ASIA. HE He gave men speech, and speech created thought, Which is the measure of the universe; And Science struck the thrones of earth and heaven, Which shook, but fell not; and the harmonious mind Pour'd itself forth in all-prophetic song; And music lifted up the listening spirit Until it walk'd, exempt from mortal care, Godlike, o'er the clear billows of sweet sound; And human hands first mimick'd and then mocked, With moulded limbs more lovely than its own, ΑΣΙΑ. φθογγὴν βροτοῖς ἔδωκεν, ἐκ δὲ φθεγμάτων ἔβλαστε τοῦ ξύμπαντος ἓν μέτρον λόγος· Σοφία δ ̓ ἔπηλυς γῆς τε καὶ θεῶν θρόνους ἔσεισεν οὐ σφαλέντας· εὔρυθμος δὲ φρὴν ἐπέδραμ ̓ ὕμνων ἀναβολὰς χρηστηρίους, μελῳδίαισιν ὥστ ̓ ἀναπτερούμενον θνητῶν τιν ̓ ἔξω ξυμφορῶν θεοῦ δίκην βαίνειν ἐφ' ὑγροῖς κύμασιν τερπνοῦ μέλους. καὶ δὴ τελευτῶν εἶδος ἔσκωψεν βροτῶν ὃ τοῦθ ̓ ὑπερβαίνουσαν ἐκ μιμουμένης The human form, till marble grew divine, And mothers, gazing, drank the love men see He told the hidden power of herbs and springs, And Disease drank and slept. Death grew like Sleep. He taught the implicated orbits woven Of the wide-wandering stars; and how the sun Changes his lair, and by what secret spell The pale moon is transform'd, when her broad eye He taught to rule, as life directs the limbs, The tempest-wingèd chariots of the ocean, And the Celt knew the Indian. Cities then Were built, and through their snow-white columns flow'd The warm winds, and the azure æther shone, Such, the alleviations of his state, Prometheus gave to man; for which he hangs SHELLEY, μορφὴν διαρθρῶν ἰσοθέοις τυκίσμασιν, ὧν κάλλος αἱ γυναῖκες ἐνθυμούμεναι ἔτικτον ἃς τίς οὐκ ἰδὼν ἁλίσκεται ; ἐδείξαμεν δὲ τἀκ φυτῶν κρηνῶν τ ̓ ἄκη, αἱρεῖ δὲ τοὺς πίνοντας ἐξ ἄλγους ὕπνος, ὕπνου δὲ θάνατος ἐξομοιοῦται τρόποις. πολυπλάνων δ ̓ ἔφραζε συμπεπλεγμένας ἄστρων κελεύθους στροφάδας, ἥλιον θ ̓, ὅθεν τίν ̓ ἔρχεται κευθμῶνα, καὶ μήνης κύκλον, ποίαις ἐπῳδαῖς ὠχριᾷ κηλούμενος πελάγους ἀναυγήτοισιν ἐν μεταλλαγαῖς. λινόπτερ ̓ οὖν ὀχήματ' ἐμψύχοις ἴσα τίς ἄλλος ἐξηγήσατ' οἰακοστροφεῖν ; ἔγνω δὲ Κέλτης Ινδον. εἶτα πλινθυφῆ ἦν σταθμά, λευκὴν δ ̓ εὐαεῖς παραστάδα διῇσσον αὖραι, κυάνεος δ ̓ ὤφθη πόλος πόντου τε γλαυκὸν κῦμ ̓ ὑπόσκιοί τ' ἄκραι. τοιαῦτ ̓ ἀφέρτου δαίμονος κουφίσματα βροτοῖς Προμηθεύς ηὗρεν, ὧν μετάρσιος ταῖς μοιροκράντοις πημοναῖς αἰκίζεται. On An Early Death. A PEARLY dew-drop see some flower adorn But soon the sun permits a fiercer ray, Lo, in the dust the beauteous ruin lies; And the pure vapour seeks its native skies. A fate like this to thee, sweet boy, was givenTo sparkle, bloom and be exhaled to heaven. LORD BYRON. |