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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 thofe fighs,
Which, fpight of wifdom, from our weakness rife.
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 prospect 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 ceafe to grieve:
Why, ere death comes, dost thou forbear to live?
The little time thou haft, 'twixt inftant now
And fate's approach, is all the gods allow :.
And of this little haft thou ought to fpare
To fad reflection, and corroding care?
The moments paft, if thou art wife, retrieve
With pleafant mem'ry of the blifs they gave.
The pleasant hours in prefent 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.

The first HYMN of CALLI MACHUS
to JUPITER.

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THILE we to Jove felect the holy victim,
Whom apter fhall we fing, than Jove himself,

W

The god for ever great, for ever king ;

Who flew the earth-born race, and meafures right
To heav'n's great habitants? Dictaean hearest thou
More joyful, or Lycaean, long difpute

And various thought has trac'd. On Ida mount,
Or Dicte, ftudious of his country's praife,
The Cretan boafts thy natal place but oft

He meets reproof deferv'd: for the 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 Lycaeus, black with fhading pines ;
Holy retreat! Sithence no female hither,
Conscious 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 difcharg'd [fpring
The pond'rous birth: the fought the neighb'ring
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 fmoak'd
Obscure with rising 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 faid, bring forth;:
And short shall be thy pangs: fhe faid; and high
She rear'd her arm, and with her fceptre ftruck
The yawning cliff; from its difparted height.

Adown the mount the gufhing torrent ran,

And chear'd the valleys: there the heav'nly mother
Bath'd, mighty king, thy tender limbs: fhe 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. Smiling the 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 ftream.
Faft by the flow'ry bank the fons 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 ftars,.
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 threefold 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 'gainft fea or hell,

Flings up the adverse scale, 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 swiftnefs 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
Propitious, ever foaring from the right.

Thou to the leffer gods haft well affign'd
Their proper shares of pow'r thy own, great Jove,.
Boundless and univerfal, those who labour

The fweaty forge, who edge the crooked fcythe,
Bend ftubborn fteel, and harden gleening armor,
Acknowledge Vulcan's aid. The early hunter
Bleffes Diana's hand, who leads him fafe

O'er hanging cliffs; who spreads his net fuccefsful,.
And guides the arrow through the panther's heart.
The foldier from fuccefsful camps returning,
With laurel wreath'd, and rich with hoftile fpoil,
Severs the bull to Mars. The fkilful bard,
Striking the Thracian harp, invokes Apollo,
To make his hero and himself immortal.

Thofe, mighty Jove, mean time, thy glorious care,
Who model nations, publifh laws, announce
Or life or death, and found or change the empire.
Man owns the pow'r of kings; and kings of Jove.

And as their actions tend subordinate

To what thy will defigns, thou giv'ft the means
Proportion'd to the work; thou feeft impartial,
How they those means employ. Each monarch rules
His different realm, accountable to thee,

Great ruler of the world: these only have
To speak and be obey'd: to thofe are giv'n
Affiftant days to ripen the defign;

To fome whole months; revolving years to fome:
Others, ill-fated are condemn'd to toil

Their tedious life, and mourn their purpose blafted With fruitless act, and impotence of council.

Hail! greatest fon of Saturn, wife difpofer Of ev'ry good thy praife what man yet born Has fung or who that may be born shall sing? Again, and often hail! indulge our prayer, Great father! grant us virtue, grant us wealth: For without virtue, wealth to man avails not; And virtue without wealth exerts lefs pow'r, And lefs diffufes good. Then grant us, gracious, Virtue and wealth; for both are of thy gift.

The fecond HYMN of CALLIMACHUS to APOLLO.

AH! how the laurel, great Apollo's tree,

HAR

And all the cavern shakes! far off, far off, The man that is unhallow'd for the God,

The God approaches. Hark! he knocks; the gates Feel the glad impulfe: and the fever'd bars. Submitive clink against their brazen portals.

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