Anacreon :: :: University of Virginia Library

The Spring appears, in which the Earth
Receives a new harmonious Birth;
When all things mutual Love unites;
When Birds perform their nuptial rites;
And fruitful by her watry Lover,
Each grove its tresses doth recover;
Loves Queen to morrow, in the shade
Which by these verdant trees is made,
Their sprouting tops in wreaths shall bind,
And Myrtles into Arbours wind;
To morrow rais'd on a high throne,
Dione shall her Laws make known.

Love he, &c.

Then the round Oceans foaming flood,
Immingled with Celestial blood,
'Mongst the blew People of the Main,
And Horses whom two feet sustain,
Rising Dione did beget,
With fruitful waters dropping wet.

Love he, &c.

With flowry Jewels every where
She paints the purple colour'd year;

She, when the rising bud receives
Favonious breath, thrusts forth the leaves,
The naked Roof with these t'adorn;
She the transparent dew oth' morn,
Which the thick Air of night still uses
To leave behind, in Rain diffuses;
These tears with Orient brightnesse shine,
Whilst they with trembling weight decline,
Whose every drop, into a small
Clear Orbe distill'd, sustains its fall.
Pregnant with these the bashful Rose
Her purple blushes doth disclose.
The drops of falling dew, that are
Shed in calm nights by every Star,
She in her humid mantle holds,
And then her Virgin leaves unfolds.
Ith' morn by her command, each maid
With dewy Roses is arraid;
Which from Cytheras crimson blood,
From the soft kisses love bestow'd,
From Jewels, from the radiant flame,
And the Suns purple lustre came.
She to her spouse shall married be
To morrow; not asham'd, that he
Should with a single knot unty,
Her fiery garment's purple dy.

Love he, &c.

The Goddesse bade the Nymphs remove
Unto the shady Myrtle grove;
The boy goes with the maids, yet none
Will trust, or think love tame is grown,

If they perceive that any where
He Arrows doth about him bear.
Go fearlesse Nymphs, for love hath laid
Aside his Armes, and tame is made.
His weapons by command resign'd,
Naked to go he is enjoyn'd:
Lest he hurt any by his craft,
Either with flame, or bow, or shaft.
But yet take heed young Nymphs, beware
You trust him not, for Cupid's fair,
Lest by his beauty you be harm'd;
Love naked is compleatly arm'd.

Love he, &c.

Fair Venus Virgins sends to thee,
Indu'd with equal modesty;
One onely thing we thee desire,
Chast Delia for a while retire;
That the wide Forest, that the Wood
May be unstain'd with savage blood;
She would with prayers her self attend thee,
But that she knew she could not bend thee;
She would thy self to come have praid,
Did these delights beseem a Maid;
Now mightst thou see with hallowed rites,
The Chorus solemnize three nights;
Mongst Troops whom equal pleasure crowns,
To play and sport upon thy downs;
'Mongst Garlands made of various flowers,
'Mongst ever verdant Myrtle bowers;
Ceres nor Bacchus absent be,
Nor yet the Poets Deitie:

All night we wholly must employ
In Vigils, and in Songs of joy;
None but Diana must bear sway
Amongst the Woods, Delia gives way.

Love he, &c.

She, the Tribunal did command
Deckt with Dyblæan flowers should stand;
She will in judgement sit; the Graces
On either side shall have their places;
Hybla thy flowers powre forth, what ere
Was brought thee by the welcome year;
Hybla thy flowry garment spread,
Wide as is Enna's fruitful mead;
Maids of the Countrey here will be;
Maids of the Mountains come to see;
Hither resort, all such as dwell
Either in Grove, or Wood, or Well;
The wing'd boyes Mother, every one
Commands in order to sit down;
Charging the Virgins, that they must
In nothing Love, though naked, trust.

Love he, &c.

Let the fresh covert of a shade
Be by these early flowers displai'd;
To morrow, (which with sports and play
We keep) was Æthers Wedding day;
When first the Father of the Spring
Did out of clouds the young year bring;
The husband shower then courts his spouse,
And in her sacred bosome flowes,
That all which that vast body bred,
By this defluxion may be fed:

Produc'd within She all there swayes,
By a hid spirit, which by-wayes
Unknown diffus'd, through soul and vains,
All things both governs and sustains.
Piercing through the unsounded Sea,
And Earth, and highest Heaven, She
All places with her power doth fill,
Which through each part She doth distill;
And to the World, the mystick wayes
Of all production open layes.

Love he, &c.

She to the Latines did transfer
The Trojan Nephews; and by her
Was the Laurentian Virgin won,
And joyn'd in marriage to her son;
By her assistance did Mars gain
A votaresse from Vesta's fane;
To marriage Romulus betraid
The Sabine Women, by her aid;
(Of Romans the wide-spreading stem:)
And in the long descent of them
In whom that off-spring was dilated,
Cæsar her Nephew she created.

Love he, &c.

The fields are fruitful made by pleasure;
The fields are rich in Venus treasure;
And love Diones son fame yields
For truth, his birth had in the fields:
As soon as born the field reliev'd him;
Into its bosom first receiv'd him;
She bred him from his infant howers
With the sweet kisses of the flowers.

Love he, &c.

See how the Bulls their sides distend,
And broomstalks with the burthen bend;
Now every one doth safely ly,
Confin'd within his marriage ty;
See, with their husbands here are laid
The bleating flocks, beneath the shade;
The warbling Birds on every tree,
The Goddess wills not silent be.
The vocal Swans on every lake
With their hoarse voice a harsh sound make;
And Tereus hapless Maid, beneath
The Poplars shade her Song doth breath;
Such as might well perswade thee, Love
Doth in these trembling accents move;
Not that the sister in those strains
Of the inhumane spouse complains:
We silent are whilst she doth sing;
How long in coming is my Spring?
When will the time arrive, that I
May Swallow-like my voice unty?
My Muse for being silent flies me,
And Phœbus will no longer prize me:
So did Amiclæ once, whilst all
Silence observ'd, through silence fall.

Love he to morrow, who lov'd never;
To morrow who hath lov'd, persever.