Auratumque habitat, vel eburno ex dente lacunar;
Fulcitur plumis et pulvinaribus albis.

Vive diu, infelix, morbo indignissimus isto.

Now and then, however, the religious earnestness, which is at the bottom of all which Balde writes, openly appears, as when he reminds the fretful and impatient sufferer, of One who had no such solaces and alleviations of pain, as are largely granted to him:

... non dormiit ostro,
Mollibus effultus cygnis, foliisque rosarum:
Affixus fuit ILLE cruci, clavisque quaternis
Ex ferro fossus terram inter et astra pependit;
Felle sitim relevans, pertusus vocibus aures
Sacrilegis; toto laniatum corpore funus.
Te capit infusum lectica simillima Ledæ,
Invitum quæ vel queat invitare soporem;
Accinit Amphion, et fundit dulcia Rhenus 6
Demulcet conjux; lepidi solantur amici;
Et potes, heu! lecto trux indignarier isti,
Duraque fata queri, quæ sunt mollissima fatu.

These brief extracts may suffice to give a

slight conception of what the character of this poem is. But it is, undoubtedly, as a lyric poet that Balde is greatest; and in that aspect the poem which follows will shew him.

LVIII. CHOREA MORTUALIS SIVE

LESSUS.

DE SORTIS ET MORTIS IN HUMANAS RES IMPERIO:

Argumentum

Inter funebres tædas, ad modulatos Umbrarum passus
decantandum.

LVIII. Balde, Poëmata, Coloniæ, 1660, v. 4, p. 424.—The empress Leopoldina, wife of Ferdinand the third, died in childbirth at Vienna after one year's marriage, in the year 1649. The great commonplaces of death, which, if always old, are yet always new, have seldom clothed themselves in grander form, or found a more solemn utterance, than they do in this sublime poem. How noble the third, the fourth, and the sixth stanzas !

9. astas] The empress died on the 7th of August.

Quo more vulgaris urtica,
Jacet hæc quoque regia spica;
Suo condidit horreo mors,
Brevi posuit angulo sors.

Ut bulla defluxit aquosa,

Subsedit, ut vespere rosa;

15

20

Brevis omnis est flosculi sors,
Rapit ungue celerrima mors.

Quam manibus osseis tangit,
Crystallinam phialam frangit;
O inepta et rustica mors!
O caduca juvenculæ sors!

Quæ pulcrior fuit Aurorâ,
Hanc, Cæsaris aula, deplora;
Vana species, lubrica sors,
Tetra facies, pallida mors.

Quæ vides has cunque choreas,

Augebis et ipsa mox eas;

Subitam movet aleam sors,
Certa rotat hastilia mors.

Huc prompta volensque ducetur,
Capillis invita trahetur;

Ducet inevitabilis sors,

Trahet inexorabilis mors.

Quod es, fuimus: sumus, quod eris;

Præcessimus, tuque sequeris;

Volat antè levissima sors,

Premit arcu vestigia mors.

40

Nihil interest pauper an dives,
Non amplius utique vives;
Simul impulit clepsydram sors,
Vitæ stamina lacerat mors.

Habere nil juvat argentum,
Nil regna prætendere centum ;
Sceptra sarculis abigit sors,
Ridet albis hæc dentibus mors.

Nihil interest turpis an pulcra,
Exspectant utramque sepulcra;
Legit lappas et lilia sors,
Violasque cum carduis mors.

Nec interest vilis an culta,
Trilustris, an major adultâ ;
Vere namque novissimo sors,
Populatur et hyeme mors.

Linquenda est aula cum casâ,
Colligite singuli vasa;

Jubet ire promiscua sors,
Ire cogit indomita mors.

Ex mille non remanet unus,
Mox omnes habebitis funus;

Ite, ite, quo convocat sors,

Imus, imus, hoc imperat mors.

Ergo vale, o Leopoldina,

Nunc umbra, sed olim regina;

Vale, tibi nil nocuit sors,

Vale, vale, nam profuit mors.

65

Bella super et Suecica castra,
Nubesque levaris, et astra;

Penetrare quo nequeat sors,
Multò minus attonita mors.

Inde mundi despiciens molem,
Lunam pede calcas et solem;

Dulce sonat ex æthere vox,
Hyems transiit, occidit nox.

Surge, veni; quid, sponsa, moraris,
Veni, digna cœlestibus aris;

Imber abiit, moestaque crux,
Lucet, io, perpetua Lux.

70

75

80

69. Suecica castra] A fine allusion to the recent desolations of Germany. It is true that when the empress died, peace had been restored for nearly a year, the treaty of Westphalia having been signed in October, 1648. But the wounds of Germany could scarcely have begun to heal; and it was only four years before, that the smoke of the Swedish watch fires had been visible from the ramparts of Vienna.