No More Learning

43.

Play as ye please: soon prove ye deft
At babying babes,--'twere ill design'd
A name thus ancient should be left
Heirless, but issue like of kind 210
Engendered aye should be.

44.

A wee Torquatus fain I'd see
Encradled on his mother's breast
Put forth his tender puds while he
Smiles to his sire with sweetest gest 215
And liplets half apart.

45.

Let son like father's semblance show
(Manlius! ) so with easy guess
All know him where his sire they know,
And still his face and form express 220
His mother's honest love.

46.

Approve shall fair approof his birth
From mother's seed-stock generous,
As rarest fame of mother's worth
Unique exalts Telemachus 225
Penelope's own son.

47.

Fast close the door-leaves, virgin band:
Enow we've played. But ye the fair
New-wedded twain live happy, and
Functions of lusty married pair 230
Exercise sans surcease.

O Fosterer of the Helicon Hill, sprung from Urania, who beareth the gentle
virgin to her mate, O Hymenaeus Hymen, O Hymen Hymenaeus!

Twine round thy temples sweet-smelling flowerets of marjoram; put on thy
gold-tinted veil; light-hearted, hither, hither haste, bearing on snowy
foot the golden-yellow sandal:

And a-fire with the joyous day, chanting wedding melodies with ringing
voice, strike the ground with thy feet, with thine hand swing aloft the
pine-link.

For Vinia--fair as Idalian Venus, when stood before the Phrygian judge--a
virgin fair, weds Manlius 'midst happy auspices.
She, bright-shining as the Asian myrtle florid in branchlets, which the
Hamadryads nurture for their pleasure with besprinkled dew.

Wherefore, hither! leaving the Aonian grot in the Thespian Rock, o'er which
flows the chilling stream of Aganippe.

And summon homewards the mistress, eager for her new yoke, firm-prisoning
her soul in love; as tight-clasping ivy, wandering hither, thither, enwraps
the tree around.

And also ye, upright virgins, for whom a like day is nearing, chant ye in
cadence, singing "O Hymenaeus Hymen, O Hymen Hymenaeus! "

That more freely, hearing himself to his duty called, will he bear hither
his presence, Lord of true Venus, uniter of true lovers.

What god is worthier of solicitation by anxious amourists? Whom of the
celestials do men worship more greatly? O Hymenaeus Hymen, O Hymen
Hymenaeus!

Thee for his young the trembling father beseeches, for thee virgins unclasp
the zone from their breasts, for thee the fear-full bridegroom harkeneth
with eager ear.

Thou bearest to the youngster's arms that flower-like damsel, taken from
her mother's bosom, O Hymenaeus Hymen, O Hymen Hymenaeus!

Nor lacking thee may Venus take her will with fair Fame's approbation; but
she may, with thy sanction. With such a God who dares compare?

Lacking thee, no house can yield heirs, nor parent be surrounded by
offspring; but they may, with thy sanction. With such a God who dares
compare?

Nor lacking thy rites may our land be protected e'en to its boundaries; but
it may, with thy sanction.