PROSE I.

Cum haec elegiaca lamentabili ejulatione crebrius recenserem.

While I with sorrowful lament was repeating these elegies over and over again, a woman glided down from the inner palace of the impassable heavens, and appeared, hastening her approach to me. Her hair, which shone not with borrowed light but with its own, and which displayed the likeness of rays, not by semblance, but by native clearness surpassing nature, showed on a starry body the head of a virgin. Twin tresses flowing loosely, [1] neither forsook the parts above nor yet disdained to smile upon the ground with a kiss. The line of a slender necklace , crossing itself obliquely, divided the strife of her hair; nor was this ever [2] a blemish in her appearance, but rather commanded its beauty [3]. And a golden comb smoothed into the dance of due orderliness the gold of her hair .5 and wondered to have found a countenance agreeing, for the gold of fancy imposed upon the vision the false conclusion of harmonious color. But in truth her forehead, wide and full and even, was of the milkwhite lily in color, and seemed to vie with the lily. Her eyebrows, starry in golden brightness, had neither

1 Reading quem, with B.

2 Reading umquam, with Migne.

3 Reading vultui erat detriments, sed praerat decori with Migne.

grown unduly into a forest of hairs, nor fallen into unmeet scantiness, but between both held a mean. The clear calm of the eyes, which attracted with friendly light, offered the freshness of twin stars. Her nose, fragrant with lovely odor, and neither out of measure low nor unduly prominent, had a certain distinction. The nard of her breath gave the nose banquets of delicate perfume. Her lips, gently .rounded, invited the tyros of Venus to kisses. Her teeth, by some harmony of color, had the appearance of ivory. The glowing fire of her cheeks, kindled with the light of roses, with soft flame cheered her face; and this in turn chastened the pleasing warmth with cool whiteness-like rose-color on fine linen.Her smooth chin, fairer than crystalline light, wore a silvery brightness. Her neck, while not unduly long, was molded gracefully, and did not allow the nape to be close to the shoulders. The apples of her breasts promised the ripeness of glorious youth. Her arms, beautifully formed for the delight of the beholder, seemed to ask for embraces. The finely drawn curve of her waist, which had the mark of due moderation, brought her whole presence to the height of perfection. And faith spoke other parts, which a more secret habitation held aside, to be even better. For in her body lay unapparent a more beautiful form, of whose joys the countenance offered a foretaste: yet, as this very form made known, the key of Dione had never opened the lock of its chastity. And although the joy of her loveliness was so great, yet she tried to blot out the smile of her beauty with precious tears. For a stealthy dew, sprung from the welling of her eyes, proclaimed the flow of inwards grief, and her very face, cast to earth with chaste modesty, told of some injury done to the virgin her-

self. The sparkling crown of a regal diadem, shining with dances of gems, brightened high on her head. No base alloy of gold, derogate from high worth, and deceptive to the eye with false light, supplied its substance but the pure nobility of gold itself. With marvelous revolution and ceaseless turning, this diadem travelled from east to west, and then by backward motion was continually restored to its rising. And its incessant performing of this, and its constant journeying to its starting-place, seemed almost a useless motion. Some of these gems at one time offered to the sight miracles of fresh day in the new sun of their light ; but at another time by eclipse of their brilliancy seemed banished from the palace of the same diadem. Others, which were fixed, maintained the vigil of their sparkling, and were constant watchers. Among these a circle, shining in the likeness of the zodiacal curve, and glittering with chains of precious stones, cut across the thickly starred space. And on this a group of twelve gems seemed, from the advance of its numbers and from its especial splendor, to demand supremacy over the others.

Furthermore, in the front of the diadem three jewels, by the bold pride of their beams, supplanted and out-' shone the other nine. The first stone condemned darkness to exile by its light, and cold by its fire. On this, as the skillful deceptions of a picture manifested there blazed the form of a lion. The second, which was yet not inferior to the first in light, flashed in a more prominent position in this same part of the diadem, and seemed to look down on the other stones almost with indignation. On this, in a perfect picture of the reality, a crab with varying and conflicting motion went backward as it went forward, retreated gas it progressed, and seemed to advance behind its

own self The third stone redeemed the scant brightness of a stone set over against it by the abundant wealth of its own clear light. On this, as a truthful picture asserted, the mythical children of Leda advanced and welcomed each other with mutual embraces. In like manner, three stones, whose power was of second degree, had set their thrones in an opposite part. Of these the first, with little drops of moisture, gave the likeness of tears, and saddened its look with counterfeit weeping. On this, as the fancy of skilful engraving had drawn and set forth, the pitcher of the Idean youth gurgled with flowing stream. The second stone kept all resting-places for --s warmth ouf of its dominion, and with icy numbness claimed winter for its guest. On this a picture gave, by an illusive likeness of goat's wool, the hairy pelt of a goat. The third stone, which had the appearance of crystalline light. prophesied with banner of cold the coming of winter. On this the old Haemonian with diligent bending of the bow threatened wounds, yet never made good his threats. Playing upon another beautiful side, three mild and fair gems delighted the eyes. The first of these, aflame with the glow of rosy color, gave to view a rose; and in it a bull showed the well-known marks of his head, and was seen thirsting for battle. Another, of which the lustre was exceptional, blessed the companies of its fellows with grace and kindliness. On this a ram gloried in the nobility of its head, and demanded the leadership of the flock. The third, which had a greenish hue, cherished within it an emerald-like balm to freshen the sight. On this, within a fancied river, fish swam according to their kind, and sported in great numbers along the shore. On the opposite side, the shining beauty of a group of three stars sparkled with glad

delight. Of these stones the first, beaming with the' golden sun of its own splendor, wore the grace of unwearying beauty. On this, as the poetical fancy' of the cutting showed, a virgin, by her excelling fairness, like an Astraca rivaled the stars. The second neither wantoned in excessive splendor nor begged the sparks of a meagre glory, but rejoiced in a moderate flame. And on this, below the steady tongue of a balance, in a truthful and yet artistic representation, a pair of scales foretold the trial of weights. The third, the faces of which turned and alternated, now promised a kindly clearness, now gave itself up to the clouds of obscurity. On this the figure of a scorpion stood out, and presaged with its face laughter, with the sting of its tail tears.

Moreover, under the stations of these twelve stones a sevenfold array of gems kept up with a continual circling, a marvelous sort of play and pleasing dance. Nor did this dance lack the sweetness of melodious sound. Now it frolicked in little notes, now it quickened into tones rich and swelling, and now, with stronger trump, advanced into the full burst of harmony, the depth of which stirred delight in our ears, and brought the first joys of sleep to our eyes. For since it is that moderate listening keeps away discontent, so excess brings on weariness; and the drowsy hearing faded, tired with the full and excessive melody. These seven stones, though not held subject to the diadem itself by any bands of connection, yet never deserted their fellowship of the upper stones. The highest was a diamond. This, more economical of movement than the others, but more spendthrift of ease, delayed very long in the completion of its wide orbit. With such frostiness and great cold did it slowly move that its essential form gave proof that it had

been born under the Saturnian star. The second was an agate, which, from its path being close at hand, was more easily seen than the others. Its effect was with some to change hate to love, and with others by its commanding virtue and power to render imperfect charity perfect; for its kindly operation asserted it to be, by close relationship of nature, of a family with the star of Jove. The third was an asterite, in which the dominion of heat had taken its station, and where was gathered the energy of the star Mars and its peculiar quality preserved. This, with threatening countenance of terrible splendor, warned destruction to others. The fourth was a ruby, having the likeness of the sun. With its streaming candle this banished the shades of night, and put to sleep the eclipsed lamps of its fellows. Now in the regal authority of majesty it ordered the others to make way, and now brought to the disturbance a quiet power. Then with a sapphire came an amethyst, pressing on the former's tracks, and tending it almost as a servant, yet never prejudiced by the quality of the other's light. Apart from the sapphire a little space, it either ran beside it round its orbit, or followed, or the one star lagged and granted the other the concession of going first. Of these two stones, the first by its harmonious quality gave the effect of the Mercurial star; the other, the effect of th6 Dionean. The last stone was a pearl, which was set in the rim of the flashing crown, and which shone with another's light, begging the aid of lustre from the ruby. Within the presence of the latter's radiance it either increased in the growth of its beam of light, or reached its full and shrank, as if it worshiped the ruby; and it petitioned that it should be re-adorned with the fires of its brother. and wear the beauties of that light renewed. Now it re-

paired the losses of its wasted round by fixed and regular succor; now, shorn of its beams, it lamented the loss of its proper majesty, for this was silvery with crystal splendor, answering to the appearance of the lunar star. The bright nobility of this diadem by all these glories revealed the likeness of the firmament.

A garment, woven from silky wool and covered with many colors, was as the virgin's robe of state. Its appearance perpetually changed with many a different color and manifold hue. At first it startled the sight with the white radiance of the lily Next, as if its simplicity had been thrown aside and it were striving for something better, it glowed with rosy life. Then, reaching the height of perfection, it gladdened the sight with the greenness of the emerald. Moreover, spun exceedingly fine so as to escape the scrutiny of the eye it was so deliacate of substance that you would think it and the air of the same nature. On it, as a picture fancied to sight, was being held a parliament of of the living creation. There theeagle, first assuming youth, then age, and finally returning to the first, changed from Nestor to Adonis. There the hawk, chief of the realm of the air, demanded tribute from its subjects with i violent tyranny. The kite assumed the character of, hunter, and in its stealthy preying seemed like the ghost of the hawk. The falcon stirred up civil war against the heron, though this was not divided with equal balance, for that should not be thought of by the name of war where you strike, but I only am struck.. The ostrich, disregarding a worldly life for a lonely, dwelt like a hermit in solitudes of desert places. The swan, herald of its own death, foretold with its honey sweet lyre of music the stopping of its life. There

on the peacock Nature had rained so great a treasure store of beauty that you would think she afterwards would have gone begging. The phoenix died in its real self, but, by some miracle of nature, revived in another, and in its death aroused itself from the dead. The bird of concord [1] paid tribute to Nature by decimating its brood. There lived sparrows, shrunk to, low, pygmean atoms; while the crane opposite went to the excess of gigantic size. The pheasant, after it had endured the confinement of its natal island, flew into our worlds, destined to become the delight of princes. The cock, like a popular astrologer, told with its voice's clock the divisions of the hours. But the wild cock derided its domestic idleness, and roamed abroad, wandering through the woody regions. The horned owl, prophet of misery, sang psalms of future deep sorrowing. The night owl was so gross with the dregs of ugliness that you would think that nature had dozed at its making. The crow predicted things to come in the excitement of vain chatter. The dubiously colored magpie kept up a sleepless attention to argument. The jackdaw treasured trifles of its commendable thieving,2 showing the signs of inborn avarice. The dove drunk with the sweet Dionean evil, labored at the sport of Cypris. The raven, hating the shame of rivalry, did not confess for its brood its own offspring, until the sign of dark color was disclosed, whereupon, as if disputing with itself it acknowledged the fact. The partridge shunned now the attacks of the powers of the air, now the traps of hunters, now the warning barks of dogs. The duck and the goose wintered, according to the same law of living, in their native land of streams. The turtle-dove, widowed of its mate, scorned to return to love, and

1. Migne reads ciconia, stork.

2. Lat. latrocinio laudabili

refused the consolation of marrying again. The parrot on the anvil of its throat fashioned the coin of human speech. There the trick of a false voice beguiled the quail, ignorant of the deceit of the serpent's figure. The woodpecker, architect of its own small house, with its beak's pick made a little retreat in an oak. The hedge-sparrow, putting aside the role of stepmother, with the maternal breast of devotion adopted as its child the alien offspring of the cuckoo; but the offspring, though the subject of so great a boon, yet knew itself not as own son, but as stepchild. The swallow returned from its wandering, and made with mud under a beam its nest and home. The nightingale, renewing the complaint of its ravishment, and making music of harmonious sweetness, gave excuse for the fall of its chastity. The lark, like a highsouled musician, offered the lyre of its throat, not with the artfulness of study but with the mastery of nature, as one most skilled in the lore of melody; and refining its tones into finer, separated these little notes into inseparable chains. The bat, bird of double sex, held the rank of cipher among small birds. These living things, although as it were in allegory moving there, seemed to exist actually.

Fine linen with its white shaded into green, which the maiden, as she herself shortly afterward said, had woven without a seam, and which was not of common material, but rejoiced in a skilled workmanship, served for her mantle. Its many intricate folds showed the color of water, and on it a graphic picture told of the nature of the watery creation, as divided into numerous species. There the whale- fought with cliffs, and rushed on and rammed the forts of ships with the rock of its hugely towering body. The sea-dog, (the noisy sound of the name of which is doubly

confusing, since it never barks), hunted the hares of its world in the glades of the sea. The sturgeon offered the excellence [1] of its flesh to royal tables -- as a special blessing. The herring, that most common fish, relieved the hunger of the poor with its body which is shared by all. The plaice atoned by its delectable savor for the absence of meat in the forty days rigor. The mullet, with the sweet spices of its flesh, enticed the palates of those who tasted. The trout was baptized on the open sea and entered into the salt gulfs, and was known by the name of salmon. Dolphins by prophetic appearance foretold to ships the rage of the sea to come. There was a fish with the lower members of a siren, and with the face of a man. The luna, bereft of its own light, revenged, seemingly in spite, its private injury on the shell-fish; but the latter, as if laboring in corporeal new moon, atoned for the loss. To these dwellers in the regions of the brine had been assigned the middle portion of the mantle. Its remaining portion held migratory fish, which wandered in various streams, and had their haunts in their own land of fresher water. There the pike, with tyrannical compulsion and not from warranted necessity, imprisoned its subjects in the dungeon of its belly. The barbel, from its small size not renowned, lived with the common fish on more friendly terms. The shad accompanied the vernal season, and offered with the joys of spring the delights of its savor, greeting the tastes of men with its approach. The small muraena, slit with many an opening, gathered the germs of fever for persons dining. The eel, which copied the nature of the serpent, was thought because of its like trait to be the serpent's descendant. The perch, armored with javelins of spines, shunned the

1. Reading nobilitatem, with Migne.

insults of the sea-wolf the less. The cat-fish made up in its swollen head that which it lost in the slimness of its lower body. These pictures, finely drawn on the mantle in the manner of sculpture, seemed by miracle to swim.

A damask tunic, also, pictured with embroidered work, concealed the maiden's body. This was starred with many colors, and massed into a thicker material approaching the appearance of the terrestrial element. In its principal part man laid aside the idleness of sensuality, and by the direct guidance of reason penetrated the secrets of the heavens. Here the tunic had undergone a rending of its parts, and showed abuses and injuries. But elsewhere its parts were united in unbroken elegance, and suffered no discord nor division. On these the magic of a picture gave life to the animals of the earth. There the elephant, of prodigious size, came forward in the field, and doubled the body given by nature by a manifold usury. The camel, misshapen in the ruggedness of its rough frame, ministered to the wants of men like a bought slave. There the forehead of the gazelle was seen to be armed with horns in place of a helmet. The bull, pawing the ground with its feet, and roaring with horrible bellowings, foretold the thunderbolts of its warfare. Oxen, which refused the martial exercise of the bulls, stood gaping like rustics, in servile employment. The horse was carried on by hot courage, and fought in aid of its rider, breaking spear with soldier. The ass offended the ears with horrid noises, like a singer of burlesque perpetrating barbarities on music. The unicorn, lulled to sleep in a virgin's bosom, met in sleep the dream of death by enemies [1]. The lion murmured songs of its roar-

1. Migne has ab hostibus somnum mortis incurrebat, " met through enemies the sleep of death." A. is to the same effect.

ing in the ears of its offspring, and by a wonderful natural magic aroused in them the spark of life. The she-bear gave birth through the openings of its nostrils to an ill-formed progeny; but by licking and shaping them again and again with its long, pointed tongue brought them to a better figure. The wolf lurked in hiding, assuming the employment of the thief, and deserving of eminence on the airy walk of the gallows. The panther roamed through the woods in more open robbery, and preyed on a flock of sheep, not only for their coats, but also for their very bodies. The tiger did violence to the republic of grazing citizens with frequent shedding of innocent blood. The wild ass threw aside the captivity of the domestic ass, and, emancipated by Nature's command, inhabited bold mountains. There the wild boar, by its murderous weapon of a tusk, sold its death to the dogs for many an injury. The dog rent the winds with unsubstantial wounds, and bit the air with impatient tooth. The stag and doe, light in fleetness of foot, gained life by their running, and cheated the wicked jaws of pursuing dogs. The he-goat, clothed in false wool, seemed to disgust the nostrils with a four days' stench. The ram, robed in a nobler tunic, rejoiced in a plurality of wives, and beguiled the honor of marriage. The little fox cast off the dulness of the brute creation, and strove for the finer sagacity of man. The hare, seized with melancholy dread, not in sleep, but in the stupor of fear, dreamed, terrified, of the approach of dogs. The rabbit, which tempers the wrath of our cold climate by its pelt, fought off the attacks of our hunger with its own flesh. The ermine, scorning to be wedded to a more humble garment, laughed or wept in a splendid marriage with lustrous color. The beaver, lest it should suffer di-

vision of its very body by an enemy, cut off its end parts. The lynx rejoiced in such clearness of eyesight 4-5 that, compared with it, the other animals seemed blear-eyed. The marten and the sable, by the elegance of their fur, brought the half-completed beauty of the coverings of the other animals, when it asked for supplements, to the full. This representation of acting form presented these animal figures, as feasts of pleasure, to the eyes of beholders.[1]

Now what imagination slumbered in the many pictures on the shoes and the undergarment, and in the lower, concealed clothing, I did not establish with any certainty. But yet, as the assistance of some frail probabilities suggested, I think that there laughed there the delight of a picture of the natures of herbs and trees. For there trees were now clothed with purple tunics, now fringed with verdant foliage; now they gave birth to the sweet-scented infancy of flowers, now matured into a goodlier fruit. But inasmuch as I knew of this series of pictures by hazardous thought and probability alone, and not by the faith of certainty, I pass it by, buried in the peace of silence. But the shoes, which had taken their material from soft leather, followed so closely the forms of her feet that they seemed to have been born on them, or, so to speak, marvelously inscribed on them. On these, which scarcely ever fell away from their true quality there flourished, in the imagination of a picture, delicate flowers.

1 Reading videntium, with B.