Why do the Delian palms incline their boughs, Self-mov'd: and hov'ring fwans, their throats releas'd From native filence, carol founds harmonious?
Begin, young men, the hymn: let all your harps Break their inglorious filence; and the dance, In mystic numbers trod, explain the mufic. But first by ardent pray'r, and clear lustration Purge the contagious fpots of human weakness : Impure no mortal can behold Apollo. So may ye flourish favour'd by the God, In youth with happy nuptials, and in age With filver hairs, and fair defcent of children ;; So lay foundations for afpiring cities,
And bless your fpreading colonies' encrease.. Pay facred rev'rence to Apollo's fong; Left wrathful the far-fhooting God emit
His fatal arrows.
And feas fubfide,
Silent nature ftands;
obedient to the foundi
Of lo, lo Pean! nor dares Thetis
Longer bewail her loy'd Achilles' death:
For Phoebus was his foe. Nor muft fad Niobe
In fruitless forrow perfevere, or weep
Ev'n thro' the Phrygian marble. Hapless mother! Whofe fondness could compare her mortal offspring: To those which fair Latona bore to Jove.
Io! again repeat ye, Io Pean!
Against the Deity 'tis hard to ftrive.
He that refifts the pow'r of Ptolemy,
Refifts the pow'r of heav'n: for pow'r from heav'n Derives; and monarchs rule by gods appointed. Recite Apollo's praife, till night draws on, The ditty ftill unfinish'd; and the day
Unequal to the Godhead's attributes
Various, and matter copious of your fongs. Sublime at Jove's right hand Apollo fits, And thence diftributes honour, gracious king, And theme of verse perpetual.
From his robe Flows light ineffable: his harp, his quiver,
And Lictian bow are gold with golden fandale His feet are fhod; how rich! how beautiful!
Beneath his steps the yellow minʼral rises And earth reveals her treasures. Youth and beauty Eternal deck his cheek: from his fair head Perfumes diftil their fweets; and chearful Health, His duteous handmaid, through the air improv'd, With lavish hand diffufes fcents ambrofial.
The fpear-man's arm by thee, great God, directed, Sends forth a certain wound. The laurel'd bard, Infpir'd by thee, compofes verfe immortal. Taught by thy art divine, the fage phyfician Eludes the urn: and chains, or exiles death.
Thee Nomian we adore; for that from heav'n Defcending, thou on fair Amphryfus' banks Didft guard Admetus' herds. Sith thence the cow Produc'd an ampler ftore of milk: the fhe-goat Not without pain dragg'd her diftended udder; And ewes, that erft brought forth but fingle lambs, Now dropp'd their two-fold burdens. Bleft the cattle, On which Apollo caft his fav'ring eye?
But Phoebus, thou to man beneficent, Delight'ft in building cities. Bright Diana, Kind fifter to the infant-deity
New-wean'd, and juft arifing from the cradle, [lers Brought hunted wild goats heads, and branching ant
Of ftags, the fruit and honour of her toil.
Thefe with difcerning hand thou knew'ft to range, (Young as thou waft) and in the well-fram'd models, With emblematic fkill, and myftic order,
Thou fhew'dit, where towers or battlements fhould rife;
Where gates fhould open; or where walls fhould compafs:
While from thy childish pastime man receiv'd The future ftrength, and ornament of nations.
Battus, our great progenitor, now touch'd The Libyan ftrand; when the foreboding crow Flew on the right before the people, marking The country deftin'd the aufpicious feat Of future kings, and favour of the God, Whose oath is fure, and promife stands eternal.
Or Boedromian hear'ft thou pleas'd, or Clarian, Phoebus, great king? for diff'rent are thy names, As thy kind hand has founded many cities, Or dealt benign thy various gifts to man. Carnean let me call thee; for my country Calls thee Carnean: the fair colony
Thrice by thy gracious guidance was tranfported, Ere fettled in Cyrene; there w' appointed Thy annual feafts, kind god, and bless thy altars Smoaking with hecatombs of flaughter'd bulls ; As Carnus, thy high priest and favour'd friend, Had erft ordain'd; and with mysterious rites, Our great forefathers taught their fons to worship. Io Carnean Phoebus! Io Pean!
The yellow Crocus there, and fair Narciffus Referve the honours of their winter store,
To deck thy temple; till returning spring. Diffuses nature's various pride: and flow'rs Innumerable, by the foft fouth-west
Open'd, and gather'd by religious hands,
Rebound their fweets from th' odoriferous pavement. Perpetual fires fhine hallow'd on thy altars, When annual the Carnean feast is held: The warlike Lybians clad in armor, lead: The dance; with clanging fwords and shields they beat The dreadful measure; in the chorus join Their women, brown but beautiful: fuch rites. To thee well-pleafing. Nor had yet thy votaries, From Greece tranfplanted, touch'd Cyrene's banks, And lands determin'd for their last abodes; . But wander'd thro' Azilis' horrid foreft Difpers'd; when from Myrtufa's craggy brow, Fond of the maid, aufpicious to the city, Which muft bereafter bear her favour'd name, Thou gracious deign'ft to let the fair one view. Her Typic people thou with pleafure taught'it her To draw the bow, to flay the fhaggy lion, And ftop the fpreading ruin of the plains. Happy the nymph, who honour'd by thy paffion, Was aided by thy pow'r! the monftrous Python- Durft tempt thy wrath in vain: for dead he fell, To thy great ftrength, and golden arms unequal. Io while thy unerring hand elanc'd Another, and another dart; the people Joyful repeated Io! Io Pean!
Elance the dart, Apollo: for the safety,
And health of man, gracious thy mother bore thee.
Envy thy latest foe fuggefted thus ;
Like thee I am a pow'r immortal; therefore To thee dare speak. How canft thou favour partial Thofe poets who write little? vaft and great
Is what I love: the far-extended ocean
To a small riv❜let I prefer.
Spurn'd Envy with his foot; and thus the god: Daemon, the headlong current of Euphrates, Affyrian river, copious runs, but muddy; And carries forward with his ftupid force Polluting dirt; his torrent flill augmenting, His wave ftill more defil'd: mean while the nymphs Meliffan, facred and reclufe to Ceres,
Studious to have their off'rings well receiv'd, And fit for heav'nly ufe, from little urns Pour ftreams felect, and purity of waters. Io! Apollo, mighty king, let Envy Ill-judging and verbose, from Lethe's lake, Draw tuns unmeasurable; while thy favour Adminifters to my ambitious thirst
The wholesome draught from Aganippe's spring Genuine, and with foft murmurs gently rilling Adown the mountains where thy daughter haunts.
A PARAPHRASE on the thirteenth CHAPTER of the First EPISTLE to the CORINTHIANS.
ID fweeter founds adorn my flowing tongue,
Than ever man pronounc'd, or angels sung: Had I all knowledge, human and divine, That thought can reach, or fcience can define;
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