Pindar and Anacreon/Anacreon/Ode 44
ODE XLIV.—THE DREAM.[1]
I dream'd, that over earth and sky,
Possess'd with wings, I seem'd to fly;
While Love pursued with swiftest pace,
And soon o'ertook me in the chase;
Though at his little feet were hung
Large leaden weights, that loosely swung.
"What can this vision mean?" I cried;
"It surely may be thus applied,—
That I, who once could freely rove
Through all the flowery paths of love,
Who laugh'd at lovers and their pains,
Am fettered now with stronger chains."
Possess'd with wings, I seem'd to fly;
While Love pursued with swiftest pace,
And soon o'ertook me in the chase;
Though at his little feet were hung
Large leaden weights, that loosely swung.
"What can this vision mean?" I cried;
"It surely may be thus applied,—
That I, who once could freely rove
Through all the flowery paths of love,
Who laugh'd at lovers and their pains,
Am fettered now with stronger chains."
- ↑ Madame Dacier says that this is one of the finest and most gallant odes of antiquity, and if she for whom it was composed was as beautiful, all Greece could produce nothing more charming. Its meaning seems to be simply this: that passion suddenly conceived is generally transient and fleeting; but love founded on esteem and regulated by reason, though slow in its approaches, and imperceptible in its growth, makes an impression on the heart at once permanent and indelible.