Mild Hermes' spake, and touched her with his wand, That calms all fear: "Such grace hath crowned thy prayer, Laodamia, that at Jove's command Thy husband walks the paths of upper air; Forth sprang the impassioned queen her lord to clasp ; As often as that eager grasp was made. "Protesiláus, lo! thy guide is gone! Confirm, I pray, the vision with thy voice: This is our palace, yonder is thy throne: Speak, and the floor thou tread'st on will rejoice. Not to appal me have the gods bestowed This precious boon, and blest a sad abode." "Great Jove, Laodamia, doth not leave And something also did my worth obtain, Thou know'st the Delphic2 oracle foretold That the first Greek who touched the Trojan strand Should die; but me the threat could not withhold : generous cause a victim did demand; A And forth I leapt upon the sandy plain, A self-devoted chief, by Hector slain.' 66 Supreme of heroes, bravest, noblest, best! 1 The Greek name for Mercurius. 2 The oracle at Delphi in Greece was very famous. LAODAMIA. Which then, when tens of thousands were deprest But thou, though capable of sternest deed, As when their breath enriched Thessalian air. No spectre greets me,—no vain shadow this: 119 Jove frowned in heaven; the conscious Parcæ1 threw Upon those roseate lips a Stygian hue. 'This visage tells thee that my doom is past : And surely as they vanish. Earth destroys Thy transports moderate; and meekly mourn "Ah, wherefore? Did not Hercules by force 3 Given back to dwell on earth in vernal bloom? 1 The Fates. 2 Hades, or the place of departed souls. 3 The wife of Hercules, whom he is said to have rescued by force from Hades. Medea's1 spells dispersed the weight of years, The gods to us are merciful, and they Yet further may relent: for mightier far Than strength of nerve and sinew, or the sway Of magic potent over sun and star, Is love, though oft to agony distrest, And though his favourite seat be feeble woman's breast. But if thou go'st, I follow- ""Peace!" he said. She looked upon him, and was calmed and cheered; The ghastly colour from his lips had fled; In his deportment, shape, and mien appeared Elysian beauty, melancholy grace, Brought from a pensive though a happy place. He spake of love, such love as spirits feel The past unsighed for, and the future sure; Of all that is most beauteous, imaged there And fields invested with purpureal gleams; Yet there the soul shall enter which hath earned That privilege by virtue. 'Ill," said he, "The end of man's existence I discerned, Who from ignoble games and revelry Could draw, when we had parted, vain delight, 1 A sorceress. 2 Elysium, that part of Hades in which the souls of the blessed dwelt. LAODAMIA. And while my youthful peers before my eyes (Each hero following his peculiar bent) Prepared themselves for glorious enterprise By martial sports; or, seated in the tent, The wished-for wind was given :-I then revolved And if no worthier led the way, resolved That of a thousand vessels mine should be Yet bitter, oft-times bitter, was the pang 121 And on the joys we shared in mortal life; The paths which we had trod, these fountains, flowers, My new-planned cities and unfinished towers. But should suspense permit the foe to cry, Behold, they tremble!-haughty their array, Old frailties then recurred; but lofty thought, And thou, though strong in love, art all too weak I counsel thee by fortitude to seek Our blest re-union in the shades below. Learn by a mortal yearning to ascend Towards a higher object,-love was given, Encouraged, sanctioned, chiefly for that end; For this the passion to excess was driven, 1 The fleet of the Grecian armament against Troy was long detained at Aulis, in Bœotia, by contrary winds. That self might be annulled; her bondage prove Aloud she shrieked, for Hermes re-appears! Round the dear shade she would have clung: 'tis vain, The hours are past,—too brief had they been years,And him no mortal effort can detain : Swift tow'rd the realms that know not earthly day, Was doomed to wander in a grosser clime, Yet tears to human suffering are due; A knot of spiry trees for ages grew From out the tomb of him for whom she died; Sonnet, to Sleep. A FLOCK of sheep that leisurely pass by, Smooth fields, white sheets of water, and pure sky,By turns have all been thought of; yet I lie 1 Now called the Dardanelles, a narrow strait, near the shores of which Troy stood. 2 A name for Troy. |