"Πατρὸς ἐφεζομένη γονάτεσσι Παῖς ἔτι κουρίζουσα, τάδε προσέειπε γονῆα, Δός μοι παρθενίην αἰώνιον, ἄππα, φυλάσσειν." "She (_Diana_), yet a child, sitting sportively on the knees of her father, said to him, Allow me, dear parent, to preserve a perpetual virginity." In the Latin writers the thought occurs several times. The first in whom it is found is Lucretius: "At jam non domus adcipiet te læta, neque uxor Optuma, nec dulces obcurrent oscula natei Præripere, et tacitâ pectus dulcedine tangent." III. 907. "But thy cheerful home shall no more receive thee, nor thy excellent wife; nor shall thy sweet children run to snatch kisses from thee, and touch thy breast with secret delight." In whose steps Virgil treads: "Interea _dulces pendent circum oscula nati_; Casta pudicitiam servat domus."--_Geo._ II. 523. "His cares are eased with intervals of bliss; His little children climbing for a kiss, Welcome their father's late return at night; His faithful bed is crown'd with chaste delight." Dryden. (Virgil liked the expression _dulces nati_. He has "Nec mihi jam patriam antiquam spes ulla videndi, Nec _dulces natos_ exoptatumque parentem." _Æn._ II. 137. "Nec _dulces natos_, Veneris nec præmia nôris?" _Æn._ IV. 33. "Sed tota in _dulces_ consument ubera _natos_." _Geo._ III. 178.) Statius, doubtless, had both Lucretius and Virgil in his view, when he wrote, "Rursus et ex illis soboles nova; grexque protervus Nunc _humeris irreptet avi_, nunc agmine blando Certatim placidæ _concurrat ad oscula_ Pollæ." _Silv._ III. i. 179. "Again from them springs a new race; a forward little troop, which sometimes climb on the shoulders of their grandfather, and sometimes, in pleasing congress, run to catch a kiss from the gentle Polla." Seneca, _Thyest._ I. 145., has another imitation: "Exceptus gladio parvulus impio, Dum _currit patrium natus ad osculum_, Immatura focis victima concidit." "The little Pelops, met by the impious sword, while he was running to receive his father's kiss, fell a premature victim on the hearth." Claudian, _Rapt. Proserp._ III. 173., has another: "Hæc post cunabula dulci Ferre sinu, summoque Jovi deducere parvam Sueverat, _et genibus ludentem aptare paternis_." "She was accustomed to bear the little infant, after it had slept in its cradle, in her fragrant bosom, to present it to almighty Jove, and to place it sporting on its father's knees." But the best adaptations and expansions of the thought have been among the writers of our own country. The earliest allusion to it, I believe, occurs in Thomson's description of the traveller lost in the snow: