358 THE PATHOS OF THE ROSE IN POETRY 



Mentre sola e sicura si riposa, 



Ne gregge ne pastor se le avvicina ; 



L' aura soave e 1' alba rugiadosa, 



L' acqua, la terra, al suo favor s' inchina : 



Giovani vaghi e dame innamorate 



Amano averne e seni e temple ornate. 



Ma non si tosto dal materno stelo 

 Bimossa viene, dal suo ceppo verde, 

 Che quanto avea dagli uomini e dal cielo 

 Favor, grazia, e belleza, tutto perde. 

 La vergine die '1 fior, di che piu zelo 

 Che de' begli occhi e della vita aver de, 

 Lascia altrui corre, il pregio ch' avea innante 

 Perde nel cor di tutti gli altri amanti. 



The translation made by Rose of the ' Orlando Furioso ' 

 shall here be quoted : 



The virgin has her image in the rose, 

 Sheltered in garden on its native stock, 

 Which there in solitude and safe repose 

 Blooms, unapproached by shepherd or by flock. 

 For this earth teems, and freshening water flows, 

 And breeze and dewy dawn their sweets unlock ; 

 With such the wistful youth his bosom dresses, 

 With such the enamoured damsel braids her tresses. 



But wanton hands no sooner this displace 

 From the maternal stem, where it had grown, 

 Than all was withered ; whatsoever grace 

 It found with man or heaven ; bloom, beauty gone. 

 The damsel who should hold in higher place 

 Than light or life the flower which is her own, 

 Suffering the spoiler's hand to crop the prize, 

 Forfeits her worth in every other's eyes. 



Thus far I have traced the separate working of the two 

 themes in Lorenzo de' Medici's, Poliziano's, and Ariosto's 

 poetry. Tasso, while expanding in the main the motive of 

 Ausonius, borrows one touch from Catullus in the following 

 famous passage of the ' Gerusalemme Liberata ' : l 



1 Canto xvi. 15. 



