Imatges de pàgina
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TRANSLATION FROM MOSCHUS.

PAN loved his neighbour Echo-but that child
Of Earth and Air pined for the Satyr leaping;
The Satyr. loved with wasting madness wild

The bright nymph Lyda,—and so three went weeping. As Pan loved Echo, Echo loved the Satyr;

The Satyr, Lyda-and thus love consumed them.And thus to each—which was a woful matterTo bear what they inflicted, justice doomed them; For inasmuch as each might hate the lover,

Each loving, so was hated.-Ye that love not Be warned-in thought turn this example over, That when ye love, the like return ye prove not.

SCENES

FROM THE "MAGICO PRODIGIOSO" OF CALDERON.

CYPRIAN as a Student; CLARIN and MOSCON as poor Scholars, with books.

CYPRIAN.

In the sweet solitude of this calm place,

This intricate wild wilderness of trees

And flowers and undergrowth of odorous plants,
Leave me; the books you brought out of the house

To me are ever best society.

And whilst with glorious festival and song
Antioch now celebrates the consecration
Of a proud temple to great Jupiter,
And bears his image in loud jubilee

To its new shrine, I would consume what still

Lives of the dying day, in studious thought,

Far from the throng and turmoil.

Go and enjoy the festival; it will

You, my friends,

Be worth the labour, and return for me

When the sun seeks its grave among the billows,
Which among dim grey clouds on the horizon
Dance like white plumes upon a hearse ;—and here

I shall expect you.

MOSCON.

I cannot bring my mind,

Great as my haste to see the festival
Certainly is, to leave you, Sir, without

Just saying some three or four hundred words.
How is it possible that on a day

Of such festivity, you can bring your mind
To come forth to a solitary country

With three or four old books, and turn your back
On all this mirth?

CLARIN.

My master's in the right;

There is not any thing more tiresome

Than a procession day, with troops of men,

And dances, and all that.

MOSCON.

From first to last,

Clarin, you are a temporizing flatterer;

You praise not what you feel but what he does;— Toadeater!

CLARIN.

You lie under a mistake

For this is the most civil sort of lie

That can be given to a man's face. I now

Say what I think.

CYPRIAN.

Enough, you foolish fellows.

Puffed up with your own doting ignorance,
You always take the two sides of one question.

Now go, and as I said, return for me

When night falls, veiling in its shadows wide

This glorious fabric of the universe.

MOSCON.

How happens it, although you can maintain

The folly of enjoying festivals,

That yet you go there?

CLARIN.

Nay, the consequence

Is clear-who ever did what he advises

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Livia, I come; good sport, Livia, Soho!

[Exit.'

CYPRIAN.

Now, since I am alone, let me examine

The question which has long disturbed my mind

With doubt; since first I read in Plinius

The words of mystic import and deep sense

In which he defines God. My intellect

Can find no God with whom these marks and signs
Fitly agree. It is a hidden truth

Which I must fathom.

Enter the DEVIL, as a fine Gentleman.

Search even as thou wilt,

DÆMON.

But thou shalt never find what I can hide.

CYPRIAN.

[Reads.

What noise is that among the boughs? Who moves?

What art thou?—

DEMON.

'Tis a foreign gentleman.

Even from this morning I have lost my way
In this wild place, and my poor horse at last.
Quite overcome, has stretched himself

upon The enamelled tapestry of this mossy mountain, And feeds and rests at the same time. I was Upon my way to Antioch upon business Of some importance, but wrapt up in cares (Who is exempt from this inheritance)

I parted from my company, and lost

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Of the high towers of Antioch, you could lose
Your way. Of all the avenues and green paths

Of this wild wood there is not one but leads
As to its centre, to the walls of Antioch;
Take which you will you cannot miss your road.

DEMON.

And such is ignorance! Even in the sight

O fknowledge it can draw no profit from it.
But as it still is early, and as I

Have no acquaintances in Antioch,
Being a stranger there, I will even wait

The few surviving hours of the day,
Until the night shall conquer it. I see
Both by your dress and by the books in which
You find delight and company, that you

Are a great student; for my part, I feel

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Much sympathy with such pursuits.

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