He took, and holding it in hand, went flying;
Till from Pieria's top the sea descrying,

Down to it sheer he dropp'd, and scoured 'away'
Like the wild gull, that fishing o'er the bay
Flaps on, with pinions dipping in the brine;
So went on the far sea the shape divine.

And now arriving at the isle, he springs.
Oblique, and landing with subsided wings,
Walks to the cavern 'twixt the tall green rocks,
Where dwelt the Goddess with the lovely locks.
He paus'd; and there came on him, as he stood,
A smell of citron and of cedar wood,

That threw a perfume all about the isle ;

And she within sat spinning all the while,

And

sang a lovely song, that made him hark and smile.

A sylvan nook it was, grown round with trees,

Poplars, and elms, and odorous cypresses,

In which all birds of ample wing, the owl

And hawk, had nests, and broad-tongued water

fowl.

The cave in front was spread with a green vine,
Whose dark round bunches almost burst with wine;
And from four springs, running a sprightly race,
Four fountains, clear and crisp, refresh'd the place;
While all about, a meadowy ground was seen,
Of violets mingling with the parsley green:
So that a stranger, though a god were he,
Might well admire it, and stand there to see ;
And so admiring, there stood Mercury.

THEOCRITUS.

THEOCRITUS.

THE RURAL JOURNEY.

IDYLL VII.

ONCE on a time myself and Eucritus

Went out of town, taking Amyntas with us,
To join a sacrifice to Ceres, made

By Phrasidamus and Antigenes,

Sons of Lycopeus, and descended too

(If that is any thing) from Clitias,

Ay, and from Chalcon, who with his stout knee Against the rock dug up the Burian fountain, Where elms and poplars make a shadowy grove