DESCEND, celeftial Mufe! thy son inspire
Of thee to fing; infuse the holy fire.
Belov'd of gods and men! thyself disclose;
Say from what fource thy heav'nly pow'r arose,
Which from unnumber'd years deliv'ring down 5
The deeds of heroes deathlefs in renown,
Extends their life and fame to ages yet unknown.
Time and the Muse set forth with equal pace;
At once the rivals started to the race;
And both at once the deftin'd course shall end,
Or both to all eternity contend;
One to preferve what t' other cannot fave,
And refcue virtue rifing from the grave.
To thee, O Montague! these strains are fung, For thee my voice is tun'd and speaking lyre is ftrung;
For ev'ry grace of ev'ry Mufe is thine,
In thee their various fires united fhine,
Darling of Phœbus and the tuneful Nine!
To thee alone I dare my song commend,
Whofe nature can forgive and pow'r defend, 20
And show by turns the patron and the friend.
Begin, my Muse! from Jove derive thy song,
Thy fong of right does firft to Jove belong;
For thou thyself art of celeftial feed,
Nor dare a fire inferiour boast the breed.
When first the frame of this vast ball was made,
And Jove with joy the finish'd work furvey'd,
Viciffitude of things, of men and states,
Their rife and fall, were deftin'd by the Fates;
Then Time had first a name, by firm decree
Appointed lord of all futurity,
Within whofe ample bofom Fates repofe
Caufes of things, and fecret feeds inclofe,
Which rip'ning there fhall one day gain a birth,
And force a paffage thro' the teeming earth.
To him they give to rule the spacious light,
And bound the yet unparted day and night;
To wing the hours that whirl the rolling sphere,
To fhift the feasons, and conduct the year.
Duration of dominion and of pow'r
To him prescribe, and fix each fated hour.
This mighty rule to Time the Fates ordain,
But yet to hard conditions bind his reign;
For ev'ry beauteous birth he brings to light,
(How good foe'er and grateful in his fight)
He must again to native earth restore,
And all his race with iron teeth devour:
Nor good nor great fhall 'fcape his hungry maw,
But bleeding Nature prove the rigid law.
Not yet the loofen'd earth aloft was flung,
Or pois'd amid the skies in balance hung;
Nor yet did golden fires the fun adorn,
Or borrow'd luftre filver Cynthia's horn;
Nor yet had Time commiffion to begin,
Or Fate the many-twifted web to spin;
When all the heav'nly hoft affembled came
To view the world yet refting on its frame;
Eager they prefs to fee the Sire dism ifs,
And roll the globe along the vast abyss.
When deep-revolving thoughts the God retain, 60
Which for a space fufpend the promis'd scene,
Once more his eyes on Time intentive look,
Again infpect Fate's univerfal book;
Abroad the wondrous volume he difplays,
And prefent views the deeds of future days.
A beauteous fcene adorns the foremost page,
Where Nature's bloom prefents the Golden Age:
The Golden leaf to Silver foon refigns,
And fair the sheet, but yet more faintly, fhines:
Of bafer Brafs, the next denotes the times,
An impious page, deform'd with deadly crimes:
The fourth yet wears a worse and browner face,
And adds to gloomy days an Iron race.
He turns the book, and ev'ry age reviews,
Then all the kingly line his eye pursues;
The first of men, and Lords of Earth design'd,
Who under him should govern humankind.
Of future heroes there the lives he reads,
In search of glory spent and godlike deeds,
Who empires found, and goodly cities build,
And favage men compel to leave the field.
All this he faw, and all he faw approv'd;-
When, lo! but thence a narrow space remov'd,
And hungry Time has all the scene defac'd,
The kings deftroy'd, and laid the kingdoms wafte; Together all in common ruins lie,
And but anon, and ev'n the ruins die.
Th' Almighty, inly touch'd, compaffion found,
To fee great actions in oblivion drown'd,
And forward fearch'd the roll, to find if Fate
Had no referve to fpare the good and great.
Bright in his view the Trojan heroes fhine,
And Ilian structures rais'd by hands divine;
But Ilium foon in native duft is laid,
And all her boafted pile a ruin made;
Nor great Æneas can her fall withstand,
But flies, to fave his gods, to foreign land.
The Roman race fucceed the Dardan ftate,
And first and fecond Cæfar, godlike great.
|