As in the crystal centre of the sight, Two subtle beams make but one cone of light, Or when one flame twin'd with another is, They both ascend in one bright pyramis; Our spirits thus into each other flow, One in our being, one in what we know, In what we will, desire, dislike, approve, In what we love, and one is that pure love, As in a burning glass th' aërial flame, With the producing ray, is still the same: 10 We to Love's purest quintessence refin'd, Do both become one undefilèd mind. This sacred fire into itself converts Our yielding spirits, and our melting hearts, Till both our souls into one spirit run, So several lines are in their centre one. And when thy fair idea is imprest In the soft tablet of my easier breast, The sweet reflection brings such sympathy, That I my better self behold in thee; 20 And all perfections that in thee combine, By this resultance are entirely mine; Thy rays disperse my shades, who only live Bright in the lustre thou art pleas'd to give. [_The Union_] ] [Line: 12 undefiled] undivided _1647_.] [Line: 18 tablet] table _1647_.] _Answer._ If we are one, dear friend! why shouldst thou be At once unequal to thyself and me? By thy release thou swell'st my debt the more, And dost but rob thyself to make me poor. What part can I have in thy luminous cone? What flame, since my love's thine, can call my own? The palest star is less the son of night, Who, but thy borrow'd, know no native light: Was 't not enough thou freely didst bestow The Muse, but thou wouldst give the laurel too? 10 And twice my aims by thy assistance raise, Conferring first the merit, then the praise? But I should do thee greater injury, Did I believe this praise were meant to me, Or thought, though thou hast worth enough to spare, T' enrich another soul, that mine should share. Thy Muse, seeming to lend, calls home her fame, And her due wreath doth in renouncing claim. [_Answer._] In l. 10 of the 'Answer' _1647_ has 'must'. At the end of the poem in _1647_ is the couplet [Greek: Dysmore thêlymanôn glyky mê lege kentron erôtôn; Mounos TAS MOUSAS olbios esti THELÔN.] ] _Pythagoras, his Moral Rules._