EPIGRAMS FROM THE GREEK

I

SPIRIT OF PLATO

EAGLE! why Soarest thou above that tomb?
To what sublime and star-y-paven home

I am the image of swift Plato's spirit,
Ascending heaven; Athens doth inherit
His corpse below.

II

CIRCUMSTANCE

A MAN who was about to hang himself,
Finding a purse, then threw away his rope;
The owner, coming to reclaim his pelf,

The halter found, and used it. So is Hope
Changed for Despair; one laid upon the shelf,
We take the other. Under heaven's high cope
Fortune is God; all you endure and do
Depends on circumstance as much as you.

Spirit of Plato. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18391. 5 doth, Boscombe MS. || does, Mrs. Shelley, 18391.

Circumstance. Published, without title, by Mrs. Shelley, 18391.

III

TO STELLA

FROM PLATO

THOU Wert the morning star among the living, Ere thy fair light had fled;

Now, having died, thou art as Hesperus, giving New splendor to the dead.

IV

KISSING HELENA

FROM PLATO

KISSING Helena, together

With my kiss, my soul beside it

Came to my lips, and there I kept it, For the poor thing had wandered thither, To follow where the kiss should guide it, Oh, cruel I, to intercept it!

FROM MOSCHUS

I

Τὰν ἅλα τὰν γλαυκὰν ὅταν ὥνεμος ἀτρέμα βάλλῃ

WHEN winds that move not its calm surface sweep The azure sea, I love the land no more;

To Stella. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18391.

Kissing Helena. Published without title, by Mrs. Shelley, 18391. From Moschus. Published with Alastor, 1816.

The smiles of the serene and tranquil deep
Tempt my unquiet mind. But when the roar
Of ocean's gray 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.

II

PAN, ECHO, AND THE SATYR

PAN loved his neighbor 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 three went
weeping.

As Pan loved Echo, Echo loved the Satyr,
The Satyr, Lyda; and so love consumed them.
And thus to each which was a woful matter
To bear what they inflicted Justice doomed them;

Pan, Echo, and the Satyr. Published, without title, by Mrs. Shelley, 1824.

3 Who loved, with wasting madness wandering wild, Hunt MS. cancelled.

4 bright fair, Hunt MS. cancelled.

6 so, Hunt MS., Forman || thus, Mrs. Shelley, 1824.

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.

III

FRAGMENT OF THE ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF BION

YE Dorian woods and waves lament aloud,
Augment your tide, O streams, with fruitless tears,
For the beloved Bion is no more.

Let every tender herb and plant and flower,
From each dejected bud and drooping bloom,
Shed dews of liquid sorrow, and with breath
Of melancholy sweetness on the wind
Diffuse its languid love; let roses blush,
Anemones grow paler for the loss

Their dells have known; and thou, O hyacinth,

Utter thy legend now yet more, dumb flower,
Than "ah! alas!

thine is no common grief –

Bion the [sweetest singer] is no more.

9 lover | loving, Hunt MS. alternate reading.

11:

Be not unkind to those who love ye

Be timely kind to those who love ye
This lesson timely in your minds turn over

The moral of this song in thought turn over.

Hunt MS. alternate readings.

Fragment of the Elegy on the Death of Bion. Published by Forman, 1876.

1 Weep, Dorian woods, weep, Hunt MS. cancelled.

2 with fruitless tears || and rivulets mourn, Hunt MS. cancelled;

tears or sorrow, Hunt MS. alternate reading.

6 Pour forth its dews of sorrow, Hunt MS. cancelled.

13 sweetest singer, omit, Hunt MS.

FROM BION

FRAGMENT OF THE ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF ADONIS

I MOURN Adonis dead-loveliest Adonis
Dead, dead Adonis and the Loves lament.
Sleep no more, Venus, wrapped in purple woof.
Wake, violet-stolèd queen, and weave the crown
Of Death - 'tis Misery calls for he is dead!

The lovely one lies wounded in the mountains, His white thigh struck with the white tooth; he

scarce

Yet breathes; and Venus hangs in agony there.
The dark blood wanders o'er his snowy limbs,
His eyes beneath their lids are lustreless,
The rose has fled from his wan lips, and there
That kiss is dead, which Venus gathers yet.

A deep, deep wound Adonis . . . A deeper Venus bears upon her heart. See, his beloved dogs are gathering round — The Oread nymphs are weeping. Aphrodite With hair unbound is wandering through the woods,

Fragment of the Elegy on the Death of Adonis. Published by Forman, 1876.

7, 8:

His white thigh struck with the white tooth, and she
Hangs over him to catch his passing breath.

12 gathers yet, Boscombe MS. cancelled.

17-19:

Boscombe MS. cancelled.

Loosening her hair is wandering through the woods
Wildered, ungirt, unsandalled - and the thorns
Pierce her, coming-

Boscombe MS. cancelled.