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Orpheus on Gems

Orpheus on Gems Page of 453 Orpheus on Gems Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
382
ORPHEUS ON GEMS.
And bid thy ploughman wear the potent charm, Securely fastened round his sturdy arm ;
240 Then wheat-crowned Ceres shall thy vows attend, And with full lap upon thy fields descend.— Shouldst thou by chance the wondrous Stagshorn find, Draw near the altar with undoubting mind ; For the pleased gods, with admiration due, Creative Nature's strange production view. A real stone in the stag's brain it grows, Not like the branching antlers, on his brows ; Yet solely by the touch can it be known To be not horn, but hard and real stone. If time hath thinned thy locks, its force shall spread A youthful covering o'er thine aged head : With this in oil dissolved anoint, and lo !
250 Fresh honours on thy barren scalp shall grow. Wear this, Ο youth, when to thy nuptial bed For the first time the blushing bride is led ; Wear it as witness of thine amorous play : Then concord sweet shall crown each future day, And to old age, unbroken shall endure The marriage-bond against all change secure.— Dear to Jove's son is the next gem I sing. Lord of the herd, the ivy-crowned king ! Of barbarous name, washed on those Syrian shores Where his resounding waves Euphrates pours. Well pleased with this when to the favouring skies, For thy vines' sake thy fuming offerings rise, With clusters huge he shall thy vineyard dress,
260 And floods of must gush from the labouring press.— The gods propitious hearken to Ms prayers, Whoe'er the polished grass-green Jasper wears. His parched glebe they'll satiate with rain, And send fat showers to soak the thirsty plain.— Turn, Lychnis ! from our fields the dashing hail, And all what pests the growing crops assail. Dear to the gods, thou canst the sacred blaze Like to the crystal on their altars raise. A stranger virtue j7et this gem shall show,
270 When leaping flames round the full cauldron glow, Cast in the stone : still cold the brazen urn, Though with full force the fire beneath it burn ;
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