SHAKSPEARE.

MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM,

ACT iii. SCENE 2.

OB. Thou seest these lovers seek a place to fight:
Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night;

The starry welkin cover thou anon

With drooping fog as black as Acheron;
And lead these testy rivals so astray,

As one come not within another's way.
Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue,
Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong,
And sometime rail thou like Demetrius;
And from each other look thou lead them thus,
Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep,
With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep;
Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye;
Whose virtue hath this healing property,
To take from thence all error with his might,
And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.
When they next wake, all this derision

Shall seem a dream and empty vision;

And back to Athens shall these lovers wend

With league whose date till death shall never end.

IDEM GRÆCE REDDITUM.

ΟΒ. ὁρᾶς; ἐρασταῖν τοῖνδ ̓ ἀγὼν μάχης μέλει. ἔθ ̓ οὖν τάχος, παῖ, νυκτὶ περιβάλῃς σκότον, τόν τ' ἀστερωπὸν οὐρανὸν κρύψης ἄφαρ ἀτμοισι βαρέσι, κἀχερουσίῳ ζόφῳ.

θερμοὺς δὲ τούσδ ̓ ὧδ ̓ ἀνταγωνιστὰς πλάνα,
ὥστ ̓ ἄλλον ἄλλου μήποτ' εἰς ὄψιν μολεῖν.
νῦν μὲν λόγοις Λύσανδρον ἐκμιμούμενος
Δημήτριον πικροῖσι θῆγ ̓ ὀνειδέσιν·

νῦν δ' ἐν τρόποις αὖ λοιδόρει Δημητρίου.
οὕτω δ' ὅπως ἄξεις νιν ἀλλήλων ἄπο,
ἕως ὁ θανάτῳ προσφερὴς ὕπνος σφίσι
πτέροις σκοτεινοῖς καὶ μολυβδίνοις ποσὶ
βλεφάροις προσέρπῃ, κατα τήνδε τὴν χλόην
πιέσας ἐς ὄμμα τἀνδρὸς ἔνσταξον χερί
ἧσπερ τοσαύτη δύναμις ἐγκεῖται γάνει
ὥστ ̓ ἔνθεν ἀφελεῖν τῷ σθένει πᾶσαν πλάνην,

ὀρθάς θ' ἑλίσσειν, ὡς πρὶν ἔβλεπον, κόρας.

ἐκ τῶνδ ̓ ὁπηνίκ' ἐξεγείρονται πάλιν,

ἅπας ὅδ' αὐτοῖς καταγέλως δόξει τότε
μάταιον ἄλλως φάσμ ̓, ὀνείρατος σκία.

πάλιν τ' ̓Αθήνας' οἵδε νόστιμον πόδα
πέμψουσ ̓ ἐρασταὶ, ξύμμαχοι τὰ λοιπ ̓ ἀεὶ
πιστοὶ μενοῦντες ἐς τὸ τέρμα τοῦ βίου.

Whiles I in this affair do thee employ,
I'll to my queen and beg her Indian boy,
And then I will her charmed eye release

From monster's view, and all things shall be peace.

PUCK. My fairy lord, this must be done with haste,
For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,
And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger;

At whose approach ghosts wandering here and there
Troop home to churchyards; damned spirits all,
That in cross ways and floods have burial,
Already to their wormy beds are gone:

For fear lest day should look their shames upon,
They wilfully exile themselves from light

And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night.

OB. But we are spirits of another sort.

I with the morning's love have oft made sport,
And like a forester the groves may tread,
Even till the eastern gate, all fiery-red,
Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams,
Turus into yellow gold his salt green streams.
But, notwithstanding, haste; make no delay,
We may effect this business yet ere day.

κἀν τοῖσδε σοῦ μοι διαπεραίνοντος τάδε,
ἐγὼ παρ' άλοχον εἶμ' ἀπαιτήσων ἐμὴν

τὸν Ἰνδικὸν παῖδ'. εἶτα δ' ἐκπράξας τόδε
θέλγητρα λύσω δέσμι' ὄψεως τὸ μὴ

τὸ θρέμμ' ἔτ ̓ ἀθρεῖν, ἡσύχως δ' ἕξει τὸ πᾶν. ΡΟΒ. εὐθὺς τάδ' οὖν ἐργαστέ ̓, ὦ φέριστ ̓ ἄναξ. ὠκύπτερον γὰρ ἐυφρόνης τέμνει τάχος

ζεῦγος δρακόντων οὐρανὸν, κἀκεῖ πρέπει
ὁ τῆς Εω προπομπὸς ἐμφανὴς ἰδεῖν.

ὁ δ ̓ ὡς προσῆλθεν, ἄλλοσ ̓ ἄλλ ̓ ὑπὲρ χθονὸς εἴδωλ ̓ ἀλώμεν ̓ ἐς τάφους φοιτᾷ πάλιν· νεκρός θ ̓ ἅπας τις εἰςαεὶ πανώλεθρος, ὅσοισι τριόδοις καν ῥοαῖς ἐστὶν ταφὴ, ἤδη πρὸς εὐλῶν φροῦδος οἴχεται λέχη ὡς μὴ γὰρ αὐτῶν αἶσχος ἡμέρα βλέπῃ, αὐτόστολοι φέυγουσι φέγγος, ὡς δέον ἀεὶ ξυνοικεῖν νυκτὶ τῇ μελαγχίμῳ. ΟΒ. ἀλλ ̓ οὐ γὰρ ἡμεῖς ταὐτὸ δαιμόνων γένος, ἔγωγ ̓ ἔρωτι πόλλ' ἐτερψάμην ἕω,

χώς τις κυναγὸς τὰς νάπων σκίας πατῶ,
ἔς τ' ἂν φλογωπὸς ἡ κατ' ἀντολὰς πύλη,
θεὸν πρὸς ἥλιον καλλιφεγγέσιν βολαῖς
ἀνεωγμένη φαιδραῖσιν, ἐκ τῶν ἁλμυρῶν
γλαυκῶν τ' ἀμείψῃ χρυσοδαιδάλτους ῥοάς.
ὅμως γε μὴν σπεῦσόν συ· μὴ σχολὴν τίθει·
ἔνεστι γὰρ ὁρᾶν ταῦτα πρὶν μολεῖν φάος.