
 Nulla patet ratio cur solvi morte putaris 
 Hoc vivum, sit et hocce licet delebile tandem. 
 
232 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 FOUNTAIN THAT SPARKLEST. 
 
 Fountain, that sparkiest througli the shady place, 
 Making a soft sad murmur o'er the stones 
 That strew thy lucid way ! Oh, if some guest 
 Should haply wander near, with slow disease 
 Smitten, may thy cold springs the rose of health 
 Bring back, and the quick lustre to his eye ! 
 The ancient oaks that on thy margin wave, 
 The song of birds, and through the rocky cave 
 The clear stream gushing, their according sounds 
 Should mingle, and like some strange music steal 
 Sadly, yet soothing, o'er his aching breast. 
 And thou pale exile from thy native shores 
 Here drink (0 couldst thou ! as of Lethe's stream !) 
 Nor friends, nor bleeding country, nor the views 
 Of hills or streams beloved, nor vesper's bell, 
 Heard in the twilight vale, remember more I 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 233 
 
 "juvat integros accedere fontes 
 Alque haurire." 
 
 QUI umbrosa micas inter loca, perqne notantes 
 
 Lucidum iter lapides, Tons, ita molle canis ; 
 MoUe quidem sed triste tamen : — si forte quis liospes 
 
 Erret ad has, lenta tabe peractus, aquas; 
 Tu, precor, huic roseam gelido refer amne salutem, 
 
 Inque oculo saliat, qualiter ante, nitor ! 
 Scilicet antique, riparum insignia, quercus, 
 
 Puraque per durum qua3 specus unda salit, 
 Voxque avium carmen poterunt sociare, quod illi 
 
 Serpat ut insuetse corda per aegra lyrse. 
 Sunt etenim mulcent quos tristia. Tuque paternis 
 
 Qui procul ex oris pallidus exsul abes, 
 Hinc bibe — si posses Lethseum flumen ! amici 
 
 Nee tibi, nee moriens Eoma sit ipsa morse; 
 Non juga, non dulces fluvii, campana nee actum 
 
 Sub ferruginea valle locuta diem. 
 
234 TKANSLATIONS. 
 
 FROM THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. 
 
 Go up and watch the new-born rill 
 Just trickling from its mossy bed, 
 Streaking the heath-clad hill 
 With a bright emerald thread. 
 
 Canst thou her bold career foretel. 
 What rocks she shall o'erleap or rend, 
 How far in Ocean's swell 
 Her freshening billows send ? 
 
 Perchance that little brook shall flow 
 The bulwark of some mighty realm, 
 Bear navies to and fro 
 
 With monarchs at their helm. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 235 
 
 " Parva mettc pi-imo." 
 
 I XTJPER ortum siispice riviiluin, 
 Vix e virenti qua trepidat toro, 
 Clivumqne vestitum genista 
 Cserulei Dotat instar auri. 
 
 Die quo feratur scilicet insolens ? 
 Quse scindet aut quse transiliet juga? 
 Quorsumve, die, fluctus tumentem 
 Mittet in Oceanum salubres ? 
 
 Quern eernis est ut rivulus, impcii 
 Factus potentis preesidium, rates 
 Hinc inde sit vecturus, ipsis 
 Consulibus ratium magistris. 
 
236 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 Or canst thou guess, how far away 
 Some sister nymph, beside her urn 
 Reclining night and day, 
 
 'Mid reeds and mountain fern, 
 
 Nurses her store, with thine to blend 
 When many a moor and glen are past. 
 Then in the wide sea end 
 Their spotless lives at last. 
 
 Keble. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 237 
 
 An scire fas est te, quibus in jugis 
 Acclinis umse nymplia soror die 
 Noctuque, montanaque tecta 
 Carice arundineaque ripa, 
 
 Quodciinque apud se est pascat ? At aviis 
 Elapsa silvis mox sociabitui- 
 Tecum, sub Mgsdo patenti 
 Innocuam positura vitam. 
 
238 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 WINTER. 
 
 Low the woods 
 Bow tlieir boar head; and ere the languid sun 
 Faint from the west emits his evening ray, 
 Earth's universal face, deep hid and chill, 
 Is one wild dazzling waste, that buries wide 
 The works of man. Drooping, the labourer-ox 
 Stands cover'd o'er with snow, and then demands 
 The fruit of all his toil. The fowls of heaven, 
 Tamed by the cruel season, crowd around 
 The winnowing store, and claim the little boon 
 Which Providence assigns them. One alone, 
 The redbreast, sacred to the household gods, 
 Wisely regardful of the embroiling sky. 
 In joyless fields and thorny thickets, leaves 
 His shivering mates, and pays to trusted man 
 His annual visit. Half afraid, he first 
 Against the window beats; then, brisk, alights 
 On the warm hearth ; then, hopping o'er the floor. 
 
TKANSLATIONS. 239 
 
 " Aspera venit hiems." 
 
 Caxa laborantes demittimt culmina silvse. 
 Sol quoque languidior. Necdum jubar illius orto 
 Vespere ab Hesperiis trepidum se prodidit oris, 
 At tcllus, quam magna, latet : stant frigore campi, 
 Ferales late campi candore maligno, 
 Obruitm-que labos bomimim. Stat taurus arator 
 Languida colla gravis multa nive : quid labor ilium 
 Aut benefacta juvant ? Domat inclementia coeli 
 Aerias volucres ; vannumque frequenter lacclii 
 Stipantes, quae parva pater munuscula parvis 
 Donet habere Deus, poscunt. Deque omnibus una, 
 Rubro nota sinu, (propriam dixere Penates,) 
 Haud Jovis imprudens coelum miscentis, in arvis 
 Illgetabilibus et spinifero dumeto 
 Frigentes linquit socios, ac visit in annum 
 Tecta virum, fidens animi. Primumque fencstram 
 Spemque metumque inter, pulsat ; mox acriter almum 
 Invasura focum. Dein interiora per aula 
 
240 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 Eyes all the smiling family askance, 
 
 And pecks, and starts, and wonders where he is ; 
 
 Till more familiar grown, the table crumbs 
 
 Attract his slender feet. The foodless wilds 
 
 Pour forth their brown inhabitants. The hare, 
 
 Though timorous of heart, and hard beset 
 
 By death in various forms, dark snares and dogs, 
 
 And more unpitying men, the garden seeks. 
 
 Urged on by fearless want. The bleating kind 
 
 Eye the bleak heaven, and next the glistening 
 
 earth, 
 With looks of dumb despair ; then, sad dispersed, 
 Dig for the wither'd herbs through heaps of snow. 
 
 Thompson. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 241 
 
 (Ridentes transversa tiiens) it passibus sequis, 
 Quaque sit admirans, rostro petit et tremit alas. 
 Jamque levi pede, rebus iibi se assuevit, in ipsa 
 Frusta legit mensa. Furvum genus aspera mittunt 
 (Defit enim cibus) arva. Lepus, cui pectus inaudax, 
 Quam plaga quamque canes et plurima mortis imago, 
 Quamque premit cunctis homo durior, ipsa propin- 
 
 quat 
 (Vim dedit esuries) hortos. Videt sethera tristem 
 Balantum pecus, arva videt splendentia, muto 
 Spem positam fassum obtutu. Tum tristiter imo 
 E nive marcentes efFossum spargitur herbas. 
 
 R 
 
242 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 LEAVES HAVE THEIR TIME TO FALL." 
 
 Leaves have tlieir time to fall, 
 
 And flowers to wither at the North-wind's breath. 
 And stars to set : but all, 
 
 Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death ! 
 
 Day is for mortal care. 
 
 Eve for glad meetings at the joyous hearth. 
 Night for the dreams of sleep, the voice of prayer: 
 
 But all for thee, thou mightiest of the earth I 
 
 The banquet has its hour, 
 
 The feverish hour of mirth and song and wine: 
 There comes a day for grief's overwhelming shower, 
 
 A time for softer tears: but all are thine. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 243 
 
 " Dehemur morti nos nostraque." 
 
 Frondes est ubi decidant, 
 Marcescantque roste flatu Aquilonio : 
 
 Horis astra cadunt suis ; 
 Sed, Mors, cimcta tibi tempora vindicas. 
 
 Curis nata vinim dies ; 
 Vesper colloquiis dulcibus ad focum ; 
 
 Somnis nox magis, et preci : 
 Sed nil, Terrigenum maxima, non tibi. 
 
 Festis hora epulis datur, 
 (Fervcns hora jocis, carminibus, mero;) 
 
 Fusis altera lacrymis 
 Aut fletu tacito: quseque tamen tua, 
 
 r2 
 
2U TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 Youth and the opening rose 
 
 May look like things too glorious for decay, 
 And smile at thee! — but thou art not of those 
 
 That wait the ripen'd bloom to seize their prey! 
 
 Felicia Hemans. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 245 
 
 Virgo, seu rosa pullulans, 
 Tantum quippe nitent lit nequeant mori? 
 
 Rident te? Neque enim soles 
 Proedse parcere, dum flos adoleverit. 
 
246 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 MY BROTHER. 
 
 My boyisli days are nearly gone, 
 
 My breast is not unsullied now; 
 And worldly cares and woes will soon 
 
 Cut their deep furrows on my brow. 
 
 And life will take a darker hue 
 From ills my brother never knew: 
 And human passions o'er my soul 
 Now hold their dark and fell control: 
 And fear and envy, hate and rage. 
 Proclaim approaching manhood's age. 
 
 And I have made me bosom friends. 
 
 And loved and linked my heart with others; 
 
 But who with mine his spirit blends 
 
 As mine was blended with my brother's? 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 247 
 
 " Ille meos, prlnuim qui me sihi junxit, amoves 
 Abstulit. Ille hdbeat secum servetque sepulcro." 
 
 PRiETEREUNT nostrsB, vel prseteriere, juventse 
 
 Tempora; nee maculam nescit, ut ante, sinus. 
 Mox venient rerum curae rerumque dolores ; 
 
 Et fronte in juveni ruga senilis erit. 
 Caligare mihi mox ipsa videbitur aetas, 
 
 Tincta novis (frater nesciit ilia) malis. 
 Nunc etiam quicunque viris solet esse libido 
 
 Torva regunt animum truxque caterva meum : 
 Nunc livorque odiumque et mista timoribus ira 
 
 Exagitant trepidum, Yirque, loquuntur, eris. 
 Unanimos equidem legi coluique sodales ; 
 
 Fovi equidem multos interiore sinu : 
 Qua vero partem illam animae, pars altera, queeram? 
 
 Frater erat nostri pars ita, fratris ego. 
 
248 TEANSLATIONS. 
 
 When years of rapture glided by, 
 
 The spring of life's unclouded weather, 
 
 Our souls were knit; and thou and I, 
 My brother, grew in love together. 
 
 The chain is broke that bound us then. 
 
 When shall I find its like again? 
 
 Moultrie. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 249 
 
 Tunc, ubi feliccs labi iion sensimus annos, 
 Fulsit ubi verno sol sine nube polo ; 
 
 Frater, erant nobis animi per mutua nexi; 
 Par tibi tunc annis, par et amore fui. 
 
 Copula dissiluit qua nectebamur : at illi 
 
 Die quibus in latebris, qua sequar arte, parem? 
 
250 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 "LET US TURN HITHER WARD OUR BARK. 
 
 "Let us turn hitherward our bark," they cried, 
 " And, 'mid the blisses of this happy isle, 
 
 Past toil forgetting and to come, abide 
 In joyfulness awhile. 
 
 And then, refreshed, our tasks resume again. 
 If other tasks we yet are bound unto, 
 
 Combing the hoary tresses of the main 
 With sharp swift keel anew." 
 
 O heroes, that had once a nobler aim, 
 
 O heroes, sprung from many a god-like line, 
 
 Wliat will ye do, unmindful of your fame, 
 And of your race divine ? 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 251 
 
 'a TreVoves, kuk cXeyX^', 'Ax^dBe,, o.'kcV 'Axatou 
 
 " QuiN Imc," fremebant, " dirigimus ratem 
 Hie, dote lati divitis insula?, 
 PauUisper ba?remus, futuri 
 
 Nee memores operis, nee acti : 
 
 "Curas refeeti eras iterabimus. 
 Si qua supersunt emeritis novJB : 
 Pexisse pernices aeuta 
 Canitiem pelagi earina." 
 
 O rebus olim nobilioribus 
 Pares: origo Di quibus ac Dese 
 Heroes I oblitine famse 
 
 Hsec struitis, generisque summi? 
 
252 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 But they, by these prevaihng voices now 
 Lured, evermore draw nearer to the land, 
 
 Nor saw the wrecks of many a goodly prow. 
 That strewed that fatal strand ; 
 
 Or seeing, feared not — warning taking none 
 From the plain doom of all who went before, 
 
 "Whose bones lay bleaching in the wind and sun, 
 And whitened all the shore. 
 
 K. C. Trench. 
 
TEANSLATIONS. 253 
 
 Atqui propinquant jam magis ac magis, 
 Ducti magistra voce, solum : neque 
 ViJere prorarum nefandas 
 Fragmina nobilium per oras ; 
 
 t ' 
 Vidisse seu non poenitet — ominis 
 Incuriosos tot prseeimtium, 
 
 Quorum ossa sol siccantque venti, 
 Candet adhuc quibus omnis era. 
 
254 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 (ENONE. 
 
 O Mother, hear me yet before I die. 
 Hear me, O earth. I will not die alone. 
 Lest their shrill happy laughter come to me 
 Walking the cold and starless road of Death 
 Uncomforted, leaving my ancient love 
 With the Greek woman. I will rise and o-o 
 DoT\Ti into Troy, and ere the stars come forth 
 Talk with the wild Cassandra, for she says 
 A fire dances before her, and a sound 
 Rings ever in her ears of armed men. 
 What this may be I know not, but I know 
 That, wheresoe'er I am by night and day, 
 All earth and air seem only burning fire. 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 255 
 
 " longam inconiitata videtur 
 Ire viam." 
 
 QuAS moriens loqiior, Ida parens, en accipe voces : 
 Accipe tu, tellus. Non ibo sola sub umbras; 
 Fortunatorum risus ne verberet aiirem, 
 Dum caligantes campos, jam frigida, Leti, 
 Jam nullo comitaute, tero, priscumque maritiim 
 Pellex Graia tenet. Quin ibo ac Dorica castra 
 Deveniam : necdum surgentibus adloquar astris 
 Amentem Cassandram animi. Nam lumina coram 
 Scintillare refert ignes, et murmur ad aurem 
 Tanquam armatorum nunquam cessare rotari. 
 Quse quid monstra ferant, non auguror: id mihi 
 
 demum 
 Nosse satis : quocunque feror noctuque dieque, 
 loni stare mcro tellusquc videtur et aer. 
 
256 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 THE SOLDIER'S DREAM. 
 
 Our bugles sang truce, for the night clouds had 
 lowered, 
 
 And the sentinel stars kept a watch in the sky ; 
 And thousands had sunk on the ground overpowered, 
 
 The weary to sleep and the wounded to die. 
 
 When reposing that night on my pallet of straw, 
 By the wolf-scaring faggot that guarded the slain, 
 
 At the dead of the night a sweet vision I saw, 
 And thrice ere the morning I dreamt it again. 
 
 Methought from the battle-field's dreadful array. 
 Far, far I had roamed on a desolate track: 
 
 'Twas autumn — and sunshine arose on my way 
 To the home of my father, that welcomed me 
 back. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 257 
 
 *' Cur hcec ego somnia vidi .?" 
 
 Nox jam densa ruit : vigil undique sidus in sethra 
 Excubat. Auditis ponimus arma tubis. 
 
 Mille peracta virum fluxerunt corpora campo, 
 Occupet ut letum saucia, fessa sopor. 
 
 At mihi quern fultum custodit stramine parco 
 Praesidium csesis flamma lupisque metus, 
 
 Nocte super media dulcissima venit imago, 
 Somniaque ante ortum ter rediere diem. 
 
 Arma feramque aciem milii dcscruisse videbar, 
 
 Et desolatis longum iter ire viis. 
 Venerat auctumnus : desideriumque meorum 
 
 Ad patrios ieram, sole favente, lares. 
 
258 TRANSLATIONS 
 
 I flew to the pleasant fields traversed so oft 
 In life's morning march, when my bosom was 
 
 young ; 
 I heard my own mountain -goats bleating aloft, 
 And I knew the sweet strain that the corn-reapers 
 
 sung. 
 
 Tlien pledged we the wine-cup, and fondly I swore 
 From my home and my weeping friends never 
 to part ; 
 
 My little ones kissed me a thousand times o'er. 
 And my wife sobbed aloud in her fulness of heart. 
 
 " Stay, stay with us — rest ; thou art weary and 
 worn ;" 
 And fain was the war-broken soldier to stay : 
 But sorrow returned with the dawning of mom, 
 And the voice in my dreaming ear melted away. 
 
 Campbell. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 259 
 
 Quos jam in procinctu vitse, jamque inscius aevi, 
 Lustrabam toties, transferor ales agris : 
 
 Audieram balare meas in mpe capellas ; 
 Fallebat veteri carmine messor opus. 
 
 Sum quoque pollicitus, socia inter pocula, nuiiquam 
 Flentibus a sociis ire, meaque domo, 
 
 Oseula dant centum parvi, dein altera, nati : 
 TJxoris gremium rumpit anhelus amor : — 
 
 "Fessus et seger ades, nobis ades usque," susurrat. 
 
 Fractus idem bellis miles et ipse volo. 
 Nequicquam. Redeunte die rediere dolores. 
 
 Audieram voces : sed sopor illud erat. 
 
 S2 
 
260 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 THE BUTTERFLY. 
 
 As rising on its purple wing 
 
 The insect-queen of eastern spring, 
 
 O'er emerald meadows of Kaslimeer 
 
 Invites the young pursuer near, 
 
 And leads him on from flower to flower 
 
 A weary chase and wasted hour, 
 
 Then leaves him, as it soars on high, 
 
 With panting heart and tearful eye : 
 
 So Beauty lures the full-grown child, 
 
 With hue as bright, and wing as wild ; 
 
 A chase of idle hopes and fears, 
 
 Begun in folly, closed in tears. 
 
 If won, to equal ills betray 'd, 
 
 Woe waits the insect and the maid ; 
 
 A life of pain, the loss of peace. 
 
 From infant's play and man's caprice: 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 261 
 
 '■'■Neque enim levia aut ludicra petuntur."' 
 
 Pexnis ut ostro tollitur semulis 
 Quse ver Eoiim papilio regit, 
 Per gramen invitans smaragdo 
 Lucidius puerum sequacem ; 
 Vel has vel illas detinet ad rosas 
 Fessum vagaudi, nee bene prodigum 
 Hora3 ; relinquens dein anlielo 
 Ore, genis, abit ales, udis : 
 Per spes adultum sic puerum rapit 
 Metusque vanos, sic vario nitens 
 Splendqre, sic pennata, virgo ; 
 Coepta miser flet inepta sero. 
 Vincas: — ad unum virgine prodita 
 Vermique fatum, par superest dolor 
 Utrique ; seu lascivus infans, 
 Sive virum dederit libido 
 
262 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 The lovely toy so fiercely sought 
 Hath lost its charm by being caught, 
 For eveiy touch that woo'd its stay 
 Hath brush 'd its brightest hues away, 
 Till charm, and hue, and beauty gone 
 'Tis left to fly or fall alone. 
 
 Byron. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 263 
 
 Yitam inquietam, ac mille gravem malis. 
 Sectamur acres dulcia: qwse simul 
 Prensaris, amisere formam ; 
 Suasor enim digitus moraruni 
 Sensim colores proterit aureos ; 
 Donee recessit forma, color, venus : 
 Te deinde securo, volarint 
 Seu jaceant viduata campo. 
 
264 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 GLENIFFER. 
 
 Keen blaws the wind o'er the braes o' Gleniffer, 
 The auld castle turrets are cover'd wi' snaw, 
 
 How changed frae the time when I met wi' my lover, 
 Amang the broom bushes by Stanley green shaw. 
 
 The wild flowers o' simmer were spread a' sae bonnie, 
 The mavis sang sweet frae the gi-een birken tree ; 
 
 But far to the camp they ha'e march'd my dear 
 Johnnie, 
 
 And now it is winter wi' nature and me. 
 ♦ 
 
 Then ilk thing around us was blythesome and 
 
 cheerie, 
 
 Then ilk thing around us was bonnie and braw; 
 
 Now naething is heard but the wind whistling 
 
 drearie, 
 
 And naething is seen but the wide-spreading snaw. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 265 
 
 Versa loci /acies." 
 
 Radit Aricinge vallis latus acriter aura. 
 
 Nix OTave longoevis turribus hiEret onus : 
 Non erat ilia loci facies, ubi tecta genista 
 
 Ad lucum viridem fabar, Amate veni. 
 Injussas jucunda rosas ibi pandidit a^stas ; 
 
 Cantanti nierula3 betula tegmen erat: 
 Nunc ad castra mens procul exsulat actus Amyntas 
 
 Nunc eadem terris et mibi venit biems. 
 
 Plurima Isetitise tunc undique risit imago, 
 Cuique erat in gremio vis, et in ore niter : 
 
 Nunc nihil audieris nisi msesti sibila venti, 
 Nunc nihil aspicias hinc nisi et inde nivem. 
 
266 TEANSLATIONS. 
 
 The trees are a' bare, and the birds mute and dowie, 
 They shake the cauld drift frae their wings as 
 they flee; 
 And chirp out their plaints, seeming wae for my 
 Johnnie ; 
 'Tis winter wi' them and 'tis winter wi' me, 
 
 Tannahill. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 267 
 
 Arbos miita; silent pavefactse, interque volandum 
 
 Excutiunt alis sessile frigiis, aves ; 
 Voce loqui visas blanda, Ploramus Amyntam. 
 
 Venit hiems illis : et mihi venit hiems. 
 
268 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 He sung what spirit thro' the whole mass is spread, 
 Everywhere all : how Heavens God's laws approve 
 And think it rest eternally to move : 
 How the kind Sun usefully comes and goes, 
 Wants it himself, yet gives to Man repose : 
 He sung how Earth blots the Moon's gilded wane 
 Whilst foolish men beat sounding brass in vain. 
 Why the great waters her slight horns obey, 
 Her changing horns not constanter than they : 
 He sung how grisly comets hung in air, 
 Wliy swords and plagues attend their fatal hair, 
 God's beacons for the world, drawn up so far 
 To pubHsh ills, and raise all earth to war : 
 What radiant pencil draws the watery bow. 
 What ties up hail, and picks the fJeecy snow; 
 What palsy of the Earth here shakes fix'd hills 
 From off her brows, and here whole rivers spills. 
 Thus did this Heathen Nature's secrets tell, 
 And sometimes missed the cause, but sought it well. 
 
 Cowley. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 269 
 
 ^^ Est Deus in nobis: agitante calescimus illo.''* 
 
 Najvique canebat uti, penetrans omnem undique, 
 
 totam 
 Spiritus intus agat molem : confirmet iit sether 
 Jura Dei, requiemque putet sine fine moveri. 
 Sol ut eat redeatque suos iter almus in usus, 
 Detque viris, quanqnam desideret ipse, soporem. 
 Aureaque ut lucem premat objice Cyntliia terra, 
 At stulti temere sera viri crepitantia plangant : 
 Unde regat parvis eadem mare cornubus ingens, 
 Queis mare non levins, non inconstantias, ipsum. 
 Cur visas in coelo tristes pendere cometa?, 
 Fatalemque comam morbique ensesque sequantur. 
 Ilia deos dare signa viris, et figere coelo, 
 Quo vulgent mala, quove vocent in proelia gentes. 
 Quis radio pluvium describat gentibus arcum, 
 Vellera quid pectet nivis, ac tortum alliget imbrem. 
 Unde tremens tellus, nunc deturbarit in ipsa 
 Fronte sitos montes, nunc totum effuderit amnem. 
 Barbarus explicuit sic rerum arcana; latentes 
 Impar soepe loqui, par semper qua;rerc, causas. 
 
270 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 THE NEREIDS. 
 
 The Nereid maids in days of yore 
 Saw the lost pilot loose the helm, 
 
 Saw the wreck blacken all the shore, 
 And every wave some head o'erwhelni. 
 
 Afar the youngest of the train 
 Beheld (but fear'd and aided not) 
 
 A minstrel from the billowy main 
 Borne breathless near her coral grot : 
 
 Then terror fled, and pity rose 
 
 "Ah me," she cried, "I come too late! 
 Rather than not have soothed his woes, 
 
 I would, but may not, share his fate." 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 271 
 
 '^Sedet cetemumque sedehit." 
 
 Neeeides (sic fama refert) videre puellse 
 
 Rector ut excideret puppe, subactus aquis : 
 Litus uti fractis nigresceret omne carinis, 
 
 Omnis et abreptum volveret unda caput. 
 At procul a pelago stans una, novissima natu, 
 
 (Ni metus obstaret, forte tulisset opem), 
 Semanimum vatem spumosis vidit ab undis 
 
 Ad se — curalio tecta latebat — agl 
 Turn retro metus omnis iit, miserataque casum 
 
 " Veni ego," conclamat, " vje mihi ! sera nimis. 
 " Mallem equidem, tantos quam non mulsisse dolores, 
 
 "Ipsa pari — possem si mode — sorte mori." 
 
272 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 She raised his hand. "What hand like this 
 Could reach the heart athwart the lyre ? 
 
 What lips like these return my kiss, 
 Or breathe, incessant, soft desire?" 
 
 From eve to morn, from morn to eve, 
 She gazed his features o'er and o'er, 
 
 And those who love and who believe. 
 May hear her sigh along the shore. 
 
 W. S. Landor. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 272 
 
 Inde levans dextram, "Num par," ait, "illius un- 
 quam 
 
 " Perveniet tacta cordis ad ima lyra ? 
 "Talibus aut quiscjuam mihi dividet oscula labris, 
 
 "Dum tenerum id numquam dicere cessat, Amo?" 
 
 Jamque dies nocti subit altera, noxque diei, 
 At sedet, at vultiim perlegit ilia viri. 
 
 Illam, si quis amans et non incredulus idem est, 
 Audiat ut circa litus anhelet adhuc. 
 
274 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 WEEP NO MORE. 
 
 Weep no more, nor sigh, nor groan ; 
 
 Sorrow calls no time that's gone ; 
 
 Violets plucked, the sweetest rain 
 
 Makes not fresh nor grow again : 
 
 Trim thy locks, look cheerfully ; 
 
 Fates hidden ends eyes cannot see : 
 
 Joys as winged dreams fly fast; 
 
 Why should sadness longer last ? 
 
 Grief is but a wound to woe ; 
 
 Gentlest fair, mourn, mourn no mo. 
 
 Fletcher. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 275 
 
 " Ne doleas plus nimio." 
 
 Flendi jam satis, et satis gemendi. 
 Nee tempus lacrymis vocaris actum, 
 Carptis nee violis benigna quamvis 
 Nasci dat pluvia ac virere rursum. 
 Quin crines colis explicasque vultum? 
 Fati casca nefas videre nobis. 
 Somni par fugit alitis voluptas : 
 Quidni tristitise modus sit idem? 
 Fletu nil nisi prorogas dolorem. 
 Sat, dulcissima Philli, sat dolendi. 
 
276 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 GLUMDALITCH'S LAMENT. 
 
 Why did I trust thee with that giddy youth? 
 Who from a page can ever learn the truth? 
 Versed in court-tricks, that money-loving boy 
 To some lord's daughter sold the living toy; 
 Or rent him limb from limb in cruel play, 
 As children tear the wings of flies away. 
 From place to place o'er Brobdingnag I'll roam, 
 And never will return, or bring thee home. 
 But who hath eyes to trace the passing wind ? 
 How these thy fairy footsteps can I find? 
 Dost thou bewilder'd wander all alone 
 In the green thicket of a mossy stone ; 
 Or, tumbled from the toadstool's slippery round, 
 Perhaps, all maim'd, lie groveling on the gi'ound ? 
 Dost thou, embosom'd in the lovely rose. 
 Or sunk, within the peach's down, repose? 
 Within the kingcup if thy limbs are spread. 
 Or in the golden cowslip's velvet head. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 277 
 
 *' Ilium absens absentem atiditque videtque." 
 
 Mens levis est juvenum. Quid te commisimus illi? 
 
 Quisve putet famulo cuilibet esse fidem? 
 Tene, ut Tulliolis esses ludibria vivus, 
 
 Vendidit aularum doctus amansque lucri? 
 Ceuve Solent pueri pennas avellere nmscis, 
 
 Ossibus horribili distulit ossa joco ? 
 At Cyclopeas errabo bine inde per eras : 
 
 At referar nunquam, te nisi nacta, domum. 
 Sed quis enim celeres oculo deprenderit auras? 
 
 Qua Lemurum similes prosequar arte pedes? 
 Muscosusne lapis, frondens te silva, fatigat, 
 
 Quserentem socios exanimemque metu? 
 An teretis nimium lapsus de vertice fungi, 
 
 Cernuus incumbis membraque truncus humi ? 
 Purpureine lates tectus lanugine mali? 
 
 An rosa te gremio dulce soporat onus? 
 Si calice in calthi totus jam extenderis, aut si 
 
 Aureus in molli te vebit axe crocus : 
 
278 TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 O show me Flora, 'midst those sweets, the flower 
 Where sleeps my Grildrig in the fragrant bower? 
 
 But ah ! I fear th}' little fancy roves 
 On little females, and on little loves ; 
 Thy pigmy children, and thy tiny spouse. 
 The baby playthings that adorn thy house. 
 Doors, windows, chimneys, and the spacious rooms, 
 Equal in size to cells of honeycombs : 
 Hast thou for these now ventured from the shore, 
 Thy bark a bean-shell and a straw thy oar? 
 
 Pope. 
 
TRANSLATIONS. 279 
 
 Monstra, Flora, mihi, qui flos e millibus unus 
 Silvula delicias condit odora mcas ! 
 
 Quanquam ah ! quam vereor ne parvi forsan amores, 
 
 Duxerit et parvum femina parva sinum. 
 Pigmcei pueri, veraque minutior uxor, 
 
 Quotque tuos ornent frivola cunque lares : 
 Porta, fenestra, foci, spatiosae scilicet aulse. 
 
 Mole pares cellis qua tliyma condit apis ; 
 Haeccine sunt litus pro queis abscondere nostrum 
 
 Ausus eras, remo stramine, lintre faba ? 
 
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