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The Idyllia, Epigrams, and Fragments, of Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus

with the Elegies of Tyrtaeus, Translated from the Greek into English Verse. To which are Added, Dissertations and Notes. By the Rev. Richard Polwhele
  

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THE ELEGIES OF TYRTÆUS.
 II. 


289

THE ELEGIES OF TYRTÆUS.


290

Ω ΤΥΡΤΑΙΕ, ΠΟΙΗΤΑ ΘΕΙΟΤΑΤΕ ΔΟΚΕΙς ΓΑΡ ΔΗ ΣΟΦΟς ΗΜΙΝ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΚΑΙ ΑΓΑΘΟς : ΟΤΙ, ΤΟΥς ΕΝ ΤΩ ΠΟΛΕΜΩ ΔΙΑΦΕΡΟΝΤΑΣ, ΔΙΑΦΕΡΟΝΤΩς ΕΓΚΕΚΩΜΙΑΚΑς.

PLATO.

ΑΓΑΘΟΝ ΠΟΙΗΤΗΝ ΝΟΜΙΖΩ, ΝΕΩΝ ΨΥΧΑς ΚΑΛΛΥΝΕΙΝ : Ως, ΤΟΙς ΝΕΟΙς, ΔΙΑ ΤΩΝ ΕΠΩΝ, ΟΡΜΗΝ ΕΜΠΟΙΟΥΝΤΑ, ΜΕΤΑ ΘΥΜΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΦΙΛΟΤΙΜΙΑς, ΕΝ ΤΑΙς ΜΑΧΑΙς, ΑΦΕΙΔΟΥΣΑΝ ΕΑΥΤΩΝ.

PLUTARCH.


294

ELEGY the SECOND.

Rouse, rouse, my Youths! the Chain of Torpor break!
Spurn idle Rest, and couch the glittering Lance!
What! Does not Shame with Blushes stain your Cheek
Quick-mantling, as ye catch the Warrior's Glance?
Ignoble Youths! Say, when shall Valor's Flame
Burn in each Breast? Here, here, while Hosts invade,
And War's wild Clangors all your Courage claim,
Ye sit, as if still Peace embower'd the Shade.
But, sure, fair Honor crowns the auspicious Deed,
When patriot Love impells us to the Field;
When, to defend a trembling Wife, we bleed,
And when our shelter'd Offspring bless the Shield.
What Time the Fates ordain, pale Death appears:
Then, with firm Step and Sword high drawn, depart;
And, marching thro' the first thick Shower of Spears,
Beneath thy Buckler guard the intrepid Heart.

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Each Mortal, tho' he boast celestial Sires,
Slave to the sovereign Destiny of Death,
Or mid the Carnage of the Plain expires,
Or yields unwept at home his coward Breath.
Yet Sympathy attends the brave Man's Bier;
Sees on each Wound the balmy Grief bestow'd;
And, as in Death the universal Tear,
Thro' Life inspires the Homage of a God.
For like a Turret his proud Glories rise,
And stand, above the Rival's Reach, alone;
While Millions hail, with fond adoring Eyes,
The Deeds of many a Hero met in one!