Specimens of the Poets and Poetry of Greece and Rome

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William Peter
H.C. Baird, 1856 - 3 pages

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Page 15 - As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night, O'er Heaven's clear azure spreads her sacred light, When not a breath disturbs the deep serene, And not a cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene ; Around her throne the vivid planets roll, And stars unnumber'd gild the glowing pole, O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed, And tip with silver every mountain's head...
Page 218 - Thammuz came next behind, Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured The Syrian damsels to lament his fate In amorous ditties all a summer's day ; While smooth Adonis from his native rock Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood Of Thammuz yearly wounded...
Page 465 - WHAT slender Youth bedew'd with liquid odours Courts thee on Roses in some pleasant Cave, Pyrrha for whom bind'st thou In wreaths thy golden Hair, Plain in thy neatness? O how oft shall he On Faith and changed Gods complain : and Seas Rough with black winds and storms Unwonted shall admire : Who now enjoys thee credulous, all Gold, Who always vacant, always amiable Hopes thee ; of flattering gales Unmindful. Hapless they To whom thou untried seem'st fair. Me in my vow'd Picture the sacred wall declares...
Page 15 - O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed, And tip with silver every mountain's head ; Then shine the vales, the rocks in prospect rise, A flood of glory bursts from all the skies ; ' The conscious swains, rejoicing in the sight, Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light.
Page 210 - Lycidas ? For neither were ye playing on the steep, Where your old bards, the famous Druids, lie, Nor on the shaggy top of Mona high, Nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream. Ay me, I fondly dream ! Had ye been there...
Page 447 - Oppress'd with numbers in th' unequal field, His men discouraged and himself expell'd, Let him for succour sue from place to place, Torn from his subjects, and his son's embrace, First let him see his friends in battle slain. And their untimely fate lament in vain : And when at length the cruel war shall cease, On hard conditions may he buy his peace ; Nor let him then enjoy supreme command, But fall untimely by some hostile hand, And lie unburied in the common sand.
Page 41 - Twas this deprived my soul of rest, And rais'd such tumults in my breast ; For while I gaz'd, in transport tost, My breath was gone, my voice was lost : My bosom glow'd ; the subtle flame Ran quick through all my vital frame ; O'er my dim eyes a darkness hung ; My ears with hollow murmurs rung. In dewy damps my limbs were chill'd ; My blood with gentle horrors thrill'd ; My feeble pulse forgot to play ; I fainted, sunk, and died away.
Page 49 - Tis filled wherever thou dost tread, Nature's self's thy Ganymede. Thou dost drink, and dance, and sing, Happier than the happiest king. All the fields which thou dost see, All the plants, belong to thee ; All that summer hours produce, Fertile made with early juice; Man for thee does sow and plow; Farmer he, and landlord thou ! Thou dost innocently joy, Nor does thy luxury destroy.
Page 10 - Could all our Care elude the gloomy Grave, Which claims no less the fearful than the brave, For Lust of Fame I should not vainly dare , In fighting Fields, nor urge thy Soul to War. But since, alas! ignoble Age must come, Disease, and Death's inexorable Doom; The Life which others pay, let us bestow, And give to Fame what we to Nature owe; Brave tho' we fall, and honour'd if we live, Or let us Glory gain, or Glory give!
Page 7 - Yet while my Hector still survives, I see My father, mother, brethren, all, in thee : Alas ! my parents, brothers, kindred, all Once more will perish, if my Hector fall, Thy wife, thy infant, in thy danger share : Oh, prove a husband's and a father's care ! That quarter most the skilful Greeks annoy, Where yon wild fig-trees join the wall of Troy; Thou, from this tower defend the...

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