IDEM LATINE REDDITUM. Leniter incedas, venator amice, precamur, Leniter et litui murmura blanda sonent; Ne qua tuo ex cornu vox sacra silentia rumpat, Qua jacet in tacita Dux tumulatus humo. Si præ tristitia, venator amice, cadentes Moverunt lacrymas damna aliena tuas ; Tu minime fictis hodie dignabere guttis Rorare irriguum, quà jacet Eva, solum. Illius olim intra dilapsa sacraria fani Junxerunt ambo corde manuque fidem; Heu cito prætereunt suavissima tempora! belli Siccine dilectum perdet nunc Eva maritum? “0 quam ruricolæ sors est laudanda puellæ, Vilis et ex humili sit licet orta domo: Inscia curarum est quæ vexant pectora regum, Inscia curarum quæ mea corda premunt. Non illam dubius terror, non angor acerbus, Non agitant misera spesque timorque vice; Nunquam constrictum Fama imperiosa maritum Conjugis e gremio martis in arma trahit. Illa inter scopulos gandet secura vagari, Fallit et assiduo læta labore diem ;- Stramina sint lecti quamvis prædura, dolores Cur tamen hæc timeo? Fortesque bonosque tuetur Mille cadaveribus si mors ditaverit Orcum, While thine shall fly direct and sure, This glittering scarf, with tenderest care, Lo! on thy falchion keen and bright, Think how thy lips she fondly pressed, Think how she wept-compelled to part; Think, every wound which scars thy breast, Is doubly marked on Eva's heart !' 'O thou! my mistress, wife, and friend !'— Thus Agilthorn with sighs began; 'Thy fond complaints my bosom rend, Thy tears my fainting soul unman : In pity cease, my gentle dame, Such sweetness and such grief to join! Lest I forget the voice of Fame, And only list to Love's and thine. Flow, flow, my tears, unbounded gush! The wretch whose lips have pressed the bowl, May careless reach his mortal goal, His hopes destroyed, his comfort wrecked, Oh, no! the joys of yonder skies, To prosperous love present no charms; My heaven is placed in Eva's eyes, Spicula dum mittes nunquam frustrantia dextram, A clypeo salient omnia tela tuo : Tuta per hanc galeam frons atque illæsa manebit, Quam Charites habitant, quà dominatur Amor. Texta meis manibus nitida est hæc fascia; nobis Ecce super ferrum radianti luce coruscum Sis memor Eva tuis quam fixerit oscula labris, "O Domina! O conjux ! O dilectissima!" tales Desine deliciis tales miscere dolores, Ah nimis afflicti tu miserere viri!Turpia ne famæ vecors oblivia ducam, Et Veneris vocem, cara, tuamque sequar. Jam fluite o lacrymæ rivi violentis ad instar, Quicunque infausto miser hauserit ore doloris Exspes, pauper, inops, omni solamine rapto, Ast ego-quî possum vitâ meliore potiri, Nulli delicias dare possunt gaudia coli, Quum tenet omnino pectora faustus amor: Sunt mihi pro cœlo, conjux, tua lumina; verum Hoc est Elysium te retinere sinu. C Yet mark me, sweet! if Heaven's command No! let our boy thy care engross, Let him thy stay, thy comfort be; Supply his luckless father's loss, And love him for thyself and me. So may oblivion soon efface The grief which clouds this fatal morn ; And soon thy cheeks afford no trace Of tears which fall for Agilthorn!' He said; and couched his quivering lance: : Then spurred his steed to Flodden Field. But Eva, of all joy bereft, Stood rooted at the castle gate, And viewed the prints his courser left, Forebodings sad her bosom told, The steed which bore him thence so light, Her longing eyes would ne'er behold Again bring home her own true knight. While many a sigh her bosom heaves, She thus addressed her orphan page :'Dear youth, if e'er my love relieved The sorrows of thy infant age: If e'er I taught thy locks to play, Luxuriant round thy blooming face; If e'er I wiped thy tears away, And bade them yield to smiles their place : Oh! speed thee, swift as steed can bear, Where Flodden groans with heaps of dead; And, o'er the combat, home repair, And tell me how my lord has sped. Till thou return'st each hour's an age, An age employed in doubt and pain; Oh! haste thee, haste, my little foot-page, Oh! haste and soon return again.' At memor hæc animo teneas; si numine cœli Quin potius puero semper tu consule nostro, Et patris et pariter matris amore fove. Sic tibi curarum venient oblivia: sic te Non premet hæc tristi nube gravata dies. Dixit et extemplo vibrantem corripit hastam, At viduata viro, luctuque immobilis Eva Dumque oculis sequitur fugientem flentibus (omen Tumque gemens gremio suspiria ducit, et orbo Ludere si docui per candida colla capillos, I pete Flodeniæ cumulatos cædibus agros, Post Dum redeas, gemitus inter miserosque dolores HENRICUS E. STOKER. |