Forsook the far-famed Athens,-inly moved
By Laïs' charms, by Laïs lured astray.-
And in voluptuous Eph'ra lived,-and loved,-
From Academic bowers far away.-J. BAILEY.
Part of the same. (P. 954.)
With her the sweet Anacreon stray'd,
Begirt with many a Lesbian maid;
And fled for her the Samian strand,
For her his vine-clad native land-
A bleeding country left the while
For wine and love in Sappho's isle.—ANON.
ANACREON. (Book xiii. § 72, p. 955.)
Anacreon.-Spirit of love, whose tresses shine Along the breeze in golden twine;
Come, within a fragrant cloud,
Blushing with light, thy votary shroud;
And, on those wings that sparkling play,
Waft, oh! waft me hence away!
Love! my soul is full of thee,
Alive to all thy luxury.
But she, the nymph for whom I glow,
The pretty Lesbian, mocks my woe;
Smiles at the hoar and silver'd hues
Which time upon my forehead strews.
Alas! I fear she keeps her charms
In store for younger, happier arms!
Sappho.-Oh Muse! who sitt'st on golden throne,
Full many a hymn of dulcet tone
The Teian sage is taught by thee;
But, goddess, from thy throne of gold,
The sweetest hymn thou 'st ever told,
He lately learn'd and sang for me.-THOS. MOORE.
Pelting with a purple ball,
Bright-hair'd Cupid gives the call,
And tries his antics one and all,
My steps to her to wile;
But she-for thousands round her vie-
Casts on my tell-tale locks her eye,
And bids the grey-hair'd poet sigh-
Another wins her smile!-ANON.
ALCMAN. (Book xiii. § 75, p. 958.)
Again sweet Love, by Cytherea led,
Hath all my soul possest;
Again delicious rapture shed
In torrents o'er my breast.
Now Megalostrata the fair,
Of all the Virgin train
Most blessed with her yellow floating hair-
Hath brought me to the Muses' holy fane,
To flourish there.-BLAND.
IBYCUS. (Book xiii. § 76, p. 958.)]
What time soft Zephyrs fan the trees
In the blest gardens of th' Hesperides,"
Where those bright golden apples glow,
Fed by the fruitful streams that round them flow,
And new-born clusters teem with wine
Beneath the shadowy foliage of the vine ;
To me the joyous season brings
But added torture on his sunny wings.
Then Love, the tyrant of my breast,
Impetuous ravisher of joy and rest,
Bursts, furious, from his mother's arms,
And fills my trembling soul with new alarms;
Like Boreas from his Thracian plains,
Clothed in fierce lightnings, in my bosom reigns,
And rages still, the madd'ning power—
His parching flames my wither'd heart devour;
Wild Phrensy comes my senses o'er,
Sweet Peace is fled, and Reason rules no more.
CHÆREMON. (Book xiii. § 87, p. 970.)
One to the silver lustre of the moon,
In graceful, careless, attitude reclined,
Display'd her snowy bosom, full unzoned
In all its naked loveliness: another
Led up the sprightly dance; and as she moved,
Her loose robes gently floating, the light breeze
Lifted her vest, and to the enraptured eye
Uncover'd her left breast. Gods! what a sight!
What heavenly whiteness! breathing and alive,
A swelling picture!-This from eyelids dark
Beam'd forth a ray of such celestial light,
As dazzled whilst it charm'd. A fourth appear'd,
Her beauties half uncover'd, and display'd
Her delicate arm, and taper fingers, small,
And round, and white as polish'd ivory.
Another yet, with garment loosely thrown
Across her neck and shoulders; as she moved,
The am'rous zephyrs drew aside her robe,
Exposed her pliant limbs, full, round, and fair,
Such as the Paphian Goddess might have own'd.
Love smiled at my surprise, shook his light wings,
And mark'd me for his victim.-Others threw
Their careless limbs upon the bank bedeck'd
With odoriferous herbs, and blossoms rare,
Such as the earth produced from Helen's tears,
The violet with dark leaves, the crocus too,
That gave a warm tint to their flowing robes,
And marjoram sweet of Persia rear'd its head
To deck the verdant spot.-ANON.
There one reclined apart I saw, within the moon's pale light, With bosom through her parted robe appearing snowy white: Another danced, and floating free her garments in the breeze, She seem'd as buoyant as the wave that leaps o'er summer
While dusky shadows all around shrunk backward from the place,
Chased by the beaming splendour shed like sunshine from her face.
Beside this living picture stood a maiden passing fair,
With soft round arms exposed: a fourth, with free and grace
Like Dian when the bounding hart she tracks through morning dew,
Bared through the opening of her robes her lovely limbs to
And oh! the image of her charms, as clouds in heaven above, Mirror'd by streams, left on my soul the stamp of hopeless love. And slumbering near them others lay, on beds of sweetest flowers,
The dusky-petal'd violet, the rose of Paphian bowers,
The inula and saffron flower, which on their garments cast And veils, such hues as deck the sky when day is ebbing
While far and near tall marjoram bedeck'd the fairy ground, Loading with sweets the vagrant winds that frolick'd all around.-J. A. ST. JOHN.
SEMOS. (Book xiv. § 2, p. 979.)
Poor mortal unmerry, who seekest to know
What will bid thy brow soften, thy quips and cranks flow, To the house of the mother I bid thee repair—
Thou wilt find, if she's pleased, what thy heart covets there.
MELANIPPIDES. (Book xiv. § 7, p. 984.)
But Athené flung away
From her pure hand those noxious instruments
It late had touch'd, and thus did say—
"Hence, ye banes of beauty, hence;
What? shall I my charms disgrace
By making such an odious face ?"-BLAND.
PRATINAS. (Book xiv. § 8, p. 985.)
What means this tumult? Why this rage?
What thunder shakes th' Athenian stage?
"Tis frantic Bromius bids me sing,
He tunes the pipe, he smites the string;
The Dryads with their chief accord,
Submit, and hail the drama's lord.
Be still! and let distraction cease,
Nor thus profane the Muse's peace;
By sacred fiat I preside,
The minstrel's master and his guide;
He, whilst the chorus strains proceed,
Shall follow with responsive reed;
To measured notes whilst they advance,
He in wild maze shall lead the dance.
So generals in the front appear,
Whilst music echoes from the rear.
Now silence each discordant sound!
For see, with ivy chaplet crown'd,
Bacchus appears! He speaks in me—
Hear, and obey the god's decree!—CUMBERLAND.
What revel-rout is this? What noise is here? What barb'rous discord strikes my ear? What jarring sounds are these, that rage Unholy on the Bacchic stage?
'Tis mine to sing in Bromius' praise'Tis mine to laud the god in dithyrambic lays
|