The Vigil of Venus and Other Poems | Page 3

it with blooms:--?With the Graces at hand for assessors Dione dispenses
her dooms.?Now burgeon, O Hybla! put forth and abound, till 50
Proserpina's field,?To the foison thy lap overflowing its laurel of Sicily
yield.?Call, assemble the nymphs--hamadryad and dryad--
the echoes who court?From the rock, who the rushes inhabit, in ripples
who swim and disport.?"I admonish you maids--I, his mother, who suckled
the scamp ere he flew--?An ye trust to the Boy flying naked, some pestilent 55
prank ye shall rue."?_Now learn ye to love who loved never--now ye who have
loved, love anew!_
Et rigentibus virentes ducit umbras floribus:?Cras erit quum primus ?ther copulavit nuptias,?Et pater totum creavit vernis annum nubibus,?In sinum maritus imber fluxit alm? conjugis, 60?Unde fetus mixtus omnes aleret magno corpore.?Ipsa venas atque mentem permeanti spiritu?Intus occultis gubernat procreatrix viribus,?Perque coelum, perque terras, perque pontum
subditum?Pervium sui tenorem seminali tramite 65
She has coax'd her the shade of the hazel to cover
the wind-flower's birth.?Since the day the Great Father begat it, descending
in streams upon Earth;?When the Seasons were hid in his loins, and the
Earth lay recumbent, a wife,?To receive in the searching and genital shower the 60
soft secret of life.?As the terrible thighs drew it down, and conceived,
as the embryo ran?Thoro' blood, thoro' brain, and the Mother gave all
to the making of man,?She, she, our Dione, directed the seminal current to
creep,?Penetrating, possessing, by devious paths all the
height, all the deep.?She, of all procreation procuress, the share to the 65
furrow laid true;
Inbuit, jussitque mundum nosse nascendi vias.?_Cras amet qui nunquam amavit; quique amavit?cras amet._
Ipsa Trojanos nepotes in Latinos transtulit,?Ipsa Laurentem puellam conjugem nato dedit;?Moxque Marti de sacello dat pudicam virginem; 70?Romuleas ipsa fecit cum Sabinis nuptias,?Unde Ramnes et Quirites proque prole posterum?Romuli matrem crearet et nepotem C?sarem.?_Cras amet qui nunquam amavit; quique amavit cras
amet._
She, she, to the womb drave the knowledge, and open'd the ecstasy through. Now learn ye to love who loved never--now ye who have loved, love anew!
Her favour it was fill'd the sail of the Trojan for Latium bound; Her favour that won her Aeneas a bride on Laurentian ground, And anon from the cloister inveigled the Virgin, the Vestal,
to Mars; 70?As her wit by the wild Sabine rape recreated her Rome for its wars, With the Ramnes, Quirites, together ancestrally proud as they drew From Romulus down to our Caesar--last, best of that bone, of that thew. Now learn ye to love who loved never--now ye who have loved, love anew!
Rura fecundat voluptas: rura Venerem sentiunt: 75?Ipse Amor puer Dionse rure natus dicitur.?Hunc ager, cum parturiret ipsa, suscepit sinu:?Ipsa florum delicatis educavit osculis.?_Cras amet qui nunquam amavit; quique amavit cras,?amet_.
Ecce jam super genestas explicant tauri latus, 80?Quisque tutus quo tenetur conjugali foedere:?Subter umbras cum maritis ecce balantum greges;?Et canoras non tacere diva jussit alites.
Pleasure planteth a field; it conceives to the passion, 75
the pang, of his joy.?In a field was Dione in labour delivered of Cupid the
Boy;?And the field in its fostering lap from her travail
received him: he drew?Mother's milk from the delicate kisses of flowers;
and he prosper'd and grew--?_Now learn ye to love who loved never--now ye who have
loved, love anew!_
Lo! behold ye the bulls, with how lordly a flank 80
they besprawl on the broom!--?Yet obey the uxorious yoke, and are tamed to
Dione her doom.?Or behear ye the sheep, to the husbanding rams
how they bleat to the shade!?Or behear ye the birds, at the Goddess' command
how they sing unafraid!
Jam loquaces ore rauco stagna cycni perstrepunt;?Adsonat Terei puella subter umbram populi, 85?Ut putes motus amoris ore dici musico,?Et neges queri sororem de marito barbaro.?Ilia cantat, nos tacemus. Quando ver venit meum??Quando fiam uti chelidon, ut tacere desinam??Perdidi Musam tacendo, nec me Apollo respicit; 90?Sic Amyclas, cum tacerent, perdidit silentium.?_Cras amet qui nunquam amavit; quique amavit cras?amet_.
Be it harsh as the swannery's clamour that shatters the hush of the lake, Be it dulcet as where Philomela holds darkling the poplar awake, 85 So melting her soul into music, you'd vow 'twas her passion, her own, She plaineth--her sister forgot, with the Daulian crime long-agone. Hark! Hush! Draw around to the circle ... Ah, loitering Summer! Say when For me shall be broken the charm, that I chirp with the swallow again? I am old; I am dumb; I have waited to sing till Apollo withdrew-- 90 So Amyclae a moment was mute, and for ever a wilderness grew. Now learn ye to love who loved never--now ye who have loved, love anew, To-morrow!--to-morrow!
TO?CHARLES THURSBY
THE "ONLIE BEGETTER"
THE REGENT
A DRAMA IN ONE ACT
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
CARL'ANTONIO, Duke of Adria
TONINO, his young son
LUCIO; Count of Vallescura, brother to the Duchess
CESARIO, Captain of the Guard
GAMBA, a Fool
OTTILIA, Duchess and Regent of Adria
LUCETTA, a Lady-in-Waiting
FULVIA, a Lady of the Court
_Courtiers, Priests, Choristers, Soldiers, Mariners,?Townsfolk, etc._
The Scene is the Ducal Palace of Adria, in the N. Adriatic
The Date, 1571
THE REGENT
SCENE.--_A terraced courtyard before the Ducal Palace.?Porch and entrance of Chapel, R. A semicircular?balcony,