THE PATHOS OF THE ROSE IN POETRY 361 



La custodisce e chiude, 



Chiude anch' ella il suo petto 



All' amoroso affetto ; 



Ma se lascivo sguardo 



Di Cupido amator vien che la miri, 



E n' oda ella i sospiri, 



Gli apre subito il core, 



E nel tenero sen riceve amore : 



E se vergogna il cela, 



temenza 1' affrena, 



La misera, tacendo, 



Per soverchio desio tutto si strugge. 



Cosi manca belta se '1 foco dura, 



E perdendo stagion perde ventura. 



In the following translation I have attempted to render the 

 effect of those partly-rhymed and carefully-rhythmed lyrics, 

 which Italian poets used in their dramatic work, and which 

 Milton adopted from them in his choruses of Samson 

 Agonistes : 



As on fair garden lawns a gentle rose, 



Who, lapped in tender sheaths of budding green, 



Erewhile was shut from view, 



And 'neath the shadow of night's sheltering hem, 



Uncultured and unknown, 



Abode in peace on the maternal stem, 



With the first sudden beams that spring 



O'er the dim East and day reveal, 



Starts into life, begins to feel, 



And opens to the sun's admiring gaze 



Her crimson bosom laden with perfume, 



Where the deep humming bee, 



Bathed in cool light of morn, 



Goes sucking honey -dews of darkness born ; 



But, if none pluck her then, 



If she but feel the fiery shafts of noon, 



Falls with the falling of the sun, 



So all discoloured on the dim hedgerows 



That one can scarcely say : ' This was a rose ! ' 



E'en thus the girl, 



What time a mother's care 



Wards her frail flower and guards, 



Guards also her own breast 



