THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES

 
 THE 
 
 SACRED ECLOGUE. 
 
 BEING THE 
 
 POETIC ALLEGORICAL DESCRIPTIONS, OR IDYLLS, 
 
 ("Song of Songs" ) 
 
 OF THE PROPHET SOLOMON, KING OF ISRAEL; 
 
 OPENING THE SPIRITUAL MYSTERY OF 
 PERFECT NUPTIAL LOVE. 
 
 A NEW VERSION, IN ENGLISH, 
 
 Of the Text in the Biblia Hebraica edit. E. Van der Hooght. 
 
 By WALTER GARSTANG, M.D., 
 
 M.R.C.P. (Lond.), etc., 
 Author of "Joel, a New English Text ; with Notes." 
 
 ' If thou lackest knowledge, what hast thou then acquired ? 
 Hast thou acquired knowledge, what dost thou want ?" 
 
 BLACKBURN : 
 
 JAMES DOUGLAS, NORTHGATE. 
 
 1882. 
 
 All rig Jits reserved.
 
 35 
 
 THE PERSONS. 
 
 The Regal Shepherd, - - Solomon. 
 
 The Shepherdess Royal, - - The daughter of Yaphres, 
 
 King of Egypt, 
 
 The Interlocutors, viz. : 
 
 The Shepherd's Companions. 
 
 The Shepherdesses' Associates. 
 
 The queens, concubines, and damsels of Solomon's Harem. 
 
 The daughters {i.e. female inhabitants) of Jerusalem. 
 
 The Scene in the King's Palace upon Mount Zion (City of David), 
 and the open country and villages in the environs of Jerusalem, 
 the Metropolitan City of the land of Israel. 
 
 Before Christ 1012. 
 
 S3??,
 
 %\t most €m\\n\t Qttiiititot, 
 
 Wu\) is of Solomon, 
 
 PART I. — The Espousal. 
 
 M 
 
 THE FIRST IDYL. 
 
 Shepherdess : 
 
 ANY a kiss of his mouth 
 he shall kiss me ; 
 it so is, thy mammillary gifts are good 
 by comparison with wine. 
 In relation to fragrancy of smell, 
 thy balmy unguents are goodly ; 
 oil of the spot Thurak, 
 is thy fame ; 
 upon such grounds 
 thee, the maidens have loved. 
 
 Attract thou me ; — 
 fleetly behind thee we will run : 
 
 [to the queens of the harem- 
 me the King hath brought in, 
 to his inner retired chambers ! 
 
 [who reply to her — 
 we shall leap around and
 
 joyful be, by reason of thee ; 
 
 \_and then say to the king — 
 we will commend thy mammillary gifts 
 more than wine ; 
 thee, the rightiest sons have loved. 
 
 [the shepherdess resuming — 
 
 Shadowy I am, yet naive ; f 
 ye daughters of Jerusalem : 
 as the Kedarine tents ; 
 as Solomon's attach'd curtains. 
 Ye, courageous ones ! will not 
 with throbbing breast see me, 
 that I am much more dun made ; 
 for the sun-beam defaced my look : 
 my mother's sons were incensed in me ! 
 they inculcated me the duty of 
 guarding the whole of the vineyards ; 
 my vineyard, 
 
 mine own beloved possession, 
 I took no care of. 
 
 Prithee, whom my soul doth love, 
 cause to set over-against to me ! 
 in what way truly wilt thou refresh ; 
 in what place indeed, shalt thou 
 let lie down thy fleecy ones 
 in the tide of daylight bipartite : 
 that I may not be one 
 nearly muffling in weeds: — 
 before the herds of thy associates. 
 
 « Intimating that although I dark, eyen swarthy, throi 
 
 adver 11 v nt opp ■■ naturally most (air, bj 
 
 bi auty <>t' virtues.
 
 Shephekd : 
 If not thy sight shall acquaint thee ; 
 thou handsome one, among women : 
 track for thyself a way up 
 in the heels of the drove ! 
 then feed thy young kids 
 beside the shepherds' huts. 
 
 THE SECOND IDYL. 
 
 Shephekd : 
 
 To my steed — her 
 in one of Pharoah's war-chariots ; — 
 I adequately have likened thee, 
 my shepherdess. 
 Meet in the threaded gems, 
 are thy lower two cheeks ; 
 thy neck, in the orders of 
 well-matched brilliants. 
 Spun-gold collars, 
 we will for thee fabricate ; 
 unto spots of silver. 
 
 Shepherdess : 
 
 Ever that the King 
 continued in his circle ; — 
 my narded unguent emitted its smell. 
 A bunch of the Myrrh-tree, — 
 is my bosom-friend, become to me ; 
 it will cause to remain 
 betwixt my breasts.
 
 A cluster of the Cypress-blossom 
 is my bosom-friend, become to me ; — - 
 in the fruit-plantations of 
 the Fountain of Gad. * 
 
 Shepherd : 
 
 Lo thou art beautiful, 
 my shepherdess ; 
 lo thou art beautiful ! 
 thine eyes are the beauty of doves. 
 Shepherdess : 
 
 Behold thee ! 
 handsome is my bosom-friend, 
 tender, too ; 
 also our latticed couch, 
 is all over in leaf. 
 
 Shepherd : 
 
 The beams of our tarrying-placcs 
 arc Cedar-trees; 
 our fretted ceilings, Fir-trees. 
 
 Shepherdess : 
 
 As to myself, 
 I am the rose of the plain : 
 the sixleaf lily of the vales. 
 
 Sin rn inn : 
 
 As a lily, 
 which is betwixt the Thorn-bushes ; — 
 so is my shepherdess, 
 amongst the Daughters. 
 
 • Qad, the fruit-bringing god ; briefly, good fortune,
 
 Shepherdess: 
 As a Quince-tree 
 within trees of the wood ; — 
 so is my bosom-friend, 
 amongst the Sons. 
 In its shade, 
 
 I have dolightsomely flourished ; 
 and its fruit is sweetness for my palate, f 
 He hath caused me to come in, 
 unto the Wine-house ; 
 and his pendant above me, 
 is an emblem of loving, 
 Ply-ye me with the jars of nectar ; 
 bolster me about with 
 the ambrosial quincy fruits : 
 
 surely powerless feeling by reason of loving, I am. 
 His left hand, 
 
 being under as to my head ; — 
 let his right then clasp me. 
 
 Shepherd : 
 
 Collectively to swear yourselves 
 I certainly shall cause you, 
 daughters of Jerusalem ! 
 by hosts siderial ; 
 or rather, 
 
 by matutine genii of the mead : 
 that ye will not the least stir, — 
 nor at all rouse up from repose ! 
 relatively to this loving, 
 while that it will have inclination. 
 
 + The custom was common of dwelling near some great tree, which 
 served for a shade in the heat, and a shelter in the cold. His cheer 
 was such that she delighted in it. Confer Gen. xvii. i.
 
 10 
 
 THE THIRD IDYL. 
 
 Shepherdess : 
 A sound ! . . 
 'tis of my bosom-friend ; 
 see there ! he is advancing : 
 leaping upon the mountains ; 
 springing over the hills. 
 In litheness, my bosom-friend 
 is likening for a roebuck ; 
 for at pleasure 
 a vigorous young stag of the harts. 
 
 Behold now ! he is standing, 
 behind our boundary- wall ; 
 looking wistfully from the embrasures ; 
 visible, all-glowing he, 
 from the lattices. 
 
 Spake loudly my bosom-friend, 
 thus saying to me : 
 " Stand thyself up ! 
 " my shepherdess, 
 " and lead thyself out. 
 " For bethink ! 
 
 " the rainy season is got over : 
 " the gushing wetness is gone away, 
 " having carried itself off. 
 •- The flowers were seen in the land ; 
 " the period of sweet warbling is made come 
 " and the cooing of the turtle-dove 
 •• was listened to in our country. 
 "The fig-tree did give savour 
 M to her young fig ; 
 •' and from fruit-bud the grape vines 
 - did yield fragrance : 
 M get ready, come !
 
 11 
 
 " my shepherdess my beauty, 
 " aucl lead thyself out. 
 
 " My dove, in some rift thou art ! 
 " of this rock of refuge ; — 
 " in covert of the terrace-like precipice ; 
 " cause that I sight thine especial look ; 
 " make to mine ear, 
 " it may hearken thy call : 
 " for agreeable is thy voice, 
 " and mistrustless thy looking." 
 
 Shepherdess: 
 
 Seize for us some foxes ; 
 foxes small, 
 
 that are laying waste vineyards : 
 for our vineyards are with new grape. 
 
 My bosom-friend is in me, 
 and I, in him ; 
 he pastureth amid the lillies. 
 
 Not later than, that the day, 
 may sigh the breeze at ev'n ; 
 and the shadows flit away : 
 entirely make like for thyself, over again, 
 to a roebuck ; — 
 
 otherwise ! to a prime young stag of the harts, 
 over Bether's cragg'd mountains. 
 Shepherdess : 
 
 Upon my couchings, 
 through the nights, with care and pains, 
 I searched for, methinks ! 
 touching him-, whom my soul loved : 
 I sought after him, 
 and I did not find him. 
 Let me rise, I pray now. 
 and certes I will go about
 
 12 
 
 here and there in the city ! 
 in the streets, even in the broadways ; 
 diligently I will search in particular 
 for him, whom in my soul I loved : 
 strenuously I did seek after him, 
 yet fruitless my quest of him. 
 
 The watchers met with me ; 
 who in the eity continually go about : 
 quoth I, 
 
 " him ! did ye happen to see, 
 " whom in my soul I did love ? " 
 'Twas hardly a few steps, 
 that I had gone beyond of them ; 
 till what I came upon, 
 for sure ! him namely 
 whom I in my soul did love : 
 I laid fast hold on him, 
 
 so that I might not let him go ; 
 
 until that, in I had led him, 
 
 into my mother's palace ; 
 
 even into the woman-chamber 
 
 of her who me did conceive. 
 
 I certainly shall cause you, 
 
 daughters of Jerusalem, 
 
 to collectively swear yourselves, 
 
 by hosts siderial ; 
 
 nay preferably, 
 
 by matutine genii of the mead : 
 
 that not the least ye will stir, — 
 
 neither at all rouse from repose! 
 
 relatively to this loving, 
 
 while that it shall have inclination.
 
 PART II— The Nuptials. 
 
 THE FIFTH IDYL. 
 
 Daughters of Jerusalem : 
 
 WHAT like is this ! 
 coming up from the still pasture afar ? f 
 as palm-columns of smoke ; 
 caused to be perfumed of 
 Myrrh, and Olibanum ; 
 some of every kind of powder of 
 the trafficker in Spices. 
 
 Behold ! the Palanquin of Solomon, 
 his own one ; 
 
 brave men sixty it hath round about : 
 the flower of Israel's brave. 
 Equipp'd all of them are with the sword ; 
 being taught of warfare : 
 every man having his sword over his hip ; 
 because of fear in the nights. 
 
 A Fruitful Bed marital ! 
 the king Solomon hath to him made ; 
 out of the trees of Lebanon. 
 
 + Doubtless referring to Egypt, the native country of the " shepherdess.'
 
 14 
 
 Its pillars, he hath made of silver ; 
 
 its hangings of spun-gold : 
 
 its mattress of purple : 
 
 its middle part being 
 
 spread out emblematically lovii 
 
 by the women of Jerusalem. 
 
 Come out, ye descendent women of Zion, f 
 and gladsomely ! look at 
 the king Solomon : 
 in the nuptial tiara ! which 
 his mother hath encircled to him the head,, 
 on the day of his marriage ; 
 on the day namely of the joy of his heart. 
 
 THE SIXTH IDYL. 
 
 Shepherd 
 
 Behold thee beautiful 
 my shepherdess, 
 behold thee beautiful ; 
 thine eyes are emblems of doves ; — 
 since through the period for thy veil 
 thy hair is like a herd of goats ; 
 which jutted out splendent 
 from off the mountain Gilead. 
 
 t Mount /ion, the perfection of beauty. Sol on brought nil wife to 
 
 the Citadel, «i ■■ b David had built on It top
 
 15 
 
 Thy teeth are like the run, 
 
 beautiful and even, 
 
 of shorn wool-bearers, 
 
 ■which went up cleansed 
 
 from the washing-place : 
 
 for all of them are bearing twins ; 
 
 and there is among them not one, 
 
 made to miscarry. 
 
 As the cord double-dyed of crimson, 
 
 are thy lips ; 
 
 and thy method of speaking is ingenuous. 
 
 Like the segment of a pomegranate-apple. 
 
 is thy temporo-malar cheek ; — 
 
 since thro' the period for thy veil. 
 
 Like the Tower of David, is thy neck ; — 
 
 being built after a lofty battlement : 
 
 the thousand of shields 
 
 is hung up thereon ; 
 
 the whole panoply of men the brave. 
 
 Of the breasts ! thy twain are 
 
 as a couple of hale younglings, 
 
 twins of a roe : 
 
 the which are feeding amid the lillies. 
 
 Not later than, that the day 
 shall blow the even-tide breath : 
 and away shall haste the shadows : 
 I will withdraw 
 unto the Mountain of myrrh : 
 even unto the Hill of frankincense. * 
 
 * Ziou, conceived of as seented by frankincense.
 
 16 
 THE SEVENTH IDYL. 
 
 Shepherd : 
 
 All of thee is beauteous, 
 my shepherdess ; 
 awl there is never a blemish in thee. 
 
 Quickly come . . 
 from snow-capt Lebanon ! 
 thou bride ; 
 
 in from Lebanon presently thou comest : 
 acutely thou eyest 
 from the steadfast head of Amanah ! 
 from Shenir's icy peak 
 and Hermon's height uplift ; 
 from lacerant lions' lurking-places ; 
 from mountains of fierce-full panthers. 
 Thou hast bewitched my heart, 
 my sister bride : 
 my heart thou hast bewitched, 
 thro' one eyeing from thine eyes ; 
 thro' one perilustrant badge of thy neck. 
 
 What combined loveliness 
 are thy mammillary gifts ! 
 my sister bride : 
 what embodied comfortableness 
 are thy mammillary gifts, 
 in comparison with wine ! 
 and the fragrancj 
 
 of thy balmy unguent-. 
 
 more than all of aromatics.
 
 17 
 
 Comb-honey drop thy lips, 
 
 oh ! bride : 
 
 honey of grape and milk, * 
 
 are under thy tongue ; 
 
 and the scented fragrance of thy vestment 
 
 is so much the smell of Lebanon. 
 
 Thou art a Garden fastened, 
 my sister bride : 
 a Running Spring — locked up, 
 a Fountain sealed. 
 Thy sprouts are a Pleasure-park of 
 fruitful pomegranate-trees ; 
 equally with produce-yielding trees 
 of much preciousness : 
 Cypresses with Nards. 
 Spikenard most precious, and Turmeric ; — 
 Calamus, and Cinnamon ; 
 with Frankincense-trees, of every kind : 
 as well as all costly ones of the Spices. 
 
 A Garden-fountain, thou art, — 
 a peerless one ; 
 a most excellent Well of 
 life-cherishing, delicious waters : 
 yea fragrant Scent — 
 floods thereof ! from Lebanon. 
 
 Shepherdess : 
 
 Rouse up ! 
 thou Spirit of the dark, wet north, 
 
 * Signifying her mildness of speech.
 
 18 
 
 and arrive ! 
 
 oh Thou of the bright, dry south ; 
 
 cause thy mouth, to whiff ray garden, 
 
 that its spicy productions may be come at. 
 
 My bosom-friend shall come in, 
 
 to his Garden, 
 
 and regale on fruits of its precious trees. 
 
 Shepherd : 
 
 I will surely go in to my Garden ! * 
 my sister bride : 
 I shall pluck off my Myrrh, 
 as well as my Spices ; 
 I shall eat my Comb-honey, 
 equally with my Grape-honey : 
 I shall drink my wine, 
 also my milk : 
 
 [to his intimate friends — 
 
 eat ! ye companions ; 
 drink ay drink your fill, 
 ye men most dear ! 
 
 THE EIGHTH IDYL. 
 
 Shepherdess 
 
 I am sleeping, 
 
 only that my heart is waking : 
 
 Alluding to consummation <>f the marriage.
 
 19 
 
 the voice pulsant . . of my bosom-friend 
 over-driving it ! 
 
 [his speech — 
 
 " Me, open to me, 
 " my sister my shepherdess : — 
 " my dove my perfection ! 
 " because that my uppermost 
 " is filled with dew : 
 " my locks, 
 " with the sprinklings by night." 
 
 [her reply — 
 
 " I have put off everything. 
 " even my linen bodice ; 
 
 " where indeed at this time ! would put I it on 
 " I have even washed my feet, 
 " where forsooth thus ! could sandal I them." 
 
 My bosom-friend ; — his hand 
 he made come from the light -hole ; 
 and my intestines, inly noising, 
 were elated concerning him. 
 I prepared, in order 
 to open to my bosom-friend : 
 my hands too — they dropped myrrh ! 
 and my fingers, myrrh sweating ; 
 over the handles of the door-lock. 
 I myself did open to my bosom-friend ; 
 yet my bosom-friend, 
 having slily turned round, 
 slipt over : 
 my soul at his hastiness went forth.
 
 20 
 
 I strove after him ; — 
 
 but I did not find him ; 
 
 I him called, 
 
 but he did not answer me. 
 
 The keepers encountered me ! 
 
 who go about in the city ; — 
 
 they smote me, wounded me : 
 
 that garb of feminine decency, 
 
 — my shawl, — they took, 
 
 that it might not be upon me ; — 
 
 did the watchers of the city-walls. 
 
 Certes I solemnly shall charge 
 unexceptionally you ; — 
 daughters of Jerusalem : 
 when ye shall have found, 
 touching him, my bosom-friend ; — 
 what ye must announce to him : — 
 how, to be sure, 
 the pang of loving. I have. 
 
 THE NINTH IDYL. 
 
 Daughters of Jf.rt-saxfm: 
 
 What like is thy bosom-friend ? 
 thou comliest of women : 
 what manner of man is thy bosom-friend 
 according to a bosom-friend; — 
 • hat verily us thus thou must charge.
 
 21 
 
 Shepherdess : 
 
 My bosom-friend 
 is glowing white and flush ; \ 
 a Colour swayed before ten thousand. 
 Individually, he is a wedge of gold . . 
 gold, fined solidly in the crucible : 
 his locks ; — 
 
 they are heaped in wreaths ; 
 jetty as the raven. 
 Of the eyes ! 
 
 his are somewhat like doves, 
 by brooks of waters : 
 washing themselves in milk ; 
 roosting on brim of a torrent. 
 His bearded cheeks, 
 are as raised shrubbery beds 
 of spice and balsam ; — 
 turrets-like of blendid perfumes. 
 His lips are like lillies ; — 
 dropping exsudant myrrh. 
 His hands are onyx-stones of Tarsish ; — 
 inchased in cylinders of shining gold. 
 His trunk is the sleekness of ivory ; 
 being, as alabaster, faced over 
 of sapphirine veining. 
 His legs are columns of white marble ; — 
 founded upon bases of perfectly fined gold 
 the look of him, is that very Lebanon ; 
 an active youth, vigorous as those Cedars. 
 
 t The colour that naturally betokens extraordinary beauty, lovliness, 
 and health.
 
 22 
 
 His palate, is where divers sweetness is ; 
 nay, all of him is an organum of desires : 
 this like is my bosom-friend, 
 and this manner of man is my companion ; — 
 ye daughters of Jerusalem. 
 
 Daughters of Jerusalem : 
 
 "Whither ? might thy bosom-friend go ; 
 thou beautifulest of women : 
 towards where? 
 
 might thy bosom-friend look back 
 in order to depart ; 
 for M r e with thee would seek after him. 
 
 Shepherdess : 
 
 He, my bosom-friend, must certainly 
 have gone straight down to his garden ; 
 in respect to the droughty areolar beds 
 of the spice- and balsam-plants : 
 to nurture in the gardens ; 
 and to tuck lillies. 
 I exist in my bosom-friend, 
 and my bosom-friend in me : 
 'tis he, that is tending amid the lillies. 
 
 Shepherd : 
 
 Thou art comely, my shepherdess, 
 like Tir/ah, city well pleasing ; 
 all-loveable, like Jerusalem, 
 
 the si^lit of peace :
 
 23 
 
 august, like camps 
 
 that are triumphally bannered. 
 
 Cause to turn away thine eyes 
 from over-against me ; 
 for that they agitate me : 
 thy hair is like the herd of goats ; — 
 which jutted out splendent 
 from the sides of Gilead. 
 Thy teeth, are like the herd of ewes ; — 
 which mounted up cleansed 
 from the washing-place : 
 for all of them are bearing twins ; 
 and among them there is never an one 
 made to miscarry. 
 
 Like the segment of a pomegranate -apple 
 is thy temporo-malar cheek ; 
 since through the period for thy veil. 
 
 Sixty they, that are queens ; 
 and eighty, that are concubines : 
 but damsels striking the virginal, 
 there is no counting. 
 A single one she, 
 who is mine own perfect dove ; 
 she is the dove, to her mother ; 
 a morally pure child she, touching 
 the woman travailing of her in child-birth. 
 Maidens see her, 
 and they enhance her ; 
 the queens and the concubines, 
 and they in nuptial song
 
 24 
 
 triumphantly shout her : 
 
 " Who this ? 
 
 " she that is to be looked at, 
 
 " shadowy, yet naive, as Dawn : 
 
 " full beauteous as the Moon ! 
 
 " fulgent, like the flame of the Sun ; 
 
 " majestic, like 
 
 " the triumphally banner' d hosts !" 
 
 THE TENTH IDYL. 
 
 Shepherdess. 
 
 Towards a garden fenced of nut-trees, 
 I made a descent ; 
 to please the eye, 
 
 in regard of the viridity of the valley ; 
 to know whether were the vines 
 broken out in buds ; 
 
 did the pomegranates put forth blossoms. 
 Ere learnt had I ; 
 my sensibility of person; — 
 set me in chariots, 
 invincible ones ! 
 of my noble, native people. 
 
 Interlocutors (a garden party ) 
 
 Turn ! turn back, 
 thou perfect Jerusalemitess ! 
 turn back, turn hack,
 
 25 
 
 that our eyes, admiring, 
 may lay open in thee : 
 
 [the shepherdess enquires — 
 what shall your eyes, admmng, 
 lay open ? in respect to the Jerusalernitess ; 
 
 [they respond, saying- 
 in pursuance of the dual-line dance 
 of young men and maidens. 
 
 [their eulogy of her : — 
 How bright are thy footfalls ! 
 with the sandals ; — 
 oh nobly-bom Daughter : 
 as to the circuits of thy hips ; — 
 they are like what are necklaces ; 
 the exquisite effect of the hands 
 of a true workman. 
 Thy navel, is the round Bowl : 
 it shall not want the wine and water : 
 thy womb is a heap of wheat-grains ; 
 beins; hedg-ed in with the hllies. 
 As for thy two breasts ! 
 they are like two vigorous younglings, 
 that are twins of a roe. 
 Thy neck, is like the Ivory-tower : 
 thine eyes are ponds at Heshbon ! pellucid ; 
 by Bath-rabbin's Gate ; 
 thy breathing nose, 
 is like the Tower of Lebanon ; — 
 watching the faces of Damascus. 
 The highest upon thee, 
 is Hke a field on a hill, 
 full of ripening fruit and corn ;
 
 26 
 
 and the hair of thy head, 
 
 is after the Purple-muscle : 
 
 a king is held captive by the toils. 
 
 THE ELEVENTH IDYL. 
 
 Shepherd : 
 
 What corporeal beauteousness thou art, 
 and what sensuous pleasantness, 
 thou darling art in dalliances ! 
 This wise, thy stature 
 hath resembled to a palm-tree ; 
 and thy breasts, to fruity clusters. 
 
 I did apostrophise ; — 
 " I into palm tree must climb up ; 
 " I must take hold by its pointed twigs : 
 ••oh that now thy breasts may 
 " very clusters be, of the grapes ; 
 " and the smell be, of thy breathing nose, 
 " the so ambrosial quincy fruits. 
 *' And oh ! thy gustatory palate ; — 
 •• that it the extremely good wine may be, 
 
 • which, in consideration of things rightiest, 
 
 • is pouring to my friend : 
 
 • making the lips of 
 
 •■ men who drowse, to jabber." 
 
 Sn EPHEEDE8S, 
 
 I am become in my bosom-friend; 
 and over me is bis propensity,
 
 27 
 
 Come on, my bosom-friend ! 
 we certainly will go forth 
 to the cultured, open fields ; 
 we will make to continue a-night, 
 for shelter, in the villages. 
 Early ! let us rise, to the vineyards ; 
 let us pertinently look 
 if, having budded, the vine perchance 
 have oped flower-bulb small ; 
 if the pomegranates have put forth blossoms : 
 there it certainly shall be 
 I yield without let, so to say, 
 my mammillary givings up to thee ! 
 
 The Love-apple plants give freely a fragrance ! 
 and above upon our entrances 
 there are all sorts of excellencies ; 
 some new ; — 
 
 some moreover last year's : 
 which I, my bosom-friend, 
 keep secret for thyself. 
 
 Who ? is there can hand thee over, 
 as may only a brother be, to me ; 
 sucking the breasts of my mother : 
 thee at the outside, I might find ; — 
 thee I would kiss ; 
 really, as respected myself, 
 people could not so much as mock. 
 
 I with urgency ! would make thee 
 come into my mother's palace, 
 that she might learn me in duty :
 
 28 
 
 thee I would imbue of wine 
 with the spicing ; — 
 from the juice trod out 
 of my pomegranate-fruit. 
 
 His left hand, is under my head 
 and his right doth aye clasp me. 
 
 I have made you swear, 
 as it respecteth yourselves, 
 O ! daughters of Jerusalem : 
 how cause ye to wake, . . 
 or how anything ye waken ! 
 this nuptial loving, 
 while it delighteth in sleep.
 
 PART III.— Back to the Citadel. 
 
 THE TWELFTH IDYL. 
 
 Daughters or Jerusalem : 
 
 WHO are they of this Palanquin ? 
 coming up, from the still pasture ; 
 one leaning herself, 
 against her bosom-friend : 
 
 \The Shepherdess (moralizing )- 
 
 " 'Neath the Quince-apple tree 
 " I did thee awake out of listlessness ; 
 " thereat ! in childbirth 
 " did of thee travail thy mother ; 
 " thereat she, in pains of travail, 
 " did let thee down. 
 
 " Lay me as a seal's impress, 
 " upon thy heart ! 
 
 " as precisely a signet, on thine arm ; 
 " 'tis, that hard strength — 
 " the very Pestilence — is loving ; 
 " a flinty thing — 
 
 " the rocky caverns themselves of the Shades" 
 " — is inordinate affection : 
 " as to its feverish burnings ! 
 " what are they else,
 
 30 
 
 " than burnings of fire ; — 
 
 " a spoliating flame of Jah. f 
 
 •• Waters ! multitudinous waters 
 
 " are not qualified 
 
 " to quench Spiritual Love ; 
 
 " or inundations ! to whelm it : 
 
 " altliougli any one in good earnest 
 
 " should give all of the 
 
 " much-labour' d estate of his house 
 
 " in exchange for this Love ; — 
 
 " lovers, discountenancing, 
 
 • ; would look on it loathsomely." 
 
 THE THIRTEENTH IDYL. 
 
 Interlocutors (propounding J 
 A Sister to us is, 
 who is young ; 
 
 and breasts, arc none at all hers : 
 how shall we perform. 
 relatively to our sister ; — 
 in regard of the day, 
 that it shall about herself be spoken? 
 
 Shepherd (judging J : 
 
 If she, demure, be a Wall; — 
 we must build against her, 
 a little Castle adorned with silver. 
 
 + Jah, diminutive of Jehovah. i> is probably the same witb Jou, the real 
 • ; Jupiter, who had heaven for hie part, and whose fabulous 
 
 v oaj bi hi imI booh to the Noachian era. To • '"» was 
 i in the course of time Pater, i.e. father; whence Joupater* 
 J ipiter, .lovr-
 
 31 
 
 fortified, symmetrical, fair : 
 or if, versatile, she be a revolving Door ; — 
 we must closely bring together upon her 
 smooth board of Cedar. 
 
 Shepherdess (with the virtuous smile of 
 self-protecting innocence) : 
 
 I myself was an urban wall ; — 
 and my breasts acted the part 
 of the watch-towers : 
 on that account ! 
 I had been, in his opinion, 
 just as she who 
 findeth universal prosperity. 
 
 THE FOURTEENTH IDYL. 
 
 Shepherdess (on relative duty) 
 
 A fruitful plantation fell out 
 to Solomon, in Baal-Hamon ; * 
 of that fruitful plantation 
 he put out the whole, to guarders : 
 every man doth still cause to bring iu 
 its produce, f namely, 
 a thousand shekels of silver. 
 My garden-land, 
 which hath fallen out for myself, 
 is to my face : 
 
 * The Lord of a Multidude. 
 
 + The taxes due to the state were likewise chiefly paid in the produce 
 of the soil ; a practice still continuing' to some extent in the East.
 
 32 
 
 this thousand is thine, Solomon ; 
 
 and two thousands belong to these 
 
 who persist wholly 
 
 in taking care of its results. 
 
 Shepherd (caressing) : 
 
 O thou lovely one ! 
 that abideth in the gardens ; 
 females-associate are themselves ! 
 now giving heed to thy voice ; — 
 let me unto it hearken. 
 
 Shepherdess : 
 
 Break away . . my bosom-friend speedily ! 
 be even like entirely to a roebuck, 
 or, more exactly, 
 
 to a prime young stag of the harts ; — 
 upon mountains of odoriferous plants. 
 
 DOUGLA8, riUNTKl;, BLACKBURN.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 > 4 1960 
 881961 
 
 ȣt> \ 
 
 . JK. 1 2 196 
 
 DEC 19 
 
 i III 
 
 990 
 
 Form L9-32m-8,'58(587Gs4)444
 
 L 006 311 191 8 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 000 620 779 9