MVSA CLAVDA 
 
 OWEN & PHILLIMORE 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 University of California. 
 
 Class (OQI 
 
V 
 
MVSA CLAVDA 
 
HENRY FROWDE, M.A. 
 rUBUSHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 
 
 LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK 
 
MVSA CLAVDA 
 
 TRANSLATIONS INTO LATIN ELEGIAC VERSE 
 
 BY 
 
 S. G. OWEN AND J. S. PHILLIMORE 
 
 STUDENTS OF CHRIST CHURCH 
 
 OXFORD 
 
 AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
 
 M DCCC XCVIII 
 
%. 
 
 % 
 
 Oxford 
 
 PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
 
 BY HORACE HART, M.A. 
 
 PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY 
 
PALI5S 
 
 FRANCISCO • PAGET 
 
 AEDIS • CHRISTI 
 
 PRAESIDI 
 
 LITTERATO • HVMANO • AMABILI 
 
 QVODCVMQVE • MVNERIS • SIT 
 
 ALVMNI • AEDIS • CHRISTI 
 
 DEDICAMVS 
 
 161751 
 
^ OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 This little collection of translations into Latin 
 verse has no ambitious aim. No illusion is cherished 
 that a Roman might have mistaken these lines for 
 Roman. The music of Tibullus and Propertius lies 
 buried with them ; the delicate harmonies of Ovid 
 can be heard only as set to the wonder of the 
 master's words. Pan is dead ; the golden chords of 
 Apollo's lute are broken. The Muses have passed from 
 Helicon, now stripped of the sheltering greenery of 
 woodland they loved so well. A modern voice speaks 
 but faintly in the ancient language: it is but the 
 voice of a Choerilus or a Cordus. 
 
 The object of this book is to direct attention to the 
 art of verse-making, which is an indispensable part 
 of scholarship. 
 
 A knowledge of the structure of their verse is 
 necessary for the appreciation of the ancient poets, 
 who for purity of form and sincerity of feeling are 
 
Vlll 
 
 unsurpassed and unsurpassable. This knowledge is 
 better attained by the English method of learning 
 ancient prosody through writing it, than by the 
 continental fashion of writing about it treatises 
 such as that of Lucian Miiller. Ability to write 
 the poets' metres assists men to feel the fault- 
 less and exquisite taste of their workmanship. It 
 would be daring to assert that no one who cannot 
 write the ancient metres can enter into a full enjoy- 
 ment of their beauties ; but the paradox would 
 convey some measure of truth. It is therefore to be 
 regretted that the practice of verse composition has 
 declined in England, and it is significant that a 
 marked decline in English scholarship is coincident 
 with this. Theorists and specialists we have many : 
 scholars are a dwindling quantity. 
 
 A modem translation into a classical metre is 
 useful as suggesting what forms of melody in our 
 own exquisite language the ancient poets might have 
 chosen. The scholar loves to fancy how those pagan 
 voices might have sung in English modes. The 
 Classics if so read are no longer dead ; they remain 
 a living part of the world's literature. In proportion 
 as the true spirit of the ancients can be caught, and 
 their intense humanity becomes a reality to us, we 
 reap a rich harvest from their study. The real value 
 
IX 
 
 of classical literature is its humanizing grace. The 
 faultless style and majestic language, the strange 
 imaginative power, the simplicity of thought and 
 depth of passion, the stately rhythms and liquid 
 harmonies of the classical writers possess a deathless 
 stimulating force. The Classics are loved because 
 they are beautiful ; whatever brings beauty into our 
 squalid modem life is an end in itself. It is for this 
 reason that the Classics, and especially the poets, 
 deserve to be, and always will be read. It is im- 
 portant to remember that their splendid literature 
 is the great legacy that the Greeks and Romans 
 have bequeathed to the world ; however beautiful is 
 their art and architecture, however fascinating their 
 history, and however curious may be the countless 
 objects they have provided for modern archaeo- 
 logical research, the greatest thing of all that they 
 achieved, the sphere in which they are without 
 a rival, is their sublime literature. In the present 
 age scholars are sometimes too apt to overestimate 
 the importance of minute details, and to forget 
 that it is for the sake of classical literature that 
 these details are to be studied, and not the litera- 
 ture for their sake. 
 
 The translations in this volume are confined to the 
 Elegiac metre. They are mainly modelled upon Ovid, 
 
who brought that metre to its highest perfection, 
 though Propertius, TibuUus, and Catullus have not 
 been absent from our thoughts. The Elegiac metre 
 appears to be in some ways the most perfect product 
 of the Latin Muse. Though its structural rules are 
 marvellously strict, its ease and buoyancy are extra- 
 ordinary. It is capable alike of deep pathos, warm 
 feeling, brilliant epigram, picturesque and vigorous 
 narrative, and quaint directness. Its flexibility makes 
 it better suited than any other metre for the trans- 
 lator's needs. We have endeavoured to use the metre 
 with the strictness of the Augustan poets ; silver 
 rhythms have been avoided. If these translations 
 incline any others to read again the Roman elegiac 
 poets, our labour will not have been spent in vain. 
 
 In conclusion, we wish to express our thanks to the 
 Delegates of the Clarendon Press for their courtesy 
 in undertaking the publication of this specimen of 
 what is too often regarded as an obsolescent, and 
 even futile, art. 
 
 S. G. OWEN. 
 Christ Church, Feb. i6, 1898. 
 
NOTE 
 
 The translators gratefully acknowledge the courtesy of 
 the proprietors or owners of copyright for allowing them 
 to reprint passages from works of which the copyright 
 has not expired. Their thanks are due in this respect to 
 Mr. Kudyard Kipling, author of Barrack Boom Ballads, 
 Mr. Eric Mackay, author of A Lover's Missal, and the 
 Honourable Miss Emily Lawless, authoress of The Dirge 
 of the Munster Forest (which appeared in Literature) : also 
 to Messrs. Smith, Elder and Co., owners of the copy- 
 right, for permission to reprint Kobert Browning's Lost 
 Leader and Porphyria' s Lover ; to Messrs. Macmillan for 
 the use of Lord Tennyson's Bream of Fair Women and 
 stanzas from In Memoriam ; to Messrs. Methuen and Co., 
 publishers of Mr. Kudyard Kipling's Barrack Boom 
 Ballads', to Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench and Co., and 
 the executors of the late William Barnes, owners of the 
 copyright of Barnes' Poems ofBural Life ; to Mr. Charles 
 Baxter and Messrs. Chatto and Windus for leave to 
 reprint K. L. Stevenson's Bequiem and Country of the 
 
xu 
 
 Camisards ; to Mr. Bertram Dobell, publisher of James 
 Thomson's The City of Dreadful Night and other poems ; 
 and to Mr. A. M. Holden, publisher of Mr. Murray's 
 Scarlet Gokm, from which the lines After Wordsworth are 
 extracted. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Pbefaoe . . . • . 
 
 
 
 vii 
 
 Note 
 
 . 
 
 . • 
 
 xi 
 
 Upon his Spaniel Tracy . 
 
 
 Herrick 
 
 2 
 
 Elegy written in a Country Churchyard 
 
 Gray . 
 
 -' 2 
 
 The Lost Leader .... 
 
 
 Browning 
 
 12 
 
 Essay on Man 
 
 
 Pope ' ' ' 
 
 14 
 
 Sweet Delight .... 
 
 
 Campion 
 
 i6 
 
 Gentlemen-Eankers . 
 
 
 Kipling 
 
 i8 
 
 The Country of the Camisards 
 
 
 Stevenson 
 
 i8 
 
 Tria Fvgacia .... 
 
 
 W. Herbert . 
 
 20 
 
 Sonnet XXXII .... 
 
 
 Shakespeare . 
 
 20 
 
 Beauty Immortalized by Verse 
 
 
 Spenser . 
 
 22 
 
 In Memoriam (LXIV) 
 
 
 Tennyson 
 
 24 
 
 Hymn of Apollo 
 
 
 Shelley . 
 
 . 26 
 
 QvA Cvrsvm Ventvs . 
 
 
 Clough . 
 
 . 26 
 
 Jenny out vrom Hwome . 
 
 
 Barnes . 
 
 . 28 
 
 Dirge of the Munster Forest . 
 
 
 Emily Lawless 
 
 . 30 
 
 Greece 
 
 
 Byron . 
 
 • 32 
 
 Fallen Woman .... 
 
 
 Goldsmith 
 
 . 34 
 
XIV 
 
 Pobphyria's Lover .... 
 
 To THE SkYLAKK .... 
 
 Vain Men whose Follies 
 
 Patience 
 
 Requiem 
 
 Child's Song 
 
 When thou must Home . 
 
 Epistle to Gay 
 
 Epitaph on a Jacobite 
 
 Sunday at Hampstead 
 
 The Lakk now Leaves his Watery Nest 
 
 A Crop of Kisses .... 
 
 On Human Knowledge 
 
 On a Beautiful Youth Struck Blind with 
 
 Lightning 
 
 A Broken Idol 
 
 Imitated from Wordsworth 
 
 Two Strings to a Bow 
 
 A Dream op Fair Women 
 
 Love Strong as Death 
 
 On first looking into Chapman's Homer 
 
 To his Ever-loving God . 
 
 Indux of FiBST Lines 
 
 Browning 
 
 SheUey . 
 Campion 
 
 Stevenson 
 
 Moore . 
 
 Campion 
 
 Pope 
 
 Macaulay 
 
 Thomson 
 
 Davenant 
 
 Davies . 
 
 Goldsmith 
 
 Murray 
 
 Tennyson 
 Mackay 
 Keats . 
 Herrick . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 34 
 36 
 38 
 40 
 40 
 
 43 
 42 
 
 44 
 46 
 
 48 
 
 52 
 52 
 56 
 
 58 
 58 
 60 
 60 
 62 
 
 64 
 66 
 66 
 
 69 
 
MVSA CLAVDA 
 
UPON HIS SPANIEL TRACY. 
 
 Now thou art dead, no eye shall ever see, 
 for shape and service, spaniel like to thee, 
 this shall my love do, give thy sad death one 
 tear, that deserves of me a milUon. 
 
 E. HERRICK. 
 
 ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD. 
 
 The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, 
 the lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea, 
 
 the ploughman homeward plods his weary way, 
 and leaves the world to darkness and to me. 
 
 now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, 
 and all the air a solemn stillness holds, 
 
 save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, 
 and drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds; 
 
FACTVM MALE, MYIA, QVOD PERISTI. 
 
 Tune iaces, quern non longo post tempore visi 
 uUa aequet catuli forma nee ulla fides? 
 
 unam morte tua lacrimam demittet amara 
 noster amor : merito milia multa darem. 
 
 S. G. 0. 
 
 Morte misella iaces ; iam par tibi nulla venusto 
 
 altera nascetur corpore, nulla fide. 
 
 hoc poterit pietas: lacrimam tibi funeris unam 
 
 inferias meritae milia multa dabo. 
 
 J. S. P. 
 
 MORS SOLA FATETVR QVANTVLA SINT HOMINVM 
 CORPVSCVLA. 
 
 Increpuere tubae morientia lumina Phoebi, 
 
 mugitu lento deserit arva pecus. 
 ecce domum repetit tardo pede tardus arator ; 
 
 cuncta manent nocti tradita, cuncta mihi. 
 pallida iam sensim rerum obscuratur imago, 
 
 iamque silet toto sancta sub axe quies ; 
 erigitur nisi qua culicum fuga concita bombis, 
 
 tinnulus et distans sopit ovile sonus ; 
 
 B 2 
 
save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower, 
 the moping owl does to the moon complain 
 
 of such, as wandering near her secret bower, 
 molest her ancient solitary reign. 
 
 beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, 
 where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap, 
 
 each in his narrow cell for ever laid, 
 the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. 
 
 the breezy call of incense-breathing morn, 
 
 the swallow twittering from the straw-built shed, 
 
 the cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn, 
 no more shall rouse them from their lowly bed. 
 
 for them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, 
 or busy housewife ply her evening care: 
 
 no children run to lisp their sire's return, 
 or climb his knees the envied kiss to share. 
 
 oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, 
 
 their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke ; 
 
 how jocund did they drive their team afield ! 
 
 how bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke ! 
 
 let not Ambition mock their useful toil, 
 their homely joys, and destiny obscure ; 
 
 nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile, 
 the short and simple annals of the poor. 
 
 the boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 
 and all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 
 
 await alike the inevitable hour. 
 
 the paths of glory lead but to the grave. 
 
perque hederas nisi qua ferali a culmine bubo 
 
 ad lunam questum fertque iteratque suum, 
 erravisse per haec secreta umbrosa protervos, 
 
 mutaque sacrilegos regna aperire pedes, 
 en prope nodosas ulmos taxique sub umbra, 
 
 marcida qua putri caespite turget humus, 
 compositi angustis, bona turba sine arte, sepulchris 
 
 pagani aeterna pace fruuntur avi. 
 his non Panchaei mane afflabuntur odores, 
 
 stramineave ales sub trabe Thressa canet: 
 non liquidus galli cantus sub luce ciebit, 
 
 elicientve humili cornua clara toro. 
 non focus accensis adoleverit ignibus umquam, 
 
 sedula nee serum traxerit uxor opus; 
 non blaesus patris ad reditus occurrerit infans, 
 
 non genua insistens oscula rapta feret. 
 saepe quidem messes horum sub falce crepabant: 
 
 saepe infringebant vomere segne solum, 
 quam laetus tauros urgebat in arva colonus ! 
 
 vi valida quotiens proruit ille nemus! 
 i nunc, telle animos et honesto illude labori : 
 
 sors parca agricolis gaudia parva dedit. 
 quamquam gente tumes, posito nunc accipe fastu 
 
 quae sint acta inopum pauca brevisque labor, 
 an prosunt fasces, longaeque per atria cerae? 
 
 divitiae pereunt, forma caduca perit. 
 omnibus exspectatur ineluctabilis hora : 
 
 gloria, te propter mortis adimus iter. 
 
nor you, ye Proud, impute to these the fault, 
 if Memory o'er their tomb no trophies raise, 
 
 where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault 
 the pealing anthem swells the note of praise. 
 
 can storied urn or animated bust 
 
 back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? 
 can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust, 
 
 or Flattery soothe the dull cold ear of Death? 
 
 perhaps in this neglected spot is laid 
 
 some heart once pregnant with celestial fire ; 
 
 hands, that the rod of empire might have swayed, 
 or waked to ecstasy the living lyre. 
 
 but Knowledge to their eyes her ample page 
 rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll ; 
 
 chill Penury repressed their noble rage, 
 and froze the genial current of the soul. 
 
 full many a gem of purest ray serene, 
 the dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear: 
 
 full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
 and waste its sweetness on the desert air, 
 
 some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast 
 the little tyrant of his fields withstood; 
 
 some mute, inglorious Milton here may rest, 
 some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood. 
 
 the applause of listening senates to command, 
 the threats of pain and ruin to despise, 
 
 to scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, 
 
 and read their history in a nation's eyes. 
 
nee, qui te iactas, vitio nunc verte sepulchris 
 
 quod plus his tituli non tribuatur honor ; 
 qua per vasta adyti laquearia perque columnas 
 
 laudantur numeris carminibusque dei. 
 num Parii lapides, num vivida possit imago 
 
 ad solitas animam nunc revocare domos? 
 nil taciti Manes plebis praeconia curant : 
 
 blanditias, o Mors, surda rigensque fugis. 
 avius hie forsan condat sinus ossa perempti, 
 
 igneus ingenii cui prius ardor erat: 
 is poterat fasces sellamque implere curulem, 
 
 vividaque is sacrae fila movere lyrae. 
 contigerat numquam doctas perdiscere chartas, 
 
 rerum quasque dies longa profundit opes : 
 namque animi vires ignava repressit egestas, 
 
 pectoris ardorem continuitque gelu. 
 scilicet inmensis pelagi caecisque eavernis 
 
 lumine candenti plurima gemma micat. 
 scilicet urbe procul natus flos saepe rubescit, 
 
 desertisque locis spirat inanis odor. 
 quis scit an Arpinas dominis hoc rure pusillis 
 
 acriter obstiterit contuderitque minas ; 
 Vergiliusque aliquis sine laude et honore recumbat, 
 
 SuUaque non patriae sanguinis ille reus? 
 hi plausum attenti poterant captare senatus, 
 
 despicere et luctus exitiique metum ; 
 aut patriam cornu laetam ditare benigno, 
 
 vel populi ex voltu facta probare sua. 
 
8 
 
 their lot forbade : nor circumscribed alone 
 
 their growing virtues, but their crimes confined ; 
 
 forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne, 
 and shut the gates of mercy on mankind, 
 
 the struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide, 
 to quench the blushes of ingenuous shame, 
 
 or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride 
 with incense kindled at the Muse's flame. 
 
 far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, 
 their sober wishes never learned to stray; 
 
 along the cool sequestered vale of life 
 
 they kept the noiseless tenor of their way. 
 
 yet even these bones from insult to protect 
 
 some frail memorial still erected nigh, 
 with uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked, 
 
 implores the passing tribute of a sigh. 
 
 their name, their years, spelt by the unlettered Muse, 
 
 the place of fame and elegy supply: 
 and many a holy text around she strews, 
 
 that teach the rustic moralist to die. 
 
 for who to dumb Forgetfulness a prey, 
 this pleasing anxious being e'er resigned, 
 
 left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, 
 nor cast one longing lingering look behind? 
 
 on some fond breast the parting soul relies, 
 some pious drops the closing eye requires; 
 
 even from the tomb the voice of Nature cries, 
 even in our ashes live their wonted fires. 
 
dis aliter visum, neque sola coercita virtus, 
 
 criminibus raris area parva data est. 
 sceptrorum cupidi spissa non caede madebant, 
 
 non fessos venia destituere viros. 
 non cura his tegere ad verum nitentia verba, 
 
 non premere ingenui signa pudoris erat: 
 non luxus cumulare aras fastusque superbi 
 
 ture, quod Aonius foverat igne focus. 
 sed procul a turpi rabidae certamine turbae 
 
 quaerendi modici nominis ardor erat. 
 nescio qua positi gelidis sub vallibus Haemi 
 
 explebant vitae tempora muta suae, 
 at rite exiguis tituli stant cuique sepulchris, 
 
 qui famam servent ossaque lecta virum: 
 quippe rudes versus ac signa informia poscunt 
 
 ut lacrimae detur praetereuntis honor, 
 rustica musa annosque refert ac nomina signat : 
 
 hos elegos meruit gloria parva tamen ; 
 carminibusque pii sacris didicere bubulci 
 
 qua sine fraude mala detur ad astra via. 
 numquis adhuc animo tarn surda oblivia passus 
 
 heu dulcem vitae liquit amaritiem, 
 quin ubi deficerent prope templa calentia lucis 
 
 dilectos gemeret respiceretve locos? 
 fas caris umbra gremiis labente foveri: 
 
 fas lacrima spargi lumina lassa pia: 
 clamat et e tacitis hominem vox orta sepulchris, 
 
 et solitos ignes cana alit usque cinis. 
 
lO 
 
 for ilifiQ^ who^ mindful of the unhonoiired dead, 
 dofit in these lines their artless tale relate; 
 
 if ebanee» by lonely Contemplation led, 
 some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate, 
 
 b^pily some houy^neaded swain may say: 
 ^oft hare we aeen him at the peep of dawn 
 
 hrushing wiUi hasly steps the dews away 
 to meet the sun upon the upland lawn. 
 
 ^ there at the foot of yonder nodding beech 
 that wreathes its old fimtastic roots so high, 
 
 his listless length «l noontide would he stretch, 
 and pore upon ttie brook that babbles by. 
 
 ^haxd by y^m wood» now smiling as in scom^ 
 muHating his wayward fancies he would roTo; 
 
 now drooping^ woful wan, like one forlorn, 
 
 or crazed with eare, or eroded in hopeless loTe. 
 
 ^one mom I mis^d him on the customed hiD« 
 along the heath and near his ^Tourite tree; 
 
 another came; nor yet beside the riU, 
 
 nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he; 
 
 ''the nest with dirges due in sad array 
 
 slow throu^ the chureh«way path we saw him borne. 
 appioaeh and read (for thou canst read) the lay, 
 
 graTed cm the stone beneath yon aged thorn.' 
 
 Here rests his head upon the la^ of Ear^ 
 a Youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown : 
 
 &lr Sflience firowned not on his humble birth, 
 and Melancholy marked him for her own. 
 
II 
 
 te qui mente vacas memori sine honore peremptis^ 
 
 et tenui cantu tenuia facta refers, 
 forsitan exstiterit secum qui singula lustrans 
 
 te quoque respiciat fataque summa tui. 
 nempe senex aliquis sparsus per tempera canis 
 
 'vidimus hunc* dicet 'saepe oriente die: 
 saepe citis pedibus rores verrebat oberrans, 
 
 ibat et ad clivos ille videre diem, 
 et mode nutantis recubans sub tegmine fagi 
 
 (radices miras altius arbor agit) 
 ille iacebat iners medio iam lumine solis, 
 
 et rapidae scatebras aure legebat aquae: 
 adque nemus, ridens inter fastidia, mentis 
 
 delicias caecis edidit ore sonis : 
 et mode pallebat qualis spe fractus inani 
 
 aut demens curis utque repulsus amans. 
 mane erat : hunc frustra note sub coUe petebam ; 
 
 non saltus usquam non solita arbor habet ; 
 non prope consuetum retegit lux postera rivum, 
 
 non reducem caespes non nemora ipsa cient. 
 altera mox pompa tristi cantuque tubarum 
 
 viderat efferri funera lenta dies, 
 perlege, namque potes ; breve sustinet ista columna 
 
 carmen, spinarum quam vetus umbra tegit.' 
 
 ELOGIVM. 
 
 Hie caput in terrae pectus demisit amicum, 
 cui Fortuna parum Famaque nota, puer : 
 
 nascenti laribus parvis Sapientia risit : 
 
 nascentem sibi habet tempus in omne Dolor. 
 
12 
 
 large was his bounty, and his soul sincere, 
 Heaven did a recompense as largely send : 
 
 he gave to Misery all he had, a tear, 
 
 he gained from Heaven ('twas all he wished) a friend. 
 
 no farther seek his merits to disclose, 
 
 or draw his frailties from their dread abode, 
 
 (there they alike in trembling hope repose), 
 
 the bosom of his Father and his God. 
 
 T. GRAY. 
 
 THE LOST LEADER. 
 
 Just for a handful of silver he left us, 
 
 just for a riband to stick in his coat — 
 found the one gift of which fortune bereft us, 
 
 lost all the others she lets us devote ; 
 they, with the gold to give, doled him out silver, 
 
 so much was theirs who so little allowed : 
 how all our copper had gone for his service ! 
 
 rags — were they purple, his heart had been proud ! 
 we that had loved him so, followed him, honoured him, 
 
 lived in his mild and magnificent eye, 
 learned his great language, caught his clear accents, 
 
 made him our pattern to live and to die ! 
 Shakespeare was of us, Milton was for us. 
 
 Burns, Shelley were with us — they watch from their 
 graves ! 
 he alone breaks from the van and the freemen, 
 
 — he alone sinks to the rear and the slaves! 
 
13 
 
 largus opum puros e pectore protulit aestus, 
 
 praemia reddebant pro quibus ampla dei : 
 nam lacrimam dederat miseris, ea sola potestas : 
 
 contigerat fidus, spes ea sola, comes, 
 parce sed ulterius pueri tu quaerere laudes, 
 
 parce ciere Orci non bene facta domo. 
 istic spe trepida sopita favilla quiescit, 
 
 et Patris in gremio dormiet usque dei. 
 
 S. G. O. 
 
 MVTATVS CVRIO. 
 
 Prodidit argenti vili stipe captus amicos, 
 
 prodidit ut clavo splendidus iret eques. 
 est quod larga tamen nobis Fortuna negavit : 
 
 muneribus nostris illud adeptus eget. 
 argentum tibi nunc auri metitur abundans, 
 
 magnarum dominus tam male largus opum : 
 aera quidem et pannos, potuit quae quisque, dabamus ; 
 
 regali fastu purpura tanta foret ! 
 quam te dilectum deduxit turba clientum, 
 
 quamque oculi notus dulce tuentis honos ! 
 divina eloquii captavimus orsa, parati 
 
 auctorem vitae mortis habere ducem. 
 haec Mytilenaei senis, aequi haec secta Solonis ; 
 
 hoc Naevi manes, tuque, Catulle, vides? 
 iam Martem primum iam libera signa recusat, 
 
 unus, tuta fugax, agmina serva petit. 
 
14 
 
 we shall march prospering, — not thro' his presence; 
 
 songs may inspirit us, — not from his lyre ; 
 deeds will be done, — while he boasts his quiescence, 
 
 still bidding crouch whom the rest bade aspire: 
 blot out his name then, record one lost soul more, 
 
 one task more declined, one more footpath untrod, 
 one more devils'-triumph and sorrow for angels, 
 
 one wrong more to man, one more insult to God ! 
 life's night begins : let him never come back to us ! 
 
 there would be doubt, hesitation and pain, 
 forced praise on our part — the glimmer of twilight, 
 
 never glad, confident morning again ! 
 best fight on well, for we taught him— strike gallantly, 
 
 menace our heart ere we master his own ; 
 then let him receive the new knowledge and wait us, 
 
 pardoned in heaven, the first by the throne ! 
 
 R. BROWNING. 
 
 ESSAY ON MAN. 
 
 Hope springs eternal in the human breast: 
 man never is, but always to be blest, 
 the soul, uneasy, and confin'd from home, 
 rests and expatiates in a life to come, 
 lo, the poor Indian! whose untutor'd mind 
 sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind ; 
 his soul proud science never taught to stray 
 far as the solar walk or Milky Way; 
 
15 
 
 auspice nos alio faustos Fortuna sequetur ; 
 
 accendent alia bellica plectra lyra ; 
 fortia facta virum spernens, ignave, iacebis ; 
 
 otia tu laudas, cetera turba decus. 
 in numerum nomen caecum periisse fereris, 
 
 pro ! fatis impar, officioque minor ; 
 quem dolet amissum Virtus, Iniuria gaudet, 
 
 quem damnant homines, respuerisque deis. 
 nee rediturus abi : versae spes nulla diei ; 
 
 foedus triste redux ambiguumque feras: 
 laus invita sonet ; ceu luce crepuscula prima, 
 
 distat ab ingenuo sera calore fides, 
 nee quod noster eras pudeat certare feroces : 
 
 imperium in sese te potiturus agat. 
 sera tamen veniat doctrina, tuisque receptis 
 
 primus in Elysio conciliere foro. 
 
 J. S. P. 
 
 PIAE SECEEVIT LITORA GENTL 
 
 Spes aeterna igitur mortali in pectore surgit : 
 
 spernuntur quae sunt, quae fuerintque placent. 
 nulla quies animis terreno in corpore clausis : 
 
 libera post cineres gaudia, vera quies. 
 barbarus ecce Indus, rudis ac sine pectore, nubi- 
 
 fingit inesse vagis flaminibusque deum. 
 ilium non audax docuit sapientia solis 
 
 dispicere errores lacteaque astra poli: 
 
i6 
 
 yet simple nature to his hope has given, 
 
 behind the cloud-topp'd hill, an humbler heaven; 
 
 some safer world in depth of woods embrac'd, 
 
 some happier island in the watery waste, 
 
 where slaves once more their native land behold, 
 
 no fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold. 
 
 to be, contents his natural desire, 
 
 he asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire ; 
 
 but thinks, admitted to that equal sky, 
 
 his faithful dog shall bear him company. 
 
 A. POPE. 
 
 SWEET DELIGHT. 
 
 O sweet delight, o more than human bliss, 
 with her to live that ever loving is ; 
 to hear her speak, whose words are so well placed, 
 that she by them, as they in her are graced : 
 those looks to view, that feast the viewer's eye, 
 how blest is he that may so live and die ! 
 
 such love as this the golden times did know, 
 when all did reap, yet none took care to sow ; 
 such love as this an endless summer makes, 
 and all distaste from frail affection takes, 
 so loved, so blessed, in my beloved am I ; 
 which till their eyes ache, let iron men envy ! 
 
 T. CAMPION. 
 
or THE "* 
 
 UNIVERSiT/ 
 
 OF 
 
 nec minus ingenii spe simplicetiWMf&ga montis 
 
 nubiferi Elysium vile sibi iste cupit. 
 tutior est illic silvis stipantibus orbis, 
 
 laetior undosis insula cincta vadis; 
 qua servi rursus patriamque laresque revisunt, 
 
 tort or abest, auri sacra repressa fames, 
 illic contentus tacite modo degere gestit ; 
 
 dis nuUas alas, fulmina nulla parat : 
 atque una comes admissus turbaeque deorum 
 
 iunctus adest fidus tempus in omne canis. 
 
 S. G. O. 
 
 ME FELICEM. 
 
 iucunda Venus! mortalia gaudia vinco 
 
 qui domina felix semper amante fruor: 
 seu loquitur quantos habet in sermone lepores, 
 
 commendat pulchros pulchrior ipsa sonos ; 
 seu formam specto satiat spectantis ocellos : 
 
 sic vivam, tali sit mihi sorte mori! 
 aurea non alios aetas gustabat amores, 
 
 cum nuUo subiit laeta serente seges ; 
 hie amor aestatem praestat sine fine beatam, 
 
 nec solitos fastus gaudia certa ferunt. 
 deliciae tantae, tanta est in amore voluptas : 
 
 i nunc, rumpe oculos, ferrea turba, males! 
 
 J. S. P. 
 c 
 
i8 
 
 GENTLEMEN-RANKERS. 
 
 We have done with Hope and Honour, we are lost 
 to Love and Truth, 
 we are dropping down the ladder rung by rung, 
 and the measure of our torment is the measure of our 
 youth. 
 God help us, for we know the worst too young! 
 our shame is clean repentance for the crime that brought 
 the sentence, 
 our pride it is to know no spur of pride, 
 and the curse of Eeuben holds us till an alien turf 
 enfolds us 
 and we die, and none can tell Them where we died. 
 
 RUDYAED KIPLING. 
 
 THE COUNTRY OF THE CAMISARDS. 
 
 We travelled in the print of olden wars, 
 yet all the land was green, 
 and love we found, and peace, 
 where fire and war had been. 
 
 They pass and smile, the children of the sword — 
 
 no more the sword they wield ; 
 
 and o how deep the corn 
 
 along the battlefield ! 
 
 R. L. STEVENSON. 
 
19 
 
 QVAE SCELERVM FACIESf QVIBVSVE VRGENTVR 
 POENIS? 
 
 Nee pudor his nee spes : squalent sine amore fideque 
 
 quales scalarum nox tenebraeque premunt. 
 mensura aerumnae par est iuvenilibus annis ; 
 
 mature veniam cognita culpa rogat. 
 pro ! piget hos sceleris iam poenituisse peracti : 
 
 gaudent quod nullum gloria calcar habet. 
 eiecti vivunt dum condat inhospita tellus ; 
 
 mors quoque cognatis nosse sepulchra negat. 
 
 S. G. 0. 
 
 NVTRITAS SANGVINE FRVGES. 
 
 Terra viret, sequeris prisci vestigia belli; 
 
 Marte perusta olim Pax Pietasque tenent. 
 ensiferis geniti tibi rident ense vacantes : 
 
 qua steterant acies quam subit alta seges ! 
 
 J. S. P. 
 
 2 
 
20 
 
 TRIA FVGACIA. 
 
 So glides along the wanton brook 
 
 with gentle pace into the main, 
 courting the banks with amorous look 
 
 he never means to see again. 
 
 and so does Fortune use to smile 
 upon the short-lived favourite's face, 
 
 whose swelling hopes she doth beguile 
 and always casts him in the race. 
 
 and so doth the fantastic Boy, 
 the god of the ill-managed flames, 
 
 who ne'er kept word in promised joy 
 to lover nor to loving dames. 
 
 So all alike will constant prove, 
 
 both Fortune, running streams and Love. 
 
 W. HERBERT. 
 
 SONNET XXXIL 
 
 If thou survive my well-contented day, 
 
 when that churl Death my bones with dust shall cover, 
 and shalt by fortune once more re- survey 
 
 these poor rude lines of thy deceased lover, 
 
21 
 
 AAAA TAP AAAOeEN AMEIBETAI. 
 
 EccG fluit lympha rivus labente protervus, 
 
 lenis et exiguas in mare fundit aquas: 
 at ripam interea blandis invitat ocellis, 
 
 quam nulla rursus viderit ille die. 
 prospera sic voltu ridet Fortuna sereno, 
 
 nee tamen,illa diu, si quid amavit, amat. 
 sic quern spe tumida dea decipit, illius eheu 
 
 quam cito curriculum saeva ruina premit ! 
 sic puer ille levis, qui pervagus errat in orbe, 
 
 quam male iactatas temperat usque faces ! 
 ille nihil promissa, nihil periuria curat: 
 
 illius obstruimur femina virque dolis. 
 nempe citi fontes et Amor Fortunaque semper 
 
 constantes remanent in levitate sua. 
 
 S. G. O. 
 
 ET DICES 'EHEV, TV MIHI CERTVS ERAS: 
 
 Quae mihi grata venit, si tu superaveris horam 
 cum Mors ossa rapax pulvere nostra teget ; 
 
 atque incompositum carmen tum forte revolves, 
 arte rudi scripsit quod tibi vivus amans; 
 
22 
 
 compare them with the bettering of the time ; 
 
 and tho' they be outstript by every pen, 
 reserve them for my love, not for their rhyme, 
 
 exceeded by the height of happier men. 
 o then vouchsafe me but this loving thought, 
 
 ' had my friend's Muse grown with this growing age, 
 a dearer birth than this his love had brought, 
 
 to march in ranks of better equipage ; 
 but since he died, and poets better prove, 
 theirs for their style I'll read, his for his love.' 
 
 W. SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 BEAUTY IMMORTALIZED BY VERSE. 
 
 One day I wrote her name upon the strand ; 
 
 but came the waves and washed it away: 
 again I wrote it with a second hand, 
 
 but came the tide and made my pains his prey. 
 
 vain man ! said she, that dost in vain assay 
 a mortal thing so to immortalize ; 
 
 for I myself shall like to this decay, 
 and eke my name be wiped out likewise, 
 not so, quoth I ; let baser things devise 
 
 to die in dust, but you shall live by fame: 
 my verse your virtues rare shall eternize, 
 
 and in the heavens write your glorious name, — 
 where, whenas death shall all the world subdue, 
 
 our love shall live, and later life renew. 
 
 E. SPENSER. 
 
23 
 
 collatumque novi numeris melioribus aevi 
 
 me cuivis calamo cedere fassus eris ; 
 at serva tamen, ut superet felicior aetas : 
 
 nee nitor at noster suadeat unus amor, 
 'si modo se nostri saeclo renovasset amici 
 
 Musa novo ' sic tunc verba benigna refer : — 
 ' tantus amor maiora mihi peperisset, ut iret 
 
 cultior in pompa splendidiore liber, 
 at quando ille qnidem periit praestantque recentes, 
 
 hos ars ipsa, ilium conciliabit amor.' 
 
 J. S. P. 
 
 TRAICIT ET FATI LITOBA MAGNVS AMOR. 
 
 Vita, tuum in sicca scribebam nomen harena, 
 
 id tamen assurgens eluit unda maris, 
 signa iterum totidem sculpsi litusque notavi, 
 
 frustra, namque meum devorat aestus opus. 
 * nil agis ' exclamas ; * tu rem servare caducam, 
 
 inprobe, nequiquam tempus in omne paras, 
 nil mortale manet ; mortalis et ipsa peribo ; 
 
 delebunt nomen fata diesque meum.' 
 ' vana refers ' inquam : * mediocria pulvis habeto : 
 
 tu fama vives effugiesque rogos. 
 nam mea tam raras celebrabunt carmina dotes, 
 
 nominis et tanti testis Olympus erit. 
 illic, cum tandem mors vicerit omnia, noster 
 
 vivet amor, spatiis additus usque novis.' 
 
 S. G. O. 
 
24 
 
 IN MEMORIAM (LXIV), 
 
 Dost thou look back on what hath been, 
 
 as some divinely gifted man, 
 
 whose life in low estate began 
 and on a simple village green ; 
 
 who breaks his birth's invidious bar, 
 and grasps the skirts of happy chance, 
 and breasts the blows of circumstance, 
 
 and grapples with his evil star ; 
 
 who makes by force his merit known 
 and lives to clutch the golden keys, 
 to mould a mighty state's decrees, 
 
 and shape the whisper of the throne ; 
 
 and moving up from high to higher, 
 becomes on Fortune's crowning slope 
 the pillar of a people's hope, 
 
 the centre of a world's desire ; 
 
 yet feels, as in a pensive dream, 
 when all his active powers are still, 
 a distant dearness in the hill, 
 
 a secret sweetness in the stream, 
 
 the limit of his narrower fate, 
 while yet beside its vocal springs 
 he play'd at counsellors and kings, 
 
 with one that was his earliest mate ; 
 
 who ploughs with pain his native lea 
 and reaps the labour of his hands, 
 or in the furrow musing stands; 
 
 'does my old friend remember me?' 
 
 LOKD TENNYSON. 
 
25 
 
 PLEBEIA FVERVNT NOMINA. 
 
 Tune, velut populo quern mens divinior effert, 
 
 parva iuventutis respicis acta tuae? 
 ilium res aluit tenuis modicique penates, 
 
 paganoque infans gramine repsit humi ; 
 mox tamen angustae rupit vincla invida sortis, 
 
 festinaeque tenet pallia prensa deae: 
 mens infracta viri ; fortis mala dura, sinistri 
 
 contempsisse minas sideris ausus, adit ; 
 vi valida meritas laudes sibi vindicat audax ; 
 
 haec digna auratae clavis honore fides : 
 fingit ad arbitrium Romae decreta potentis ; 
 
 non alio voluit Caesar ab ore loqui. 
 cedunt prima novis, maiores surgit in actus ; 
 
 denique Fortunae culmina summa tenet: 
 stat rerum columen, populi spes magna Quirini, 
 
 unde orbis studio pendet hiantis amor, 
 saepe tamen veluti per somnia tangit imago, 
 
 secura quotiens mente vacavit iners ; 
 longinqua patrii subeunt dulcedine coUes, 
 
 nescioquo notum flumen amore subit : 
 haec primae fuerant pomoeria tenuia sortis, 
 
 audierat fontes lene sonantis aquae, 
 dum puerum parvo regem iuvat esse senatu, 
 
 dilectumque caput primus amicus adest. 
 quid nunc ille sodalis agit? sua vertit aratro 
 
 arva gravi, segetes et metit ipse suas? 
 forsan et in sulco meditatur talia secum : 
 
 'anne memor veteris noster amicitiae?' 
 
 J. S. P. 
 
26 
 
 HYMN OF APOLLO. 
 
 The sunbeams are my shafts, with which I kill 
 deceit, that loves the night and fears the day; 
 
 all men who do or even imagine ill 
 fly me, and from the glory of my ray 
 
 good minds and open actions take new might, 
 
 until diminished by the reign of night. 
 
 I feed the clouds, the rainbows, and the flowers, 
 with their aethereal colours ; the Moon's globe 
 
 and the pure stars in their eternal bowers 
 are cinctured with my power as with a robe ; 
 
 whatever lamps on Earth or Heaven may shine 
 
 are portions of one power, which is mine. 
 
 I am the eye with which the Universe 
 beholds itself and knows itself divine ; 
 
 all harmony of instrument or verse, 
 all prophecy, all medicine are mine, 
 
 all light of art or nature;— to my song 
 
 victory and praise in their own right belong. 
 
 P. B. SHELLEY. 
 
 QVA CVRSVM VENTVS. 
 
 As ships, becalmed at eve, that lay 
 with canvas drooping, side by side, 
 
 two towers of sail at dawn of day 
 are scarce long leagues apart descried ; 
 
27 
 
 APrYPOTOSE ANAS, EKATHBOA' AHOAAON. 
 
 Tela mihi radii : iuvat his mala figere corda, 
 
 quaeque colit noctem fraus metuitque diem, 
 me fugiunt aestusque mei fulgentis honorem 
 
 si quibus haud expers dextra animusve mali. 
 auspice me bona mens et aperti gloria facti 
 
 crescit, at has Erebi vis tenebraeque fugant. 
 nubes certus alo variamque coloribus Irim, 
 
 aetheriumque addo floribus ipse decus ; 
 lucidaque aeternis ego numine sidera templis 
 
 veste velut foveo noctivagumque globum. 
 sive quis in terns seu luxerit aethere lampas 
 
 numinis unius pars erit ilia mei. 
 sumque oculus rermn, quo pervidet omnia mundus, 
 
 particulamque sibi sentit inesse dei. 
 novi idem numeros divinaque carmina, novi 
 
 cortinam ; medica maximus arte color, 
 me manus artificis, simplex me gratia curat, 
 
 prosequiturque meum gloria lausque melos. 
 
 S. G. 0. 
 
 FLEBILE DISCIDIVM. 
 
 Ceu cum flabra silent, stat vespere proxima navi 
 navis et immotis carbasa lenta fluunt ; 
 
 luce nova vix haec, vix ilia educta tumentes 
 cernitur in caelum trans freta longa sinus : 
 
28 
 
 when fell the night, upsprung the breeze, 
 and all the darkling hours they plied, 
 
 nor dreamt but each the self-same seas 
 by each was cleaving, side by side : 
 
 e'en so — but why the tale reveal 
 
 of those whom year by year unchanged, 
 
 brief absence joined anew to feel, 
 astounded, soul from soul estranged ? 
 
 A. H. CLOUGH. 
 
 JENNY OUT VROM HWOME. 
 
 O wild-reaven west winds ; as you do roar on, 
 the elems do rock an' the poplars do ply, 
 
 an' weave do dreve weave in the dark water'd pon', — 
 oh ! where do ye rise vrom, an' where do ye die ? 
 
 o wild-reavfen winds I do wish I could vlee 
 wi' you, lik' a bird o' the clouds, up above 
 
 the ridge o' the hill an' the top o' the tree, 
 to where I do long vor, an vo'k I do love. 
 
 or else that in under thease rock I could hear, 
 
 in the soft-zwellen sounds you do leave in your road, 
 
 zome words you mid bring me, vrom tongues that be 
 dear, 
 vrom friends that do love me, all scatter'd abrode. 
 
 o wild-reav^n winds ! if you ever do roar 
 
 by the house an' the elems vrom where I'm a-come, 
 
 breathe up at the window, or call at the door, 
 an' tell you've a-voun' me a thinkfen o' hwome. 
 
 W. BAKNES. 
 
29 
 
 nox ruit in pontum, per caeca ferentibus auris 
 nocturnam cursus fallit utramque suus ; 
 
 nee quisquam sibi non eadem putat aequora nautam 
 findere adhuc comitem nauta, ratemque rati. 
 
 baud aliter (sed quid pandis tarn tristia?) si quos 
 vinxerat irruptum foedus amicitiae ; 
 
 post breve discidium renovant commercia, at eheu 
 
 excidit attonitis unanima ilia fides ! 
 
 J. S. P. 
 
 VITA PROCVL PATRIA PERAGENDA. 
 
 O celeres venti, vestro sub flamine saevo 
 
 intremuere ulmi, populus alba tremit; 
 nigrantisque lacus undae pelluntur ab undis ; 
 
 unde datur vobis ortus et unde quies? 
 o utinam fugerem rapidis comes additus austris, 
 
 utque avis ingrederer nubila celsa poli : 
 trans ego sHvarum, trans summa cacumina montis 
 
 quae cupio peterem pignora quosque locos, 
 o si sub scopulis nostras ferrentur ad aures 
 
 mollia ventorum murmura iacta fuga ! 
 sic dulces linguas comitumque vocabula nota 
 
 acciperem, sparsos quos via longa tenet, 
 o venti, flatu vestro si forte paternas 
 
 circa ulmos strepitis concutitisque larem ; 
 spirate ante fores, patriis narrate fenestris 
 
 me quoque dUectos iam meminisse locos. 
 
 S. G. 0. 
 
30 
 
 VIRGE OF THE MUNSTER FOREST. 
 (Desmond War. 1579.) 
 
 Bring out the hemlock, bring the funeral yew ! 
 
 the faithful ivy that doth all enfold ; 
 heap high the rocks, the patient brown earth strew ! 
 
 and cover them against the numbing cold, 
 marshal my retinue of bird and beast, 
 
 wren, titmouse, robin, birds of every hue, 
 let none keep back, even to the very least, 
 
 nor fox, nor deer, nor tiny nibbling crew, 
 only bid one of all my forest clan 
 
 keep far from us on this our funeral day. 
 on the gray wolf I lay my sovereign ban, 
 
 the great gray wolf, who scrapes the earth away ; 
 lest, with hook'd claw, and furious hunger, he 
 
 lay bare my dead for gloating foes to see; 
 lay bare my dead, who died, and died for me. 
 
 for I must shortly die as they have died, 
 
 and lo I my doom stands yoked and linked with theirs, 
 the axe is sharpened to cut down my pride, 
 
 I pass, I die, and leave no natural heirs, 
 soon shall my russet coronals be cast, 
 
 my hidden sanctuaries, my secret ways, 
 naked shall stand to the rebellious blast, 
 
 no Spring shall quicken, what now Autumn slays, 
 therefore, while still I keep my russet crown, 
 
 I summon all my lieges to the feast, 
 hither ye flutterers ! black, or pied, or brown, 
 
 hither ye furred ones ! hither every beast ! 
 
31 
 
 ARBORIBVS SVVS HORROR INEST. 
 
 Ferte nigras taxi frondes, proferte cicutas, 
 
 nee desint hederae germina lenta piae! 
 saxi mole solum patiens cumulate laborum, 
 
 urere ne possit corpora tecta gelu. 
 rite ferae veniant, veniant mea turba volucres ; 
 
 omne veni pluma versicolore genus! 
 capreolum et volpem nitedula parva sequatur, 
 
 nee minimi nostrae plebis abesse velint. 
 est tamen e cunctis umbrae silvestris alumnis 
 
 quern non exsequias has simul ire sino: 
 ravum nempe lupum procul hinc regina relego, 
 
 (effodisse solum callidus arte lupus) 
 ne, tarn dira fames, ungues obscenus aduncos 
 
 exserat, occultos proiciatque meos ; 
 neve nefas ! pateant hosti ludibria saevo, 
 
 qui pro me fortes occubuere neci. 
 nam comes ipsa brevi peritura iacentibus addar, 
 
 sorsque mea ex aequo ducitur ecce iugo: 
 iam gravis in nostrum stat stricta securis honorem ; 
 
 emoriar nulla prole sup^rstes ego. 
 ergo fulva comis defluxerit ilia corona, 
 
 et dabor indomitis intemerata Notis ; 
 templa movent, nudant flatus arcana viarum : 
 
 damna hiemis nuUo vere repensa fero. 
 at iubeo crebros convivia adire clientes, 
 
 dum rubet in nostris sera corona comis : 
 hue genus o volucrum varies miscete colores, 
 
 neve epulas fugiat turba ferina meas! 
 t 
 
32 
 
 only to one of all my forest clan 
 
 I cry ^ avaunt ! our mourning revels flee ! ' 
 
 on the gray wolf I lay my sovereign ban, 
 
 the great gray wolf with scraping claws, lest he 
 
 lay bare my dead for gloating foes to see, 
 
 lay bare my dead, who died, and died for me. 
 
 EMILY LAWLESS. 
 
 GREECE. 
 
 They fell devoted, but undying; 
 the very gale their names seem'd sighing : 
 the waters murmur'd of their name ; 
 the woods were peopled with their fame ; 
 the silent pillar, lone and grey, 
 claim 'd kindred with their sacred clay ; 
 their spirits wrapp'd the dusky mountain, 
 their memory sparkled o'er the fountain ; 
 the meanest rill, the mightiest river 
 roll'd mingling with their fame for ever, 
 despite of every yoke she bears, 
 that land is glory's still and theirs ! 
 'tis still a watchword to the earth : 
 when man would do a deed of worth 
 he points to Greece, and turns to tread, 
 so sanction'd, on the tyrant's head : 
 he looks to her, and rushes on 
 where life is lost, or freedom won. 
 
 LORD BYRON. 
 
33 
 
 de grege silvestri nobis tamen unus abesto, 
 sacra frequentamus, parce, profane, sacris ; 
 
 parce, profane, sacris ; lupe, te regina relego, 
 ne tu, sacrilego pestis adunca pede, 
 
 exponas cineres hosti ludibria saevo, 
 qui pro me fortes occubuere neci. 
 
 J. S. P. 
 
 EYKAEH2 MEN A TYXA, KAA02 A' O HOTMOS. 
 
 Devoti occiderunt, decus indelebile nacti; 
 
 ipse Notus spirat nomina cara virum ; 
 ipse virum repetit pia nomina murmure pontus ; 
 
 non nemora illorum laudibus alta carent. 
 ista columna silens, longis quae canet ab annis, 
 
 te sibi cognatam, sacra favilla, probat. 
 horum animae furvis sacratae in montibus errant ; 
 
 horum in lucenti fonte perennat amor, 
 his rivi tenues, his flumina magna superbae 
 
 participes famae tempus in omne fluent, 
 hostili subiecta iugo tu, terra, perenni 
 
 laude tamen splendes progenieque tua. 
 illi etiam, si cui meritae mens aemula laudis, 
 
 augurium praebes, Graecia, dasque facem ; 
 ille tuo saevis exemplo saepe tyrannis 
 
 sanguineum iusto decutit ense caput ; 
 nee dedignatur dare, vita sponte relicta, 
 
 libertate suis civibus ille frui. 
 
 S. G. 0. 
 
34 
 
 FALLEN WOMAN. 
 
 When lovely woman stoops to folly, 
 and finds, too late, that men betray, 
 
 what charm can soothe her melancholy ? 
 what art can wash her guilt away? 
 
 the only art her guilt to cover, 
 to hide her shame from every eye, 
 
 to give repentance to her lover 
 and wring his bosom, is — to die. 
 
 0. GOLDSMITH. 
 
 PORPHYEIA'S LOVER. 
 
 The rain set early in to-night, 
 
 the sullen wind was soon awake, 
 it tore the elm-tops down for spite, 
 
 and did its best to vex the lake: 
 I listened with heart fit to break : 
 
 when glided in Porphyria ; straight 
 she shut the cold out and the storm, 
 
 and kneeled and made the cheerless grate 
 blaze up and all the cottage warm ; 
 which done, she rose, and from her form 
 
 withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl, 
 and laid her soiled gloves by, untied 
 
 her hat and let the damp hair fall, 
 and, last, she sat down by my side 
 
 and called me. when no voice replied. 
 
35 
 
 KATGANEIN EAOSE MOI KPATI2T0N. 
 
 Cum formosa aliquid non dedignatur inepti, 
 
 serius ac sentit fallere laesa viros, 
 num poterunt curam cantamina dira levare, 
 
 ars culpae turpem dilueritve notam? 
 ars haec sola eheu ! laesum celare pudorem 
 
 crimen et in caeca condere nocte valet ; 
 solaque periuri spinosos corde dolores 
 
 spargit amatorem discruciatque — mori. 
 
 S. G. 0. 
 
 TECVM VIVERE AMEM, TECVM OBEAM LIBENS. 
 
 Vixdum vesper erat, iamque horridus ingruit imber ; 
 
 caeca furens latebris excitus Eurus adest: 
 inprobus et summis frondem nunc decutit ulmis, 
 
 nunc turbat placidos inprobus ille lacus. 
 tristis eram; tristes piget exaudire procellas : 
 
 Porphyria ingreditur, nee sonus, ecce domum. 
 exclusit subito frigus ventosque frementes, 
 
 nixa genu gelidos tum fovet ipsa focos: 
 laetum flam ma micat, gratus calor occupat aedes. 
 
 dein stetit et palla membra madente levat ; 
 iamque manus nudat (pluvia squalebat aluta) 
 
 mox erat imbre graves solvere cura comas, 
 postremumque latus lateri coniuncta resedit, 
 
 meque vocat: nee vox ulla relata mea est. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 
 
 she put my arm about her waist, 
 
 and made her smooth white shoulder bare, 
 and all her yellow hair displaced, 
 
 and stooping made my cheek lie there, 
 and spread, o'er all, her yellow hair, 
 
 murmuring how she loved me — she, 
 too weak, for all her heart's endeavour, 
 
 to set its struggling passion free 
 from pride, and vainer ties dissever, 
 and give herself to me forever. 
 
 but passion sometimes would prevail, 
 nor could to-night's gay feast restrain 
 
 a sudden thought of one so pale 
 for love of her, and all in vain: 
 so, she was come through wind and rain. 
 
 R. BROWNING. 
 
 TO THE SKYLARK. 
 
 Sound of vernal showers 
 
 on the twinkling grass, 
 rain-awakened flowers, 
 
 all that ever was 
 joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass 
 
 teach us, sprite or bird, 
 
 what sweet thoughts are thine: 
 
 I have never heard 
 praise of love or wine 
 that panted forth a flood of rapture so divine. 
 
37 
 
 inde sibi nostras mediae circumdedit ulnas ; 
 
 flaventes collo reicit et usque comas : 
 quam castigate est umerus candore retectus ! 
 
 ponimus hue nostras (adplicat ilia) genas. 
 sub flavoque ambo per mutua crine latemus 
 
 dum spirat flammae murmura fracta suae: 
 'quamvis' inquit, 'amem (nee ficta ego causor), amanti 
 
 quanta obstant fastus vincula, quanta metus ! 
 vana timemus? Amor tamen et formidine vana 
 
 opprimitur, quae me non sinit esse tuam. 
 nee tamen usque iacet deus: en, divellere festae 
 
 a te Porphyriam non valuere dapes : 
 visa tua ante oculos frustra pallentis imago, 
 
 iamque adsum ; pluviam flabraque vicit amor ! ' 
 
 J. S. P. 
 
 BA2IAEYS On02 AEIAEI2. 
 
 Suave coi*uscanti vernus sonat imber in herba, 
 
 suave olet a pluviis flos recreatus aquis: 
 quidquid erat laetum liquidumve recensve per orbem, 
 
 iucundo superas carmine cuncta tuo. 
 quin nos, seu volucris seu diva libentius audis, 
 
 tecum dulciloqui quid meditere doces? 
 nemo ita divino celebravit flumine cantus 
 
 aut Bacchi laudes aut, Cytherea, tuas. 
 
38 
 
 what objects are the fountains 
 
 of thy happy strain ? 
 what fields, or waves, or mountains? 
 what shapes of sky or plain? 
 what love of thine own kind ? what ignorance of pain ? 
 
 P. B. SHELLEY. 
 
 VAIN MEN WHOSE FOLLIES. 
 
 Vaine men whose follies make a God of Love, 
 whose blindnesse beauty doth immortall deeme ; 
 prayse not what you desire, but what you prove, 
 count those things good that are, not those that seeme 
 I cannot call her true that's false to me, 
 nor make of women more than women be. 
 
 how fair an entrance breakes the way to love ! 
 how rich in golden hope and gay delight ! 
 what hart cannot a modest beauty move? 
 who, seeing cleare day once, will dream of night? 
 she seemed a Saint that brake her faith with mee, 
 but proved a woman as all other be. 
 
 so bitter is their sweet, that true content 
 unhappy men in them may never finde: 
 ah, but without them none, both must consent, 
 else uncouth are the joyes of either kinde. 
 let us then prayse their good, forget their ill ! 
 men must be men, and women women still. 
 
 T. CAMPION. 
 
39 
 
 die mihi qua numeros genialis origine promas: 
 quae iuga, quos fluctus, quosve revisis agros? 
 
 quae caeli aut campi fades tibi carmina praestat? 
 nescius aut luctus quis socialis amor? 
 
 S. G. O. 
 
 O NVLLIS TVTVM CREDERE BLANDITIIS ! 
 
 Stulte, deum levitate tua tibi fingis Amorem ; 
 
 caece, bona haec formae non peritura putas? 
 ne tu quae placeant, lauda quae certa tenebis ; 
 
 res ipsas, rerum ne simulacra proba. 
 quae mihi falsa fuit, quo nunc dicta ore fidelis 
 
 plus quam feminea femina laude sonet? 
 quam florens aditus pronos immittit amori, 
 
 spes ubi deliciis aurea pandit opes ! 
 forma decens morum quae non praecordia tangit? 
 
 quis tenebras claro credit adesse die? 
 visa dea est, cuius periuria flemus ; et ipsa 
 
 femina (nequitia est omnibus una) fuit. 
 dulcibus acre subest, ne cui sperentur ab illis 
 
 gaudia secura percipienda fide ; 
 nee tamen uUa sine his ; nisi consociemur in unum 
 
 scilicet infelix haeret utrisque venus. 
 commoda dum laudas vitia excusabis amicae : 
 
 certa puellarum lex data, certa virum. 
 
 J. S. P. 
 
40 
 
 PATIENCE. 
 
 Put forth thy leaf, thou lofty plane, 
 
 east wind and frost are safely gone ; 
 with Zephyr mild and balmy rain 
 
 the summer comes serenely on ; 
 earth, air and sun and skies combine 
 
 to promise all that's kind and fair: — 
 but thou, o human heart of mine, 
 
 be still, contain thyself and bear. 
 
 December days were brief and chill, 
 
 the winds of March were wild and drear, 
 and nearer and receding still, 
 
 spring never would, we thought, be here ; 
 the leaves that burst, the suns that shine, 
 
 had, not the less, their certain date: — 
 but thou, o human heart of mine, 
 
 be still, refrain thyself and wait. 
 
 REQVIEM. 
 
 Under the wide and starry sky, 
 dig the grave and let me lie, 
 glad did I live and gladly die, 
 
 and I laid me down with a will, 
 this be the verse you grave for me : 
 'here he lies where he longed to be; 
 home is the sailor home from sea, 
 
 and the hunter home from the hill.' 
 
 K. L. STEVENSON. 
 
41 
 
 OBSTINATA MENTE PERFEB, OBDVRA. 
 
 lam, platane alta, tuas frondes, tua germina, prefer ; 
 
 Eurus abit tandem praeteriitque gelu: 
 iam Zephyri tepuere, ruit iam moUior imber, 
 
 tranquilloque aestas iam pede blanda venit. 
 spondent terra virens, caelum, sol, aetheris aurae 
 
 blanditias larga pulchraque dona manu. 
 at, mea mens, ut te luctu mortalia tangant, 
 
 perfer et obdura, tu quoque, lingua, sile. 
 a ! breviorque dies et frigora longa Decembri ! 
 
 Martins inmitis flamine mensis erat ! 
 et quamvis propior veniens tamen usque recedens 
 
 verne videbaris non rediture calor. 
 sed tamen, o tumidi flores, hand nescio, sed tu, 
 
 lucide sol, certo temporis orbe redis : 
 tuque adeo, pectus nostrum, tu, luctibus aegrum, 
 
 perferre obdura, linguaque nostra, sile. 
 
 S. G. O. 
 
 ILL A SEPVLTVRAE FATA BE ATA TVAE. 
 
 Innumero vastum pateat qua sidere caelum, 
 
 tu requieturo finge sepulcra mihi. 
 vixi hilaris, fatumque hilari nunc mente propinquo 
 
 hoc mortale: volens occubuisse ferar. 
 ' qua desiderium poni, iacet ille repostus ; 
 
 (versibus his signa tu monumenta mihi) 
 sic o sic longo patriam redit aequore nauta, 
 
 venatorque domum montis ab arce redit.' 
 
 J. S. P. 
 
42 
 
 CHILD'S SONG. 
 
 I have a garden of my own 
 
 shining with flowers of every hue ; 
 I loved it dearly while alone, 
 
 but I shall love it more with you ; 
 and there the golden bees shall come 
 
 in summer-time at break of morn, 
 and wake us with their busy hum 
 
 around the Siha's fragrant thorn. 
 
 I have a fawn from Aden's land, 
 
 on leafy buds and berries nurst ; 
 and you shall feed him from your hand, 
 
 though he may start with fear at first, 
 and I will lead you where he lies 
 
 for shelter in the noon-tide heat: 
 and you may touch his sleeping eyes, 
 
 and feel his little silvery feet. 
 
 T. MOORE. 
 
 WHEN THOU MUST HOME. 
 
 When thou must home to shades of underground, 
 
 and there arrived, a newe admired guest, 
 
 the beauteous spirits do ingirt thee round, 
 
 white lope, blithe Hellen, and the rest, 
 
 to hear the stories of thy finisht love, 
 
 from that smooth toong whose musicke hell can move ; 
 
43 
 
 HORTVS ODORATIS CVLTISSIMVS HERBIS. 
 
 Est mihi iure meo proprius, bene consitus, hortus; 
 
 floribus et cultu versicolore nitet. 
 illius, ut solus spatior, dulcedine tangor; 
 
 tecum lustranti gaudia plura dabit. 
 hue apium auratae venient aestate catervae, 
 
 sol ubi mane novo promet ab axe iubar; 
 nobisque excutient somnos instante susurro, 
 
 fragrantis spini dum celebratur odor, 
 est quoque capreolus rubra quaesitus ab ora, 
 
 cui tumidae frondes bacaque multa cibus. 
 protinus ipse tua praestabis pabula dextra, 
 
 ut paveat prime destituatque metu. 
 ipse egomet ducam medio qua saepe recumbit 
 
 ille die ac tutus sole calente latet. 
 sopitos oculos moxattrectare lice bit, 
 
 atque argenteolos tangere rite pedesk 
 
 S. G. 0. 
 
 SIC MORTIS LACRIMIS VITAE SANAMVS AMORES. 
 
 Debita Persephonae, infernos ubi, Cynthia, manes 
 
 adventu capies hospita forma novo ; 
 et circumstabunt pulcherrima turba puellae, 
 
 cum iucunda lope Candida Tyndaride; 
 at tu praeteriti casus narrabis amoris 
 
 ilia qua modulans Tartara voce moves: 
 
44 
 
 then wilt thou speake of banqueting delights, 
 of masks and revels which sweete youth did make, 
 of turnies and great challenges of knightes, 
 and all these triumphes for thy beauty's sake: 
 when thou hast told these honours done to thee, 
 then tell, o tell, how thou didst murther me. 
 
 T. CAMPION. 
 
 EPISTLE TO GAY. 
 
 Ah, friend ! 'tis true (this truth you lovers know) 
 in vain my structures rise, my gardens grow ; 
 in vain fair Thames reflects the double scenes 
 of hanging mountains and of sloping greens ; 
 joy lives not here — to happier seats it flies, 
 and only dwells where Wortley casts her eyes. 
 what are the gay parterre, the chequered shade, 
 the noon-tide bower, the evening colonnade, 
 but soft recesses of uneasy minds 
 to sigh unheard in to the passing winds? 
 so the struck deer in some sequestered part 
 lies down to die, the arrow at his heart ; 
 he stretched unseen in coverts hid from day 
 bleeds drop by drop and pants his life away. 
 
 A. POPE. 
 
45 
 
 delicias Bacchi referes, convivia lauta, 
 
 luserit ut lepido festa iuventa ioco, 
 bella tibi pueros Troiamque egisse venustos; 
 
 et dices ' tanti Candida forma fui ' : 
 has ubi tu laudes, hosque enumeraris honores, 
 
 die, o die, mortis causa fuisse meae. 
 
 J. S. P. 
 
 MEQVE REDVCO A CONTEMPLATV SVMMOVEOQVE 
 MALL 
 
 Nequiquam, verum est, neque vos nescitis amantes, 
 
 proveniunt horti, surgit ad astra domus : 
 pendentis iuga mentis et haec devexa vireta 
 
 nequiquam Tbybris duplicat almus aquis. 
 non hie laetitia est : sedes ea grata revisit 
 
 quas oculis lustrat cara Neaera suis. 
 horti quid nitidi, quid pieta umbracula prosunt, 
 
 sole nemus, sero porticus alta die, 
 mens nisi uti possit ventis narrare dolores 
 
 tristis in his latebris et sine teste queri? 
 hand alias latebras fixo iam pectore telis 
 
 cerva mori cupiens et loca sola petit ; 
 ilia a sole proeul iacet effunditque cruorem 
 
 debilis ac vitam ponit anhela suam. 
 
 S. G. 0. 
 
46 
 
 EPITAPH ON A JACOBITE. 
 
 To my true king I offered free from stain 
 courage and faith ; vain faith, and courage vain, 
 for him, I threw lands, honours, wealth, away, 
 and one dear hope, that was more prized than they, 
 for him I languished in a foreign clime, 
 grey-haired with sorrow in my manhood's prime; 
 heard on Lavernia Scargill's whispering trees, 
 and pined by Arno for my lovelier Tees; 
 beheld each night my home in fevered sleep, 
 each morning started from the dream to weep ; 
 till God, who saw me tried too sorely, gave 
 the resting-place I asked, an early grave, 
 oh thou whom chance leads to this nameless stone, 
 from that proud country which was once mine own, 
 by those white cliffs I never more must see, 
 by that dear language which I spake like thee, 
 forget all feuds, and shed one English tear 
 o'er Enghsh dust, a broken heart lies here. 
 
 LORD MACAULAY. 
 
47 
 
 EXILIOQVE DOMOS ET DVLCIA LIMINA MVTANT. 
 
 Virtutemque duci puram sine labe fidemque 
 
 praestitimus : virtus vana fidesque fuit : 
 pro duce munera, opes, patrios amisimus agros, 
 
 spem quoque quae fuerat carior una mihi; 
 ipsi sole graves alieno traximus annos; 
 
 cana notat iuvenis tempera nostra dolor. 
 Tiburtes revocat mihi silva Aetnaea susurros, 
 
 te, patrii cupidus fluminis, Aci, bibo. 
 aegra lares patrios noctu per somnia cerno, 
 
 somnia lucifero discutiente fleo. 
 iam Pater oppressum curis miseratus iniquis 
 
 dat grato fessis munere, morte frui. 
 tu quicumque vides tumulum sine nomine nostrum, 
 
 siquis ab Vrbe venis, quae mihi mater erat ; 
 per mihi quae fuerant carae commercia linguae, 
 
 perque alba ilia oculis saxa negata meis, 
 
 Komanum cinerem (pugnas dedisce priores) 
 
 Romanus plora, duraque fata viri. 
 
 J. S. P. 
 
48 
 
 SUNDAY AT HAMPSTEAD. 
 
 This is the Heath of Hampstead, 
 there is the dome of Saint Paul's ; 
 beneath, on the serried house-tops, 
 a chequered lustre falls: 
 
 and the mighty city of London, 
 under the clouds and the light, 
 seems a low wet beach, half shingle, 
 with a few sharp rocks upright. 
 
 here will we sit, my darling, 
 
 and dream an hour away : 
 
 the donkeys are hurried and worried, 
 
 but we are not donkeys to-day: 
 
 though all the weary week, dear, 
 we toil in the murk down there, 
 tied to a desk and a counter, 
 a patient stupid pair ! 
 
 but on Sunday we slip our tether, 
 
 and away from the smoke and the smirch; 
 
 too grateful to God for His Sabbath 
 
 to shut its hours in a church. 
 
 away to the green, green country, 
 under the open sky; 
 
 where the earth's sweet breath is incense 
 and the lark sings psalms on high. 
 
49 
 
 PETAMVS ARVA. 
 
 En clivus; templa ante pedes lovis aurea surgunt 
 
 pictaque nunc vario lumine tecta micant. 
 erigitur vastae sub nubibus urbis imago, 
 
 udo ceu scopuli litore saepe rigent. 
 hie resides, mea lux, horam fallamus inertem : 
 
 exercet mulos, nos levat ecce labor, 
 nos i^era obscurae quotiens trivere Suburae 
 
 par stultum inmensas inter ephemeridas ! 
 invitat iam festa dies curasque resolvit: 
 
 ipse deus caeca se vetat aede coli. 
 largior hie aether ; viridantia rura petamus ; 
 
 halat odore solum, dulce precantur aves. 
 
50 
 
 on Sunday we're Lord and Lady, 
 with ten times the love and glee 
 of those pale and languid rich ones 
 who are always and never free. 
 
 they drawl and stare and simper, 
 so fine and cold and staid, 
 like exquisite waxwork figures 
 that must be kept in the shade: 
 
 we can laugh out loud when merry, 
 
 we can romp at kiss-in-the-ring, 
 
 we can take our beer at a public, 
 
 we can loll on the grass and sing .... 
 
 would you grieve very much, my darling, 
 if all yon low wet shore 
 were drowned by a mighty flood-tide, 
 and we never toiled there more? 
 
 wiclced? — there is no sin, dear, 
 in an idle dreamer's head; 
 he turns the world topsy-turvy 
 to prove that his soul's not dead. 
 
 I am sinking, sinking, sinking; 
 it is hard to sit upright ! 
 your lap is the softest pillow ! 
 good-night, my Love, good-night ! 
 
 J. THOMSON 
 
51 
 
 iam DOS festa vocant, procerum nee laetior ullus, 
 
 quos mala libertas, corpora serva, gravat. 
 balba illis lingua atque oculorum paeta venustas, 
 
 cereaque ora ipso frigidiora gelu. 
 carroina nos risusque iuvant hilaresque choreae, 
 
 munera nos Bacchi gramineusque torus, 
 num gemeres, mea lux, si stagna ac strata voraret 
 
 unda maris, noster desineretque labor? 
 ne mihi tantum obsit, quod inania somnia fingam : 
 
 rerum clade animi pascitur ipse vigor. 
 
 ei mibi, languet iners corpus, labuntur ocelli; 
 
 nox vocat in gremio sidere, vita, tuo. 
 
 S. G. O. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 THE LARK NOW LEAVES HIS WATERY NEST. 
 
 The lark now leaves his watery nest, 
 and climbing shakes his dewy wings, 
 
 he takes this window for the East, 
 and to implore your eyes he sings, 
 
 awake, awake, the Mom will never rise 
 
 till she can dress her beauty at your eyes. 
 
 the merchant bows unto the seaman's star, 
 the ploughman from the sun his season takes; 
 
 but still the lover wonders what they are 
 who look for day before his mistress wakes. 
 
 awake, awake, break through your veils of lawn! 
 
 then draw your curtains and begin the dawn. 
 
 SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT. 
 
 A CROP OF KISSES. 
 
 From her side I go a-singin' in the mornin' cool an* 
 
 grey, 
 when the dew shines in the furrow, an' the hills 
 
 climb into day; 
 an' I kiss her at the partin' (she's the sweetest thing 
 
 in life) 
 like I use' to kiss my sweetheart, 'fore my sweetheart 
 
 was my wife. 
 
53 
 
 OMNIA TV NOSTEAE TEMFORA LAETITIAE. 
 
 Aspice, iam nidis umentibus exit alauda ; 
 
 surgentis rores excutit ala leves: 
 eii petit ilia tuas ut templa eoa fenestras, 
 
 istaque deposcens lumina, vita, canit: 
 experrecta fave! cessat Tithonia dum se 
 
 iudice te cultam compositamque probet. 
 sidera, nautariun numen, mercator adorat ; 
 
 annos e vicibus solis arator agit ; 
 ecqua hominum gens ansa (nefas miramur amantes) 
 
 quaerere, cum nondum est orta puella, diem? 
 
 discute Coa toro, nitida expergiscere somno, 
 
 detecta clarum fronte datura diem ! 
 
 J. S. P. 
 
 QVAERIS QVOT MIHI BASIATIONES. 
 
 Egredior cantu, canent dum mane pruinae: 
 rore micant sulci, montem aperitque dies. 
 
 savia surripui tibi, lux dulcissima rerum ; 
 uxori ante faces talia nempe dabam. 
 
54 
 
 it's a kind o* ' good-bye ' kissin' (tho' it's kissin' mighty 
 
 soon) 
 an' I say 'I'll make it last me till the shadders point 
 
 to noon.' 
 an' the keen larks sing : ' he kissed her ! ' and the 
 
 winds sing : ' so did we ! ' 
 when some wild rose comes a-climbin' an' jes' steals 
 
 her kiss from me. 
 
 then the plough stands in the furrow, an' my dreamin' 
 
 eyes I shield 
 as I look where last I left her, as I sing across the field ; 
 ' here's the winds a-laughin' at me ; here 's the larks 
 
 a-singin' this ; 
 ''he's kissed her, kissed her, kissed her — but the rose 
 
 has stole the kiss ! 
 
 >> > 
 
 then, with all the birds a-singin' an' a-twittin' me so 
 
 sweet, 
 I lose sight o' all the grasses roun' the corn blades at 
 
 my feet, 
 an' my horse looks roun' a wonderin', till he almost 
 
 seems to say : 
 'will you make a crop o' kisses, or another crop o' 
 
 hay?' 
 
 an' I don't know how to answer, for I'm thinkin' an' 
 
 I seem 
 like a feller jes' a-wakin' from the middle of a dream ; 
 an' the horse is out o' harness, with his mane a-flowin' 
 
 free, 
 an' the rose that stole her kisses — well, she kisses it 
 
 an' me I 
 
55 
 
 iamque ' vale ' tempestivum per basia iuro, 
 
 in medium durent basia laeta diem, 
 testis alauda refert, captant quoque basia venti ; 
 
 at sibi saviolum vindicat ecce rosa. 
 cessat humi vomer ; dubitantia lumina velo, 
 
 teque oculi spectant, vita, per arva mei. 
 'me venti risere, et alaudae fabula fio: 
 
 basia surripuit mi rosa priva ' queror. 
 mox hilari lacerat me carmine turba volucrum, 
 
 spicaque et herba meos conditur ante pedes : 
 respiciens placidis me bos miratur ocellis, 
 
 oscula ferre procax nunc segetesne parem. 
 verborum vice destituor, velut excita somno 
 
 prospiciens vastum Cressa puella mare. 
 
 dempta bovi iuga, languet iners ; patiturque puellae 
 
 iam rosa iam mecum basia cara meae. 
 
 S. G. O. 
 
56 
 ON HUMAN KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 The wits that dived most deep, and soared most high, 
 seeking Man's powers, have found his weakness such : 
 
 ' skill comes so slow and life so fast doth j%, 
 we learn so little and forget so much,' 
 
 for this the wisest of all moral men 
 
 said * he Mew naughty hut that he naught did know ; ' 
 and the great mocking Master mocked not then, 
 
 when he said * Truth was buried deep hehw,* 
 
 for how may we to others' things attain, 
 
 when none of us his own soul understands? 
 
 for which the Devil mocks our curious brain, 
 when ^Jcnow thy self his oracle commands. 
 
 for why should we the busy Soul believe, 
 when boldly she concludes of that and this ; 
 
 when of herself she can no judgement give, 
 
 nor how, nor whence, nor where, nor what she is? 
 
 all things without, which round about we see, 
 we seek to know, and how therewith to do ; 
 
 but that whereby we reason, live and be, 
 within ourselves, we strangers are thereto. 
 
 we seek to know the moving of each sphere, 
 
 and the strange cause of the ebbs and floods of Nile ; 
 
 but of that clock which in our breasts we bear, 
 the subtil motions we forget the while. 
 
 we that acquaint ourselves with every Zone, 
 and pass both Tropics and behold the Poles, 
 
 when we come home are to ourselves unknown, 
 and unacquainted still with our own Souls. 
 
 SIR JOHN DAVIES. 
 
57 
 
 H Tl META ZmOISIN EGN nEPI TQNAE MATEYE12 ; 
 
 Ima, suprema diu lustrans Sapientia qui sis 
 
 quaerit et 'heu^ tandem ^nullus es/ inquit ''homo; 
 ars tibi tarda venit, rapido pede praeterit aetas : 
 
 disdmus inviti, dedidicisse leve est.' 
 qui cunctos sapiens superavit recta docentes, 
 
 nosse negat quicquam se nisi nosse nihil ; 
 seria qui ludit Grains, non ilia iocatur : 
 
 ^vera sub ingenti mole sepulta latent' 
 quo tu iure igitur tractare aliena parabis, 
 
 qui nescis mentem dispicere ipse tuam ? 
 te numen, quocumque calent oracula, ridet, 
 
 Pythia noscendum quod sibi quemque canit. 
 ecqua fides animae statuenti plurima nobis? 
 
 quaene legit gnava sedulitate, probem? 
 ipsius ignara est qua sit ratione creata ; 
 
 quin scire ipsa ubi sit, quaeque, vel unde, negat. 
 quot circumspicimus, quaeramne ego nomina rerum, 
 
 quaque ad me faciant condicione rogem ; 
 cum, quo vita mUii quo mens naturaque constat, 
 
 quid sit id interius nescius esse velim? 
 scrutamur cupidi stellas caelique meatus ; 
 
 flumina qua tollas, qua vice, Nile, premas : 
 machina mens hominis, quam quisque in pectore gestans, 
 
 immemor arcanae neglegit artis opus, 
 tu quem zona avidum terrarum nulla fefellit, 
 
 qui Seras visis, visis Hyperboreos ; 
 ad te, stulte, redi ; num te cognoveris ipsum ? 
 
 quae tibi cura tuae mentis inausa manet ! 
 
 J. S. P. 
 
58 
 
 ON A BEAUTIFUL YOUTH STRUCK BLIND WITH 
 LIGHTNING. 
 
 Sure 'twas by Providence design'd, 
 
 rather in pity than in hate, 
 that he should be, like Cupid, blind, 
 
 to save him from Narcissus' fate. 
 
 O. GOLDSMITH. 
 
 A BROKEN IDOL. 
 
 The Sibyl wrote her songs on leaves, 
 and left them for the winds to ravish: 
 
 so whosoe'er in spirit grieves 
 
 should on the air his poor thoughts lavish. 
 
 poor thoughts of mine, whose heart is set 
 
 in icicles' cold crust forever ; 
 my dreary pain cannot forget 
 
 its ache for one who comes back never. 
 
 blue eyes, gold-haired imperial head, 
 proud scornful lips as red as cherries, 
 
 heart stony as the lips were red, 
 
 tongue deadly as most poisonous berries: — 
 
 such was my love : o cruel love 
 
 to win and mock and then desert me ! 
 
 dead to all pity thou didst prove, 
 devil not angel thus to hurt me. 
 
 I write my thoughts on leaves or air, 
 I write and fain would not remember 
 
 the joys I felt when Love was fair 
 in June, now frosted in December. 
 
59 
 
 GEGN AOPA. 
 
 Proposito nimirum ita di voluere benigno : 
 exemplum saevae nee feritatis habes. 
 
 lumine captus erat (mihi crede) Cupidinis instar 
 Narcissi pareret ne sibi fata puer. 
 
 S. G. O. 
 
 PLVS AEQVO FLAVI PLACVERE CAPILLL 
 
 Carmina mandabat foliis Cumaea Sibylla, 
 
 permisitque eadem diripienda Notis. 
 a ! quicumque doles meditataque carmina curas, 
 
 ferre levi vento tristia verba dabis. 
 triste cano tristis ; torpet mens aegra dolore, 
 
 frigore ut increto cana pruina riget. 
 heu ! frustra quaero miserarum oblivia rerum, 
 
 cum meus baud umquam sit rediturus amor, 
 caeruleis placet ille oculis flavoque capillo, 
 
 utque rubent cerasi labra superba rubent. 
 idem crudelis silices sub pectore versat, 
 
 illius in lingua dira venena latent, 
 sic mihi notus Amor ; qui me levis ante domabat. 
 
 iam ridet siccis deseruitque genis. 
 inmemor humanae sortis mea volnera vexat 
 
 ecce Perilleum crimen adortus Amor, 
 carmina committo foliis auraeque protervae, 
 
 sed, puto, Lethaeis cuncta dabuntur aquis. 
 lunius attulerat quae gaudia rara December 
 
 abstulit : oblito pectore detur agam. 
 
 S. G. O. 
 
6o 
 
 IMITATED FROM WORDSWORTH, 
 
 He brought a team from Inversnaid 
 
 to play our Third Fifteen, 
 a man whom none of us had played 
 
 and very few had seen. 
 
 he weighed not less than eighteen stone, 
 
 and to a practised eye 
 he seemed as little fit to run 
 
 as he was fit to fly. 
 
 he looked so clumsy and so slow, 
 
 and made so little fuss ; 
 but he got in behind— and oh, 
 
 the difference to us! 
 
 E. F. MURRAY. 
 
 TWO STRINGS TO A BOW. 
 
 I don't want the one that I don't want to know 
 
 that I want the one that I want: 
 but the one that I want now wants me to go 
 
 and give up the one I don't want, 
 why I don't want the one that I don't want to know 
 
 that I want the one that I want, 
 is if I miss the one that I want (don't you know) 
 
 I might want the one I don't want. 
 
6i 
 
 INGENS MEDIA CONSISTIT HARENA. 
 
 Venerat atque una comitum longissimus ordo, 
 
 aemula nostrorum caestibus ilia cohors. 
 nulli notus erat nuUique occurrerat ante, 
 
 spectarant tantum vix duo tresve virum. 
 invenies huius libras in mole ducentas ; 
 
 motus visa quidem membra negare vicem. 
 risimus : * heus ! frustra pedibus cito currere temptet : 
 
 alati officium tam facile iste petat.' 
 tardus erat, vasto se corpore vixque movebat, 
 
 nee se iactabat verbaque pauca dedit : 
 
 sed simul ac pugnam commisimus ilicet omne 
 
 momentum in tardo sensimus esse viro. 
 
 S. G. O. 
 
 MELIVS DVO DEFENDVNT RETINACVLA NAVIM. 
 
 Illud, quod fugio, certe cognoscere nolim 
 me, quod amo, ex imo pectore discupere. 
 
 verum istud, quod amo, me nunc indicere gestit 
 illi, quod fugio, flebile discidium. 
 
 illud, quod fugio, quare iam scire recusem 
 me, quod amo, cupido corde perire, rogas? 
 
 nimirum, quod amo, mihi sors si dura negarit, 
 
 in me, quod fugio, iura superba dabit. 
 
 S. G. O. 
 
62 
 
 A DREAM OF FAIR WOMEN. 
 
 At length I saw a lady within call, 
 
 stiller than chisell'd marble, standing there ; 
 
 a daughter of the gods, divinely tall, 
 and most divinely fair. 
 
 her loveliness with shame and with surprise 
 froze my swift speech: she turning on my face 
 
 the star-like sorrows of immortal eyes, 
 spoke slowly in her place. 
 
 * I had great beauty : ask thou not my name : 
 
 no one can be more wise than destiny, 
 many drew swords and died, where'er I came 
 I brought calamity.' 
 
 * no marvel, sovereign lady : in fair field 
 
 myself for such a face had boldly died,' 
 I answer'd free ; and turning I appeal'd 
 to one that stood beside. 
 
 but she, with sick and scornful looks averse, 
 to her full height her stately stature draws ; 
 
 ' my youth,' she said, * was blasted with a curse : 
 this woman was the cause. 
 
 'I was cut off from hope in that sad place, 
 which men called Aulis in those iron years: 
 
 my father held his hand before his face; 
 I, blinded with my tears, 
 
 * still strove to speak: my voice was thick with sighs 
 
 as in a dream, dimly I could descry 
 the stern black-bearded kings with wolfish eyes, 
 waiting to see me die. 
 
^3 
 
 FORMOSAE VENIANT CHOBVS HEROINAE. 
 
 lamque citra vocis mihi visa adstare loquelam 
 
 femina, ceu caelo marmora ficta rigent ; 
 at divom confessa genus stat maxima toto 
 
 corpore, nee tacuit splendor in ore deam. 
 obstipui, tantum fecit mihi forma pudorem ; 
 
 vox haesit subito faucibus orta gelu: 
 sidereos oculos versa immortale dolentis 
 
 ilia, ut erat, lenta talia voce refert : 
 'pulchra fui: nostrum noli tu quaerere nomen. 
 
 quis prudens Parcas aequiparare potest ? 
 quot strictis turmae gladiis periere virorum ! 
 
 quoquo me tuleram, sacra ego pestis eram.' 
 * nee mirum, regina ; acie non ipse negassem 
 
 pro facie mortem fortis obire tua.' 
 libera fatus eram: sed se comes altera nobis 
 
 addiderat verbis testificanda meis: 
 quae tamen aegra tuens, voltu aversata superbo 
 
 sublimi stabat frontis honore decens : 
 'at mihi florentem laeserunt dira iuventam, 
 
 exitiique nocens haec mihi causa fuit : 
 spem mihi testantur crudelia litora raptam, 
 
 Aulida dixerunt ferrea saecla locum, 
 stat pater, et flentis dextra sua lumina velat, 
 
 caecabatque oculos lacrima oborta meos : 
 conataeque loqui vix dant suspiria fauces, 
 
 ut stupor est aegris noctis imaginibus. 
 horrida per nebulam vidi subsellia regum, 
 
 vidi oculis poenae tota inhiare meae. 
 
64 
 
 * the high masts flicker'd as they lay afloat ; 
 
 the crowds, the temples, waver'd, and the shore ; 
 the bright death quiver'd at the victim's throat ; 
 
 touch'd ; and I knew no more.' 
 
 whereto the other with a downward brow: 
 *I would the white cold heavy-plunging foam, 
 
 whirl'd by the wind, had roU'd me deep below, 
 then when I left my home.' 
 
 LORD TENNYSON. 
 
 LOVE STRONG AS DEATH. 
 
 The soldier dies for country and for kin ; 
 
 he dies for fame that is so sweet to win : 
 
 and, part for duty, part for battle-doom, 
 
 he wends his way to where the myrtles bloom ; 
 
 he gains a grave, perchance a recompense 
 
 beyond his seeking, and a restful sense 
 
 of soul-completion, far from any strife, 
 and far from memory of his land's defence. 
 
 be this my meed : — to die for love of thee, — 
 as when the sun goes down upon the sea 
 and finds no mate in all the realms of earth, 
 for I have looked on Nature in its worth 
 and found no resting-place in all the spheres, 
 and no relief beyond my sonnet-tears, — 
 
 the soul-fed shudderings of my lonely harp 
 that knows the gamut now of all my fears. 
 
 ERIC MACKAY. 
 
65 
 
 aequor habet naves trepidantibus aere malis, 
 
 incertumque micant litora, templa, viri. 
 nex acie splendens tremula cervicibus instat ; 
 
 exanimis ferro victima tacta ruo.' 
 altera fixa graves terra respondet ocellos: 
 
 * o utinam gelido monte tumentis aquae 
 demersam spumis cumulassent flamina canis, 
 
 cum patrem patrios destituique lares ! ' 
 
 J. S. P. 
 
 ME QVOQVE MVSA LEVAT. 
 
 Pro patria occumbit miles carisque propinquis, 
 
 pro fama, quo nil suavius, ille perit ; 
 illaesamque fidem bellique extrema secutus 
 
 quo spirant flores, myrtea prata, redit. 
 occidit heu! tumulum nactus sperataque numquam 
 
 praemia, cui merces dulcis et alta quies. 
 conscius is meriti nil iam certamina curat, 
 
 nil fera pro laribus proelia gesta suis. 
 mortem obeam pro te solus ; mors sit mihi merces ; 
 
 solus in occiduum sol cadit usque mare, 
 ille parem frustra sibi quaerit, et ipse requiro 
 
 mi frustra toto iam miser orbe parem. 
 nee pacem tellus neque lucida sidera praebent ; 
 
 solatur luctum nil nisi triste melos. 
 ecce inhians chordis iam solus imagine pascor ; 
 
 implentur numeris cura timorque suis. 
 
 S. G. O. 
 
66 
 
 ON FIRST LOOKING INTO CHAPMANS HOMER. 
 
 Much have I travelled in the realms of gold, 
 
 and many goodly states and kingdoms seen ; 
 
 round many western islands have I been 
 which bards in fealty to Apollo hold, 
 oft of one wide expanse had I been told 
 
 that deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne : 
 
 yet never did I breathe its pure serene 
 till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold : 
 then felt I like some watcher of the skies 
 
 when a new planet swims into his ken ; 
 or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes 
 
 he stared at the Pacific (and all his men 
 looked at each other with a wild surmise) 
 
 silent, upon a peak in Darien. 
 
 J. KEATS. 
 
 TO HIS EVER-LOVING GOD. 
 
 Thou bid'st me come ; I cannot come ; for why ? 
 Thou dwell'st aloft, and I want wings to fly. 
 to mount my soul, she must have pinions given ; 
 for, 'tis no easy way from earth to heaven. 
 
 R. HERRICK. 
 
6? 
 
 PRIORES MAEONIVS TENET SEDES HOMERVS, 
 
 Aurea saepe fuga peragravi regna viator, 
 
 vidi urbes claras imperiique decus. 
 Hesperio legi oceano loca consita, Phoebus 
 
 vatibus addixit quae retinenda piis. 
 saepius audieram vastos splendescere campos 
 
 quos fidicen largae frontis, Homere, regis ; 
 nee prius hos puros haustus, hunc aethera traxi, 
 
 Vergilii quam vox auribus intonuit. . 
 tunc ego laetabar qualis qui sidera servans 
 
 prospicit ante aciem sidus obire novum ; 
 Neritiusve audax oculis ubi singula lustrans 
 
 cum sociis pontum viderat Ionium: 
 ille sua attonita comitum stipante caterva 
 
 in scopulo mutus constitit Hadriaco. 
 
 S. G. 0. 
 
 SVBLIMI FERIAM SIDERA VERTICE. 
 
 Ire lubes : at non caelum tractabile. quare ? 
 
 mi desunt pennae, tu loca celsa colis. 
 aligero certe mundi scandatur in arces: 
 
 non datur ad superos tendere prona via. 
 
 S. G. O. 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
INDEX OF FIRST LINES 
 
 Ah, friend ! 'tis true (this truth you lovers know) 
 
 As ships, becalmed at eve, that lay . 
 
 At length I saw a lady within call . 
 
 Bring out the hemlock, bring the funeral yew 
 
 Dost thou look back on what hath been . 
 
 From her side I go a-singin' in the mornin* cool an' grey 
 
 He brought a team from Inversnaid . 
 
 Hope springs eternal in the human breast 
 
 I don't want the one that I don't want to know 
 
 If thou survive my well-contented day 
 
 I have a garden of my own 
 
 Just for a handful of silver he left us 
 
 Much have I travelled in the realms of gold 
 
 Now thou art dead, no eye shall ever see 
 
 One day I wrote her name upon the strand 
 
 sweet delight, o more than human bliss 
 
 O wild-reaven west winds ; as you do roar on 
 
 Put forth thy leaf, thou lofty plane . 
 
 So glides along the wanton brook 
 
 Sound of vernal showers . 
 
 Sure 'twas by Providence design'd 
 
 The curfew tolls the knell of parting day 
 
 The lark now leaves his watery nest . 
 
 The rain set early in to-night . 
 
 The Sibyl wrote her songs on leaves . 
 
 The soldier dies for country and for kin 
 
 Tho sunbeams are my shafts, with which I kill 
 
 The wits that dived most deep and soared mobt high 
 
 PAGE 
 
 . 44 
 
 . 26 
 
 . 62 
 
 . 30 
 
 . 24 
 
 . 52 
 
 . 60 
 
 . 14 
 
 . 60 
 
 . 20 
 
 . 42 
 
 . 12 
 
 . 66 
 
 2 
 
 . 22 
 
 . 16 
 
 . 28 
 
 . 40 
 
 . 20 
 
 . 36 
 
 . 58 
 
 2 
 
 • 52 
 
 • 34 
 . 58 
 . 64 
 . 26 
 . 56 
 
70 
 
 PAGE 
 
 They fell devoted, but undying 32 
 
 This is the Heath of Hampstead 48 
 
 Thou bid'st me come ; I cannot come ; for why ? . . .66 
 
 To my true king I offered free from stain 46 
 
 Under the wide and starry sky 40 
 
 Vaine men, whose follies make a God of Love . . . .38 
 We have done with Hope and Honour, we are lost to Love and 
 
 Truth 18 
 
 We travelled in the print of olden wars 18 
 
 When lovely woman stoops to folly 34 
 
 When thou must home to shades of underground . . . 42 
 
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