Assistant days to ripen the design;
To some whole months; revolving years to some; Others, ill-fated, are condemned to toil
Their tedious life, and mourn their purpose blasted With fruitless act, and impotence of council.
Hail! greatest son of Saturn, wise disposer Of every good! Thy praise what man yet born Has sung! 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 less power, And less diffuses good. Then grant us, gracious, Virtue and wealth; for both are of thy gift.
THE SECOND HYMN OF CALLIMACHUS.
HAH! how the laurel, great Apollo's tree, And all the cavern shakes! far off, far off, The man that is unhallowed: for the god, The god approaches. Hark! he knocks; the gates Feel the glad impulse: and the severed bars Submissive clink against their brazen portals. Why do the Delian palms incline their boughs, Self-moved: and hovering swans, their throats released, From native silence, carol sounds harmonious! Begin, young men, the hymn: let all your harps Break their inglorious silence; and the dance, In mystic numbers trod, explain the music. But first by ardent prayer, and clear lustration, Purge the contagious spots of human weakness: Impure no mortal can behold Apollo.
may ye flourish, favoured by the god,
In youth with happy nuptials, and in age
With silver hairs, and fair descent of children; So lay foundations for aspiring cities,
And bless your spreading colonies' increase. Pay sacred reverence to Apollo's song; Lest wrathful the far-shooting god emit His fatal arrows. Silent Nature stands,
And seas subside, obedient to the sound Of Iö, Iö Pean! nor dares Thetis
Longer bewail her loved Achilles' death;
For Phoebus was his foe. Nor must sad Niobe In fruitless sorrow persevere, or weep
Even through the Phrygian marble. Hapless mother! Whose fondness could compare her mortal offspring To those which fair Latona bore to Jove.
Iö! again repeat ye, Iö Pean!
Against the deity 'tis hard to strive.
He that resists the power of Ptolemy,
Resists the power of heaven, for power from heaven Derives; and monarchs rule by gods appointed. Recite Apollo's praise, till night draws on, The ditty still unfinished; and the day Unequal to the godhead's attributes Various, and matter copious of your songs.
Sublime at Jove's right hand Apollo sits, And thence distributes 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 sandals His feet are shod; how rich, how beautiful! Beneath his steps the yellow mineral rises,
And earth reveals her treasures. Youth and beauty Eternal deck his cheek; from his fair head
Perfumes distil their sweets; and cheerful health, 50 His duteous handmaid, through the air improved, With lavish hand diffuses scents ambrosial.
The spear-man's arm by thee, great god, directed, Sends forth a certain wound. The laurelled bard, Inspired by thee, composes verse immortal. Taught by thy art divine, the sage physician Eludes the urn; and chains, or exiles death.
Thee, Nomian, we adore; for that from Heaven Descending, thou on fair Amphrysus' banks Didst guard Admetus' herds. Sith hence the cow Produced an ampler store of milk; the she-goat Not without pain dragged her distended udder; And ewes, that erst brought forth but single lambs, Now dropped their twofold burthens. Blessed the cattle,
On which Apollo cast his favouring eye!
But Phoebus, thou to man beneficent, Delight'st in building cities. Bright Diana, Kind sister to thy infant-deity,
New-weaned, and just arising from the cradle,
Brought hunted wild goats' heads, and branching antlers Of stags, the fruit and honour of her toil.
These with discerning hand thou knewst to range (Young as thou wast), and in the well-framed models, With emblematic skill and mystic order,
Thou show'dst, where towers or battlements should rise; Where gates should open; or where walls should compass:
While from thy childish pastime man received The future strength and ornament of nations.
Battus, our great progenitor, now touched The Libyan strand; when the foreboding crow Flew on the right before the people, marking
The country, destined the auspicious seat Of future kings, and favour of the god, Whose oath is sure, and promise stands eternal.
Or Boedromian hear'st thou pleased, or Clarian, Phoebus, great king? for different 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 transported, Ere settled in Cyrene; there we appointed Thy annual feasts, kind god, and bless thy altars Smoking with hecatombs of slaughtered bulls; As Carnus, thy high-priest and favoured friend, Had erst ordained; and with mysterious rites, Our great forefathers taught their sons to worship. Iö Carnean Phoebus! Iö Pean!
The yellow crocus there, and fair narcissus Reserve the honours of their winter-store, To deck thy temple; till returning spring Diffuses nature's various pride; and flowers Innumerable, by the soft south-west Opened, and gathered by religious hands,
Rebound their sweets from the odoriferous pavement. Perpetual fires shine hallowed on thy altars,
When annual the Carnean feast is held. The warlike Libyans, clad in armour, lead
The dance! with clanging swords and shields they beat The dreadful measure: in the chorus join Their women, brown but beautiful: such rites To thee well pleasing. Nor had yet thy votaries, From Greece transplanted, touched Cyrene's banks, And lands determined for their last abodes; But wandered through Azilis' horrid forest
Dispersed; when from Myrtusa's craggy brow, Fond of the maid, auspicious to the city, Which must hereafter bear her favoured name, Thou gracious deignst to let the fair one view Her typic people; thou with pleasure taughtst her To draw the bow, to slay the shaggy lion, And stop the spreading ruin of the plains. Happy the nymph, who honoured by thy passion, Was aided by thy power! the monstrous Python Durst tempt thy wrath in vain: for dead he fell, To thy great strength and golden arms unequal. Iö! while thy unerring hand elanced Another, and another dart; the people Joyfully repeated Iö! Iö Pean!
Elance the dart, Apollo: for the safety
And health of man, gracious thy mother bore thee. Envy, thy latest foe, suggested thus:
Like thee I am a power immortal; therefore
To thee dare speak. How canst thou favour partial Those poets who write little? Vast and great Is what I love: the far-extended ocean
To a small rivulet I prefer. Apollo
Spurned Envy with his foot; and thus the god: Demon, the head-long current of Euphrates, Assyrian river, copious runs, but muddy, And carries forward with his stupid force Polluting dirt; his torrent still augmenting,
His wave still more defiled; meanwhile the nymphs Melissan, sacred and recluse to Ceres,
Studious to have their offerings well received, And fit for heavenly use, from little urns Pour streams select, and purity of waters. Iö! Apollo, mighty king, let Envy Ill-judging and verbose, from Lethe's lake
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