IDEM LATINE REDDITUM.

Leniter incedas, venator amice, precamur,

Leniter et litui murmura blanda sonent; Ne qua tuo ex cornu vox sacra silentia rumpat, Qua jacet in tacita Dux tumulatus humo. Si præ tristitia, venator amice, cadentes

Moverunt lacrymas damna aliena tuas ; Tu minime fictis hodie dignabere guttis

Rorare irriguum, quà jacet Eva, solum.

Illius olim intra dilapsa sacraria fani

Junxerunt ambo corde manuque fidem;
Hasque diu turres hederoso tegmine cinctas
Cum forti incoluit sponsa pudica viro.

Heu cito prætereunt suavissima tempora! belli
Audin' ut horrisonus regnet ubique fragor?
Martius increpuit lituus: clangore Voluptas
Audito pennas heu fugitura quatit.

Siccine dilectum perdet nunc Eva maritum?
Siccine Dux quæret flebile martis opus?
En venit illa ferens ensem galeamque coruscam ;
Et queritur mæstis sic sua fata modis :-

“0

quam ruricolæ sors est laudanda puellæ, Vilis et ex humili sit licet orta domo: Inscia curarum est quæ vexant pectora regum, Inscia curarum quæ mea corda premunt. Non illam dubius terror, non angor acerbus,

Non agitant misera spesque timorque vice; Nunquam constrictum Fama imperiosa maritum Conjugis e gremio martis in arma trahit.

Illa inter scopulos gandet secura vagari,

Fallit et assiduo læta labore diem ;-
Aut pecudes curat, capreas aut pascit, amantis
Aut solet agrestis participare melos.

Stramina sint lecti quamvis prædura, dolores
Suppositum membris deseruere torum.
Usque jacet secura, nec unquam mane resurgens,
Ne sponsum inveniat deperiisse, timet.

Cur tamen hæc timeo? Fortesque bonosque tuetur
Numen, et in mediis protegit Ipse malis.

Mille cadaveribus si mors ditaverit Orcum,
Impingent capiti spicula nulla tuo.

While thine shall fly direct and sure,
This buckler every blow repel ;
This casque from wounds that face secure,
Where all the loves and graces dwell.

This glittering scarf, with tenderest care,
My hands in happier moments wove;
Cursed be the wretch, whose sword shall tear
The spell-bound work of wedded love!

Lo! on thy falchion keen and bright,
I shed a trembling consort's tears;
Oh! when their traces meet thy sight,
Remember wretched Eva's fears!

Think how thy lips she fondly pressed,

Think how she wept-compelled to part; Think, every wound which scars thy breast, Is doubly marked on Eva's heart !'

'O thou! my mistress, wife, and friend !'— Thus Agilthorn with sighs began; 'Thy fond complaints my bosom rend, Thy tears my fainting soul unman :

In pity cease, my gentle dame,

Such sweetness and such grief to join!

Lest I forget the voice of Fame,

And only list to Love's and thine.

Flow, flow, my tears, unbounded gush!
Rise, rise, my sobs, I set ye free:
Bleed, bleed, my heart! I need not blush
To own that life is dear to me.

The wretch whose lips have pressed the bowl,
The bitter bowl of pain and woe,

May careless reach his mortal goal,
May boldly meet the final blow:

His hopes destroyed, his comfort wrecked,
A happier life he hopes to find;
But what can I in heaven expect,
Beyond the bliss I leave behind?

Oh, no! the joys of yonder skies,

To prosperous love present no charms;

My heaven is placed in Eva's eyes,
My paradise in Eva's arms.

Spicula dum mittes nunquam frustrantia dextram, A clypeo salient omnia tela tuo :

Tuta per hanc galeam frons atque illæsa manebit,

Quam Charites habitant, quà dominatur Amor.

Texta meis manibus nitida est hæc fascia; nobis
Tempora tum numen prosperiora dabat.
Sit sacer ille mihi gladius, qui possit Amoris
Scindere tam sanctum conjugialis opus.

Ecce super ferrum radianti luce coruscum
Conjugis hæ lacrymæ, fluminis instar, eunt.
Hæc quoties posthac videas vestigia, luctus
Ne pudeat, conjux, tum meminisse mei.

Sis memor Eva tuis quam fixerit oscula labris,
Quam fuerit lacrymis plena, abeunte viro:
Et si quæ pectus signent tibi vulnera, crede
Conjugis in misero bis tot inesse sinu."

"O Domina! O conjux ! O dilectissima!" tales
Corde trahens gemitum reddidit ille sonos;
"Pectora quam tali lacerantur nostra querela,
Mens mea quam luctu est exanimata tuo !

Desine deliciis tales miscere dolores,

Ah nimis afflicti tu miserere viri!Turpia ne famæ vecors oblivia ducam,

Et Veneris vocem, cara, tuamque sequar.

Jam fluite o lacrymæ rivi violentis ad instar,
Surgite singultus jam sine more mei ;
Cor miserum ah luge! non me pudet ecce fateri
Gaudia adhuc vitam multa tenere meam.

Quicunque infausto miser hauserit ore doloris
Pocula, funestis accumulata malis ;
Is summam impavidus possit contingere metam,
Ultimaque audaci vulnera ferre sinu.

Exspes, pauper, inops, omni solamine rapto,
Ille quidem vitæ spem potioris alit ;-

Ast ego-quî possum vitâ meliore potiri,
Quam quæ nunc terra destituenda manet.

Nulli delicias dare possunt gaudia coli,

Quum tenet omnino pectora faustus amor: Sunt mihi pro cœlo, conjux, tua lumina; verum Hoc est Elysium te retinere sinu.

C

Yet mark me, sweet! if Heaven's command
Hath doomed my fall in martial strife,
Oh! let not anguish tempt thy hand
To rashly break the thread of life!

No! let our boy thy care engross,

Let him thy stay, thy comfort be; Supply his luckless father's loss,

And love him for thyself and me.

So may oblivion soon efface

The grief which clouds this fatal morn ; And soon thy cheeks afford no trace

Of tears which fall for Agilthorn!'

He said; and couched his quivering lance:
He said; and braced his moony shield :-
Sealed a last kiss, threw a last glance,

:

Then spurred his steed to Flodden Field.

But Eva, of all joy bereft,

Stood rooted at the castle gate,

And viewed the prints his courser left,
While hurrying at the call of fate.

Forebodings sad her bosom told,

The steed which bore him thence so light,

Her longing eyes would ne'er behold

Again bring home her own true knight.

While many a sigh her bosom heaves,

She thus addressed her orphan page :'Dear youth, if e'er my love relieved The sorrows of thy infant age:

If e'er I taught thy locks to play,

Luxuriant round thy blooming face;

If e'er I wiped thy tears away,

And bade them yield to smiles their place :

Oh! speed thee, swift as steed can bear,

Where Flodden groans with heaps of dead;

And, o'er the combat, home repair,

And tell me how my lord has sped.

Till thou return'st each hour's an age,

An age employed in doubt and pain; Oh! haste thee, haste, my little foot-page, Oh! haste and soon return again.'

At memor hæc animo teneas; si numine cœli
Hostibus in mediis sum periturus ego,
Parce, precor, quamvis tu sis tristissima, vitæ
Parce tuæ audaci rumpere fila manu.

Quin potius puero semper tu consule nostro,
Ille tibi spes sit, præsidiumque mali:
Officio amissi tu fungere patris, et illum

Et patris et pariter matris amore fove.

Sic tibi curarum venient oblivia: sic te

Non premet hæc tristi nube gravata dies.
Sic tibi mox aberunt lacrymarum signa, dolorem
Propter Agilthornum testificata tuum."

Dixit et extemplo vibrantem corripit hastam,
Lunati et clypei vincula firma ligat;
Oscula supremum libat, semel aspicit illam,
Subdit equo calcar, nec mora, bella petit.

At viduata viro, luctuque immobilis Eva
En ibi castelli constitit ante fores;
Tum pernicis equi vestigia lustrat, ad arma
Quà modo proruerat, fata secutus, eques.

Dumque oculis sequitur fugientem flentibus (omen
Fecit Amor) dubio corda timore tremunt,
Ne reducem quadrupes, ventis nunc ocior ipsis,
Limina non referat rursus ad illa Ducem.

Tumque gemens gremio suspiria ducit, et orbo
Adstanti est puero multa locuta suo.
"Per tibi si quondam potuit dispellere curas
Infanti noster, dulce levamen, amor,

Ludere si docui per candida colla capillos,
Et circum faciem luxuriare tuam ;
Per lacrymas, quas sæpe tuas ita blanda levabam
Ut lacrymæ risus, me renovante, darent;

I pete Flodeniæ cumulatos cædibus agros,
Casorum admissus corpora quærat equus.-
grave Martis opus redeas, tecumque referto
Contigerint nostro qualia fata Duci.

Post

Dum redeas, gemitus inter miserosque dolores
Quæque mihi sæclo lentior hora volat.
Nunc iter acceleres pedibus velocibus, oro,
Parvule festines, mox rediture, puer.

HENRICUS E. STOKER.