5. Go, hear what I have heard, As memory's feeling fount hath stirr'd And its revealing there Have told him what he might have been 6. Go, to my mother's side, And her crushed spirit cheer, Wipe from her cheek the tear: Mark her dimm'd eye, her furrow'd brow, Whose plighted faith in early youth 7. But who, foresworn, hath yielded up 8. Go, hear, and see, and feel, and know All that my soul hath felt and known: See if its brightness can atone. 9. Tell me I hate the bowl! I loathe, abhor-my very soul IX.-VIRGIL'S HADES. Literal Translation. WILEY. 1. Ar length th' accursed gates are open'd, grating on their horrid Sounding hinges. "Yonder seest thou what figure guards the 2. 3. Passage? and what the gate? A dreadful Hydra there, with fifty Fury, holds her seat within. Then Tartarus itself, in Course toward the Shades, sinks down as far as twice the distance, "Here the ancient Progeny of Earth, th' Titanian youth, by thunderbolts hurled Dared to imitate the light'nings and the bolts of Jove. Drawn by horses, in his chariot, proud, and brandishing a torch, he Rode through Greece triumphant and the midst of Elis; and the Honor of th' Immortals boasting claimed: foolish mortal! Who, with brazen car and tramp o' his horn-hoofed steeds, the rushing But th' almighty Sire hurled an awful bolt, (not harmless "Tityus too, you Might have seen, the foster-child of all-producing Earth : Black and flinty rock, that ev'ry moment swinging round seems 4."Here, too, are those who with their brothers lived at enmity: had Client; or the miserly, who brooded o'er acquired Wealth alone, nor sought division with their kindred; these by Slain; and who in impious wars had joined, and hesitated Not to violate their plighted faith to lawful masters: There in prison 'wait their punishment. Nor kind, nor shape, nor In what state the punishment, they seek to be informed. 5. "Others heave up rolling stones, and hang fast bound to wheels. There Sits, and shall forever sit, unhappy Theseus. And Phlegyas, wretchedest, admonishes; and with a solemn Voice proclaims throughout the Shades, 'Warn'd seek righteousness, and Not contemn the gods.' Another sold for gold his country: Raising into rule a domineering tyrant: made and Unmade laws for gold. And one attempted marriage rites Unlawful with his daughter. All have dared some heinous crime and 'Complished what they dared. Had I a hundred tongues, a hundred Mouths, and voice of sounding iron, I could not comprehend the Species of their crimes, nor numerate their punishments." X.-THE BEAUTIFUL LAND. 1. THERE's a beautiful land by the spoiler untrod, It is lighted alone by the presence of God, And its mountains of jasper are bright in the glow 2. And throngs of glad singers with jubilant breath And one known on earth as the angel of death, And infinite tenderness beams from his eyes, On his brow is a heavenly calm, And his voice as it thrills thro' the depths of the skies Is as sweet as the seraphim's psalm. 3. Through the musical groves of this beautiful land And their foreheads by the breath of the zephyrs are fanned They taste the rich fruitage that hangs from the trees And breathe the sweet odor of flowers More fragrant than ever were kissed by the breeze 4. Old prophets, whose words were a spirit of flame And martyrs, whose courage no torture could tame, And saints and confessors, a numberless throng, Who were loyal to truth and to right, And left as they walked thro' the darkness of wrong 5. And the dear little children who went to their rest While the angel of morning still tarried a guest, All are there, all are there-in the beautiful land, The land by the spoiler untrod, And their foreheads by the breath of the breezes are fanned 6. My soul hath looked in thro' the gateway of dreams And heard the sweet flow of its murmurous streams, Yet it knew, in that glimpse of the beautiful land, XI. PROSE SELECTIONS. 1.-GROWING OLD. 1. How stealthily the years creep upon us, one by one, until some day we are startled to find ourselves grown old! It is curious to see what different estimates people put upon old age at different periods of their own lives. To the youth in his teens, the man of middle age appears quite antiquated, but when he himself arrives at forty years, he can scarce believe he is no longer young, and is astonished to see so many who were but infants the other day now jostling him as full grown men in the race of life. Said one gentleman to another once in our hearing, "What has become of all the old men? When you and I were boys there were many old gentlemen about, but they smile, “ask these youngsters where the old men are. They'll tell you—and you will find yourself among them!" 2.-MEMORY. 1. MEMORIES of some kind. we all have-it is the one thing which makes the man himself. If it be true that every particle of our bodies is changed once in seven years, memory is the surest guardian of personal identity. Cicero, after long thinking about it concluded that it was the strongest proof that the soul was immaterial and immoral. Destroy it, and the chief value of life would be taken away. What would an existence be worth that had not, could never have, any yesterday—to which came no tender whispers from the morning land of youth, no words whose very echo thrills steady-going old age with indefinable bliss? To forget is indeed to be annihilated. 3.-FACTS WORTH KNOWING. 1. Ir is not what people eat, but what they digest, that makes them strong. It is not what they gain, but what they save, that makes them rich. It is not what they read, but what they remember, that makes them learned. It is not what they profess, but what they practice, that makes them good. 4.-A NOBLEMAN AND HIS JESTER. 1. THERE was a certain lord who kept a jester in his house, (as many great men did in olden days of their pleasure,) to whom the lord gave a staff, and charged him to keep it till he should meet with one who was a greater fool than himself, and if he should meet with such a one, to deliver it over to him. Not many years after, his lord fell sick, and, indeed was sick unto death. The jester came to see him, and was told by his sick lord that he must now shortly leave him. |