Wanderings in the Roman Campagna / by Rodolfo Lanciani.

  • Rodolfo Lanciani
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Wanderings in the Roman Campagna / by Rodolfo Lanciani. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Or presses honey into vessels pure, Or shears the shivering ewe. And when blithe Autumn, beaming o’er the land With mellow fruit is seen, What joy his grafted pears, with careful hand, And purple grapes to glean! With these, Priapus, welcome offerings, he Thine aid propitiates; These tributes, Sire Sylvanus, unto thee. The guardian of his gates. Ofttimes beneath an aged oak he’ll rest, Oft on a grassy height, Where waters, bounding from the rocky crest. Plunge madly out of sight; Or lightly sleep where birds, in leafy nook, Repeat their plaintive tale. To the sweet concert of the babbling brook. Meandering through the dale. But when his tempests thund’ring Jove prepares. And calls the winter back. The savage boar towards the ready snares He drives with eager pack; Or greedy thrushes lures to hidden nets, That treach’rous staves support. Or gins for timid hares and cranes he sets. The guerdon of his sport. Who for such joys would not desert the lair Where broils and lewdness meet ? — What if a partner chaste the dwelling share, And tend the children sweet ? One like the Sabine wife, or sunburnt spouse To lithe Apulian dear,