With joy I see thee glorious and great

But safer is the chequered lot, my friend: Chequer thou thine, cr, if not, fear thy fate, And what the envy of the gods may send.

Afflict thyself, since fate afflicts not thee,

Go, cast far out into the midmost deep, Where neither hand can reach nor eye can see

That thing thou prizest most and fain wouldst keep."

The king laughed loud at this faint-hearted mood,
And answered briefly with a scornful boast,
But still, as night wore on began to brood
On envious Gods and what he valued most.

Then in the night arose the sleepless king,

And thought the thing most prized was, what he wore, The priceless emerald in the priceless ring;

So, with it strode down to the still sea shore.

The parent sea mews roused, with plaintive call
Shrilled out their long drawn notes, as if in pain,
Faint lights and shadows drifted over all

The silent and immeasurable main.

He rowed out to the middle sea, which rolled
In heaving billows to the distant land,

While, mid storm-clouds, the moon shone crowned with gold
Like some calm chief among his rebel band.

Far o'er the billowing deep he flung the ring
And felt great sorrow when he cast it forth;

For when a man has lost a goodly thing,
His sorrow is the measure of its worth.

But home he went and all the sullen gloom
Was rolled from off his life, for he had stayed,
He thought within himself, the o'ershadowing doom,
Since to the Gods he had an offering made.

Fond man!-A fisher on a fateful day
Netted a fish so beautiful and great,
That none had seen its like in Samian bay,
And hastened with it to the palace gate.

He crossed the new made moat around the wall, And passed the statues wrought by skilful hand, To where the king sat in his stately hall,

Then spake:" Sir king, dread ruler of the land,

I live by fishing, thou upon thy throne;

This fish I did not sell, but thought it right

To give it to Polycrates alone,

As worthy of thy majesty and might.

"Well,"spake the Samian monarch" hast thou said : Sup thou with me to-night; thy gift and words Have pleased me well." The fisher bowed his head, And glad at heart went out among the lords.

But scarcely had he passed from out the gate,
When lo! the cook rushed in before the king
Haling the fish, half-staggered by the weight,
And cried "my lord-see-see-in this-the ring.

Both kings stand mute, their hearts within them fail, They see that none Fate's iron chain can break, That her decree no man can countervail :

But first, Amasis roused himself and spake.

Thou that canst change the irrevocable past,

Whom stern Fate helps, for whom the deep seas roll,

Nay! let me hence! for long as time may last,

I cannot save thee or thy lot controul;

So king Amasis sailed without delay,

And with the morrow's sun was on the seas Ploughing the main, and many a league away From fate-bound Samos and Polycrates. *

In ending here I have followed Schiller.

LATIN ELEGIACS.

τὸν δ ̓ ἔκτανε Δάρδανος ἀνήρ

Νηὸς ἀποθρώσκοντα πολὺ πρώτιστον ̓Αχαιῶν.

LAODAMIA.

Forth sprang the impassion'd queen her lord to clasp
Again that consummation she essay'd;

But unsubstantial form eludes her grasp
As often as that eager grasp was made.
The phantom parts-but parts to reunite,
And reassume his place before her sight.
"Protesilaus, lo! thy guide is gone!
Confirm, I pray, the vision with thy voice:
This is our palace,-yonder is thy throne;
Speak, and the floor thou tread'st on will rejoice.
Not to appal me have the gods bestow'd
This precious boon,-and bless'd a sad abode."

"Great Jove, Laodamia, doth not leave
His gifts imperfect:-Spectre though I be,
I am not sent to scare thee or deceive,
But in reward of thy fidelity.

And something also did my worth obtain;
For fearless virtue bringeth boundless gain.

"Thou know'st, the Delphic oracle foretold
That the first Greek who touch'd the Trojan strand
Should die; but me the threat did not withold:
A generous cause a victim did demand;
And forth I leapt upon the sandy plain;
A self-devoted chief-by Hector slain."