BASIUM XVIII.

CUM labra nostræ cerneret puellæ,
Inclusa circo candidæ figuræ;
(Ut si quis ornet, arte curiosá,
Carralinis eburna signa baccis ;}
Flevisse fertur Cypris, et gemendo
Lascivienteis convocasse amores;
Et, "quid juvat (dixisse) purpuratis
"Vicisse in Ida Palladem labellis,

[Ut si quis ornet, &c.] Secundus here seems to have had an eye to the following lines of Virgil:

Indum sanguineo veluti violaverit ostro

Si quis ebur, aut mista rubent ubi lilia multâ
Alba rosâ.

VIRG. NEID. XII.

So looks the beauteous iv'ry, stain'd with red;
So roses, mix'd with lilies in the bed,

Blend their rich hues.

PITT.

KISS XVIII.

WHEN Cytherea first beheld

Those lips with ruby lustre bright,
Those lips! which, as they blushing swell'd,
Blush'd deeper from th' incircling white;

(So, when some artist's skill inlays
Coral mid iv'ry's paler hue,
That heigt'ning coral soon displays
A warmer crimson to the view;)

Then, urg'd by envy and by hate,
Which rising sighs and tears betray'd,

She called her wanton loves;

and straight

The wanton loves her call obey'd:

To whom the queen in plaintive strain ;"Ah! what, my boys, avails it now, "That to these lips the Phrygian swain "Decreed the prize on Ida's brow?

"Et pronubam magni Jovis sororem
"Sub arbitro pastore? Cùm Neæra
"Hæc ante-cellat, arbitro poëta?
"At vos, furentes, ite in hunc poëtam,
"Et, dira plenis tela de pharetris,
"In illius medullulas tenellas,

66

"Pectusque per, jecurque per jocosum,
Distringite acres perstrepente cornu.
“At illa nullo pertepescat igne,
"Sed tacta pectus plumbeâ sagittá

[Et pronubam magni, &c.] Pronuba is a title given to Juno, from her being supposed to preside over marriages.

[Sub arbitro pastore? &c.] The story of the judgment of Paris is too well known to be related here: Paris gives a beautiful description of it, in the epistle which Ovid makes him write to Helen.--Vide Ovid. Epist. xvi. Paris Helenæ.

[Plumbea sagitta, &c.] The God of love was said to have two kinds of darts; one of gold causing love; the other of lead, causing hate. Ovid in the story of Apollo and Daphne, thus mentions them :

Eque sagittifera prompsit duo tela pharetra

Diversorum operum. Fugat hoc, facit illud amorem.
Quod facit, auratum est, cuspide fulget acuta ;

Quod fugat, obtusum est, et habet sub arundine plumbum.

OVID. METAM. LIB. I.

"That prize! for which, elate with pride, "The martial maid contentious strove; "That prize! to Juno's self denied,

"Tho' sister, tho' the wife, of Jove:

"If, to pervert this swain's decree,
"A poet's partial judgment dare
"His mortal nymph prefer to me,
"Her lips with lips divine compare!
"Swift, then, ye vengeful Cupids, fly
"With loaded quivers to the bard;
"Let all the pangs ye can supply
"His matchless insolence reward:

"Go, practise ev'ry cruel art

"Revenge can frame, without delay; "His bosom pierce with ev'ry dart

"Which love's soft poison may convey:

"But wound not with such darts the fair,
"Her breast must ever cold remain;
"Your shafts of lead lodge deeply there,
"To freeze the current of each vein."

Two shafts he drew from the full quiver's store;
As one caus'd love, so one repell'd its pow'r :

Sharp was the shaft which caus'd, and gold the head;
That which repell'd was barb'd with blunted lead.

H

Evénit: imis uror in medullis,
Et torrido jecur liquescit igne;
Tu fulta pectus asperis pruinis
Et caute, qualeis aut maris Sicani,
Aut Adriæ unda tundit æstuosa,
Secura ludis impotentem amantem;
Ingrata! propter ista labra rubra
Laudata plector. Heu! misella, nescis,
Cur oderis: nec ira quid Deorum
Effrena possit, et furor Diones!

[Qualeis aut maris Sicani, &c.] The Sicilian sea, forming a part of the Ionian, is remarkable for those terrors to navigators, Scylla and Charybdis. See a beautiful description of them in Virgil, Æneid iii.-And the Adriatic sea, or Gulph of Venice, is celebrated for being tempestuous by many classics. Thus Horace, by way of comparison; Et improbo