Waters the odorous banks, that blow
Flowers of more mingled hue
Than her purfled scarf can show;
And drenches with Elysian dew
(List, mortals, if your ears be true)
Beds of hyacinth and roses,
Where young Adonis oft reposes,
Waxing well of his deep wound,
In slumbers soft, and on the ground
Sadly sits the Assyrian queen;
But far above, in spangled sheen,
Celestial Cupid, her famed son, advanced,
Holds his dear Psyche sweet entranced
After her wandering labours long,
Till free consent the gods among
Make her his eternal bride,
And from her fair unspotted side
Two blissful twins are to be born,
Youth and Joy: so Jove hath sworn.
μαλακὰς ὄχθας, καλὰ πνεούσας ἄνθη ποικίλα, τοῖς οὐκ αὐτῆς ἴσα πουλυβαφὲς πέπλον ἐμφαίνει. χεῖ δ ̓ ἄρ ̓ ἐέρσης ψεκάδ ̓ Ἠλυσίας (κλύετ ̓ ὦ θνητοί, θέμις οἷσι κλύειν) εἰς λέκτρα ῥόδων ἠδ ̓ ὑακίνθων, οἷς ἐπ ̓ ̓́Αδωνις θαμὰ, τῆς πικρᾶς ἐξ ὠτειλῆς ὑγιαζόμενος, κεῖται μαλακῶς, ἥ τ ̓ ̓Ασσυρία βασίλεια χαμαὶ πενθοῦσ ̓ ἵζει· παῖς δ ̓ ἐρικυδὴς ὁ ποθεινὸς Ερως, ὑψοῦ στίλβων ἀστεροφεγγὲς, τὴν ἀγαπητὴν Ψυχὴν ἀνέχει μετὰ τὰς μακρὰς ὄναρ ἡδὺ πλάνας, εἰς ὅ μιν ἄξει θείαν γαμετὴν
ἐπινευσάντων οὐρανιώνων,
καὶ γεννήσει σώματος ἁγνοῦ διδύμας, Ἥβην ἠδ ̓ Εὐφροσύνην, ὀλβιομοίρους·
τοῦτον Ζεὺς ὤμοσεν ὅρκον.
FROM MILTON'S PARADISE LOST.
Meanwhile the tepid caves, and fens, and shores,
Their brood as numerous hatch, from the egg that soon
Bursting with kindly rapture forth disclosed
Their callow young; but feather'd soon and fledge
They summ'd their pens; and, soaring the air sublime,
With clang despised the ground, under a cloud
In prospect. There the eagle and the stork
On cliffs and cedar-tops their eyries build :
Part loosely wing the region, part more wise
In common, ranged in figure, wedge their way,
Intelligent of seasons, and set forth
Their aëry caravan, high over seas
Flying, and over lands, with mutual wing
Easing their flight. So steers the prudent crane
Her annual voyage, borne on winds; the air
Floats, as they pass, fann'd with unnumber'd plumes :
From branch to branch the smaller birds with songs
Solaced the woods, and spread their painted wings
Till even: nor then the solemn nightingale
Interea cava terrarum tepidæque paludes
Littoraque innumeros ovis prægnantia fœtus
Parturiunt. Rupere almi simul ova calores,
Emicat implumis soboles; mox lævia sumit
Tegmina plumarum, teneras et concutit alas;
Mox rapit in sublime viam, et clangore sonanti
Spernit ovans terram, et caput inter nubila condit.
Hic aquilæ proles, hic alta ciconia ponit
Montibus et summo cedrorum in culmine nidum.
Pars temere ac diversa volat; pars agmine certo
Communem cuneis cursum sapientius urgent,
Tempora cœlorum expertæ, solitæque vagari
Trans mare, trans terram, et junctis sibi mutua pennis
Præstare auxilia, et facilem super aera currum.
Sic iter aerium venturæ provida brumæ
Grus peragens, vento invehitur; ruit ordine longo
Agmen, et ingenti sub verbere fluctuat aura.
At frondes intersaliens gens parva volucrum
Carmine solatur sylvas, et mille colores
Ceased warbling, but all night tuned her soft lays :
Others on silver lakes and rivers bathed
Their downy breast; the swan with arched neck,
Between her white wings mantling proudly, rows
Her state with oary feet; yet oft they quit
The dank, and, rising on stiff pennons, tower
The mid aërial sky: others on ground
Walk'd firm; the crested cock, whose clarion sounds
The silent hours, and the other whose gay train
Adorns him, colour'd with the florid hue
Of rainbows and starry eyes.
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