His wife which we do rather measure
Ad name of dignity than pleasure.
Up, youths! hold up your lights in air,
And shake abroad their flaming hair.
Now move united, and in gait,

As

you, in pairs, do front the state,
With grateful honours thank his grace
That hath so glorified the place:
And as, in circle, you depart

Link'd hand in hand; so, heart in heart,
May all those bodies still remain
Whom he with so much sacred pain
No less hath bound within his realms
Than they are with the ocean's streams.
Long may his Union find increase,

As he, to ours, hath deign'd his peace!

With this, to a soft strain of music, they paced once about, in their ring, every pair making their honours, as they came before the state: and then dissolving, went down in couples, led on by Hymen, the bride, and auspices following, as to the nuptial bower. After them, the musicians with this SONG.

Glad time is at his point arrived,

For which love's hopes were so long lived.
Lead, Hymen, lead away;

And let no object stay,

Nor banquets, but sweet kisses,

The turtles from their blisses.

'Tis Cupid calls to arm;

And this his last alarm.

See the words of Elius Verus in Spartian.

So Cat. in Nupt. Jul. et Manlii hath it. Viden' ut faces splendidas quatiunt comas? and by and by after, aureas quatiunt comas. 'This poem had for the most part versum intercalarem, or carmen amabæum: yet that not always one, but oftentimes varied, and sometimes neglected in the same song, as in ours you shall find observed.

Of this SONG, then, only one staff was sung; but because I made it both in form and matter to emulate that kind of poem, which was called Epithalamium, and by the ancients used to be sung when the bride was led into her chamber, I have here set it down whole, and do heartily forgive their ignorance whom it chanceth not to please. Hoping that nemo doctus me jubeat Thalassionem verbis dicere non Thalassionis.

EPITHALAMION.

Glad time is at his point arrived,

For which love's hopes were so long lived.
Lead, Hymen, lead away;

And let no object stay,

Nor banquets, but sweet kisses,

The turtles from their blisses.
'Tis Cupid calls to arm;

And this his last alarm.

Shrink not, soft virgin, you will love,
Anon, what you so fear to prove.
This is no killing war,

To which you pressed are;
But fair and gentle strife,
Which lovers call their life.
'Tis Cupid cries, to arm;
And this his last alarm.

Help, youths and virgins, help to sing
The prize, which Hymen here doth bring.

b

And did so lately rap

From forth the mother's lap,

* It had the name à Thalamo; dictum est autem Đáλaμos cubiculum nuptiale primo suo significatu, mapà rò aλeiv apa, quod est simul genialem vitam agere. Scal. in Poet.

h The bride was always feigned to be ravished ex gremio matris : or (if she were wanting) ex proximâ necessitudine, because that had

To place her by that side
Where she must long abide.
On Hymen, Hymen call,
This night is Hymen's all.
See! Hesperus is yet in view.
What star can so deserve of you?
Whose light doth still adorn
Your bride, that, ere the morn,
Shall far more perfect be,
And rise as bright as he;
When, like to him, her name
Is changed, but not her flame.

Haste, tender lady, and adventure;
The covetous house would have you enter,
That it might wealthy be,

And you, her mistress, see:
Haste your own good to meet;
And' lift your golden feet
Above the threshold high,

With prosperous augury.

Now, youths, let go your pretty arms;
The place within chants other charms.

succeeded well to Romulus, who, by force, gat wives for him and his, from the Sabines. See Fast. and that of Catui. Qui rapis teneram ad virum virginem.

i When he is Phosphorus, yet the same star, as I have noted before..

* At the entrance of the bride, the custom was to give her the keys, to signify that she was absolutely mistress of the place, and the whole disposition of the family at her care. Fest.

This was also another rite: that she might not touch the threshold as she entered, but was lifted over it. Servius saith, because it was sacred to Vesta. Plut. in Quæst. Rom. remembers divers causes. But that, which I take to come nearest the truth, was only the avoiding of sorcerous drugs, used by witches to be buried under that place, to the destroying of marriage amity, or the power of generation. See Alexand. in Genialibus, and Christ. Landus upon Catul.

Whole showers of roses flow;
And violets seem to grow,
Strew'd in the chamber there,
As Venus' mead it were.
On Hymen, Hymen call,
This night is Hymen's all.

m

Good matrons, that so well are known
To aged husbands of your own,
Place you our bride to night;
And snatch away the light :
That" she not hide it dead
Beneath her spouse's bed;
Nor he reserve the same
To help the funeral flame.
So! now you may admit him in ;
The act he covets is no sin,
But chaste and holy love,
Which Hymen doth approve :
Without whose hallowing fires
All aims are base desires.
On Hymen, Hymen call,
This night is Hymen's all.

Now free from vulgar spite or noise,
May you enjoy your mutual joys;
Now, you no fear controls,
But lips may mingle souls;
And soft embraces bind
To each the other's mind,
Which may no power untie,
Till one or both must die!

And look, before you yield to slumber,
That your delights be drawn past number;

m For this, look Fest. in Voc. Rapi.

no Quo utroque mors propinqua alterius ulterius captari putatur. Fest. ib.

Joys, got with strife, increase.
Affect no sleepy peace;

But keep the bride's fair eyes
Awake with her own cries,
Which are but maiden fears:
And kisses dry such tears.

Then coin them 'twixt your lips so sweet,
And let not cockles closer meet;

Nor may your murmuring loves
Be drown'd by Cypris' doves :
Let ivy not so bind

As when your arms are twined:
That you may both ere day,
Rise perfect every way.

And, Juno, whose great powers protect
The marriage-bed, with good effect,
The labour of this night

Bless thou, for future light:

And thou, thy happy charge,
Glad Genius, enlarge;

q

That they may both, ere day,
Rise perfect, ev'ry way.

And Venus, thou, with timely seed,
Which may their after-comforts breed,
Inform the gentle womb;
Nor let it prove a tomb :

But, ere ten moons be wasted,

The birth, by Cynthia hasted.

PA frequent surname of Venus, not of the place, as Cypria: but quod parere faciat, Tò KUεiv Tapéɣovoa, Theoph. Phurnut. and the grammarians upon Homer, see them.

Deus Naturæ, sive gignendi. And is the same in the male, as Juno in the female. Hence Genialis Lectus, qui nuptiis sternitur, in honorem Genii. Fest. Genius meus, quia me genuit.

She hath this faculty given by all the ancients. See Hom. Iliad. 0. Lucret. in prim. Virg. in ii. Georg. &c.