At length, his transient respite past,
His comrades, who before
Had heard his voice in ev'ry blast,
Could catch the sound no more.
For then, by toil subdued, he drank
The stifling wave, and then he sank.
No poet wept him: but the page
Of narrative sincere,
That tells his name, his worth, his age
Is wet with Anson's tear.
And tears by bards or heroes shed
Alike immortalize the dead.
I therefore purpose not, or dream,
Descanting on his fate,
To give the melancholy theme
A more enduring date.
But misery still delights to trace
Its 'semblance in another's case.
No voice divine the storm allay'd,
No light propitious shone;
When, snatch'd from all effectual aid,
We perish'd, each alone :
But I beneath a rougher sea,
And whelm'd in deeper gulis than he.
TRANSLATIONS FROM VINCENT BOURNE.
THREICIUM infantem, cum lucem intravit et auras,
Fletibus excepit mæstus uterque parens.
Threicium infantem, cum luce exivit et auris,
Extulit ad funus lætus uterque parens.
Interea tu Roma; et tu tibi Græcia plaudens,
Dicitis, hæc vera est Thraïca barbaries.
Lætitiæ causam, causamque exquirite luctus;
Vosque est quod doceat Thraïca barbaries.
THRACIAN parents, at his birth,
Mourn their babe with many a tear,
But with undissembled mirth
Place him breathless on his bier.
Greece and Rome with equal scorn,
"O the savages!" exclaim,
"Whether they rejoice or mourn,
Well entitled to the name!"
But the cause of this concern,
And this pleasure would they trace,
Even they might somewhat learn
From the savages of Thrace.
PER Libya Androcles siccas errabat arenas ;
Qui vagus iratum fugerat exul herum,
Lassato tandem fractoque labore viarum,
Ad scopuli patuit cæca caverna latus. Hanc subit; et placido dederat vix membra sopori Cum subito immanis rugit ad antra leo;
Ille pedem attollens læsum, et miserabile murmur Edens, quâ poterat voce, precatur opem.
Perculsus novitate rei, incertusque timore,
Vix tandem tremulas admovet erro manus; Et spinam explorans (nam fixa in vulnere spina Hærebat) cauto molliter ungue trahit:
Continuo dolor omnis abit, teter fluit humor:
Et coit, absterso sanguine, rupta cutis ;
Nunc iterum sylvas dumosque peragrat; et affert
Providus assiduas hospes ad antra dapes.
Juxta epulis accumbit homo conviva leonis,
Nec crudos dubitat participare cibos.
Quis tamen ista ferat deserta tædia vitæ ?
Vix furor ultoris tristior esset heri.
Devotum certis caput objectare periclis
Et patrios statuit rursus adire lares.
Traditur hic, fera facturus spectacula, plebi,
Accipit et miserum tristis arena reum.
Irruit e caveis fors idem impastus et acer,
Et medicum attonito suspicit ore leo.
Suspicit, et veterem agnoscens vetus hospes amicum
Decumbit notos blandulus ante pedes.
Quid vero perculsi animis, stupuere Quirites?
Equid prodigii, territa Roma, vides?
Unius naturæ opus est; ea sola furorem
Sumere quæ jussit, ponere sola jubet.
THE PRIMARY LAW OF NATURT.
ANDROCLES from his injur'd lord in dread Of instant death, to Libya's desert fled. Tir'd with his toilsome flight, and parch'd with heat, He spied, at length, a cavern's cool retreat ; But scarce had given to rest his weary frame, When hugest of his kind, a lion came: He roar'd approaching: but, the savage din To plaintive murmurs chang'd, arriv'd within, And with expressive looks his lifted paw Presenting, aid implor'd from whom he saw,
The fugitive, through terror at a stand,
Dar'd not awhile afford his trembling hand,
But bolder grown, at length inherent found
A pointed thorn, and drew it from the wound.
The cure was wrought; he wip'd the sanious blood,
And firm and free from pain the lion stood.
Again he seeks the wilds, and day by day,
Regales his inmate with the parted prey.
Nor he disdains the dole, though unprepar'd,
Spread on the ground, and with a lion shar❜d.
But thus to live-still lost-sequester'd still-
Scarce seem'd his lord's revenge an heavier ill.
Home! native home! O might he but repair!
He must-he will, though death attends him there.
He goes, and doom'd to perish, on the sands
Of the full theatre unpitied stands :
When lo! the self-same lion from his cage
Flies to devour him, famish'd into rage.
He flies, but viewing in his purpos'd prey
The man, his healer, pauses on his way,
And soften'd by remembrance into sweet
And kind composure, crouches at his feet.
Mute with astonishment th' assembly gaze: But why, ye Romans? Whence your mute aniaze? All this is nat'ral: nature bade him rend
An enemy; she bids him spare a friend.
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