Series 1 > Grameid: an heroic poem descriptive of the campaign of Viscount Dundee in 1689, and other pieces

85
94-h6] SCOTI GRAMEIDOS LIB. III.
Vere novo cum silva comas, et brachia pandit,
Nascitur e foliis, et de Jovis arbore rostro
Pendulus irriguae pubescit in aggere ripae,
Mollibus inclusus viridanti ex cortice capsis.
Deciduis donee nudatur frondibus arbos,
Et silvae posuere comas, mox frigore primo
Labitur autumni, liquidoque volutus in altum
Amne ruit, mediis animamque invenit1 in undis.
Sic fere Grampiadum stirps edita frondibus, altis
Ut ramis delapsa solum simui attigit, artus
Induit humanos, vitalesque hauserat auras.
Hinc genus antiquum in silvis, nulla arte politum,
Monstrum informe, ingens, seu cruda Libistidis ursae
Progenies manibus primum raptabat aduncis.
At postquam vires maturior attulit aetas
Pondere terra gemit, fert et capita ardua caelo.
Huic jam nulla humeros hyacinthina lana tegebat.
Sed pardi ex spoliis, aut caesi pelle leonis
Asper amictus erat, nudoque sub aethere tristem
Herba dabat thalamum, domus et spelaea fuerunt.
Praebebant vulsae victum radicibus herbae,
Et Bacchi liquido potabat ab amne liquorem.
Alma Ceres ignota fuit, sed sola voluptas
spring foliage, she is born of the leaves, and, hanging by her beak
from the tree of Jove on the river’s brink, grows to maturity
within her green covering. At the fall of the leaf, in the first
frost of autumn, she drops into the stream, and is carried along to
the sea, where she finds her life. So—it is said—did the fierce
races of the Grampians spring from the leaves, and, falling from
the branches, assumed human form and life on touching the soil.
This ancient race, monstrous, mis-shapen, immense, as the rough
progeny of the Libyan bear, polished by no art, at first crept along
through the woods with clawlike hands. By and by, a later age
beheld them as men. The earth groans under their weight, and
they lift heads towering to the skies. No hyacinthine wool
covered their shoulders, but the slaughtered pard or lion gave
them their rough robe, and they made their bed under the open sky,
or the cave served for their dwelling, their food the roots, their drink
the stream. Ceres the benign was unknown. To rob the traveller,
‘ Invenit,’ perfect tense required for scanning.