(2)

Blinded with mist of the watery ages,
Eldest in race of all Tritons that be,
There, in the middle, the eyeless sea-sages
Harped of the wonders and works of the sea.
What mellow song from sweet Sicily flattered
Orpheus the bold and his mariner crew;
And how the trident of seagod had shattered
Continents vast into Cyclads of blue.

How the great deep, after tempest abated,
Washed a white waif to the caverns of green,
Whence driven thither no tongue hath related,
Or from high Heaven, or from inner ravine.
Long in the depths of her shimmering prison
Daughter and darling of ocean she lay:
Then with soft laughter to earth had arisen
Venus, a cloudlet of sun and of spray.

Down underneath, in the pause of the story,
Came the loud wail of the fugitive girl;
Till from his dwelling Peneius the hoary
Lifted his head o'er the roofing of pearl:
Marked the hot chase of the God to o'ertake her,
And, in deep pity of her the forlorn,

Sware a great oath by the mighty Earth-shaker,
Ocean should keep what of ocean was born.

So sware the God, and the oath was recordedStraightway the earth rose in wavelets around, Took and transfigured the maiden, and corded

Both her slight feet in a stem to the ground. Branches began where the shoulders had rounded, Leafy knots budded from bosom and brow, And in his triumph the victor confounded Clasped at a woman and kissed but a bough,

(2)

Tritonum in medio sedet antiquissima proles, lumina quis nebulae, saeclaque multa premunt. fortunasque graves mille et miracula ponti ad citharam caeci concinuere senes: mellitum Siculis surgens ut murmur ab oris Orphea temptarit magnanimosque duces: Neptunique tridens quassis quo numine terris Cycladas in glauca disposuisset aqua. candentem ut formam, cessavit ubi ira procellae, ad virides ingens egerit unda domos. an suprema poli liquit terraeve recessus ? divina unde fugam ceperit, ora silent. multos illa dies nitido se carcere ponti,

oceani suboles deliciaeque, tenet.

dein nebulae similis, cui sol ac spuma parentes, ad caelum ridens exsilit alma Venus.

sic memorant: subito media inter carmina divom lamentum attonitae virginis antra sonant. Peneusque pater vitrei laquearia tecti exsuperans canum sustulit ipse caput.

respicit incensum trepidanti in virgine Phoebum, nec miserans inopi ferre recusat opem. testor, ait, dominum terrae pelagique potentem; oceano genitam proteget oceanus.

audiit Omnipotens nulli revocabile votum surgit in undantes proxima terra sinus; nec mora, corripuit mutata fronte puellam, et gracilem in truncum nectit utrumque pedem. ex umeris teretes coeperunt surgere rami; arboreaeque micant fronte sinuque comae. at deus in medio victor victusque triumpho oscula dat nymphae; quod capit, arbor erat.

Where in the meadow was Daphne, the maiden,
Daphne, the laurel, arose to the sun;
Steadfastly rooted and foliage-laden,
Praising the Gods for deliverance won.
Then, as half woman, in gentle compassion
Of the wild lover, who wrought her alarm,
Swayed by the breeze, and in pain at his passion,
Circled his brow with her evergreen arm.

Lord Bowen.

CXXI

LACRIMAE MUSARUM

The seasons change, the winds they shift and veer; The grass of yesteryear

Is dead; the birds depart, the groves decay:
Empires dissolve and peoples disappear:

Song passes not away.

Captains and conquerors leave a little dust,

And kings a dubious legend of their reign;

The swords of Caesars, they are less than rust:
The poet doth remain.

Dead is Augustus, Maro is alive;

And thou, the Mantuan of our age and clime,
Like Virgil shall thy race and tongue survive,
Bequeathing no less honeyed words to time,
Embalmed in amber of eternal rhyme,

And rich with sweets from every Muse's hive;
While to the measure of the cosmic rune
For purer ears thou shalt thy lyre attune,
And heed no more the hum of idle praise
In that great calm our tumults cannot reach,
Master who crown'st our immelodious days
With flower of perfect speech.

W. Watson.

luserat in pratis Daphne; nunc arboris instar non alio solem nomine versa petit. stipite fixa suo foliorum sustinet umbram, custodesque deos in pia vota vocat.

nec minus insani miserescere femina temptat cortice sub duro dissimulata proci.

concita tum Zephyris—aegri solamen amoris— bracchia dat calido, laurea diva, deo.

M. 7. R.

CXXI

LACRIMAE MUSARUM

Fert natura vices: venti vaga flectit aura cursum ; iam gramen anni marcidum peracti. discedunt volucres, longo nemus exolescit aevo, ruitque moles dissoluta regni.

depereunt gentes et pulvere dissipantur urbes, divina sed vis carminis manebit.

in cineres belli victor venit, et duces superbi: fiunt potentes fabulae tyranni.

robigo gladios domat improba Caesarum minaces; vates perenni floret usque fama.

mortuus Augustus, vivit Maro; tuque, qui redonas caelo Maronem saeculoque nostro,

alter Vergilius, poteris genus et sacrare linguam, mellita verba traditurus aevo,

quae servant numeri terrestribus altiora damnis, favis frequentes et beant Camenae.

hinc arcana diem superantia gentiumque fines lyra sonabis auribus serenis;

non vanas laudes sectabere nec leves tumultus

procul quietis sedibus repostus,

annos degeneres eheu nimis asperumque vulgus flore absolutae qui foves loquellae.

CXXII

DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE

Faint as a climate-changing bird that flies
All night across the darkness, and at dawn
Falls on the threshold of her native land,
And can no more, thou camest, O my child,
Led upward by the God of ghosts and dreams,
Who laid thee at Eleusis, dazed and dumb
With passing thro' at once from state to state,
Until I brought thee hither, that the day,
When here thy hands let fall the gather'd flower,
Might break thro' clouded memories once again
On thy lost self. A sudden nightingale
Saw thee, and flash'd into a frolic of song
And welcome; and a gleam as of the moon,
When first she peers along the tremulous deep,
Fled wavering o'er thy face, and chased away
That shadow of a likeness to the king
Of shadows, thy dark mate. Persephone!

Queen of the dead no more-my child! Thine eyes
Again were human-godlike, and the Sun
Burst from a swimming fleece of winter gray,
And robed thee in his day from head to feet-
"Mother!" and I was folded in thine arms.

Child, those imperial, disimpassion'd, eyes
Awed even me at first, thy mother-eyes
That oft had seen the serpent-wanded power
Draw downward into Hades with his drift
Of ickering spectres, lighted from below
By the red race of fiery Phlegethon ;
But when before have Gods or men beheld
The Life that had descended re-arise,
And lighted from above him by the Sun?
So mighty was the mother's childless cry,
A cry that rang thro' Hades, Earth, and Heaven!