Unlucky cur, he steals away, And leaves me, half bereft of life, At mercy of the butcher's knife; When sudden, shouting from afar, See his antagonist appear!
The bailiff seized him quick as thought, "Ho, Mr. Scoundrel! Are you caught? Sir, you are witness to the arrest." "Ay, marry, Sir, I'll do my best." The mob huzzas. Away they trudge, Culprit and all, before the judge. Meanwhile I luckily enough
(Thanks to Apollo) got clear off.
TRANSLATION OF AN EPIGRAM FROM HOMER.*
PAY me my price, potters! and I will sing.
Attend, O Pallas! and with lifted arm Protect their oven; let the cups and all The sacred vessels blacken well, and, baked With good success, yield them both fair renown
*No title is prefixed to this piece, but it appears to be a translation of one of the Enураμμата of Homer called 'O Kaivos, or the Furnace. Herodotus, or whoever was the Author of the Life of Homer ascribed to him, observes, "certain potters, while they were busied in baking their ware, seeing Homer at a small distance, and having heard much said of his wisdom, called to him, and promised him a present of their commodity, and of such other things as they could afford, if he would sing to them, when he sang as follows."
And profit, whether in the market sold Or streets, and let no strife ensue between us. But, oh ye potters! if with shameless front Ye falsify your promise, then I leave No mischief uninvoked to avenge the wrong. Come, Syntrips, Smaragus, Sabactes, come, And Asbetus, nor let your direst dread, Omodamus, delay! Fire seize your house, May neither house nor vestibule escape, May ye lament to see confusion mar And mingle the whole labour of your hands, And may a sound fill all your oven, such As of a horse grinding his provender, While all your pots and flagons bounce within Come hither also, daughter of the sun, Circe the sorceress, and with thy drugs Poison themselves, and all that they have made! Come also, Chiron, with thy numerous troop Of centaurs, as well those who died beneath The club of Hercules, as who escaped, And stamp their crockery to dust; down fall Their chimney; let them see it with their eyes, And howl to see the ruin of their art, While I rejoice; and if a potter stoop To peep into his furnace, may the fire Flash in his face and scorch it, that all men Observe, thenceforth, equity and good faith.
MONTES GLACIALES, IN OCEANO GERMANICO NATANTES.
EN, quæ prodigia, ex oris allata, remotis, Oras adveniunt pavefacta per æquora nostras ! Non equidem priscæ sæclum rediisse videtur Pyrrhæ, cum Proteus pecus altos visere montes Et sylvas, egit. Sed tempora vix leviora Adsunt, evulsi quando radicitus alti
In mare descendunt montes, fluctusque pererrant. Quid verò hoc monstri est magis et mirabile visu? Splendentes video, ceu pulchro ex ære vel auro Conflatos, rutilisque accinctos undique gemmis, Baccâ cæruleâ, et flammas imitante pyropo. Ex oriente adsunt, ubi gazas optima tellus Parturit omnigenas, quibus æva per omnia sumptu Ingenti finxêre sibi diademata reges ?
Vix hoc crediderim. Non fallunt talia acutos Mercatorum oculos: prius et quàm littora Gangis Liquissent, avidis gratissima præda fuissent. Ortos unde putemus? An illos Ves'vius atrox Protulit, ignivomisve ejecit faucibus Ætna? Luce micant propriâ, Phœbive, per aëra purum Nunc stimulantis equos, argentea tela retorquent ? Phœbi luce micant. Ventis et fluctibus altis Appulsi, et rapidis subter currentibus undis, Tandem non fallunt oculos. Capita alta videre est Multâ onerata nive et canis conspersa pruinis.
Cætera sunt glacies. Procul hinc, ubi Bruma ferè
Contristat menses, portenta hæc horrida nobis Illa strui voluit. Quoties de culmine summo Clivorum fluerent in littora prona, solutæ Sole, nives, propero tendentes in mare cursu, Illa gelu fixit. Paulatim attollere sese Mirum cœpit opus; glacieque ab origine rerum In glaciem aggestâ sublimes vertice tandem Aquavit montes, non crescere nescia moles. Sic immensa diu stetit, æternumque stetisset Congeries, hominum neque vi neque mobilis arte, Littora ni tandem declivia deseruisset, Pondere victa suo. Dilabitur. Omnia circum Antra et saxa gemunt, subito concussa fragore, Dum ruit in pelagum, tanquam studiosa natandi, Ingens tota strues. Sic Delos dicitur olim, Insula, in Ægæo fluitâsse erratica ponto. Sed non ex glacie Delos; neque torpida Delum Bruma inter rupes genuit nudum sterilemque. Sed vestita herbis erat illa, ornataque nunquam Deciduâ lauro; et Delum dilexit Apollo. At vos, errones horrendi, et caligine digni Cimmeriâ, Deus idem odit. Natalia vestra, Nubibus involvens frontem, non ille tueri Sustinuit. Patrium vos ergo requirite cælum ! Ite! Redite! Timete moras; ni lenitèr austro Spirante, et nitidas Phœbo jaculante sagittas Hostili vobis, pereatis gurgite misti !
ON THE ICE ISLANDS, SEEN FLOATING IN THE GERMAN OCEAN.
WHAT portents, from what distant region, ride, Unseen till now in ours, the astonish'd tide? In ages past, old Proteus, with his droves
Of sea-calves, sought the mountains and the groves. But now, descending whence of late they stood, Themselves the mountains seem to rove the flood. Dire times were they, full charged with human wo es ; And these, scarce less calamitous than those. What view we now? More wondrous still! Behold! Like burnish'd brass they shine, or beaten gold; And all around the pearl's pure splendour show, And all around the ruby's fiery glow.
Come they from India, where the burning earth, All bounteous, gives her richest treasures birth; And where the costly gems, that beam around The brows of mightiest potentates, are found? No. Never such a countless dazzling store Had left unseen the Ganges' peopled shore. Rapacious hands, and ever watchful eyes, Should sooner far have mark'd and seized the prize. Whence sprang they then? Ejected have they come From Vesuvius', or from Ætna's burning womb? Thus shine they self-illumed, or but display The borrow'd splendours of a cloudless day?
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