With plenteous store of corn and wine
Supplied, a merry life he leads;
Swift o'er the plain his chariot speeds,
Whirled on by prancing, snorting steeds;
He smites his foes by aid divine.

CCLVI. The same.

Rigveda x. 117.

The gods have not ordained that we Should die of want: the lean and weak Are not death's only prey; the sleek Themselves must soon his victims be.

The man endowed with ample pelf,
Who steels his heart, in selfish mood,
Against the poor who sue for food,
Shall no consoler find himself.

No friend is he who coldly spurns
Away his needy friend forlorn ;
He thus repulsed, in wrath and scorn
To some more liberal stranger turns.

Relieve the poor while yet ye may;
Down future time's long vista look,
And try to read that darkling book;
Your riches soon may flit away.

Ye cannot trust their fickle grace.

As chariot wheels in ceaseless round

Now upward turn, now touch the ground, So riches ever change their place.

N

The man whose friend receives no share
Of all his good, himself destroys:
Who thus alone his food enjoys
His sin alone shall also bear.

CCLVII. The frogs in autumn.

Rigveda vii. 103.

As Brahmans, who a vow fulfil,
The frogs had now a year been still.
Like dried and shrivelled skins they lay,
Faint, parched with heat, for many a day,
Expecting, long in vain, the showers
Withheld by Air's malignant powers.
But autumn comes: Parjanya rains
In copious streams, and floods the plains.
Clouds veil the sun, the air is cool,
The ponds, long empty, now are full.
There float the frogs, their bodies soak:
Afar is heard their merry croak.
Well drenched, they jump aloft in glee,
And join in noisy colloquy.
They leap upon each other's backs,
And each to t'other cries co-ax.
As teachers first call out a word,

Then boys repeat what they have heard,
Just so the frogs croak out once more
What other frogs had croaked before.
Sounds diverse issue from their throats,
Some low like cows, some bleat like goats,
Though one in name, of various sheen,
For one is brown, another green.
As Brahmans at a Soma-rite,
Around the bowl in talk unite,

This day the frogs their pond surround,
And make the air with noise resound.

These priests, the frogs, their voices raise,
And sing their annual hymn of praise.
As priests who sweated o'er a pot,
Soon quit the fire they find too hot,
The frogs so long oppressed with heat
Emerge in haste from their retreat.
From rules divine they never swerve,
But all the seasons' laws observe.
When autumn comes their sufferings cease,
From scorching heat they find release.
The frogs that bleat and those that low,
Brown, green, on men all wealth bestow.
The kine that on our pastures graze
We owe to them, with length of days.

CCLVIII. The warrior.

Rigveda vi. 75.

When, cased in mail, the warrior proud

Stalks on, defiant, to the front,

To bear the raging battle's brunt,
We seem to see a flashing cloud.
Bold warrior, may thine armour bright
Preserve thee scatheless in the fight.

May I the foeman's malice foil
With this my all subduing bow!
May I, triumphant, lay him low,
And all his goods and cattle spoil!
This bow our foes with ruin whelms,
And conquers all surrounding realms.

The bowstring to the bowman's ear
Approaches close, as if to speak:
Its twang is like a woman's shriek:
It guards the warrior's soul from fear.

See, yonder on the chariot stands
The dauntless charioteer, whose skill
His horses onward drives, whose will
Their movements to and fro commands.
The reins (their wondrous power extol !)
Although behind, the steeds control.

The impetuous coursers shrilly neigh,
As forward to the fight they rush :
Their trampling hoofs our foemen crush;
They never shun the murderous fray.

APPENDIX.

1. Atharva Veda x. 8, 44. "Knowing that Soul, who is wise [or, calm], undecaying, young, free from desire, immortal, self-existent, satisfied with the essence [of good, or blessedness], and in no respect imperfect, a man does not dread death."

As the soul (atman) is masculine in Sanskrit, I have ventured to put the relative pronoun following the word in that gender.

I am indebted to Professor Adolf Kägi, of Zürich, for recalling my attention to this verse, which I had quoted in my Original Sanskrit Texts, iv., p. 20.

II. Svetasvatara Upanishad iii. 19.

"Without hands or feet, He grasps, and moves; without eyes He sees, without ears He hears. He knows whatever is knowable, but no one knows Him. Men call Him the great, primeval Purusha (Man or Spirit)."

I subjoin a portion of the context of this passage beginning at iii.7: "Knowing that lord, the Brahma which is beyond that, the supreme, the vast, hidden in the bodies of all creatures, the one enveloper of the universe, men become immortal. 8. (=Vājasaneyi Samhita xxxi. 18). Iknow that grand Purusha (male or spirit), of sunlike lustre, beyond the darkness. It is by knowing him that a man overpasses death; there is no other road to go. 9. This whole universe is filled by this Purusha, to whom there is nothing superior, from whom there is nothing different, than whom there is nothing either minuter or vaster, who stands alone, fixed like a tree in the sky. 10. That which is above this world is formless, and free from suffering; they who know it become immortal; others encounter pain.. 12. Purusha is the great lord; he is the mover of