"But thou, though capable of sternest deed, Wert kind as resolute, and good as brave; And he, whose power restores thee, hath decreed That thou should'st cheat the malice of the grave: Redundant are thy locks, thy lips as fair
As when their breath enriched Thessalian air.
"No Spectre greets me-no vain Shadow this; Come, blooming Hero, place thee by my side! Give, on this well-known couch, one nuptial kiss To me, this day, a second time thy bride!" Jove frowned in heaven: the conscious Parcæ threw Upon those roseate lips a Stygian hue.
"This visage tells thee that my doom is past : Know, virtue were not virtue, if the joys Of sense were able to return as fast And surely as they vanish.-Earth destroys Those raptures duly-Erebus disdains : Calm pleasures there abide—majestic pains.
"Be taught, O faithful consort, to control Rebellious passion: for the Gods approve The depth, and not the tumult, of the soul; A fervent, not ungovernable, love. Thy transports moderate; and meekly mourn When I depart, for brief is my sojourn–
"Ah, wherefore?-Did not Hercules by force Wrest from the guardian Monster of the tomb Alcestis, a reanimated corse,
Given back to dwell on earth in vernal bloom? Medea's spells dispersed the weight of years, And son stood a youth 'mid youthful peers.
"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 goest, 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 In worlds whose course is equable and pure; No fears to beat away-no strife to heal— The past unsigh'd for, and the future sure; Spake of heroic arts in graver mood Revived, with finer harmony pursued ;
Of all that is most beauteous-imaged there In happier beauty: more pellucid streams, An ampler ether, a diviner air,
And fields invested with purpureal gleams;
Climes which the sun, who sheds the brightest day Earth knows, is all unworthy to survey.
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,
While tears were thy best pastime, day and night;
"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, Chieftains and kings in counsel were detained; What time the fleet at Aulis lay enchained.
"The wished-for wind was given :-I then revolved The oracle, upon the silent sea ;
And, if no worthier led the way, resolved That, of a thousand vessels, mine should be The foremost prow in pressing to the strand,— Mine the first blood that tinged the Trojan sand.
"Yet bitter, oft-times bitter, was the pang When of thy loss I thought, beloved Wife! On thee too fondly did my memory hang, And on the joys we shared in mortal life,-
The paths which we have 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 Yet of their number no one dares to die'? In soul I swept the indignity away :
Old frailties then recurred :—but lofty thought, In act embodied, my deliverance wrought.
"And thou, though strong in love, art all too weak; In reason, in self-government too slow;
I counsel thee by fortitude to seek
Our blest re-union in the shades below.
The invisible world with thee hath sympathised;
Be thy affections raised and solemnised.
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— That self might be annulled: her bondage prove The fetters of a dream, opposed to love."-
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, toward the realms that know not earthly day, He through the portal takes his silent way, And on the palace-floor a lifeless corse she lay.
Ah, judge her gently who so deeply loved! Her, who in reason's spite, yet without crime, Was in a trance of passion thus removed; Delivered from the galling yoke of time And these frail elements-to gather flowers Of blissful quiet 'mid unfading bowers.
-Yet tears to human suffering are due; And mortal hopes defeated and o'erthrown Are mourned by man, and not by man alone, As fondly he believes.-Upon the side Of Hellespont (such faith was entertained) A knot of spiry trees for ages grew
From out the tomb of him for whom she died; And ever, when such stature they had gained That Ilium's walls were subject to their view, The trees' tall summits withered at the sight: A constant interchange of growth and blight!
FAIR is the swan, whose majesty, prevailing O'er breezeless water, on Locarno's lake, Bears him on while proudly sailing
He leaves behind a moon-illumined wake: Behold! the mantling spirit of reserve Fashions his neck into a goodly curve; An arch thrown back between luxuriant wings Of whitest garniture, like fir-tree boughs To which, on some unruffled morning, clings A flaky weight of winter's purest snows! -Behold!—as with a gushing impulse heaves That downy prow, and softly cleaves The mirror of the crystal flood,
Vanish inverted hill, and shadowy wood, And pendent rocks, where'er, in gliding state, Winds the mute Creature without visible mate Or rival, save the Queen of night
Showering down a silver light,
From heaven, upon her chosen favourite!
So pure, so bright, so fitted to embrace, Where'er he turned, a natural grace Of haughtiness without pretence, And to unfold a still magnificence, Was princely Dion, in the power And beauty of his happier hour.
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