Unruffled by a breeze); when all the cliffs And mountain tops, and shadowy groves, though dark, Distinct appear; then, through the parting clouds, Unbounded æther bursts upon the view, And every star is seen; the shepherd's heart Rejoices at the sight. Like Cowper he has given both translations of along to be sure of having the right one. The insertion" though dark” and the two parentheses are very stupid. Now let us step over four booksnearly as long a stride as Poseidon's when he stalked down to Egae-and mount his chariot with him. βῆ δ ̓ ἐλάαν ἐπὶ κυματ', κ. τ. λ. LITERALLY IN HEXAMETERS. Over the waves he proceeded to drive; the whales underneath him Leaped on all sides from their pits, nor failed their king to acknowledge, While for delight asunder the sea stood: so they flew onward Rapidly, neither beneath was the brazen axletree wetted. So then his swift-springing steeds him bore to the ships of the Grecians. She said. With awe divine the queen of love Obey'd the sister and the wife of Jove; And from her fragrant breast the zone unbraced, With various skill and high embroidery graced. In this was every art, and every charm, Silence that spoke, and eloquence of eyes. Gazing he spoke, and kindling at the view, Steep'd in soft joys, and circumfused with air; ZADEC'S STORY. THE MAGICIAN.* You, Diotima, know that I am a Phonician, by birth, of Sidon; though my father was a Cretan, and my mother a woman of Egypt. You see, then, by my birth and my parentage, I should be an inventor of improbable tales; but, rely upon it, the thing I mean to tell you is a truth; I call Hercules to witness. It is now a year only, since I returned out of Bactria by the way of the desert, in the train of a caravan bringing merchandises from Sericana, a region far removed toward the east, wonderful, as I can affirm, for the ingenuity and innocence of its people, who are indeed the best of barbarians. In this caravan there was a very aged man, a trader, whom you would have taken by his countenance for an Egyptian. He seemed to be the careful owner of a small but valuable stock of merchandise, which he carried before him, in a small bag, on his saddle. On the day of our departure from the capital of Bactria, called by the Persians, Zariaspa, this merchant's horse fell lame, and but for a led horse of my own, which I instantly gave him, he would have been left behind in the wilderness, to contend with thirst and savage beasts; an event so common to those who follow the caravans, no one seems to have the least pity for the sufferers. Indeed, the traders who compose these troops are most part the cruelest and wickedest of men; such being the effect of their wandering and fraudulent lives. Without a home and some one to love and befriend us we easily become wicked. The old trader thanked me for my courtesy: "Friend," said he, " thou hast a good heart, and the gods will not neglect the care of thee." I would have prevented his gratitude, by representing to him that I had no use for the horse, and must have left him behind had he not taken him; but he stopped my mouth with a proverb; which implied, that as I had none the less desire to do good, the smallness of the means I used was not to be taken into the account. " Come," said "There is nothing more injurious to mortals," replied the old man, "than security. I will not gratify you in that particular. It is enough for you to have a good hope." "You speak, sir,” said I, not concealing my surprise at hearing such a strain of remark from a man of his appearance, "as if you were one of those wiseacres who pretend to divination, and predict future events. I have no faith in any such persons. If any man would convince me of his ability in this kind, it must be by something more than a mere assertion. I have known those who boasted they could see through stone walls, and be in two places at once; but to me they never gave any proof of their skill, and I think of them as of cheats and idle impostors." Friend," said the trader, with a smile, "I perceive thou art ignorant of the art of divination, and that no one who truly understood it has ever conversed with thee. For one master of it there are hundreds of pretenders; just as, for one true physician, there are an hundred, nay, a thousand quacks." 66 "I am the more incredulous," I answered, because of all the celebrated names in that art, none have been famous for any thing but knowledge. They are either liars, I think, or the devil their master will not let them reap any enjoyment of their power. They are always poor, abject, and despised; objects of terror, or of pity, but never of love or of admiration: I would not for the world have any knowledge of their accursed science." "Thou dost not consider, my son," replied the old man, "that there is a pleasure of knowledge, which is different from the pleasure of riches. To pursue both at once is not possible for a mortal. The art of *From an unpublished volume, entitled "The Banquets of Diotima;" a series of Tales, Conversations and Sketches, descriptive, satirical and 10mantic. a diviner, or of a magician, cannot be attained by any person who means to make it an instrument of wealth. His spirits will not obey him if he uses them for base ends. Only to gratify a grand ambition of knowledge and of power, will they serve him; if he employs even the most abject devil of hell as an agent of his lust or his avarice, or in any way to confirm and stay his existence in the flesh, they rebel and will not obey: nay, they will delude him with empty shows, and leave him at the instant of peril. The true magician is he who nobly commands the spirits, not he who uses or is used by them, for selfish and abhorred intents. He is a worker of good, and the friend of good genii; whom he persuades by force of meditation and selfdiscipline to reveal themselves to him, and impart a knowledge of the distant and the future." This discourse of the trader did not convince me. "I see, friend," said I, "you have the art of an orator, as well as the science of a magician. I tell you, nothing shall convince me of the truth of this science, but some proof of power presented to my senses." The old man kept silence for several days after this conversation, but did not show the least anger. Indeed, his affection for me seemed rather to increase; and if any trifling comfort fell to his share, he forced me to partake of it. One evening, while we were seated by a spring, under the shadow of a very steep mountain, I began to complain of the closeness of the view, for the caravan had been several days winding through a pass in the mountains. To-night," said the old man," while the others are asleep, let us ascend this mountain, and gratify our eyes with the prospect." 66 "Sir," said I," it will no doubt be a very hard feat for me, who am young and active, to ascend this hill; but for you I think it impossible, unless I were to carry you on my shoulders." "Let us try," said he, "and see who is the nimblest." Accordingly, about midnight, while the caravan lay asleep, the old man roused me; and taking weapons in our hands, we set off at a good pace toward the declivity. As we began to ascend, the moon rose upon our left, as we had expected, and shooting her beams along the valley and the slope, made us a light and open way. But now I began to be astonished at the agility of my com panion; for, though I used my greatest efforts to surpass him, as if in shame of his age, he made sport of it, and leaped up the rocks like an old buck, which has often fled before the hunters, and now takes a pride in distancing the chase. After an hour of this toil, when we had surmounted the first declivity, I threw myself down at full length, and gasped for breath; at which my companion laughed: "How is it," said he, "that you, Zadec, in the vigor of your youth, cannot better endure than an old fellow like myself." 66 I begin to think," I replied, "that you are a magician, and have your familiar spirits to ease you up the mountain; for never in my life have I seen such a climber; no, not among the Carduchi, or the Ethiopians. "Here," said the old man, taking out a small phial," is a curious liquor which I made myself, and which has the wonderful property of giving and restoring strength; taste of it, and you will feel a sudden vigor returning through your limbs." I took the phial from the trader, not without some fear of his intentions; but being unable to imagine any cause why he should do me an ill turn, I put it to my lips, and was astonished at the flavor and richness of the draught. It was not wine, but might have been a subtle soul of wine, extracted by magical art. I drank of it, and instantly felt a fresh and wonderful life in my limbs; 1 could have leaped into the clouds, or coursed with ostriches. The effects of the liquor convinced me of the magical knowledge of my companion, and as it lightened my step, it sharpened my sight in a manner perfectly extraordinary; for I now perceived a halo of bluish light surrounding his head, and his withered features wore a look of indescribable acuteness. When we were near the summit, and could now see the first streak of morning on our left, suddenly a great wolf came upon us, scrambling down the declivity. I saw the flashes in its eyes, and full of apprehension for my companion, who was a few steps in advance of me, I drew my scimetar and rushed forward to defend him; but he had no need; for at the instant I saw fire issue from his right hand, followed by a blue smoke and a clap of thunder, and the savage fell headlong before us, without a visible wound, as if struck by a thun |