daughter, nor need she cease to hope for dear grandchildren. Haste ye, a weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.'

With such soothsaying songs of yore did the Parcæ chant from divine breast the felicitous fate of Peleus. For of aforetime the heaven dwellers were wont to visit the chaste homes of heroes, and to show themselves in mortal assembly, ere yet their worship was scorned. Often the father of the gods, a resting in his glorious temple, when on the festal days his annual rites appeared, gazed on an hundred bulls strewn prone on the earth. Often wandering Liber on topmost summit of Parnassus led his yelling Thyiads with loosely tossed locks.

When the Delphians tumultuously trooping from the whole of their city joyously acclaimed the god with smoking altars. Often in lethal strife of war Mavors, or swift Triton's queen, or the Rhamnusian virgin, in person did exhort armed bodies of men. But after the earth was infected with heinous crime, and each one banished justice from their grasping mind, and brothers steeped their hands in fraternal blood, the son ceased grieving o'er departed parents, the sire craved for the funeral rites of his firstborn that freely he might take of the flower of unwedded stepdame, the unholy mother, lying under her unknowing son, did not fear to sully her household gods with dishonor: everything licit and lawless commingled with mad infamy turned away from us the just-seeing mind of the gods. Wherefore nor do they deign to appear at such like assemblies, nor will they permit themselves to be met in the daylight.

EPITHALAMIUM.

BY CATULLUS.

(Translated by John Hookham Frere.)

You that from the mother's side
Lead the lingering, blushing bride,

Fair Urania's son
Leave awhile the lonely mount,
The haunted grove and holy fount

Of chilling Helicon.

With myrtle wreaths enweave thy hair-
Wave the torch aloft in air-

Make no long delay :
With flowing robe and footsteps light,
And gilded buskin glancing bright,

Hither bend thy way.

Join at once, with airy vigor,
In the dance's varied figure,

To the cymbal's chime:
Frolic unrestrained and free —
Let voice, and air, and verse agree,

And the torch beat time.

Hymen come, for Julia
Weds with Manlius to-day,

And deigns to be a bride.
Such a form as Venus wore
In the contest famed of yore,

On Mount Ida's side;

Like the myrtle or the bay,
Florid, elegant, and gay,

With foliage fresh and new;
Which the nymphs and forest maids
Have fostered in sequestered shades,

With drops of holy dew.

Leave, then, all the rocks and cells
Of the deep Aonian dells,

And the caverns hoar;
And the dreary streams that weep
From the stony Thespian steep,

Dripping evermore.

Haste away to new delights,
To domestic happy rites,

Human haunts and ways;
With a kindly charm applied,
Soften and appease the bride,

And shorten our delays.

Bring her hither, bound to move,
Drawn and led with bands of love,

Like the tender twine

Which the searching ivy plies,
Clinging in a thousand ties

O'er the clasping vine.

Gentle virgins, you besides,
Whom the like event betides,

With the coming year;
Call on Hymen! call him now!
Call aloud! A virgin vow

Best befits his ear.

“Is there any deity More beloved and kind than he

More disposed to bless; Worthy to be worshiped more; Master of a richer store

Of wealth and happiness?

“ Youth and age

alike

agree Serving and adoring thee,

The source of hope and care: Care and hope alike engage The wary parent sunk in age

And the restless heir.

“She the maiden, half afraid, Hears the new proposal made,

That proceeds from thee; You resign and hand her over To the rash and hardy lover

With a fixt decree.

“Hymen, Hymen, you preside, Maintaining honor and the pride

Of women free from blame, With a solemn warrant given, Is there any power in heaven

That can do the same?

“Love, accompanied by thee, Passes unreproved and free,

But without thee, not: Where on earth, or in the sky, Can you find a deity

With a fairer lot?

"Heirship in an honored line
Is sacred as a gift of thine,

But without thee, not:
Where on earth, or in the sky,
Can you find a deity

With a fairer lot?

“Rule and empire — royalty,
Are rightful, as derived from thee,

But without thee, not:
Where on earth, or in the sky,
Can you find a deity

With a fairer lot ?"

The poet is here in his office as manager of the mob, mediating between them and the gentlefolks within. In the next stanza he speaks as the prolocutor of the rabble outside.

Open locks! unbar the gate !
Behold the ready troop that wait

The coming of the bride;
Behold the torches, how they flare!
Spreading aloft their sparkling hair,

Flashing far and wide.

Lovely maiden! here we waste
The timely moments ; -- Come in haste!

Come then ... Out, alack!
Startled at the glare and din,
She retires to weep within,

Lingering, hanging back.

Bashful honor and regret,
For a while detain her yet,

Lingering, taking leave:
Taking leave and lingering still,
With a slow, reluctant will,

With grief that does not grieve.

Aurunculeia, cease your tears,
And when to-morrow's morn appears,

Fear not that the sun
Will dawn upon a fairer face, -
Nor in his airy, lofty race

Behold a lovelier one.