356 THE PATHOS OF THE ROSE IN POETRY 



Much might be written about the different styles in 

 which Lorenzo de' Medici and Poliziano severally treated the 

 theme suggested to them by Ausonius. Lorenzo is minute 

 in detail, sober in reflection ; Poliziano employs slighter 

 touches with an airier grace and freer flight of fancy. The 

 one produces a careful study from nature by the light of his 

 classical model; the other sings a new song, soaring high 

 above the beaten track of imitation. The description of 

 the rose-garden, of the roses in their several degrees of expan- 

 sion, and the concluding moral, have been all etherealised in 

 the ballata. But space forbids me to enter into further critical 

 particulars. 



Before quitting Poliziano, I will collect a few passages from 

 his poems which seem to be derived from the same source of 

 Latin inspiration. In his ' Giostra ' (lib. i. st. 78) he thus 

 describes the rose : 



Ma vie piu lieta piu ridente e bella 

 Ardisce aprire il seno al sol la rosa : 

 Questa di verde gemma s' incappella : 

 Quella si mostra allo sportel vezzosa ; 

 L' altra che 'n dolce foco ardea pur ora 

 Languida cade e il bel pratello infiora. 



This pretty little picture may be said to represent the three 

 ages of the rose. Though I cannot do justice to the original, 

 these verses may be accepted as a bad copy of a graceful 

 miniature : 



Trembles the virgin violet in air, 



With downcast eyes that seem love's sight to shun ; 



But far more glad, more smiling, and more fair, 



The rose expands her bosom to the sun ; 



This bud in verdant wreaths her head doth bear ; 



That opes her half-blown petals one by one : 



And she who erewhile flames of love displayed, 



Drooping declines, and strews with bloom the glade. 



In the * Orfeo ' he paraphrased the admonition of the last 

 lines of the Idyll thus : 



Digli, zampogna mia, come via fugge 

 Cogli anni insieme la belleza snella 



