Page:The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton.djvu/414

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��LATIN POEMS

��Et dixisse ' Vale ! nostri meniori bis ad

astra.' "Ite domuni impasti; domino jam non

vacat, agni. Quamquam etiam vestri nunquam memi-

nisse pigebit,

Pastores Thusci, Musis operata jtiventus, Hie Charis, atque Lepos; et Thuscus tu

quoque Damon, Antiqua genus nude petis Lucumonis ab

urbe. ego quantus eram, gelidi cum stratus ad

Arni Murmura, populeumque nemus, qua mol-

lior herba, 130

Carpere nunc violas, nunc summas carpere

myrtos, Et potui Lycidse certantem audire Menal-

cam ! Ipse etiam tentare ausus sum; nee puto

mul turn Displicui; nam sunt et apud me munera

vestra,

Fiscellse, calathique, et cerea vincla cicutse: Quin et nostra suas docuerunt nomina

fagos Et Datis et Francinus; erant et vocibus

ambo

Et studiis noti, Lydorum sanguinis ambo. " Ite domum impasti; domino jam non

vacat, agni.

Hsec mihi turn laeto dictabat roscida luna, 140 Dum solus teneros claudebam cratibus

hcedos.

Ah ! quoties dixi, cum te cinis ater babe- bat, ' N iiuc canit, aut lepori nunc tendit retia

Damon ; Vimina nunc texit varies sibi quod sit in

usus;' Et quse turn facili sperabam mente fu-

tura

Arripui voto levis, et prsesentia fiuxi. ' Heus bone ! numquid agis ? nisi te quid

forte retardat,

Imus, et arguta paulum recubamus in um- bra, Aut ad aquas Colni, aut ubi jugera Cassi-

belauni ? Tu mihi percurres medicos, tua gramina,

succos, 150

Helleborumque, hnmilesque crocos, foli-

umque hyacinthi, Quasque habet ista palus herbas, artesque

medentum.'

��dying eyes, and said, ' Farewell, do not for- get me as thou goest to the stars.'

" Go to your folds unfed, my lambs ; your master is troubled. Yet, for all, I shall never be weary of remembering you, Tuscan shepherds, youths devoted to the Muses; with you dwell Grace and Pleasant- ness. Thou, too, Damon, wert a Tuscan; thou tracest thy lineage from Lucca, an- cient city of Lucumon. Oh, how mighty was I, when I lay stretched by cool mur- muring Arno, where the poplar grove softens the herbage ! There I might pluck violets now, and now sprigs of myrtle, while I listened to Menalcas contending with Lycidas in song. I myself dared to enter the strife, and I think I did not much displease; for I have the gifts you gave me in reward, rush-baskets, and osier- plaits, and waxen reed-stops. Nay, Datis and Francinus, both of them famous schol- ars and singers, and both of Tuscan blood, taught my name in song to their native beeches.

" Go to your folds unfed, my lambs ; your master is troubled. Such strains as these the red moon used to whisper to my glad ear while I was shutting my kids in the close. Ah, how many times I said, even when though I knew it not the urn held thy ashes, ' Now Damon is sing- ing, or setting traps for the hare. Now he is plaiting osiers for his various uses.' With easy mind I hoped, and lightly I fitted the future to my wish, picturing it all present before my eyes. ' Heigh, friend,' I would say, ' art thou busy ? If nothing is to hinder, shall we go lie and chat in the shade, by the waters of Colne 1 or on the heights of Cassebelaunus ? 2 Thou shalt tell over to me thy herbs and medi- cines, hellebore, and crocus, and hyacinth- leaf; thou shalt tell me what simples are to be found in such and such a pond, and reveal to me all the arts of healing. Ah, perish the simples ! Perish the arts of

1 A river flowing past Horton. 1 Near St. Albans, in Herts.

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