314 Their fit composures to their times doth call; Weds them together, and preserves this all. Grace then, O far-heard Jove, the grace thou'st given, Most glorious, and most great of Earth and Heaven. TO VESTA. VESTA, that as a servant oversees Given his fair grought, far from his father's In caves from whence eternal odours flew. His Nurses' cares, in ivies and in bays King Phoebus' hallow'd house, in all de- Thickets, in which could no foot's entry grees Of guide about it; on the sacred shore Grace this house with thy housewifely Enter, and bring a mind that most may praises, O Muse; whose voice all loftiest echoes raises; fall; And he himself made captain of them all. be Ever saluted by my Muse and me. Give us to spend with spirit our hours out here ; And every hour extend to many a year. Horrors invade earth, and the fishy seas In so much death affects so with affright she Her sports applies, their general progeny She all ways turns upon to all their banes: And he with all th' illustrious seed of Yet, when her fiery pleasures find their Jove Is join'd in honour; being the fruit of love To him, and Semele the-great-in-graces: braces By fair-hair'd Nymphs was taken to the dales Of Nyssa, and with curious festivals Could not contain her; such impetuous throes Her birth gave way to, that abroad she flew, And stood, in gold arm'd, in her Father's view, Shaking her sharp lance. All Olympus shook So terribly beneath her, that it took All earth resounded with vociferous fear. A mighty time stay'd, till her arming weeds, As glorious as the Gods', the blue-eyed Maid Took from her deathless shoulders; but then stay'd All these distempers; and heaven's counsellor, Jove, Rejoiced that all things else his stay could move. So I salute thee still; and still in praise Thy fame, and others', shall my memory raise. TO VESTA AND MERCURY. VESTA I sing, who, in bequest of fate, Those of earth-dwelling men, as general And ancient honours given thee for thy gift Of free-lived chastity, and precious thrift. Nor can there amongst mortals banquets be, In which, both first and last, they give not thee Their endless gratitudes in pour'd-out wine, Art the most useful angel; born a God With all good all men, great Argicides, maid And all-loved virgin, Vesta; either's aid Even from their youths, the minds of dames and men. Hail then, old Daughter of the oldest God And thou great bearer of Heaven's golden rod! Yet, not to you alone my vows belong ; Others as well claim th' homage of my song. TO EARTH, THE MOTHER OF ALL. For the far-famed Hyperion took to wife His sister Euryphaëssa, that life Of his high race gave to these lovely three: Aurora, with the rosy wrists, and she A blaze burns from his golden burgonet Of his far-shining face up to his crown Casts circular radiance; that comes streaming down About his temples, his bright cheeks, and all fiv His masculine horses round about the sky; Till in this hemisphere he renders stay This gold-yoked coach and coursers; and his way, Let down by heaven, the heavenly coachman makes Down to the ocean, where his rest he takes. And all the race of complete Deity, That yet sad death's condition circulates, And whose brave acts the Gods show men, that they As brave may aim at, since they can but die. All earth she wraps up in her orient rays. A heaven of ornament in earth is raised When her beams rise. The subtle air is saised Of delicate splendour from her crown gold; And when her silver bosom is extoll'd, That owns th' enamouring tresses (the Wash'd in the ocean, in day's equall'd bright Moon) Together with the never-wearied Sun. Who (his horse mounting) gives both mortals light And all th' Immortals. bright weeds, Even to horror, (The month in two cut; her high-breasted steeds of TO CASTOR AND POLLUX. JOVE's fair Sons, father'd by th' Oebalian king, Muses well-worth-all men's beholdings, sing: The dear birth, that bright-ankled Leda bore; Horse-taming Castor; and, the conqueror Of tooth-tongued Momus, Pollux; whom beneath Steep-brow'd Taygetus she gave half-god breath, In love mix'd with the black-clouds' King of heaven : Who, both of men and ships (being tempest driven, When Winter's wrathful empire is in force Upon th' implacable seas), preserve the course. A MAID of brass I am, infixed here And steep trees curl their verdant brows with leaves, While Phoebus raised above the earth gives sight, And th' humorous Moon takes lustre from his light, CUMA REFUSING HIS OFFER TO ETERNIZE O TO what fate hath father Jove given o'er My friendless life, born ever to be poor? While in my infant state he pleased to save me; Milk on my reverend mother's knees he gave me ; In delicate and curious nursery. Æolian Smyrna, seated near the sea, (Of glorious empire, and whose bright sides Sacred Meletus' silver current glides), Being native seat to me. Which, in the force Of far-past time, the breakers of wild horse, Phriconia's noble nation, girt with towers Whose youth in fight put on with fiery powers. From hence, the Muse-maids, Jove's illus trous seed Impelling me, I made impetuous speed, ascent From off their bench, refused with usage fierce The sacred voice which I aver, is verse. Their follies, yet, and madness borne by me, Shall by some Power be thought on futurely; To wreak of him whoever, whose tongue sought With false impair, my fall. What fate God brought Upon my birth I'll bear with any pain; While floods bear waves, and seas shall But undeserved defame unfelt sustain. |