University of Virginia Library


24

XXII.

“------Usque ego posterâ
Crescam laude recens.”
Hor, lib iii. Od. xxx.

[_]

Epigram on the grave of Sophocles.

“Gently above the silent grave
Where Sophocles doth sleep,
Soft Ivy, let thy green leaves wave,
Around it gently creep.
There let the blooming Rose arise,
And branching Vine find place,
For honey-sweet, fair-worded, wise,
He blends both Muse and Grace.”
“All the glory of man is as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of the Lord endureth for ever.” 1 Pet. i. 24.

A churchyard was all wrapt in gloom
Except one early ray,
Which lit a Cross upon a tomb,
And far Its shadow lay.
I noted long—my heart it fill'd,
Not unmix'd with a tear,
A solemn awe my bosom still'd,—
It was a grave most dear.