 | The works of Anacreon, Sappho, Bion, Moschus and Musæus |  |
IDYLLIUM V. THE CHOICE.
When Zephyrs gently curl the azure Main,
On Land, impatient, I can scarce sustain
At Ease to dwell; a Calm yields more Delight:
But when Old Ocean to a Mountain's Height
Rolls, with tremendous Roar, his foaming Floods,
I loath the Sea, and sigh for Fields and Woods.
Safe is the Land; then piny Forests please,
Though hoarse Winds whistle through the bending Trees:
Hapless the Fisher's Life! the Sea his Toil,
His House a Bark, and faithless Fish his Spoil.
But O! to me how sweet are Slumbers, laid
Beneath a lofty Plane's embowering Shade;
And thence the Tinkling of a Rill to hear,
Whose Sound gives Pleasure unallay'd by Fear!
On Land, impatient, I can scarce sustain
At Ease to dwell; a Calm yields more Delight:
But when Old Ocean to a Mountain's Height
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I loath the Sea, and sigh for Fields and Woods.
Safe is the Land; then piny Forests please,
Though hoarse Winds whistle through the bending Trees:
Hapless the Fisher's Life! the Sea his Toil,
His House a Bark, and faithless Fish his Spoil.
But O! to me how sweet are Slumbers, laid
Beneath a lofty Plane's embowering Shade;
And thence the Tinkling of a Rill to hear,
Whose Sound gives Pleasure unallay'd by Fear!
D.
| The works of Anacreon, Sappho, Bion, Moschus and Musæus | |