THE DESPAIRING LOVER. The rose is fragrant, but it fades in time; FROM THE TWENTY-THIRD IDYLLIUM OP

The violet sweet, but quickly past the prime; THEOCRITUS.

White lilies hang their heads, and soon decay,

And whiter snow in minutes melts away: With inauspicious love, a wretched swain

Such is your blooming youth, and withering so: Pursued the fairest nymph of all the plain;

The time will come, it will, when you shall know Fairest indeed, but prouder far than fair,

The rage of love; your haughty heart shall burn She plung'd him hopeless in a deep despair:

In flames like mine, and meet a like return. Her heavenly form too haughtily she priz'd,

Obdurate as you are, oh! hear at least His person hated, and his gifts despis'd;

My dying prayers, and grant my last request. Nor knew the force of Cupid's cruel darts,

When first you ope your doors, and, passing by, Nor fear'd his awful power on human hearts;

The sad ill-omen'd object meets your eye, But either from her hopeless lover fled,

Think it not lost, a moment if you stay; Or with disdainful glances shot him dead.

The breathless wretch, so made by you, survey: No kiss, no look, to cheer the drooping boy;

Some cruel pleasure will from thence arise, No word she spoke, she scorn'd ev'n to deny.

To view the mighty ravage of your eyes. But, as a hunted panther casts about [scout,

I wish (but oh! my wish is vain, I fear) Her glaring eyes and pricks her listening ears to The kind oblation of a falling tear: So she, to shun his toils, her cares employ'd, | Then loose the knot, and take me from the place, And fiercely in her savage freedom joy'd. Sfrown, / And spread your mantle o'er my grizly face; Her mouth she writh'd, her forehead taught tó | Upon my livid lips bestow a kiss: Her eyes to sparkle fires to love unknown : O envy not the dead; they feel not bliss ! Her sallow cheeks her envious mind did shew, Nor fear your kisses can restore my breath; And every feature spoke aloud the curstness of a Ev'n you are not more pityless than Death. Yet could not he his obvious fate escape: [shrew. Then for my corpse a homely grave provide, His love still dress'd her in a pleasing shape;

Which love and me from public scorn may hide. And every sullen frown, and bitter scorn,

Thrice call upon my name, thrice beat your But fann'd the fuel that too fast did burn.

breast, Long time, unequal to his mighty pain,

And hail me thrice to everlasting rest: He strove to curb it, but he strove in vain :

Last let my tomb this sad inscription bear: At last his woes broke out, and begg'd relief

“A wretch whom love has kill'd lies buried here; With tears, the dumb petitioners of grief:

O passengers, Aminta's eyes beware.” With tears so tender as adorn'd his love,

Thus having said, and furious with his love, And any heart, but only hers, would move.

He heav'd with more tban human force to move Trembling before her bolted doors he stood, A weighty stone (the labour of a team) And there pour'd out th’unprofitable flood; And rais'd from thence be reach'd the neighbouring Staring bis eyes, and haggard was his look ;

beam: Then, kissing first the threshold, thus he spoke : Around its bulk a sliding knot he throws, “Ah nymph, more cruel than of human race!

And fitted to his neck the fatal noose: Thy tigress heart belies thy angel face:

Then spurning backward took a swing, till Death Too well thou show'dst thy pedigree from stone: Crept up, and stopt the passage of his breath. Thy granddame's was the first by Pyrrha thrown: The bounce burst ope the door; the scornful fair Unworthy thou to be so long desir'd;

Relentless look'd, and saw him beat his quivering But so my love, and so my fate requird.

feet in air; I beg pot now (for 'tis in vain) to live;

Nor wept his fate, nor cast a pitying eye, Bit take this gift, the last that I can give. Nor took him down, but brush'd regardless by: This friendly cord shall soon decide the strife And, as she past, her chance or fate was sach, Betwixt my lingering love and loathsome life: Her garments touch'd the dead, polluted by the This moment puts an end to all my pain;

touch: I shall no more despair, nor thou disdain.

Next to the dance, thence to the bath did move; Farewell, ungrateful and unkind! I go

The bath was sacred to the god of love; Condemn'd by thee to those sad shades below. Whose injur'd image, with a wrathful eye, I go th' extremest remedy to prove, .

Stood threatening from a pedestal on high: To drink oblivion, and to drench my love: Nodding a while, and watchful of his blow, There happily to lose my long desires :

He fell; and falling crush'd th'ungrateful nymph But ah! what draught so deep to quench my fires? below: Farewell, ye never-opening gates, ye stones, Her gushing blood the pavement all besmear'd; And threshold guilty of my midnight moans. And this her last expiring voice was heard; What I have suffer'd here, ye know too well; “ Lovers farewell, revenge has reach'd my scorn; What I shall do, the gods and I can tell, | Thus warn'd, be wise, and love for love return."

TRANSLATIONS FROM LUCRETIUS.

THO

| Because the brutal business of the war

Is manag'd by thy dreadful servant's care; BEGINNING OF THE FIRST BOOK

Who oft retires from fighting fields, to prove OF

The pleasing pains of thy eternal love;

And, panting on thy breast, supinely lies,
LUCRETIUS.

While with thy heavenly form he feeds his fa

mish'd eyes: DELIGHT of human-kinds, and gods above, Sucks in with open lips thy balmy breath,

Parent of Rome, propitious queen of love, , By turns restord to life, and plung'd in pleasing Whose vital power, air, earth, and sea supplies;

death. And breeds whate'er is born beneath the rolling There while thy curling limbs about him move, skies:

Involv'd and fetter'd in the links of love, For every kind, by thy prolific might,

When, wishing all, he nothing can deny, Springs, and beholds the regions of the light, Thy charms in that auspicious moment try; Thee, goddess, thee the clouds and tempests fear: With winning eloquence our peace implore, And at thy pleasing presence disappear :

And quiet to the weary world restore.
For thee the land in fragrant flowers is drest;
For thee the Ocean smiles, and smooths her wavy
breast;

[is blest. And Heaven itself with more serene and purer light For when the rising spring adorns the mead,

THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND BOOK OF
And a new scene of Nature stands display'd,
When teeming buds and cheerful greens appear,

LUCRETIUS.
And western gales unlock the lazy year;
The joyous birds thy welcome first express, "Tis pleasant, safely to behold from shore,
Whose native songs thy genial fire confess, The rolling ship, and hear the tempest roar:
Then savage beasts bound o'er their slighted food, Not that another's pain is our delight;
Struck with thy darts, and tempt the raging flood. But pains unfelt produce the pleasing sight.
Al nature is thy gift; earth, air, and sea : 'Tis pleasant also to behold from far
Of all that breathes, the various progeny,

The moving legions mingled in the war:
Stung with delight, is goaded on by thee.

| But much more sweet thy labouring steps to guide O'er barren mountains, d'er the flowery plain, To virtue's heights, with wisdom well supply'd, The leafy forest, and the liquid main,

And all the magazines of learning fortify'd :
Extends thy uncontrol'd and boundless reign. From thence to look below on human-kind,
Through all the living regions dost thou move, Bewilder'd in the maze of life, and blind:
And scatter'st, where thou go'st, the kindly seeds To see vain fools ambitiously contend
of love.

For wit and power; their last endeavours bend Since then the race of every living thing

T'outshine each other, waste their time and health Obeys thy power; since nothing new can spring In search of honour, and pursuit of wealth. Without thy warmth, without thy influence bear, () wretched man! in what a mist of life, Or beautiful, or lovesome can appear;

Enclos'd with dangers and with noisy strife, Be thou my aid, my tuneful song inspire,

He spends bis little span; and overfeeds And kindle with thy own productive fire;

His cramm'd desires, with more than Nature needs! While all thy province, Nature, I survey,

For Nature wisely stints our appetite, And sing to Memmius an immortal lay

And craves no more than undisturb'd delight: Of Heaven and Earth, and every where thy won Which minds, unmix'd with cares and fears obdrous power display:

A soul serene, a body void of pain. (tain;
To Memmius under thy sweet influence born, So little this corporeal frame requires;
Whom thou with all thy gifts and graces dost adorn. So bounded are our natural desires,
The rather then assist my Muse and me,

That, wanting all, and setting pain aside,
Infusing verses worthy him and thee. [cease, With bare privation sense is satisfy'd.
Neantime on land and sea let barbarous discord | 1f golden sconces hang not on the walls,
And lull the listening world in universal peace, To light the costly suppers and the balls;
To thee mankind their soft repose must owe; If the proud palace shines not with the state
For thou alone that blessing canst bestow;

Of burnish'd bowls, and of reflected plate;

If well-tund harps, nor the more pleasing sound | These bugbears of the mind, this inward hell,
Of voices, from the vaulted roofs rebound; No rays of outward sunshine can dispel;
Yet on the grass, beneath a poplar shade,

But Nature and right Reason must display
By the cool stream, our careless limbs are lay'd; Their beams abroad, and bring the darksome sou
With cheaper pleasures innocently blest,

to day."
When the warm spring with gaudy flowers is drest,
Nor will the raging fever's fire abate,
With golden canopies and beds of state:
But the poor patient will as soon be found
On the hard mattress, or the mother cround.

FROM THE FIFTH BOOK OP
Then since our bodies are not eas'd the more

LUCRETIUS. By birth, or power, or Fortune's wealthy store,

Tum porrò puer, &c. 'Tis plain, these useless toys of every kind As little can relieve the labouring mind:

| Tuus, like a sailor, by a tempest hurld Unless we could suppose the dreadful sight Ashore, the babe is shipwreck'd on the world : Of marshal'd legions moving to the fight

| Naked he lies, and ready to expire; Could, with their sound and terrible array, | Helpless of all that human wants require; Expel our fears, and drive the thoughts of death | Expos'd upon un hospitable earth, But, since the supposition vain appears, [away. From the first moment of his hapless birth, Since clinging cares, and trains of inbred fears, Straight with foreboding cries he fills the room; Are not with sounds to be affrighted thence, Too true presages of his future doom. But in the midst of pomp pursue the prince, But ftocks and herds, and every savage beast, Not aw'd by arms, but in the presence bold, By more indulgent Nature are increas'd. Without respect to purple, or to gold;

They want no rattles for their froward mood, Why should not we these pageantries despise, Nor nurse to reconcile them to their food, Whose worth but in our want of reason lies? With broken words; nor winter blasts they fear, For life is all in wandering errours led;

Nor change their habits with the changing year: And just as children are surpris'd with dread, Nor, for their safety, citadels prepare, And tremble in the dark, so riper years

Nor furge the wicked instruments of war: Ev'n in broad day-light are possess'd with fears; Unlabourd Earth her bounteous treasure grants, And shake at shadows fanciful and vain,

And Nature's lavish hand supplies their common As those which in the breasts of children reign.

wants.

TRANSLATIONS FROM HORACE,

THE THIRD ODE

OF THE FIRST BOOK OF

HORACE.

Inscribed to the earl of Roscommon, on his in

tended voyage to Ireland.

As thou, to whom the Muse commends,
The best of poets and of friends,
Dost thy committed pledge restore;
And land him safely on the shore;
And save the better part of me,
From perishing with him at sea.
Sure he, who first the passage try'd,
In harden'd oak his heart did hide,
And ribs of iron arm'd his side;
Or his at least, in hollow wood
Who tempted first tbe briny flood:
Nor fear'd the winds contending roar,
Nor billows beating on the shore;
Nor Hyades portending rain;
| Nor all the tyrants of the maine

So may th' auspicious queen of love,
w And the twin stars, the seed of Jove,
And he who rules the raging wind,
To thee, O sacred Ship, be kind;
And gentle breezes fill thy sails,
Supplying soft Etesian gales :

What form of Death could him affright,

Secure those golden early joys, Who anconcerned, with stedfast sight,

That youth unsour'd with sorrow bears, Could view the surges mounting steep,

Ere withering Time the taste destroys, And monsters rolling in the deep !

With sickness and unwieldly years. Could through the ranks of ruin go,

For active sports, for pleasing rest, With storms above, and rocks below!

This is the time to be possest;
In vain did Nature's wise command

The best is but in season best.
Divide the waters from the land,
If daring ships and men prophane

Th'appointed hour of promis'd bliss,
Invade th' inviolable main; .

The pleasing whisper in the dark, Th' eternal fences over-leap, ..

The half unwilling willing kiss, And pass at will the boundless deep.

The laugh that guides thee to the mark, No toil, no hardship, can restrain

When the kind nymph would coyness feign, Ambitious man inur'd to pain;

And hides but to be found again; The more confin'd, the more he tries,

These, these are joys the gods for youth ordain,
And at forbidden quarry flies.
Thas bold Prometheus did aspire,
And stole from Heaven the seeds of fire:
A train of ills,-a ghastly crew,
The robber's blazing track pursue:

THE TWENTY-NINTH ODE
Fierce Famine with her meagre face,
And fevers of the fiery race,

OF THE THIRD BOOK OP
In swarms th' offending wretch surround,

HORACE.
All brooding on the blasted ground :
And limping Death, lash'd on by Fate,

Paraphras'd in Pindaric verse, and inscribed to Comes up to shorten half our date.

the Right Hon. Laurence earl of Rochester,
This made not Dædalus beware,
With borrow'd wings to sail in air:
To Hell Alcides fore'd his way,

Descended of an ancient line,
Plung'd through the lake, and snatch'd the prey. That long the Tuscan sceptre sway'd,
Nay scarce the gods, or heavenly climes,

Make haste to meet the generous wine,
Are safe from our audacious crimes ;

Whose piercing is for thee delay'd; We reach at Jove's imperial crown,

The rosy wreath is ready made; And pull th' unwilling thunder down.

And artful hands prepare

[hair. The fragrant Syrian oil, that shall perfume thy

Those very shades and streams new shades and | In my small pinnace I can sail, streams require,

[raging fire. Contemning all the blustering roar; And want a cooling breeze of wind to fan the And, running with a merry gale,

With friendly stars my safety seek Thou, what befits the new lord mayor,

Within soine little winding creek :
And what the city factions dare,

And see the storm ashore.
And what the Gallic arms will do,
And what the quiver-bearing foe,
Art anxiously inquisitive to know :

THE SECOND EPODE
But God has, wisely, hid from human sight

OF
The dark decrees of future fate,

HORACE
And sown their seeds in depth of night;
He laughs at all the giddy turns of state;

| How happy in his low degree, When mortals search too soon, and fear too late,

How rich in humble poverty, is he,

Who leads a quiet country life; Enjoy the present smiling hour,

Discharg'd of business, void of strife, And put it out of Fortune's power :

And from the griping scrivener free! The tide of business, like the running stream,

Thus, ere the seeds of vice were sown, Is sometimes high, and sometimes low,

Liv'd men in better ages born,
A quiet ebb, or a tempestuous flow,

Who plow'd with oxen of their own
And always in extreme.

Their small paternal field of corn,
Now with a noiseless gentle course

Nor trumpets summon him to war, It keeps within the middle bed;

Nor drums disturb his morning sleep, Anon it lifts aloft the head,

Nor knows he merchants' gainful care, And bears down all before it with impetuous force;

Nor fcars the dangers of the deep.

The clamours of contentious law, And trunks of trees come rolling down,

And court, and state, he wisely shuns,
Sheep and their folds together drown :

Nor, brib'd with hopes, nor dard with awe,
Both house and homestead into seas are borne,
And rocks are from their old foundations torn,

To servile salutations runs;

But either to the clasping vine And woods, made thin with winds, their scatter'd

Does the supporting poplar wed, honours mourn.

Or with his pruning-hook disjoin

Unbearing branches from their head,
Happy the man, and happy he alone,

And grafts more happy in their stead.
He who can call to-day his own :

Or, climbing to a hilly steep,
He who, secure within, can say, [day;

He views his herds in vales afar,
To-morrow do thy worst, for I have liv'd to-

Or sheers his overburthen'd sheep,
Be fair, or foul, or rain, or shine,

Or mead for cooling drink prepares,
The joys I have possessid, in spite of Fate are

Of virgin honey in the jars. mine,

Or in the now-declining year, Not Heaven itself upon the past has power;

When bounteous aatumn rears his head, But what has been, has been, and I have had my

| He joys to pull the ripen'd pear, hour.

And clustering grapes with purple spread.

The fairest of his fruit he serves,
Fortune, that, with malicious joy,

Priapus, thy rewards:
Does man her slave oppress,

Sylvanus too his part deserves,
Proud of her office to destroy,

Whose care the fences guards.
Is seldom pleas'd to bless :

Sometimes beneath an ancient oak,
Still various and unconstant still,

Or on the matted grass, he lies; But with an inclination to be ill, .

No god of sleep he need invoke; Promotes, degrades, delights in strife,

The stream that o'er the pebbles flies And makes a lottery of life.

With gentle slumber crowns his eyes. I can enjoy her while she's kind;

The wind that whistles through the sprays But when she dances in the wind,

Maintains the concert of the song; And shakes the wings and will not stay,

| And hidden birds with native lays I puff the prostitute away:

[sign'd:

The golden sleep prolong.
The little or the much she gave, is quietly re- | But, when the blast of winter blows,
Content with poverty, my soul 1 arm;

And hoary frost inverts the year,
And virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm. Into the naked woods he goes..

And seeks the tusky boar to rear,
What is't to me,

With well-mouth'd hounds and pointed spear! Who never sail in her unfaithful sea, Or spreads his subtle nets from sight

If storms arise, and clouds grow black; With twinkling glasses, to betray

If the mast split, and threaten wreck? | The larks that in the meshes light,
Then let the greedy merchant fear

Or makes the fearful hare his prey.
For his ill-gotten gain;

Amidst his harmless easy joys
And pray to gods that will not hear,

No anxious care invades his health,
While the debating winds and billows bear Nor love his peace of mind destroys,
His wealth into the main.

Nor wicked avarice of wealth.
For me, secure from Fortune's blows, But if a chaste and pleasing wife,
Secure of what I canạot lose,

I to ease the business of his life,