ARGUMENT Admetus, King of Pherae in Thessaly, received unwittingly Apollo as his servant, by the help of whom he won to wife Alcestis, daughter of Pelias: afterwards too, as in other things, so principally in this, Apollo gave him help, that when he came to die, he obtained of the Fates for him, that if […]

O June, O June, that we desired so,Wilt thou not make us happy on this day?Across the river thy soft breezes blowSweet with the scent of beanfields far away,Above our heads rustle the aspens grey,Calm is the sky with harmless clouds beset,No thought of storm the morning vexes yet. See, we have left our hopes […]

ARGUMENT. How on an image that stood anciently in Rome were written certain words, which none understood, until a Scholar, coming there, knew their meaning, and thereby discovered great marvels, but withal died miserably. In half-forgotten days of old,As by our fathers we were told,Within the town of Rome there stoodAn image cut of cornel […]

ARGUMENT. Psyche, a king’s daughter, by her exceeding beauty caused the people to forget Venus; therefore the goddess would fain have destroyed her: nevertheless she became the bride of Love, yet in an unhappy moment lost him by her own fault, and wandering through the world suffered many evils at the hands of Venus, for […]

O love, this morn when the sweet nightingaleHad so long finished all he had to say,That thou hadst slept, and sleep had told his tale;And midst a peaceful dream had stolen awayIn fragrant dawning of the first of May,Didst thou see aught? didst thou hear voices singEre to the risen sun the bells ‘gan ring? […]

Across the gap made by our English hinds,Amidst the Roman’s handiwork, beholdFar off the long-roofed church; the shepherd bindsThe withy round the hurdles of his fold;Down in the foss the river fed of old,That through long lapse of time has grown to beThe little grassy valley that you see. Rest here awhile, not yet the […]

ARGUMENT. The case of this falcon was such, that whoso watched it without sleeping for seven days and seven nights, had his first wish granted him by a fay lady, that appeared to him thereon; and some wished one thing, and some another. But a certain king, who watched the falcon daily, would wish for […]

ARGUMENT. Croesus, King of Lydia, dreamed that he saw his son slain by an iron weapon, and though by every means he strove to avert this doom from him, yet thus it happened, for his son was slain by the hand of the man who seemed least of all likely to do the deed. Of […]

Fair was the morn to-day, the blossom’s scentFloated across the fresh grass, and the beesWith low vexed song from rose to lily went,A gentle wind was in the heavy trees,And thine eyes shone with joyous memories;Fair was the early morn, and fair wert thou,And I was happy–Ah, be happy now! Peace and content without us, […]

ARGUMENT. A certain man having landed on an island in the Greek Sea found there a beautiful damsel, whom he would fain have delivered from a strange and dreadful doom, but failing herein, he died soon afterwards. It happened once, some men of ItalyMidst the Greek Islands went a sea-roving,And much good fortune had they […]

ARGUMENT. When Ogier was born, six fay ladies came to the cradle where he lay, and gave him various gifts, as to be brave and happy and the like; but the sixth gave him to be her love when he should have lived long in the world: so Ogier grew up and became the greatest […]

ARGUMENT. A man of Cyprus, a sculptor named Pygmalion, made an image of a woman, fairer than any that had yet been seen, and in the end came to love his own handiwork as though it had been alive: wherefore, praying to Venus for help, he obtained his end, for she made the image alive […]

Outlanders, whence come ye last? The snow in the street and the wind on the door. Through what green sea and great have ye past? Minstrels and maids, stand forth on the floor. From far away, O masters mine, The snow in the street and the wind on the door. We come to bear you […]