XXXVII.

ΜΑΚΑΡΩΝ ΝΗΣΟΙ.

ΦΘΙΝΩ, φθίνω, φιλίστη, χιὼν ὅπως ὑπ ̓ ἦρος ἀποφθίνω, φιλίστη, εὐδαιμόνων ἐπ ̓ ἀκτήν. ἐκεῖ μὲν ἄλγος οὐδέν, ἐκεῖ δέ κρυμὸς οὐδείς· γελανὲς αἰὲν ἦμαρ εὐδαιμόνων ἐπ ̓ ἀκτῇ.

σὲ δ' εὐσεβῆ, σὲ δ ̓ ἐσθλήν,

παύω πόνων μὲν ἄρτι,

λαμπρὸς δ' ἐσόψομ ̓ αὖθις
εὐδαιμόνων ἐπ ̓ ἀκτῇ.
ἐκεῖ καλῶν ἀρίστη

παῖς νῷν φίλη μετοικεῖ·
τῆς δ ̓ ἐφθονοῦμεν αἰνῶς
εὐδαιμόνων τότ ̓ ἀκτῇ.

σὺ δ ̓ ὑγρὸν ὄμμ ̓ ὄμορξαι·
ψυχὴ ποθεῖ χαλᾶσθαι
θεοὺς δ ̓ ἔχω προπόμπους
εὐδαιμόνων ἐπ ̓ ἀκτήν.
καὶ χαῖρέ μοι, φιλίστη
βροτῶν μὲν οὔτις ἀλκή,
ἀλλ ̓ εὖ ξυνοῦσιν ἔσται
εὐδαιμόνων ἐπ ̓ ἀκτῆς.

J. R.

XXXVIII.

The Laurel.

'TIS sung in ancient minstrelsy
That Phoebus wont to wear
The leaves of any pleasant tree
Around his golden hair,

Till Daphne, desperate with pursuit
Of his imperious love,

At her own prayer transformed, took root
A laurel in the grove.

Then did the Penitent adorn

His brow with laurel green;

And 'mid his bright locks never shorn

No meaner leaf was seen;

And poets sage, in every age,

About their temples wound

The bay; and conquerors thanked the gods With laurel chaplets crowned.

Into the mists of fabling time

So far runs backs the praise
Of beauty, which disdains to climb
Along forbidden ways;

That scorns temptation, power defies,
Where mutual love is not;

And to the tomb for rescue flies

When life would be a blot.

Wordsworth.

XXXVIII.

Laurus.

PHŒBUS, ut prisci memorant poetæ,
Siqua per sylvam placuisset arbos,
Nectere auratos solitus capillos
Fronde decora:

Donec audacem fugiens amorem
Constitit Daphne, et precibus petita
Stirpe decrescens, nova laurus almis
Se dedit umbris.

Conscius culpæ miseransque Raptor
Cœpit ex illo redimire dios

Laurea crines, neque viliorem
Ferre coronam.

Inde per cunctos pia turba vatum
Laurea frontem religavit annos ;
Inde Dis pugnæ sacra laureatus
Solvere victor.

Sic ab arcanis veterum tenebris
Fama virtutis repetenda castæ,
Turpium audentis vetitos honorum
Spernere calles:

Quæ, nisi juncti coeant amores,
Dona contemnit, neque cedet armis;
Provocans morti, nisi laus supersit
Integra vitæ.

R. P.

XXXIX.

The last Man.

ALL worldly shapes shall melt in gloom,
The Sun himself must die,

Before this mortal shall assume
Its immortality.

I saw a vision in my sleep,

That gave my spirit strength to sweep Adown the gulf of Time ;

I saw the last of human mould,

That shall Creation's death behold,
As Adam saw her prime.

The Sun's eye had a sickly glare,
The earth with age was wan,

The skeletons of nations were

Around that lonely man :

Some had expired in fight, the brands Still rusted in their bony hands;

In plague and famine some.

Earth's cities had no sound nor tread; And ships were drifting with the dead

To shores where all was dumb.

XXXIX.

ΠΑΝΤΑ τἀν γαίᾳ δνόφος ἐγκαλύψει, ἁλίῳ καὐτῷ γε θανεῖν ἀνάγκα,

πρὶν λαβεῖν θνατὸν τόδε σῶμα τὸ ζῆν

ἄφθιτον αἰές.

φάσμα κοιμαθέντι πέφηνε καμοί,

φάσμ ̓, ὃ ταῖς ἐμεῖς πραπίδεσσιν ἀλκὰν

δῶκε νήχεσθαι τὸν ἄβυσσον αἰῶ

-νος κατὰ κόλπον.

λοίσθιος πέφηνε γένους βροτείου, λοίσθιος βροτῶν βροτός, ᾧ πέπρωται εἰσορᾶν χρόνου τέλος, ὥς ποτ ̓ ἀρχὰν εἶδεν "Αδαμος.

Αλίου φῶς ἦν τι νοσῶδες· ὠχρὰ δ'
ἦν ὁρᾶν χθὼν γηραλέα· καμόντων
ὄστε ̓ ἐθνῶν ἀμπὶ τὸν ἄνδρα κῆνον
μοῦνον ἔπυθεν·

οἱ μὲν ἐν μάχῃ πέσον, ἐν γὰρ αὔαις
δοῦρ ̓ ἔτ ̓ εὐρώεντα σέσαπε χερσίν·
ἦσαν οἱ λίμῳ φθάρεν, ἦσαν οὓς ἀπ-
-ώλεσε λοιμος.

οὔτινα κτύπον ποδός, οὔτιν ̓ αὐδὲν ἔσχον αἱ πόλεις· νεκύων γέμουσαι προσπελάζοντ ̓ ἀϊόνεσσ ̓ ἀφώνοις

πάντοσε νάες.