Each hot in opposition, crowd the void,
Destroying others, by themselves destroyed,
Whilst umpire fashion holds o'er all the sway,
"And by decision more embroils the fray."
Emerging from this palpable obscure,
From such unreal mockery secure,
Thrice blest is HE, whose leisure is employed,
His mind exalted, and his life enjoyed, *
When fierce, tumultuous pleasures all have fled,
In sacred converse with THE IMMORTAL DEAD!
These the wild fervour of our youth assuage,
And ease the pressure of declining age,
Give fortune dignity, and yield to grief
A certain refuge, and assured relief;
At home delight us, and abroad adorn,
With us they journey, wander, and return,
By day, by night, afford their constant aid,
In crowded cities, or the lonely shade.†
* Verùm enimvero is demum mihi vivere atque frui animá videtur, qui, aliquo negotio intentus, præclari facinoris aut artis bonæ famam quærit.
+ Hæc studia adolescentiam alunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res ornant, adversis solatium atque perfugium præbent. Delectant domi; non impediunt foris; pernoctant nobiscum; perigrinantur; rusticantur.
When first JEHOVAH, after nature's birth,
Stamped his own image on the recent earth,
When, heir to heav'n, and clothed in heavenly grace,
Rose the great father of the human race;
Then shone creation's new-born charms combin'd
On the pure mirror of our parent's mind,
Itself their *centre; and their praises sung,
Flow'd in spontaneous numbers from his tongue. (*)
Thus music, join'd with poetry, began,
The pristine language of primeval man,
And, in full concord of sweet sounds, exprest
The throb of rapture labouring in his breast.
But, when expell'd from Paradise, and driven
To lower Eden by offended heaven,
The wretched outcast sought a world of woe,
And labour's dews hung heavy on his brow;
His spirits droop'd, and drooping soon deprest
The rapturous throb once labouring in his breast.
From sire to son the chilling influence crept,
The soul unnerved in dull oblivion slept,
* Il communique par ses sens avec le objêts les plus eloignés; son individu est un centre, où tout se rapporte; un point, où l'univers se réflechit; un monde en raccourci.
Or waked to anguish, or was roused to strife,
By all the sad vicissitudes of life,
Which drove the human monster to the wood,
In search of shelter, or in quest of food.
There in grim solitude his days he led, *
The sport of accident, by rapine fed;
There force was law, that law of savage breasts,
When murder executes its stern behests;
Till weak in instinct, with the brutes compared, †
Alone th' encounter of their wrath he fear'd,
And sought by kindred union to oppose
Th' insidious vengeance of his shaggy foes.
At length, by heav'n inspired, some godlike mind, Fill'd with the sacred love of human kind,
* Avant que la raison, s'expliquant par la voix,
Eût instruit les humains, eût enseigné les loix,
Tous les hommes suivoient la grossiere nature,
Dispersés dans les bois, couroient à la pâture.
La force tenoit lieu de droit et d' equité,
Le meurtre s'exerçoit avec impunité.
+ Ac mihi quidem videntur homines, cùm multis rebus humiliores et infirmiores sint, hac re maximè bestiis præstare, quòd loqui possunt.
In wisdom's varying strains reveal'd to man
The rule of order, and the social plan.
The social plan, which rights and duties gave, (1)
(Where force was law, there man was born a slave,)
Bade him to quit the forest, and with toil, †
By art informed, to quell the stubborn soil,
Teach earth, for dark Chaonia's mast, to yield
The nobler product of the cultured field,
And Achelöus' turbid wave refine,
By grateful mixture with the purple vine ;
Made sacred property, invested law
With wholesome force, and salutary awe;
Bade tempered Power with justice to preside,
And states and cities rear their towery pride.
Hence fable tells us the Orphéan song‡
Held floods suspended, and drew beasts along;
Chaoniam pingui glandem mutavit aristâ,
Poculaque inventis Achelöia miscuit uvis.
Sylvestres homines sacer interpresque Deorum
Cædibus et victu fœdo deterruit Orpheus,
Dictus ob hoc lenire tigres, rabidosque leones.
Dictus Amphion, Thebanæ conditor arcis,
Saxa movere sono testuidinis, et prece blandâ
Ducere quo vellet. Fuit hæc sapientia quondam
Publica privatis secernere, sacra profanis,
Oppida moliri, leges incidere ligno.
That, moved by magic of Amphion's lyre,
Rocks roll'd in cadence, and bade Thebes aspire;
Verse tamed the world, as ancient bards rehearse,
And law and freedom are the fruits of verse!
But not to numbers is that spark confin'd,
That more than decks, that deifies the mind; *
That glow of soul, that o'er-informs the frame,
That prompts the Poet's lips with words of flame,
That bids each heart, with pride dilated, own
And hail the glory, as it were its own! †
As the GREAT SUN, whose blazing light adorns
Each ponderous planet, that around him turns,
From his prismatic urn with joy supplies
Those gorgeous tints, that animate the skies,
Clothe earth with verdure, paint the dewy shower,
And with fine hues describe each opening flower;
Ev'n so the POET'S EYE, intensely bright,
Shoots through the intellectual realms its light,
Cui mens divinior atque os
* φύσει γάρ πως ὑπο τ' αληθουσ ύψους επαιρείαι τε ἡμων η ψυχή, και γαυρόν τι ἀνάςημα λαμβάνουσα πληρούται χαρασ και μεγαλαυχίας, ὡς ἀυτή γεννήσασα όπερ ηκουσεν,
|