"You may keep your gold-I scorn it-but | And the pearl gleams forth from the coral answer me, ye who can, strand? If the deed I have done before you be not Is it there, sweet mother-that better land?” the deed of a man." "Not there, not there, my child! ND thou hast walked about-how strange Perchance that very hand now pinioned flat AN a story!— In Thebes's streets three thousand years. ago, When the Memnonium was in all its glory, And Time had not begun to overthrow Those temples, palaces and piles stupendous Of which the very ruins are tremendous ! Hath hob-a-nobbed with Pharaoh glass to glass, Or dropped a halfpenny in Homer's hat, Or doffed thine own to let Queen Dido pass, Or held, by Solomon's own invitation, Speak! for thou long enough hast acted I need not ask thee if that hand, when dummy. Thou hast a tongue. Come! let us hear its tune! armed, Has any Roman soldier mauled and knuckled; Thou'rt standing on thy legs, above-ground, For thou wert dead and buried and em mummy, Revisiting the glimpses of the moonNot like thin ghosts or disembodied creatures, But with thy bones and flesh and limbs and features. Tell us for doubtless thou canst recollect To whom should we assign the Sphinx's fame? balmed Ere Romulus and Remus had been suckled: Antiquity appears to have begun Thou couldst develop, if that withered tongue Might tell us what those sightless orbs have seen, How the world looked when it was fresh and | A heart hath throbbed beneath that leathern While not a fragment of thy flesh has Although corruption may our frame consume, crumbled. The immortal spirit in the skies may bloom. ANCIENT CHINESE ASTRONOMY AND| stars and the zodiacal spaces, and so to de Examining into antiquity, we find that the emperor Yaou was called Fang-heun. He was reverential, intelligent, accomplished and thoughtful naturally and without effort. He was sincerely courteous and capable of all complaisance. The display of these qualities reached to the four extremities of the empire and extended from earth to heaven. He was able to make the able and virtuous distinguished, and thence proceeded to the love of the nine classes of his kindred, who all became harmonious. He also regulated and polished the people of his domain, who all became brightly intelligent. Finally, he united and harmonized the myriad states of the empire; and, lo! the black-haired people were transformed. The result was universal concord. Thereupon Yaou commanded He and Ho, in reverent accordance with their observation of the wide heavens, to calculate and delineate the movements and appearances of the sun, the moon, the * The book of T'ang. The canon of Yaou. liver respectfully the seasons to the people He separately commanded the second brother He to reside at Yu-e, in what was called the Bright Valley, and there respectfully to receive as a guest the rising sun, and to adjust and arrange the labors of the spring. "The day," he said, "is of the medium length, and the star is in Neaou; you may thus exactly determine midspring. The people begin to disperse, and the birds and beasts breed and copulate." He further commanded the third brother He to reside at Nankeaou and arrange the transformations of the summer, and respectfully to observe the extreme limit of the shadow. "The day," said he, "is at its longest, and the star is Ho; you may thus exactly determine midsummer. The people are more dispersed, and birds and beasts have their feathers and hair thin and change their coats." He separately commanded the second brother Ho to reside at the west, in what was called the Dark Valley, and there respectfully to convoy the setting sun, and to adjust and arrange the completing labors of the autumn. "The night," he said, "is of the medium. length, and the star is Heu; you may thus exactly determine midautumn. The people begin to feel at ease, and birds and beasts have their coats in good condition.' He further commanded the third brother Ho to remain in the northern region, in what was called the Sombre Capital, and there to adjust and examine the changes of the winter. The day," said he, "is at its shortest, and the star is Maou; thus you may exactly determine midwinter. The people keep their 58 ANCIENT CHINESE ASTRONOMY AND GOVERNMENT. cosey corners, and the coats of beasts and birds are downy and thick." The emperor said, said, "Ah, you, He and Ho, a round year consists of three hundred sixty and six days. By means of an intercalary month do fix the four seasons and comyou plete the determination of the year. Thereafter, in exact accordance with this, regulating the various officers, all the works of the year will be fully performed." The emperor said, "Oh, you chief of the four mountains, I have been on the throne for seventy years. You can carry out my appointments; I will resign my throne to you." His Eminence said, "I have not the virtue; I should only disgrace the imperial seat." The emperor said, "Point out some one among the illustrious, or set forth one from and mean." among the poor All in the court said to the emperor, "There is an unmarried man among the lower people, called Shun of Yu." The emperor said, "Yes, I have heard of him. What is his character?” His Eminence said, "He is the son of a blind man. His father was obstinately unprincipled; his stepmother was insincere; his half-brother Seang was arrogant. He has been able, however, by his filial piety to live in harmony with them, and to lead them gradually to self-government, so that they no longer proceed to great wickedness." The emperor said, "I will try him. I will wive him, and then see his behavior with my two daughters." On this he gave orders, and sent down his two daughters to the north of the Kwei, to 'be wives in the family of Yu. The emperor said to them, "Be reverent !" Translation of JAMES LEGGE, D. D. MELEAGER. MELEAGER, the son of Eucrates, was born at Atthis, in Syria, and flourished under the last king of Syria, Seleucus VI., B. C. 96. He resided at Tyre, but in his old age was driven by the wars to seek a retirement in the isle of Cos, where he died. Meleager is remarkable as the father of those collections of fugitive pieces from various poets which are known by the title of "Anthologies." A GARLAND. FROM THE GREEK OF MELEAGER. I'll twine white violets and soft daffodils With myrtle leaves; I'll twine the crocus sweet And smiling lily, and inweave with these Its flowery breath on Heliodora's hair, Translation of WAKEFIELD BLAND. A GIRL PLAYING THE FLUTE. Thou breath'st the flute; some murmured air, Some sweet wild note, Zenophyle! Pan's own Arcadian harp is there, And how, then, should I fly from thee? The loves have hemmed me round and round. Nor let me breathe a moment's space; Thy shapely form has winged a wound; Thy minstrel tune; thy motions grace; Thy- Oh, what words can serve my turn? For all of thee-for all-I burn! Translation of WAKEFIELD BLAND. |