Suffusa multa luce rosaria ;
Sparsimque pratis asphodeli calyx

Effulget, æternique rore

Se recreans amaranthus ævi.

Argenteorum leniter amnium
Labuntur oras ad virides aquæ;

Auditur occulto recessu

Unda cadens, aviumque cantus,

Et mota blando chorda Favonio.
Haud finis ullus temporis aut loci ;

Utcunque mutavere sedes,

Arva patent vacuique campi.

Et tædiorum gens ea nescii:
Æstiva non tam fulgura luserint,

Quam vita pertentat beatos

Perpetuâ vice gaudiorum.

Impune mentes præteritum movet,
Et sæpe dulci ludit imagine,

Ut si quid in terris amâssent

Sanctius et melius resurgat.

The pilgrim oft by whispering trees
Hath stretcht his weary limbs at ease

And laid his burden down:
The reaping-man hath dropt his scythe,
Around him gather'd harvests blithe

The field with plenty crown.

The warrior-chief in soft repose
Bethinks him of his vanquish'd foes,

And martial sounds begin
To rattle in his slumbering ear,
The rolling drum, the soldier's cheer,

And dreadful battle-din.

The lover, whom untimely fate
Hath sever'd from a worthy mate,

Expects the destin'd hour,
When she shall come, his bliss to share,
In beauty clad, divinely fair,

With love's immortal dower.

Meanwhile in many a vision kind
He sees her imaged to his mind;

And for her brow he weaves
A mystic bridal coronel,
Such as no poet's tongue can tell,

Nor human heart conceives.

Viator altâ sub platano jacit
Defessa longis membra laboribus ;

Et falce decisas colonus

Lustrat opes cerealis agri. .

Dormit quieti margine rivuli,
Et gesta quondam se duce prælia

Miratur apparere somnis

Bellipotens : oritur repente

Tumultus hastarum et litui strepor, Et mox phalangum ad bella ruentium

Concursus, et sævi furores,

Et medii fremitus duelli.

a

Conjux ademptus conjugis a sinu
Expectat horam, quâ sibi, quâ suis

Cum dote cælesti refulgens

Connubiis redeat puella ;

Cernitque jam nunc aurea somnians, Qualemque vates nec cecinit, neque

Humana concepere corda,

Ipse parat capiti coronam.

a

And now the stranger with a band
Of fond companions hand in hand

Is led into the grove;
And straight for his beloved he looks ;
Around the vales, the meads, the brooks,

His eyes impatient rove:

Whom on a bank of mossy green
Reclined he sees, by her is seen,

And in a moment both
Together rush, like sunbeams meet,
And in a perfect union sweet

Renew their early troth :

And all the fond Elysian band
Around the pair in rapture stand,

And songs triumphal chime:
Oh, this is love, and life to live,
Such joy as Hymen cannot give;

Soul-harmony sublime !

Videsne ? ducunt in nemus advenam

Læti sodales : ille per obvia

:
Vireta lucorumque flexus

Sollicitum jaciens ocellum

Quærit maritam; quam viridi super Ripâ jacentem protinus aspicit

Aspectus, incurritque fidos

Alter in alterius lacertos :

Ceu lympha lymphæ mobilis influit, Et flamma flammam sueta prehendere,

Sic Umbra commiscetur Umbræ

Ut veteres renovent amores.

Ornata vittis agmina Manium
Circumsteterunt; et chorus incipit

Cantare, pæan mille vocum,

Mille simul resonare chordæ :

En vita felix! en amor unicus,
Quem nescit Hymen jungere vinculo;

Sublimis, incorrupta virtus,

Consocians animos fideles !