Let every one run to and fro through the hay,
As ye see me run! Ho! after me!
Bacchus! we all must follow thee!
Bacchus! Bacchus! Ohe! Ohe!

Methinks I am dropping in swoon or slumber:
Am I drunken or sober, yes or no?
What are these weights my feet encumber?
You too are tipsy, well I know!
Let every one do as ye see me do,
Let every one drink and quaff like me!
Bacchus! we all must follow thee!
Bacchus! Bacchus! Ohe! Ohe!

Cry Bacchus! Cry Bacchus! Be blithe and merry,
Tossing wine down your throats away!
Let sleep then come and our gladness bury:
Drink you, and you, and you, while ye may!
Dancing is over for me to-day.
Let every one cry aloud Evohe!
Bacchus! we all must follow thee!
Bacchus! Bacchus! Ohe! Ohe!

Though an English translation can do little toward rendering the
facile graces of Poliziano's style, that 'roseate fluency' for which
it has been praised by his Italian admirers, the main qualities of the
'Orfeo' as a composition may be traced in this rough copy. Of dramatic
power, of that mastery over the deeper springs of human nature which
distinguished the first effort of the English muse in Marlowe's
plays, there is but little. A certain adaptation of the language to
the characters, as in the rudeness of Thyrsis when contrasted with the
rustic elegance of Aristaeus, a touch of simple feeling in Eurydice's
lyrical outcry of farewell, a discrimination between the tender
sympathy of Proserpine and Pluto's stern relenting, a spirited
presentation of the Bacchanalian _furore_ in the Maenads, an attempt to
model the Satyr Mnesillus as apart from human nature and yet
sympathetic to its anguish, these points constitute the chief dramatic
features of the melodrama. Orpheus himself is a purely lyrical
personage. Of character, he can scarcely be said to have anything
marked; and his part rises to its height precisely in that passage
where the lyrist has to be displayed. Before the gates of Hades and
the throne of Proserpine he sings, and his singing is the right
outpouring of a poet's soul; each octave resumes the theme of the last
stanza with a swell of utterance, a crescendo of intonation that
recalls the passionate and unpremeditated descant of a bird upon the
boughs alone. To this true quality of music is added the
persuasiveness of pleading. That the violin melody of his incomparable
song is lost, must be reckoned a great misfortune. We have g