That sage and virgin choir whose shell

You hear so often, love so well:—

ANTISTROPHE I.

To you white Aphrodite sends

Her Loves, to make you wise and kind;

For they are Wisdom’s choicest friends;

And here they say the goddess wreathed

Her fragrant locks with rosy twine;

And here they sing that, passion-fraught

And o’er Cephisus’ stream reclined,