No voice divine the stormi 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 gulfs than he
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 Thraica barbaries.
Lætitiæ causam, causamque exquirite luctus;
Vosque est quod doceat Thraica barbaries.
VOL. III.
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 Libye 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 miserabilo murmur Edens, qua 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 desertæ 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?
Ecquid prodigii, territa Roma, vides?
Unius naturæ opus est; ca via furorem
Sumere quæ jussit, ponere sola jubet.
THE PRIMARY LAW OF NATURE.
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 giv'n 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 terrour 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 amaze?
All this is natural; nature bade him rend
An enemy; she bids him spare a friend.
Typographia omni antiquius, nulli uspiam Librorum insertum Catalogo.
EXIGUUS liber est, muliebri creber in usu,
Per se qui dici bibliotheca potest.
Copia verborum non est, sed copia rerum ;
Copia (quod nemo deneget) utilior.
Rubris consuitur pannis, fors texitur auro;
Bis sexta ad summum pagina claudit opus.
Nil habet a tergo titulive aut nominis; intus
Thesauros artis servat, et intus opes:
Intus opes, quas nympha sinu pulcherrima gestet,
Quas nive candidior tractet ametque manus,
Quando instrumentum præsens sibi postulat usus,
Majusve, aut operis pro ratione, minus.
Et genere et modulo diversa habet arma, gradatim
Digesta, ad numeros attenuata suos.
Primum enchiridii folium majuscula profert,
Qualia quæ blæso est lumine poscat anus.
Quod sequitur folium, matronis arma ministrat,
Dicere quæ magnis proximiora licet.
Tertium, item quartum, quintumque minuscula sup
Sed non ejusdem singula quæque loci.
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