_Quis ex vobis si habeat centum oves, et perdiderit unam ex illis, &c._
Luc. xv. 4.
O ut ego angelicis fiam bona gaudia turmis!
Me quoque solicito quaere per arva gradu.
Mille tibi tutis ludunt in montibus agni,
Quos potes haud dubia dicere voce tuos.
Unus ego erravi, quo me meus error agebat;
Unus ego fuerim gaudia plura tibi.
Gaudia non faciunt, quae nec fecere timorem;
Et plus quae donant ipsa peric'la placent.
Horum quos retines fuerit tibi latior usus:
De me quem recipis dulcior usus erit.
{Eis men ego, he mou plane periegen, alemi;
Eis de toi sos esomai gethosynai pleones.
Amnos ho me poion phobon ou poiei de te charma.
Meizon ton men, emou chreia de glykytere.}
_What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, &c._
O might I fire the angel-bands with joy,
Thy seeking steps o'er anxious plains employ!
A thousand lambs on the safe mountains play;
All Thine they are, Thou certainly canst say.
The one that err'd and stray'd behold in me;
Be I the one to bring more joy to Thee!
They give no joy who never caus'd a fear;
Dangers themselves, o'ercome, the more endear.
Of those retain'd, more wide be the employment;
Of me recover'd, sweeter the enjoyment. R. WI.