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EPIGRAMS.

SPIRIT OF PLATO.

FROM THE GREEK.

EAGLE! why soarest thou above that tomb?
To what sublime and star-y-paven home
Floatest thou?

I am the image of swift Plato's spirit,
Ascending heaven-Athens does inherit
His corpse below.

FROM THE GREEK.

A MAN who was about to hang himself,
Finding a purse, then threw away his rope;
The owner coming to reclaim his pelf,
The halter found and used it. So is Hope
Changed for Despair-one laid upon the shelf,
We take the other. Under heaven's high cope
Fortune is God—all you endure and do
Depends on circumstance as much as you.

TO STELLA.

FROM PLATO.

THOU wert the morning star among the living, Ere thy fair light had fled ;—

Now, having died, thou art as Hesperus, giving New splendour to the dead.

FROM PLATO.

KISSING Helena, together

With my kiss, my soul beside it
Came to my lips, and there I kept it,—
For the poor thing had wandered thither,
To follow where the kiss should guide it,
O, cruel I, to intercept it!

SONNETS FROM THE GREEK OF MOSCHUS.

Τὰν ὅλα τὰν γλαυκὰν ὅταν ἄνεμος ἀτρέμα βάλλη, κ. τ. λ.

I.

WHEN winds that move not its calm surface sweep
The azure sea, I love the land no more:
The smiles of the serene and tranquil deep
Tempt my unquiet mind.—But when the roar
Of ocean's grey abyss resounds, and foam
Gathers upon the sea, and vast waves burst,
I turn from the drear aspect to the home
Of earth and its deep woods, where, interspersed,
When winds blow loud, pines make sweet melody;
Whose house is some lone bark, whose toil the sea,
Whose prey, the wandering fish, an evil lot
Has chosen.—But I my languid limbs will fling
Beneath the plane, where the brook's murmuring
Moves the calm spirit but disturbs it not.

II.

PAN loved his neighbour Echo-but that child.
Of Earth and Air pined for the Satyr leaping;

The Satyr loved with wasting madness wild

The bright nymph Lyda-and so the three went weeping.

As Pan loved Echo, Echo loved the Satyr;
The Satyr, Lyda-and thus love consumed them.-
And thus to each-which was a woeful matter-
To bear what they inflicted, justice doomed them;
For, inasmuch as each might hate the lover,
Each, loving, so was hated.-Ye that love not
Be warned-in thought turn this example over,
That, when ye love, the like return ye prove not.

SONNET FROM THE ITALIAN OF DANTE.

DANTE ALIGHIERI TO GUIDO CAVALCANTI.

GUIDO, I would that Lappo, thou, and I,
Led by some strong enchantment, might ascend
A magic ship, whose charmed sails should fly
With winds at will where'er our thoughts might wend,
So that no change, nor any evil chance,

Should mar our joyous voyage; but it might be,
That even satiety should still enhance
Between our hearts their strict community;
And that the bounteous wizard then would place
Vanna and Bice and my gentle love,

Companions of our wandering, and would grace
With passionate talk, wherever we might rove,
Our time, and each were as content and free
As I believe that thou and I should be.

SCENES

FROM THE

MAGICO PRODIGIOSO OF CALDERON.

CYPRIAN as a Student; CLARIN and Moscon as poor Scholars, with books.

CYPRIAN.

In the sweet solitude of this calm place,

This intricate wild wilderness of trees

And flowers and undergrowth of odorous plants,
Leave me; the books you brought out of the house
To me are ever best society.

And whilst with glorious festival and song
Antioch now celebrates the consecration

Of a proud temple to great Jupiter,
And bears his image in loud jubilee

To its new shrine, I would consume what still
Lives of the dying day, in studious thought,
Far from the throng and turmoil.
Go and enjoy the festival; it will

You, my friends,

Be worth the labour, and return for me

When the sun seeks its grave among the billows,
Which among dim grey clouds on the horizon

Dance like white plumes upon a hearse;—and here
I shall expect you.

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