Floriferæ nactus, ripa viridante quiescit.
Hic divina videt strata convivia mensa :
Ambrosios fructus vitæ adcumulaverat arbos,
Fons vitæ ambrosium nectar; dein ipse vigorem
Hic novat effetum longa esurieque sitique

(Credere si dignum est); juxta cælestia cantant
Cælicolæ; inlecebras victas, victumque superbum
Qui trahere inlecebris Christum speraverat, hostem.
T. S. G., 1865.

TITHONUS.

AYE me! aye me! the woods decay and fall,
The vapours weep their burthen to the ground,
Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath,
And after many a summer dies the swan.
Me only cruel immortality

Consumes: I wither slowly in thine arms,
Here at the quiet limit of the world,

A white-hair'd shadow roaming like a dream
The ever-silent spaces of the East,

Far folded mists, and gleaming halls of Morn.
Alas! for this grey shadow, once a man—
So glorious in his beauty and thy choice,
Who madest him thy chosen, that he seem'd
To his great heart none other than a God!
I ask'd thee, "Give me immortality."
Then didst thou grant mine asking with a smile,
Like wealthy men who care not how they give.
But thy strong Hours indignant work'd their wills,
And beat me down and marr'd and wasted me,
And though they could not end me, left me maim'd
To dwell in presence of immortal youth,

GREEK IAMBICS.

“Longa Tithonum minuit senectus. "HORACE.

ΟΙΜΟΙ· φθίνει τὰ φύλλα καὶ πίτνει σαθρὰ, ἀτμοὶ δὲ δακρύουσιν ἐς πέδον βάρος ἄνθρωπος ἐλθὼν γῆν ἀροῖ, κεῖταί τ' ἄρα νέρθεν· θέρη δὲ πόλλ ̓ ἔχων θνήσκει κύκνος. μόνον δ ̓ ἔτριψ ̓ ἔμ ̓ ἀμβρότου λώβη βίου· ἐν ταῖσι γὰρ σαῖς ἀγκάλαις αὐαίνομαι, ὧδ ̓ ἥσυχον πρὸς τέρμα γῆς ἀλώμενος, λευκὸν σκιᾶς εἴδωλον ὣς, πρὸς ἀντολῶν χώρας ἀφώνους, φωσφόρους θ' Εω δόμους, κόλπους θ ̓ ὁμιχλῶν τηλόθεν πεπλεγμένων. φεῦ τῆσδε λευκῆς νῦν σκιᾶς· τὸ πρὶν γὰρ ἦν κάλλει τε φαιδρός σοί τ ̓ ἀνὴρ ἐξαίρετος, ὑψηγόροισιν ὡς θεὸς κομπῶν φρεσίν.

ἐγὼ “ δὸς εἶναί μ' ἄμβροτον” σ' ᾔτουν· σὺ δὲ δῶρον γελῶσά μοι κατήνυσας, δίκην

τῶν πλουσίων, οἷς ὧν διδοῦσιν οὐ μέλει.
Ωραι δὲ δεινὸν ἐξεπίμπλασαν κόρον,
θυμῷ κραταιαὶ, καὶ κατεσποδισμένον
κατέφθισάν με καὶ λελώβηνται κακῶς·
καὶ μὴ σθένουσαί μ' ἐξελεῖν ἀφίεσαν
χωλὸν κατοικεῖν ἄμβροτον πρὸς ἀμβρότου

Immortal age beside immortal youth,

And all I was in ashes.

Can thy love,

Thy beauty make amends, though even now
Close over us, the silver star, thy guide,

Shines in those tremulous eyes that fill with tears
To hear me? Let me go: take back thy gift.
Why should a man desire in any way

To vary from the kindly race of men,
Or pass beyond the goal of ordinance,

Where all should pause, as is most meet for all?
A soft air fans the cloud apart; there comes
A glimpse of that dark world where I was born.
Once more the old mysterious glimmer steals
From thy pure brows, and from thy shoulders pure
And bosom beating with a heart renew'd.
Thy cheek begins to redden through the gloom,
Thy sweet eyes brighten slowly close to mine
Ere yet they blind the stars, and the wild team
Which love thee, yearning for thy yoke arise
And shake the darkness from their loosen'd manes,
And beat the twilight into flakes of fire.

TENNYSON.

ἥβης γέροντα, τοῦ τε πρὶν κάλλους σποδόν. ἆρ ̓ οὖν ἄποινάν μοι σέθεν τοὐράσμιον κάλλος δίδωσιν ; ἀργυροῦς δ' ἀστὴρ πέλας τῶν σῶν τρεμόντων φαίνεται δι ̓ ὀμμάτων, ἐμοῦ λέγοντος, δακρύοις πεφυρμένων.

ἀνθ' ὧν μεθές με· δῶρον ἀναλαβοῦ τὸ σόν. τί γὰρ παθών τις διαφέρειν μέρει τινὶ ἄνθρωπος ὢν βούλοιτ ̓ ἂν ἀνθρώπων γένους, περᾶν τε τέρμα πρὸς θεῶν εἱμαρμένον, οὗ χρῆν ἐπισχεῖν πάντας, ὡς πᾶσιν πρέπει ; καὶ μὴν διοίγει πνεῦμα μαλθακὸν νέφος, στείχει δ ̓ ἀφεγγοῦς ὄψις, ἔνθ ̓ ἔφυν, χθονός. ἁγνῶν δὲ τῶν σῶν ὀφρύων αὖθις τὸ πρὶν δεινὸν σέλας μ' ὑπῆλθε, τῆς θ ̓ ἁγνῆς δέρης, κόλπων τ ̓, ἐν οἷς καινωθὲν ἅλλεται κέαρ. ἡ δ ̓ αὖ παρειὰ διὰ νεφῶν φοινίσσεται· τὼ σὼ δὲ βραδέως ὄσσε τοῖν ἐμοῖν πέλας ἐκλάμπετον νῦν, πρίν γ' ἀποκρύψαι φάος ἄστρων ἀμαύρων, πρὶν δὲ τοὺς σειραφόρους τὸ σὸν ζυγὸν ποθοῦντας ἐξελθεῖν λεχῶν· ἤξουσι γὰρ σείοντες ἐκ χαιτῶν σκότον τόν τ ̓ ὄρθρον ἐν σπινθῆρσι θραύοντες πυρός.

H. R. P., 1865.