Mox veteres animo revocavit Adonidis igneis,
Notus et irrepsit ima per ossa calor.

O, quoties voluit circundare colla nepotis !
O, quoties dixit, "Talis Adonis erat !”

Sed placidam pueri metuens turbare quietem,
Fixit vicinis basia mille rosis.

Ecce calent illæ cupidæque per ora Diones
Aura, susurranti flamine, lenta subit.
Quotque rosas tetigit, tot basia nata repentè
Gaudia reddebant multiplicata Deæ.

["Talis Adonis erat!" &c.] Adonis was the son of Cynaras, king of Cyprus, by his own daughter Myrrha ; he was a youth of exquisite beauty, tenderly beloved by Venus. it is said he was slain, in hunting, by a wild boar : which fable has given rise to one of the most beautiful compositions extant, well known to every classical reader; I mean Bion's first Idyllium, wherein Venus laments, with sweetest language, the death of her lover, who was changed into an anemone, as Ovid tells us.

[Ecce calent illæ, &.] This metamorphosis reminds me of one something like it, in Shakespeare:

Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:

It fell upon a little western flow'r,

Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound.

And maidens call it love in idleness.

SHAK. MIDS. NIGHT'S DREAM.

The sleeping Youth in silence she admir'd; And, with remembrance of Adonis fir'd, Strong and more strong her wonted flames return'd, Thrill'd in each vein, and in her bosom burn'd. How oft she wish'd, as she survey'd his charms, Around his neck to throw her eager arms! Oft would she say admiring ev'ry grace, "Such was Adonis! such his lovely face!" But fearing lest this fond excess of joy Might break the slumber of the beauteous boy, On ev'ry rose-bud that around him blow'd A thousand nectar'd Kisses she bestow'd: And strait each op'ning bud, which late was white, Blush'd a warm crimson to the astonish'd sight: Still in Dione's breast soft wishes rise, Soft wishes! vented with soft whisper'd sighs! Thus, by her lips unnumber'd roses press'd, Kisses, unfolding in sweet bloom, confess'd; And, flush'd with rapture at each new-born kiss, She felt her swelling soul o'erwhelmed in bliss.

I would not insinuate, by this quotation, that Shakespeare was indebted to Secundus for his thought; as it may be reasonably contended, whether the English poet was scholar sufficient to be acquainted with the Latin bard. That same luxuriance of fancy, which both equally possessed, might certainly inspire each other with similar ideas.

At Cythera, natans niveis per nubila cygnis,
Ingentis terræ cœpit obire globum.

Triptolemique modo, fœcundis oscula glebis
Sparsit, et ignotos ter dedit ore sonos.

Inde seges felix nata est mortalibus agris :
Inde medela meis unica nata malis.

Salvete, æternum, misera moderamina flammæ,
Humida de gelidis basia nata rosis.

En ego sum, vestri quo vate canentur honores,
Nota Medusai dum juga montis erunt;

[Triptolemique modo &c.] Triptolemus, according to Hyginus, was the son of Eleusius; or, according to Pausanias, son of Celeus of Eleusis, a town of Athens. He was bred up from his infancy by Ceres, who fed him with milk in the day, and covered him with fire at night: she taught him agriculture, and sent him over the world in a chariot loaded with corn, to teach mankind that science; when he first instructed Greece. Thus Ovid briefly mentions him :

Iste quidem mortalis erit: sed primus arabit,
Et seret, et cultâ præmia tollet humo.

OVID. FAST. LIB. IV.

'Tis true, the youth shall be a mortal born,

Nor shall his hands instructive labour scorn;
He first shall plough, first sow the grateful soil,
And reap the blessings that await such toil.

[Nota Medusai dum juga, &c.] Parnassus, the Muses' hill, was said to have two summits, in the cleft between

Now round this orb, soft-floating on the air, The beauteous Goddess speeds her radiant car: As in gay pomp the harness'd cygnets fly, Their snow-white pinions glitter thro' the sky; And, like Triptolemus, whose bounteous hand Strew'd golden plenty o'er the fertile land, Fair Cytherea, as she flew along,

O'er the vast lap of nature Kisses flung:

Pleas'd from on high she view'd th' enchanted ground,

And from her lips thrice fell a magic sound:
He gave to mortals corn on ev'ry plain;
But She those sweets which mitigate my pain.

Hail, then, ye Kisses! that can best assuage
The pangs of love, and soften all its rage!
Ye balmy Kisses! that from roses sprung;
Roses! on which the lips of Venus hung.

which if any one slept, he presently became a poet. Persius applies the epithet biceps to this mountain :

Nec fonte labra prolui Caballino :

Nec in bicipiti somniasse Parnasso

Memini, ut repentè sic poëta prodirem.

PERS. PROLOG. AD SATYR.

These lips ne'er drank the Hippocrenian stream,
Nor have I e'er indulg'd gay fancy's dream
Within Parnassian cleft, that sudden song

Should flow unbidden from my trembling tongue.

Et memor Æneadûm stirpisque disertus amutæ, Mollia Romulidûm verba loquetur Amor.

[Et memor Æneadûm, &c.] This thought is truly beautiful our poet declares that his kisses shall be sung in the Roman language, being of Roman birth; that is, deriving their origin from the lips of Venus, who, as every one knows, was the mother of the Romans; for her son Æneas, arriving in Italy, married Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus. Numitor was one of Æneas's descendants; upon whose only child, Ilia or Rhea Sylvia, Mars begot Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome.