There  heard  we  him  with  broke  and  hollow  plaint
Rue  with  himself  his  end  approaching  fast.
And  all  for  nought  liis  wi'etched  mind  torment
With  sweet  remembrance  of  his  pleasui-es  past.
And  fresh  delights  of  lusty  youth  forwaste  :

Recounting  which,  how  would  he  sob  and  shriek.
And  to  be  young  again  of  Jove  beseek.
But  and'"  the  cruel  f  ites  so  fixed  be

That  time  forpast  cannot  return  again,  310

This  one  request  of  Jove  yet  prayed  he  :

That,  in  such  wither'd  plight  and  wretched  pain

As  eld,"  accompanied  with  his  loathsome  train.
Had  brought  on  him,  all  were  it  woe  and  grief,

He  might  a  while  yet  linger  forth  his  life,

And  not  so  soon  descend  into  the  pit,

^ATiere  Death,  when  ho  the  mortal  corpse  hath  slain.
With  reckless  hand  in  g-i-ave  doth  cover  it ;

Thereafter  never  to  enjoy  again

The  gladsome  light,  but,  in  the  ground  ylain,  3'30'

In  depth  of  darkness  waste  and  wear  to  nought,
As  he  had  ne'er  into  the  world  been  brought.
^  Even  peeping  (even  pronounced  e'en),  peeping  in  our  eyes  fi'om  the
horizon  as  from  ground  low  as  ourselves,  level  with  us  as  we  lie.
"  Keep,  heed.  To  "  take  keep  "  was  to  pay  attention,  to  lay  hold  of
a  thing  by  giving  attention  to  it.
*  Fere,  companion.
5  Irus.  The  type  of  poverty  is  taken  from  the  beggar  in  the
eighteenth  book  of  Homer's  "  Odyssey."  Croesus  and  Irus  had  been
paired  by  Ovid  as  the  types  of  wealth  and  povei-ty  :  "  Irus  et  est
subitb  qui  mode  Croesus  erat "  (And  suddenly  he  is  Inis  who  just
now  was  Croesus).
!*•  And  or  an,  if.
1'  Eld,  age.    First  English  *'  yld  "  and  "  eld."


TO  A.D.   1579.]


SHORTER   POEMS.
