His me parentum præceptis occupet Orcus,
Et Mors; feu Divum, feu nihil effe velit; Nam Sophia ars illa eft, quæ fallere fuaviter horas Admonet, atque Orci non timuiffe minas.
STUDIOUS 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 tranfient 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, the ethereal foul,
Nor can change vanquish, nor can' death control
Glad I release it from its 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 memory 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 power of Jove;
On its dark fide if thou the profpect take;
Grant all forgot beyond black Lethe's lake:
In total death fuppofe the mortal lie,
No new hereafter, nor a future sky:
Yet bear thy lot content! yet cease to grieve:
Why, ere death comes, doft 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 eare?
The moments past, if thou art wife, retrieve
With pleasant memory of the bliss they gave.
The pleasant hours in present mirth employ,.
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.
HILE 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 Heaven's great habitants? Dictæan hear'st thou
More joyful, or Lycæan, long difpute
And various thought has trac'd. On lda's Mount,
Or Dicte, ftudious of his country's praise,
The Cretan boafts thy natal place: but oft
He meets reproof deferv'd: for he prefumptuous
Has built a tomb for thee, who never know'st
To die, but liv'ft the fame to-day and ever.
Arcadian therefore be thy birth: Great Rhea
Pregnant to high Parrhafia's cliffs retir'd,
And wild Lycæus, 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 bleft parent
Ungirt her spacious bofom, and discharg'd
The ponderous birth: fhe fought a neighbouring
To wash the recent babe in vain: Arcadia,
(However ftreamy) now aduft and dry.
Deny'd the goddess water; where deep Melas,
And rocky Cratis flow, the chariot smoak'd,
Obfcure with rifing duft: the thirsty traveller
In vain requir'd the current, then imprison'd
In fubterraneous caverns: forests grew
Upon the barren hollows, high o'erfhading
The haunts of savage beasts, where now Iaon,
And Erimanth incline their friendly grns.
Thou too, O Earth, great Rhea said, bring forth;
And short shall be thy pangs. She 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 heavenly mother
Bath'd, mighty king, thy tender limbs: fhe wrapt
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 eldest. Smiling, fhe receiv'd thee,
And confcious of the grace, abfolv'd her trust :
Not unrewarded; since the river bore
The favourite virgin's name; fair Neda rowls
By Lerpion's ancient walls, a fruitful ftream.
Faft by her flowery banks the fons of Arcas,
Favourites of Heaven, 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 chang'd their founding
Industrious with the warlike din to quell
Thy infant cries and mock the ear of Saturn,
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