University of Virginia Library

TRANSLATION OF A LATIN PASTORAL POEM,

WRITTEN ON THE DEATH OF THE REV. JOHN FLETCHER.

PALÆMON.
Say, Alphesibæus, what makes thee sad
Thy lonely footsteps take, in sorrow clad?
By hungry wolf, perchance, some lambkin slain,
No longer frisking skips the sunny plain?

ALPHESIBÆUS.
My flock, Palæmon 's safe; no lamb is torn;
Damon is dead! 'tis this that makes me mourn.
For him, these eyes bedew'd with tears you see;
For him, my soul laments most tenderly.
One hour gone, with hard toil and sickness dead,
We bore him to his last, cold earthy bed.
To tell his name, no marble tomb is worth,
'Twill live unfading in immortal birth.

PALÆMON.
Since Damon's fled, the swan hath ceas'd to sing,
The raven and the crane their chattering;
The black crow alone, now saddening moans,
While Philomela sounds her mellow tones.

ALPHESIBÆUS.
But he, 'mid heaven's bright arch, can there behold
The silky clouds beneath his feet unfold;
May see the weeping flock he nurs'd and rear'd,
By Gospel light from doubt and error clear'd.
How happy he! but us, what griefs attend,
What sad afflicting cares our bosoms rend!
Ye Swains! in dismal notes of sorrow mourn!
This epitaph, shall on his tomb be borne—
“Here Damon lies, known to the stars in fame,
The boast of his kind, an unequall'd name.”

PALÆMON.
Cull the dewy flowers of varying hue,
The snow-white lily, and hyacinth blue;
The cassia and violet of modest bloom,
To scatter o'er lov'd Damon's humble tomb:
Whose stainless name from clime to clime shall sound,
While honied bees shall sip the sweets around,
While finny breed shall swim the briny deep,
Or goat shall climb the craggy mountain's steep.

ALPHESIBÆUS.
Like the cypress 'mid wild vines lifts its head,
And alder tree o'ertops in tam'risk bed;
So shall Damon's land, in high honour shine,
That sent forth one so pure, so near divine.

PALÆMON.
My friend, due praises may we ever give,
We praise him most, when most like him we live.