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378
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ORPHEUS ON GEMS.
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I grasp his hand, and thus the sage address :—
" Tarry to-day, if no great business press,
To-morrow to the city wend thy way ;
Now, celebrate with me the festal day.
To meet like this sure heav'n hath been thy guide,
Therefore my friend to follow me decide ;
100 And with me to the sacred rites repair,
Which virtuous men with holy hands prepare ;
It specially the powers divine delights,
When good men celebrate their sacred rites.
No distant journey, for thou see'st me bound
On my own land towards yon rising mound
Where once in childhood I had strayed alone
In search of quails which from my charge had flown :
As I approached, each playful favourite tame
Stopped when I called it by its well-known name ;
But as I stretched my hand the prize to clasp,
The wanton vanished from my eager grasp ;
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In my hot haste I tumble on my face, But up again, and still pursue the
chase. But as they reach the summit of the hill The startled fowls send
forth a piping shrill, And swifter than a dart or arrow's flight Upon a
lofty beech the pair alight. For they had marked in time a deadly
snake, With open jaws forth issuing from the brake, Unseen approaching
by my careless eyes, Fixed too intently on my longed-for prize. At last
I mark him raising from the ground,
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His head prepared to strike the deadly wound ; Whoever then had viewed
my mad career, As down the slope I dashed in panic fear, Had sure not
deemed me of my quails in chase, Nor boyish, limbs that drove so wild a
pace ; An eagle's wings my terror would demand, Or swiftest winds :
grim death was close at hand. Full often as the breeze them backwards
bore, His pointed fangs my floating garments tore ; And sure, before my
fated period came, The monster had devoured my tender frame Had not 1
sprung upon an altar hoar, Raised to bright Phoebus in the days of yore,
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