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Translations.

Idem Græcè redditum.

'Ορᾶτέ μ' ἐνθάδ ̓, ὦ θεοὶ, πανάθλιον
γέροντα, δεινῶν πημάτων γήρως θ' ἅμα
γέμοντα, καὶ δυστηνὸν ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ἴσως.
τῶνδ ̓ εἴπερ ὑμεῖς παρθένων φρένας πατρὶ
κινοῦντες ὧδε δυσμενῶς καθίστατε,
μὴ δή μ' ἐσέλθοι μωρία τόση ποτε,
ταῦθ ̓ ὥστε πάντα ῥᾳδίως στέργειν κακά.
ὀργῇ μ' ἐγείρετ ̓ εὐγένει δακρύμασιν
ὅπλοις γυναικείοισι μὴ τουμόν ποτε
κακῶς ἀτιμάζοιτο τἄνδρειον ῥέθος.
σφῶν δ ̓, ὦ κακίστα καὶ φρόνημ ̓ ὑπερφυή,
ἀμφοῖν τοσαύτη ζημία προσκείσεται,
ὡς τοὺς ἅπαντας,— ἀλλὰ δὴ δράσω ποτε
τοιαῦθ ̓,—ἃ δ ̓ ἔσται νῦν ἐτ ̓ οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι
ὡς τοὺς ἅπαντας σὺν φοβῷ τρέσειν βροτούς.
ἡγεῖσθ ̓ ὑπείξειν δάκρυσί μ' ἠναγκασμένον.
ἥκιστα, πόλλῶν οὖνεκ ̓ εἰκοτὼς ἔχει
δακρυῤῥοεῖν τάνυν με. καρδία δ ̓ ὅμως
ἐμὴ διαῤῥὼξ μυρίοισι θραύμασιν
πάροιθεν ἔσται πρὶν δακρυῤῥοεῖν ἐμέ.

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Idem Latinè redditum.

Papilio nitidum circumvolat ille per hortum,
Atque roseta petit rapidè violaria linquens;
Quemque simul positum florem simul aspicit herbas

Cespite florentes cupienti lumine, longo

Ordine dispositas; hunc primum gustat et illum,
Nec pedibus tenues frondes contaminat ullas,
Sed cujusque loci jucundi pascitur ille
Deliciâ gratâ, varioque cupidine semper,
Laetitiâque nova, (nam grata novissima quæque),
Delectare petit lautum dulcedine sensum ;
Ore bibit parvo florum modo dulcia mella,
Vel rorem nitidum calice in rutilante jacentem,
Atque pedes teneros in eâdem proluit undâ ;
Protinus in ripam propiorem sidit apricam
Ut se calfaciat, madidasque exsiccet ut alas.

Ambition.

T

HE advantages and disadvantages of ambition among the citizens of a State is an often-mooted question. It is allowed by all, that it instils energy and love of progress into the mind, and elevating it above its sphere, makes it look to some condition higher and better than its present one; but on the other hand it is said to render a man impatient of control and reckless, and this indeed would be the necessary effect of ambition, were it uncontrolled by reason, which warns us that there are many steps in the ladder of Fame, each of which must be surmounted by patient and long-continued effort.

The fact is that this recklessness is as different from real ambition as gambling from legitimate speculation; the one makes a man keen and prompt in seizing any reasonable opportunity that may offer, the other unscrupulous and ready to employ any and every means to attain his end.

By some it is urged that disappointed ambition depresses the mind with the consciousness of defeat, and makes it feebler than before; but which is the greater craven, he who shuns the contest, or he who for the chance of victory faces the danger of defeat? Besides, this view is but seldom justified by fact, for unsuccessful ambition values as nothing its past labour, and is only spurred on by failure to greater efforts.

It has been often said that ambition renders a man envious of the successes of others: granted that it may make him desirous of emulating them, still envy is a passion that rather possesses the mind of those who having done nothing to deserve, vainly covet what they have not had the energy to win. The fact is that ambition has no time for envy-it is ever advancing, ever making some progress, its eyes fixed steadfastly on the wished-for goal: with far more reason we may accuse ambition of rendering the disposition sclfish, illiteral, and intolerant, from its concentrating the attention on one object to the exclusion of all others; it is wont, too, to make a man callous and impervious to social and domestic sympathies, but this is ambition viewed under its most aggravated and repulsive form, and even thus all the advantages accrue to the State, all the disadvantages to the individual. In the same way, one of the charges brought against it above, viz., that it makes a man narrow-minded and exclusive, may be answered in this way:—what matters it to the State

if he be so, provided he puts his shoulder honestly to the wheel in his own peculiar line of life, for there are plenty of others to apply themselves to what he neglects?

Again, if we look at the other side of the picture, which it is only fair to do, we find that national ambition sends a healthy glow through every muscle and fibre of the State's frame; it makes the foremost conscious that they cannot keep their place without continued and sustained effort, and makes the lowliest, by example drawn from among themselves, feel that they need not despair of greatness. In fine, since it is incumbent on all to try to elevate and improve their own peculiar calling or art, ambition when restrained by reason, is legitimate for, nay incumbent on all.

Contentment, on the other hand, makes its possessor more disposed to form a fair judgment on matters, because his mind is unbiassed by considerations of self; but it also renders him less capable of doing so, for from his ignorance of passions and desires, by which men are swayed, he takes little account of them, and is inclined to judge from facts, putting motives altogether aside: and, again, it contributes to a certain supineness of mind, which will not reform abuses, merely because they are abuses, a conservative feeling, which thinks it too much trouble to change, even though the change may be demanded by principle; but there must be movement one way or the other, and the condition of a State which has such citizens, cannot but be retrogressive; they are content to acquiesce in the opinions and doings of others, and there is a want of that energy and vigour, which above all other things contribute to national greatness.

Now, as the ambitious man, though he be selfish, advances the interest of the State, even more than his own, so the contented one, by a strange paradox, benefits himself rather than his country; he is not kept awake by care, he feels not disappointment, he has not to strain every nerve and sinew towards some wished-for goal; his mind has leisure for social and domestic pleasures, and, since he stands in nobody's way, he is probably better liked by those with whom he is brought in contact, and is, if a less useful, still a happier man than the other: but really happy he is not. It was ordained by Providence that every one should strive upwards to improvement, and ever have some object in life; and though the ambitious man may never be contented, yet with each step in advance, he feels a temporary flush of joy, such as never falls to the lot of him who does not seek to rise.

RIS

A Legend of Cruachan.

ISING almost at once from the very banks of Loch Awe, Ben Cruachan, when seen from the opposite side of the Loch at Cladich, is one of the most striking mountains, not of Argyleshire only, but of the whole of Scotland: and it is probably this peculiarly abrupt ascent from the Lake that has given rise to the following legend, still repeated among the natives of that district, and probably by a considerable portion of them implicitly believed.

Before the now numerous clan Campbell had been heard of, before even the clans who gave place to them had settled in the Cruachan district (clans of which in many cases the names only have been preserved), where now is Loch Awe, there was a deep and glorious valley. Ben Cruachan then stood as it stands now, like a Titan guardian of all: but from the summit instead of the long expanse of lake winding among the hills and dotted with islets, the eye might have wandered over rich corn and grass lands, over all the evidence of a wealthy and numerous population : this was the kingdom of a mighty Goddess, who dwelt on the highest peak of the mysterious mountain, and daily descended the slope to administer justice and watch over the welfare of her people.

As in most of the legends of ancient nations, however, one condition was attached, the fulfilment of which alone could render secure all this prosperity and happiness, a condition over which even the Goddess Queen herself, though in all else supreme, had no control, a kind of Greek 'Aváyŋ impending on the land. Every evening before the sun had set must the Queen ascend the mountain and lay a talismanic stone over a spring which rose close to the summit, and every morning again before sunrise must it be removed: she alone must place and replace it or the destiny would not be fulfiled, and were it not so a doom awaited alike herself and her people, though none knew how that doom would manifest itself. For years upon years each evening was the ascent made, and the sun set upon the talisman laid over the spring by the Queen's hand, while each morning before sunrise the spring was uncovered again ere she descended for the day to the valley beneath.

At last, in the afternoon of a long summer's day, the Queen slowly turned her steps to ascend the mountain for her wonted task, leaving the valley earlier than usual in order that in spite of the heat she might have ample time gently to climb the slope. Onward

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she toiled, looking back ever and again with loving eyes on the fields at her feet where her people were reaping the ample harvest and gathering it into their storehouses: at length she paused within a bowshot of the spring, then weary and heated, sat down to rest after glancing at the sun yet high above the horizon, and seeing that she had still above an hour left in which to accomplish what little yet remained of the daily task. There she sat resting until a treacherous drowsiness stole over her eyelids, and yielding to it unconsciously she slept, as the precious time quickly glided away. Suddenly she awoke; the chillness of the air had roused her, and with mingled feelings of surprise and terror she saw that it was night in the valley beneath, while above at the spring the sun's rays were fading fast, yet still in hopes of being able yet to catch a last gleam she hastened up, but it was too late, the sun was set; there lay the talisman by the side of the spring, but all else seemed unchanged. Grasping the stone, she placed it as of old over the spring, the waters of which even in the uncertain light seemed darker and fuller than before, and then she sat down to ponder on her destiny and to lament the fatal omission; but as thus she sat again she fell asleep, but woke ere long to listen to the whistling of the winds, the dashing of the rain, and a yet more mysterious roaring sound such as she had never heard before, filling her heart with a fearful dread. Thus she lay and listened till the cold waters trickling down forced her to seek a resting place higher up beneath a sheltering rock, and there anxious and sorrowful she awaited the morning dawn.

Day came, and she knew all. Where had been a spring was now a rushing river, bearing down huge rocks in its resistless course, and far beneath her well loved valley was gone, and in its place a sea of waters, the waves of which tossed high the spray as they dashed against the base of the giant mountain. With one loud cry she hastened to the spring, there lay the talisman broken asunder, and as she strove once more to replace it as of old, a sudden gush of waters swelling up, caught and bore to the depths below, the Goddess Queen of Cruachan.

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