LINES WRITTEN AT THE TOMB OF WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM, IN WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL. Wykeham, around thy venerable tomb With fond affection still thy children come; And tho’ no more the loud-voiced hymn they sing, Still silent prayers and heartfelt wishes bring, That thy departed Spirit, secure and blest, May with the destined heirs of glory rest; And, for thy pious bounty here bestow’d, Treasure in Heaven may have, and joy in God! TRANSLATION OF A GREEK INSCRIPTION UPON A FOUNTAIN[21]. Αγροτα συν ποιμυαις, κ. τ. λ. Vitruvius, Lib. 8. c. 3. Shepherd, if thirst oppress thee, while thy flock Thou lead’st at noon by this Arcadian spring, Here freely drink thy fill, and freely bring Around my Naïads all thy fleecy stock: But in the water wash not, lest thou feel Loathing, and strange antipathy to wine; Such power it hath to make thee hate the vine, E’er since my fount did Prœtus’ daughters heal;— For here Melampus bathed them, here he cast A spell to purge their madness off, and hold The secret taint; what time from Argos old To rough Arcadia’s mountain heights he past. [21] There was a fountain in Arcadia, which had the reputation of creating an aversion to wine in whoever happened to bathe in it, although the water was innocent and wholesome to drink: and the tradition was, that it had received this singular property from Melampus, a celebrated physician of antiquity, when he made use of it to cure certain Arcadian princesses, the daughters of Prœtus, of a strange species of madness. These young ladies fancied themselves to be changed into cows. The story is frequently alluded to by the poets; both Ovid and Virgil mention it. FROM LUCRETIUS. sæpius olim Religio peperit scelerosa.—Lib. I. v. 83. Yet Superstition has of old brought forth More impious wickedness; witness that time In Aulis, when at Dian’s temple met Th’ associate Princes, Chiefs, the prime of Greece, And stain’d her altar with the virgin blood Of Iphigenia: o’er her youthful locks They bound the fillets; on her cheeks she felt The dress of sacrifice: but when she saw Beside the altar her dear father stand In sorrow, and for his sake the ministers Hiding their knife, and all the assembly round Weeping at sight of her; when this she saw, Struck mute with terror, on her knees she sunk. Ah! then in vain she called upon her king, Her father, urged him by a parent’s love To save his wretched child; while ruthless hands Bore her all trembling to the altar’s base; Not for her nuptials, not for holy rites Of Hymen, tended on with dance and song; But for a foul and bloody sacrifice. So fell this chaste and tearful victim, slain Ev’n in her marriage hour; and all to free Their wind-bound Navy from the fancied let Of adverse Deities, to such a guilt Could Superstition prompt a father’s heart. FROM LUCRETIUS. Suave, mari magno turbantibus.—Lib. II. v. 1.