DANTE AS A NATURALIST.
375
must have inspired Shelley in his lines on the Euganean Hills:—
"I stood and listened to the Pæan
With which the legioned Rooks did hail
The sun's uprise majestical.
Gathering round with wings all hoar,
Through the dewy mists they soar,
Like grey shades, till the Eastern heaven
Bursts; and then as clouds of even,
Flecked with fire and azure lie
In the unfathomable sky,
So their plumes of purple grain.
Starred with drops of golden rain.
Gleam above the sunlit woods."
