8> bone<95.9> arm'd;
So we, secure in this fair relique, stand<95.10>
The slings and darts shot by each profane hand.
These soveraign leaves thou left'st us are become
Sear clothes against all Times infection.
Sacred Hierocles, whose heav'nly thought
First acted ore this comment, ere it wrote,<95.11>
Thou hast so spirited, elixir'd, we
Conceive there is a noble alchymie,
That's turning of this gold to something more
Pretious than gold, we never knew before.
Who now shall doubt the metempsychosis
Of the great Author, that shall peruse this?
Let others dream thy shadow wandering strays
In th' Elizian mazes hid with bays;
Or that, snatcht up in th' upper region,
'Tis kindled there a constellation;
I have inform'd me, and declare with ease
THY SOUL IS FLED INTO HIEROCLES.
<95.1> These lines were originally prefixed to "Hierocles
upon the Golden Verses of Pythagoras. Teaching a Virtuous
and Worthy Life. Translated by John Hall, of Durham, Esquire.
OPUS POSTHUMUM." Lond. 1657, 12mo. (The copy among the King's
pamphlets in the British Museum appears to have been purchased
on the 8th Sept. 1656.) The variations between the texts of 1656
and 1659 are chiefly literal, but a careful collation has enabled
me to rectify one or two errors of the press in LUCASTA.
<95.2> Lovelace refers to the lines which Hall wrote in
commendation of LUCASTA, 1649.
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