If you drink much after a mighty feast,
For God or mortal; or I needs must think That Chance is a supreme divinity,
And things divine are subject to her power.
Soon a crab the throat will seize Of him who feeds upon his guest, Fire will burn his lamp-like eyes In revenge of such a feast! A great oak stump now is lying In the ashes yet undying.
Come, Maron, come! Raging let him fix the doom, Let him tear the eyelid up, Of the Cyclops-that his cup May be evil!
Oh, I long to dance and revel With sweet Bromian, long desired, In loved ivy-wreaths attired;
Leaving this abandoned home- Will the moment ever come?
Be silent, ye wild things! Nay, hold your peace,. And keep your lips quite close; dare not to breathe,
Or spit, or e'en wink, lest ye wake the monster, Until his eye be tortured out with fire.
Moistening your thirsty maw, you will sleep well; Nay, we are silent, and we chaw the air.
If you leave aught, Bacchus will dry you up.
WHEN winds that move not its calm surface sweep The azure sea, I love the land no more: The smiles of the serene and tranquil deep Tempt my unquiet mind.-But when the roar Of ocean's grey abyss resounds, and foam Gathers upon the sea, and vast waves burst, I turn from the drear aspect to the home Of earth and its deep woods, where, interspersed, When winds blow loud, pines make sweet melody; Whose house is some lone bark, whose toil the sea, Whose prey, the wandering fish, an evil lot Has chosen.-But I my languid limbs will fling Beneath the plane, where the brook's murmuring Moves the calm spirit but disturbs it not.
PAN loved his neighbour Echo-but that child Of Earth and Air pined for the Satyr leaping; The Satyr loved with wasting madness wild The bright nymph Lyda-and so the three went weeping.
As Pan loved Echo, Echo loved the Satyr ; The Satyr, Lyda-and thus love consumed
And thus to each-which was a woeful matter- To bear what they inflicted, justice doomed them; For, inasmuch as each might hate the lover, Each, loving, so was hated.-Ye that love not Be warned-in thought turn this example over, That, when ye love, the like return ye prove not.
SONNET FROM THE ITALIAN OF DANTE.
DANTE ALIGHIERI TO GUIDO CAVALCANTI.
GUIDO, I would that Lappo, thou, and I, Led by some strong enchantment, might ascend A magic ship, whose charmed sails should fly With winds at will where'er our thoughts might So that no change, nor any evil chance, [wend, Should mar our joyous voyage; but it might be,
That even satiety should still enhance Between our hearts their strict community; And that the bounteous wizard then would place Vanna and Bice and my gentle love, Companions of our wandering, and would grace With passionate talk, wherever we might rove, Our time, and each were as content and free As I believe that thou and I should be.
THE "MAGICO PRODIGIOSO” OF CALDERON.
CYPRIAN as a Student; CLARIN and MoscoN as poor
IN the sweet solitude of this calm place, This intricate wild wilderness of trees
And flowers and undergrowth of odorous plants, Leave me; the books you brought out of the house To me are ever best society.
And whilst with glorious festival and song Antioch now celebrates the consecration Of a proud temple to great Jupiter, And bears his image in loud jubilee
To its new shrine, I would consume what still Lives of the dying day, in studious thought,
Far from the throng and turmoil. You, my friends, Go and enjoy the festival; it will
Be worth the labour, and return for me When the sun seeks its grave among the billows, Which among dim grey clouds on the horizon Dance like white plumes upon a hearse ;-and here I shall expect you.
Search even as thou wilt,
But thou shalt never find what I can hide.
What noise is that among the boughs? Who moves! What art thou?
"Tis a foreign gentleman. Even from this morning I have lost my way
Of the old world masked with the names of Gods
No;—and yet I know enough The attributes of Nature and of Man ; A sort of popular philosophy.
Not to be wholly ignorant.
This reply will not satisfy me, for
Such awe is due to the high name of God, That ill should never be imputed. Then, Examining the question with more care, It follows, that the gods should always will That which is best, were they supremely good. How then does one will one thing—one another? And you may not say that I allege Poetical or philosophic learning :- Consider the ambiguous responses
Of their oracular statues; from two shrines Two armies shall obtain the assurance of
One victory. Is it not indisputable That two contending wills can never lead To the same end? And, being opposite, If one be good is not the other evil? Evil in God is inconceivable ;
But supreme goodness fails among the gods Without their union.
I deny your major. These responses are means towards some end Unfathomed by our intellectual beam. They are the work of providence, and more The battle's loss may profit those who lose, Than victory advantage those who win.
That I admit, and yet that God should not (Falsehood is incompatible with deity)
« 上一頁繼續 » |