That they with ardor Arove to raise
At once their arts, and country's praise;
And in their working took great care,
That all was full, and round, and fair.
DEMOCRITUS and HERACLITUS.
DEMOCRITUS, dear droll, revifit earth,
And with our follies glut thy heighten'd mirth: Sad Heraclitus, ferious wretch, return, In louder grief our greater crimes to mourn. Between you both I unconcern'd stand by: Hurt, can I laugh? and honest, need I cry?
me 'twas giv'n to die: to thee 'tis giv'n To live: alas! one moment fets us ev❜n. Mark! how impartial is the will of Heav'n?
GUALTERUS DANISTONUS ad Amicos.
UM ftudeo fungi fallentis munere vitae,
Adfectoque viam fedibus Elyfiis,
Artoa florens fophiâ, Samiifque fuperbus
Difcipulis, animas morte carere cano.
Has ego corporibus profugas ad fidera mitto;
Sideraque ingreffis otia blanda dico;
Qualia conveniunt divis, queis fata volebant
Vitäi faciles molliter ire vias:
Vinaque coelicolis media inter gaudia libo;
Et me quid majus fufpicor effe viro. Sed fuerint nulli forfan, quos fpondeo, coeli; Nullaque fint Ditis numina, nulla Jovis. Fabula fit terris agitur quae vita relictis; Quique fuperftes, homo; qui nihil, efto Deus. Attamen effe hilares, et inanes mittere curas Proderit, ac vitae commoditate frui, Et feftos agitâffe dies, aevique fugacis Tempora perpetuis detinuiffe jocis. His me parentem praeceptis occupet orcus, Et mors; feu divum, feu nihil effe velit: Nam fophia ars illa est, quae fallere suaviter horas Admonet, atque orci non timuiffe minas.
TUDIOUS the bufy moments to deceive,
That fleet between the cradle and the grave,
I credit what the Grecian dictates fay,
And Samian founds o'er Scotia's hills convey.
When mortal man refigns his transient breath;
The body only I give o'er to death,
The parts diffolv'd, and broken frame I mourn:
What came from earth, I fee to earth return.
The immaterial part, th' aethereal foul,
Nor can change vanquish, nor can death controul.
Glad I release it from it's partner's cares;
And bid good angels waft it to the stars.
Then in the flowing bowl I drown those fighs,
Which, fpight of wisdom, from our weakness rise.
The draught to the dead's mem'ry I commend,
And offer to the now immortal friend.
But if oppos'd to what my thoughts approve,
Nor Pluto's rage there be, nor pow'r of Jove;
On its dark fide if thou the profpe&t take;
Grant all forgot beyond black Lethe's lake:
In total death suppose the mortal lie,
No new hereafter, nor a future sky:
Yet bear thy lot content; yet cease to grieve:
Why, ere death comes, dost thou forbear to live?
The little time thou haft, 'twixt instant now
And fate's approach, is all the gods allow:
And of this little haft thou ought to spare
To fad reflection, and corroding care?
The moments past, if thou art wife, retrieve
With pleasant mem'ry of the bliss they gave.
The pleasant hours in present mirth imploy,
And bribe the future with the hopes of joy,
The future (few or more, howe'er they be)
Were deftin'd erft; nor can by fate's decree
Be now cut off, betwixt the grave and thee.
The first HYMN of CALLIMACHUS
to JUPITER.
THILE we to Jove select the holy victim,
Whom apter shall we fing, than Jove himself,
The God for ever great, for ever king;
Who flew the earth-born race, and measures right
To heav'n's great habitants? Ditacan hear'st thou
More joyful, or Lycaean, long dispute
And various thought has trac'd. On Ida's mount,
Or Die, ftudious of his country's praise,
The Cretan boasts thy natal place: but oft
He meets reproof deferv'd: for he presumptuous
Has built a tomb for thee, who never know'ft
To die, but liv't the fame to-day and ever.
Arcadian therefore be thy birth: great Rhea
Pregnant to high Parrhafia's cliffs retir'd,'
And wild Lycaeus, black with fhading pines:
Holy retreat! Sithence no female hither,
Confcious of focial love and nature's rites,
Muft dare approach, from the inferior reptile
To woman, form divine. There the blest parent
Ungirt her spacious bosom, and discharg'd
The pond'rous birth: she sought the neighb'ring spring
To wash the recent babe: in vain: Arcadia,
(However ftreamy,) now adust and dry,
Deny'd the goddess water: where deep Melas,
And rocky Cratis flow, the chariot fmoak'd
Obscure with rifing duft: the thirsty trav❜ler
In vain requir'd the current, then imprison'd
In fubterraneous caverns: forests grew
Upon the barren hollows, high o'erfhading
The haunts of favage beafts, where now Iaon,
And Erimanth incline their friendly urns.
Thou too, O earth, great Rhea said, bring forth;
And short shall be thy pangs: fhe faid; and high
She rear'd her arm, and with her sceptre struck
The yawning cliff: from its difparted height
Adown the mount the gushing torrent ran,
And chear'd the vallies: there the heav'nly mother
Bath'd, mighty king, thy tender limbs; she wrapt them
In purple bands: fhe gave the precious pledge
To prudent Neda, charging her to guard thee,
Careful and fecret: Neda, of the nymphs
That tended the great birth, next Philyre
And Styx, the eldeft. fmiling fhe receiv'd thee,
And conscious of the grace, abfolv'd her truft:
Not unrewarded; fince the river bore
The fav'rite virgin's name: fair Neda rowls
By Leprion's ancient walls, a fruitful stream.
Faft by her flow'ry bank the sons of Arcas,
Fav'rites of heav'n, with happy care protect
Their fleecy charge; and joyous drink her wave.
Thee, God, to Cnoffus Neda brought: the nymphs
And Corybantes thee their facred charge
Receiv'd: Adrafte rock'd thy golden cradle:
The goat, now bright amidst her fellow stars,
Kind Amalthea, reach'd her teat diftent
With milk, thy early food; the fedulous bee
Diftill'd her honey on thy purple lips.
Around, the fierce Curetes (order folemn
To thy foreknowing mother!) trod tumultuous
Their myftic dance, and clang'd their founding arms;
Industrious with the warlike din to quell
Thy infant-cries, and mock the ear of Saturn.
Swift growth and wond'rous grace, O heav'nly Jove,
Waited thy blooming years: inventive wit,
And perfect judgment crown'd thy youthful act.
That Saturn's fons receiv'd' the three-fold empire
Of heav'n, of ocean, and deep hell beneath,
As the dark urn and chance of lot determin'd,
Old poets mention, fabling. Things of moment
Well nigh equivalent and neighb’ring value
By lot are parted: but high Heav'n, thy fhare,
In equal balance laid 'gainst sea or hell,
Flings up the adverfe fcale, and fhuns proportion.
Wherefore not chance, but pow'r, above thy brethren
Exalted thee, their king. when thy great will
Commands thy chariot forth; impetuous ftrength,
And fiery fwiftnefs wing the rapid wheels,
Inceffant; high the eagle flies before thee.
And oh! as I and mine confult thy augur,
Grant thy glad omen; let thy fav'rite rife
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