Of the opening spring! But, O! how far
From all I thought, from all I trusted, amidst
Loving scenes like these, was that dark falsehood
That lay hid within thy treacherous heart![782]
The other division of the Eclogue contains passages that remind us both of Milton’s “Lycidas” and of the ancients whom Milton imitated. Thus, in the following lines, where the opening idea is taken from a well-known passage in the Odyssey, the conclusion is not unworthy of the thought that precedes it, and adds a new charm to what so many poets since Homer had rendered familiar:[783]—
And as the nightingale that hides herself
Amidst the sheltering leaves, and sorrows there,
Because the unfeeling hind, with cruel craft,
Hath stole away her unfledged offspring dear,—
Stole them from out the nest that was their home,