Erich'd with gifts she left the bright abodes,
By Jove ordain'd the solemn oath of gods;
Her children, as she wish'd, behind remain,
Constant attendants on the thund'rer's train:
Alike the god with all maintain'd his word,
And rules, in empire strong, of lords the lord.
Phoebe with fondness to her Coeus cleav'd,
And she, a goddess, by a god conceiv'd;
Latona, sable-veil'd, the produce proves,
Pleasing to all, of their connubial loves,
Sweetly engaging from ber natal hour,
The most delightful in th' olympian bow'r:
From them Asteria sprung, a nymph renown'd,
And with the spousal love of Perses crown'd;
To whom she bore Hecate, lov'd by Jove,
And honour'd by th' inhabitants above,
Profusely gifted from th' almighty hand,
With pow'r extensive o'er the sea and land,
And great the honour she, by Jove's high leave,
Does from the starry vault of Heav'n receive.
When to the gods the sacred flame aspire,
From human off'rings, as the law require,
To Hecate the vows are first prefer'd;
Happy of men whose pray'rs are kindly heard,
Success attends his ev'ry act below,
Honour, wealth, pow'r, to him abundant flow.
The gods, who all from Earth and Heav'n descend,
On her decision for their lots depend;
Nor what the earliest gods, the Titans, claim,
By her ordain'd, of honour or of fame,
Has Jove revok'd by his supreme command,
For her decrees irrevocable stand:
Nor is her bonour less, nor less her pow'r,
Because she only bless'd the nuptial hour;
Great is her pow'r on Earth, and great her fame,
Nor less in Heav'n, and o'er the main the same,
Because Saturnian Jove reveres the dame:
The man she loves she can to greatness raise,
And grant to whom she favours public praise;
This shines for words distinguish'd at the bar;
One proudly triumphs in the spoils of war;
And she alone can speedy vict'ry give,
And rich in glory bid the conqu'rer live:
And where the venerable rulers meet
She sits supreme upon the judgment-scat:
In single trials or of strength, or skill,
Propitious she presides o'er whom she will;
To honour she extends the beauteous crown,
And glads the parent with the son's renown,
With rapid swiftness wings the gallant steeds,
And in the race the flying courser speeds.
Who, urg'd by want, and led by hopes of gain, 670
Pursue their journey cross the dang'rous main,
To Ilecate they all for safety bow,
And to their god and her prefer the vow.
With ease the goddess, venerable dame,
Gives to the sportsman's hand his wish'd-for
game;
Or now the weary'd creature faintly flies,
And, for a while, eludes the huntsman's eyes,
Who stretches, sure to seize the panting prey,
And bear the glory of the chase away,
Till, by the kind protect'ress of the plains,
Her strength recovers, and new life she gains,
She starts, surprising, and outstrips the wind,
And leaves the masters of the chase behind.
With Mercury the watchful goddess guards
Of goats the straggling flocks, the lowing herds,
And bleating folds, rich with the pond'rous fleece;
By her they lessen, and by her increase.
The only daughter of her mother born,
And her the gods with various gifts adorn:
O'er infants she, so Jove ordain'd, presides, 690
And the upgrowing youth to merit guides;
Great is the trust the future man to breed,
A trust to her by Saturn's son decreed.
Rhea to Saturn bore, her brother god,
Vesta and Ceres; Juno, golden shod,
And Pluto, hard of heart, whose wide command
Is o'er a dark and subterranean land,
A pow'rful monarch, hence derive their birth,
With Neptune, deity who shakes the Earth;
Of these great Jove, the ruler of the skies,
Of gods and men the sire, in council wise,
Is born; and him the universe adores,
And the Earth trembles when his thunder roars.
Saturn from Earth, and Heav'n adorn'd with stars,
Had learn'd the rumour of approaching wars,
Great as he was a greater should arise
To rob him of the empire of the skies,
The mighty Jove, his son, in council wise:
With dread the fatal prophecy he hear'd,
And for his regal honours greatly fear'd,
And that the dire decree might fruitless prove,
Devour'd his pledges, at their birth, of love:
Now Rhea, who her slaughter'd children griev'd,
With Jove, the sire of gods and men, conceiv'd,
To Earth and Heav'n she for assistance runs,
And begs their counsel to revenge her sons,
To guard her Jove from wily Saturn's ire,
Secret to keep him from a barb'rous sire:
They to their daughter lend a willing ear,
And to her speak the hour of vengeance near, 720
Nor hide they from her what the Fates ordain
Of her great-minded son, and Saturn's reign:
Her safe to Crete the parent gods convey,
In Lyctus there, a fertile soil, she lay;
At length the tedious months their course had run,
When mighty Jove she bore, her youngest son;
Wide-spreading Earth receiv'd the child with joy,
And train'd the god up from a newborn boy.
Rhea to Lyctus safely took her flight,
Protected by the sable veil of night;
Far in the sacred earth her son she lay'd,
On mount Ægæus ever crown'd with shade.
When the old king, who once could boast his
O'er all the gods, and the etherial plain,
Came jealous of the infant's future pow'r,
A stone the mother gave him to devour;
Greedy he seiz'd th' imaginary child,
And swallow'd heedless, by the dress beguil'd;
Nor thought the wretched god of ought to fear,
Nor knew the day of his disgrace was near; 740
Invincible remains his Jove alive,
His throne to shake, and from his kingdom drive
The cruel parent, for to him 'tis giv'n
To rule the gods, and mount the throne of Heav'n.
Well thriv'd the deity, nor was it long [strong.
Before his strength increas'd, and limbs grow'd
When the revolving year his course had run,
By, Earth, thy art, and Jove his pow'rful son,
The crafty Saturn, once by gods ador'd, 4
His injur'd offsprings to the light restor❜d:
First from within he yielded to the day
The stone deceitful, and his latest prey;
This Jove, in mem'ry of the wond'rous tale,
Fix'd on Parnassus in a sacred vale,
In Pytho the divine, a mark to be,
That future ages may astonish'd see:
And now a greater task behind remains,
To free his kindred heav'n-born race from chains,
In an ill hour by Saturn rashly bound,
Who from the hands of Jove their freedom found;
With zeal the gods perform'd a thankful part,
The debt of gratitude lay next their heart;
Jove owes to them the bolts which dreadful fly,
And the bright lightning which illumes the sky;
To him th' exchange for liberty they bore,
Gifts deep in earth conceal'd, unknown before;
Now arm'd with them, he reigns almighty Jove,
The lord of men below and gods above.
Clymene, ocean-born, with beauteous feet, And Japhet, in the bands of wedlock meet; From whose embrace a glorious offspring came, Atlas magnanimous, and great in fame, Mencetius, thou with lasting houours crown'd, Prometheus for his artifice renown'd, And Epimetheus of instedfast mind, Lur'd to false joys, and to the future blind, Who, rashly weak by soft temptations mov'd, The bane of arts and their inventors prov'd, Who took the work of Jove, the virgin fair, Nor saw beneath her charms the latent snare. 780 Blasted by light'ning from the hands of Jove, Menatius fell in Erebus to rove;
His dauntless mind that could not brook command,
And prone to ill, provok'd th' almighty hand.
Atlas, so hard necessity ordains,
Erect the pond'rous vault of stars sustains;
Not far from the Hesperides he stands,
Nor from the load retracts his head or hands:
Here was he fix'd by Jove in council wise,
Who all disposes, and who rules the skies:
To the same god Prometheus ow'd his pains,
Fast bound with hard inextricable chains
To a large column in the midmost part,
Who bore his suff'rings with a dauntless heart;
From Jove an eagle flew with wings wide spread,
And on his never-dying liver fed;
What with his rav'nous beak by day he tore
The night supply'd, and furnish'd him with more:
Great Hercules to his assistance came,
Porn of Alemena, lovely-footed dame;
And first he made the bird voracious bleed,
And from his chains the son of Japhet freed;
To this the god consents, th' olympian sire,
Who, for his son's renown, suppress'd his ire,
The wrath he bore against the wretch who strove
In counsel with himself, the pow'rful Jove;
Such was the mighty thund'rer's will, to raise
To greatest height the Theban hero's praise.
When at Mecona a contention rose,
Men and immortals to each other foes,
The strife Prometheus offer'd to compose;
In the division of the sacrifice,
Intending to deceive great Jove the wise,
He stuff'd the flesh in the large ox's skin,
And bound the entrails, with the fat, within,
Next the white bones, with artful care, dispos'd,
And in the candid fat from sight enclos'd:
The sire of gods and men, who saw the cheat,
Thus spoke expressive of the dark deceit.
"In this division how unjust the parts,
O Japhet's son, of kings the first in arts!"
Reproachful spoke the god in council wise;
To whom Prometheus full of guile replies,
"O Jove, the greatest of the pow'rs divine, View the division, and the choice be thine."
Wily he spoke from a deceitful mind; . Jove saw his thoughts, nor to his heart was blind; And then the god, in wrath of soul, began To plot misfortunes to his subject man: The lots survey'd, he with his hands embrac'd $30 The parts which were in the white fat incas'd; He saw the bones, and anger sat confess'd Upon his brow, for anger seiz'd his breast: Hence to the gods the od'rous flames aspire From the white bones which fed the sacred fire. The cloud-compelling Jove, by Japhet's son Enrag'd, to him in words like these begun. "O! who in male contrivance all transcend, Thine arts thou wilt not yet, obdurate, cnd." So spoke th' eternal wisdom, full of ire, And from that hour deny'd the use of fire To wretched men, who pass on Earth their time, Mindful, Prometheus, of thy artful crime: But Jove in vain conceal'd the splendid flame; The son of Japhet of immortal fame,
Brought the bright sparks clandestine from above
Clos'd in a hollow caue; the thund'ring Jove
Soon, from the bitterness of soul, began
To plot destruction to the peace of man.
Vulcan, a god renown'd, by Jove's command, Form'd a fair virgin with a master hand, Earth her first principle, her native air As modest seeming as her face was fair. The nymph, by Pallas, blue-ey'd goddess, dress'd, Bright shin'd improv'd beneath the candid vest; The rich wrought veil behind, wond'rous to see, Fruitful with art, bespoke the deity; Her brows to compass did Minerva bring A garland breathing all the sweets of spring: And next the goddess, glorious to behold, Plac'd on her head a glitt'ring crown of gold, The work of Vulcan by his master hand, The labour of the god by Jove's command; There seem'd to scud along the finny breed ; And there the beasts of land appear'd to feed; Nature and art were there so much at strife, The miracle might well be took for life. Vulcan the lovely bane, the finish'd maid, To the immortal gods and men convey'd; Graceful by Pallas dress'd the virgin trod, And seem'd a blessing or for man or god: Soon as they see th' inevitable snare, They praise the artist, and admire the fair; From her, the fatal guile, a sex derives To men pernicious, and contracts their lives, The softer kind, a false alluring train, Tempting to joys which ever end with pain, Never beheld with the penurious race, But ever seen where lux'ry shews her face. As drones oppressive habitants of hives, Owe to the labour of the bees their lives, Whose work is always with the day begun, And never ends but with the setting Sun, From flow'r to flow'r they rove, and loaded home Return, to build the white, the waxen comb, While lazy the luxurious race remain Within, and of their toils enjoy the gain, So woman, by the thund'rer's hard decree, And wretched man, are like the drone and bee: If man the galling chain of wedlock shuns, He from one evil to another runs ; He, when his hairs are winter'd o'er with gray, Will want a helpmate in th' afflicting day; And if possessions large have bless'd his life, He dies, and proves perhaps the source of strife; 3 D
A distant kindred, far ally'd in blood,
Contend to make their doubtful titles good:
Or should he, these calamities to fly,
His honour plight, and join the mutual tie,
And should the partner of his bosom prove
A chaste and prudent matron, worthy love;
Yet he would find this chaste, this prudent wife
The hapless author of a checquer'd life:
But should be, wretched man, a nymph embrace,
A stubborn consort, of a stubborn race,
Poor hamper'd slave, how must he drag the chain!
His mind, his breast, his heart, o'ercharg'd with
What congregated woes must he endure! [pain!
What ills on ills which will admit no cure!
Th' omnipotence of Jove in all we see,
Whom none eludes, and what he wills must be;
Not thou, to none injurious, Japhet's son,
With all thy wisdom, could his anger shun;
His rage you suffer'd, and confess'd his pow'r
Chain'd in hard durance in the penal hour.
The brothers Briareus and Cottus lay,
With Gyges, bound in chains, remov'd from day,
By their hard-hearted sire, who with surprise
View'd their vast strength, their form, and mon-
strous size:
The right of conquest shall confirm thy sway.
And teach the Titans whom they must obey."
He ends, the rest assent to what he says;
And the gods thank him with the voice of praise:
He more than ever feels himself inspir'd,
And his mind burns with love of glory fir'd.
All rush to battle with impetuous might,
And gods and goddesses provoke the fight.
The race that Rhea to her lord conceiv'd,
And the Titanic gods by Jove reliev'd
From Erebus, who there in bondage lay,
Ally their arms in this immortal day.
Each brother fearless the dire conflict stands,
Each rears his fifty heads, and hundred hands;
They mighty rocks from their foundations tore,
And fiercely brave against the Titans bore.
Furious and swift the Titan phalanx drove, 980
And both with mighty force for empire strove:
The ocean roar'd from ev'ry part profound,
And the earth bellow'd from her inmost ground:
Heav'n groans, and to the gods conflicting bends,
And the loud tumult high Olympus rends.
So strong the darts from god to god were hurl'd,
The clamour reach'd the subterranean world;
And where with haughty strides each warrior tro,
Hell felt the weight, and sunk beneath the god;
All Tartarus could hear the blows from far: 990
Such was the big, the horrid, voice of war!
And now the murmur of incitement flies,
All rang'd in martial order, through the skies,
Here Jove above the rest conspicuous shin'd,
In valour equal to his strength his mind;
Erect and dauntless see the thund'rer stand,
The bolts red hissing from his vengeful hand;
He walks majestic round the starry frame;
And now the light'nings from Olympus flame;
The earth wide blazes with the fires of Jove, 1000
Nor the flash spares the verdure of the grove.
Fierce glows the air, the boiling ocean roars,
And the seas wash with burning waves their shores,
The dazzling vapours round the Titans glare,
A light too pow'rful for their eyes to bear!
One conflagration seems to seize on all,
And threatens Chaos with the genʼral fall.
From what their eyes behold, and what they hear,
940 The universal wreck of worlds is near: [scend
In the remotest parts of Earth confin'd
They sat, and silent sorrows wreck'd their mind,
Till by th' advice of Earth and aid of Jove,
With other gods, the fruits of Saturn's love
With Rhea beauteous dress'd, they broke the chain,
And from their dungeons burst to light again.
Earth told them all, from a prophetic light,
How gods encount'ring gods should meet in fight,
To them foretold, who stood devoid of fear,
Their hour of vict'ry and renown was near;
The Titans, and the bold Saturnian race,
Should wage a dreadful war, ten years the space.
The Titans brave on lofty Othrys stand,
And gloriously dare the thund'rer's hand;
The gods from Saturn sprung ally their pow'r;
(Gods Rhea bore him in a fatal hour:)
From high Olympus they like gods engage,
And dauntless face, like gods, Titanian rage.
In the dire conflict neither party gains,
In equal balance long the war remains;
At last by truce each soul immortal rests,
Each god on nectar and ambrosia feasts;
Their spirits nectar and ambrosia raise,
And fire their gen'rous breasts to acts of praise;
To whom, the banquet o'er, in council join'd,
The sire of gods and men express'd his mind:
"Gods, who from Earth and Heav'n, great rise,
descend,
To what my heart commands to speak attend:
For vict'ry long, and empire, have we strove,
Long have ye battel'd in defence of Jove;
To war again, invincible your might,
And dare the Titans to the dreadful fight;
Of friendship strict observe the sacred charms,
Be that the cement of the gods in arms;
Grateful remember, when in chains ye lay,
From darkness Jove redeem'd ye to the day."
He spoke, and Cottus to the god replies;
"O venerable sire, in council wise,
Who freed immortals from a state of woe,
Of what you utter well the truth we know:
Rescu'd from chains and darkness here we stand,
O son of Saturn, by thy pow'rful hand;
Nor will we, king, the rage of war decline,
Till pow'r, indisputable pow'r, is thine;
Should the large vault of stars, the Heav'ns, de
And with the Earth in loud confusion blend, 1011
Like this would seem the great tumultuous jar:
The gods engag'd, such the big voice of war!
And now the batt'ling winds their havock make,
Thick whirls the dust, Earth, thy foundations
The arms of Jove thick and terrific fly,
And blaze and bellow through the trembling sky;
Winds, thunder, lightning, thro' both armies drove,
Their course impetuous from the hands of Jove;
Loud and stupendous is the raging fight,
And now each warrior god exerts his might.
Cottus, and Briareus, who scorn to yield,
And Gyges panting for the martial field,
Foremost the labours of the day increase,
Nor let the horrours of the battle cease:
From their strong hands three hundred rocks they
And, oft repeated, overwhelm the foe; [throw,
They forc'd the Titans deep beneath the ground,
Cast from their pride, and in sad durance bound,
Far from the surface of the Earth they lie, 10
In chains, as Earth is distant from the sky;
From Earth the distance to the starry frame,
From Earth to gloomy Tartarus, the same.
From the high Heav'n a brazen anvil cast,
Nine nights and days in rapid whirls would last,
And reach the Earth the tenth, whence strongly
The same the passage to th' infernal world, [hurl'd,
To Tart'rus; which a brazen closure bounds,
And whose black entrance threefold night surrounds,
With earth thy vast foundations cover'd o'er; 1040
And there the ocean's endless fountains roar:
By cloud-compelling Jove the Titans feil,
And there in thick, in horrid darkness dwell:
They lie confin'd, unable thence to pass,
The wall and gates by Neptune made of brass;
Jove's trusty guards, Gyges and Cottus, stand
There, and with Briareus the pass command.
The entrance there, and the last limits, lie
Of earth, the barren main, the starry sky,
Who with false oaths disgrace th' olympian bow'rs,
Incur the punishment of heav'nly pow'rs:
The perjur'd god, as in the arms of death,
Lethargic lies, nor seems to draw his breath;
Nor him the nectar and ambrosia cheer,
While the Sun goes his journey of a year;
Nor with the lethargy concludes his pain,
But complicated woes behind remain:
Nine tedious years he must an exile rove,
Nor join the council, nor the feasts, of Jove;
The banish'd god back in the tenth they call
To heav'nly banquets and th' olympian ball:
The honours such the gods on Styx bestow,
Whose living streams thro' rugged channels flow,
Where the beginning, and last limits, lie
Of earth, the barren main, the starry sky,
And Tart'rus; there of all the fountains rise, 1050 | And Tart'rus; where of all the fountains rise;
A sight detested by immortal eyes:
A mighty chasm, horror and darkness here;
And from the gates the journey of a year:
Here storms in hoarse, in frightful murmurs play,
The seat of Night, where mists exclude the day.
Before the gates the son of Japhet stands,
Nor from the skies retracts his head or hands;
Where Night and Day their course alternate lead;
Where both their entrance make, and both recede,
Both wait the season to direct their way, 1060
And spread successive o'er the Earth their sway:
This cheers the eyes of mortals with her light;
The harbinger of Sleep, pernicious Night:
And here the sons of Night their mansion keep,
Sad deities, Death and his brother Sleep;
Whom, from the dawn to the decline of day,
The Sun beholds not with his piercing ray:
One o'er the land extends, and o'er the seas,
And lulls the weary'd mind of man to ease;
That iron-hearted, and of cruel soul,
Brazen his breast, nor can he brook controul,
To whom, and ne'er return, all mortals go,
And even to immortal gods a foe.
Foremost th' infernal palaces are seen
Of Pluto, and Persephone his queen;
A horrid dog, and grim, couch'd on the floor,
Guards, with malicious art, the sounding door;
On each who in the entrance first appears,
He fawning wags his tail, and cocks his cars;
If any strive to measure back the way,
Their steps he watches, and devours his prey.
Here Styx, a goddess, whom immortals hate,
The first-born fair of Ocean, keeps her state;
From gods remote her silver columns rise, [skies:
Roof'd with large rocks her dome that fronts the
Here, cross the main, swift footed Iris brings
A message seldom from the king of kings;
But when among the gods contention spreads,
And in debate divides immortal heads,
A sight detested by immortal eyes.
Th' inhabitants through brazen portals pass,
Over a threshold of e'erlasting brass,
The growth spontaneous, and foundations deep;
And here th' allies of Jove their captives keep,
The Titans, who to utter darkness fell,
And in the farthest parts of Chaos dwell.
Jove grateful gave to his auxiliar train,
Cottus and Gyges, mansions in the main;
To Briareus, for his superior might
Exerted fiercely in the dreadful fight,
Neptune who shakes the earth, his daughter gave,
Cymopolia, to reward the brave.
When the great victor god, almighty Jove,
The Titans from celestial regions drove,
Wide Earth Typhoeus bore, with Tart'rus join'd,
Her youngest born, and blust'ring as the wind;
Fit for most arduous works his brawny hands,
On feet as durable as gods he stands;
From heads of serpents hiss an hundred tongues,
And lick his horrid jaws, untir'd his lungs;
From his dire hundred heads his eye-balls stare,
And, fire-like, dreadful to beholders, glare;
Terrific from his hundred mouths to hear,
Voices of ev'ry kind torment the ear;
His utt'rance sounds like gods in council full
And now he bellows like the lordly bull:
And now he roars like the stern beast that reigns
King of the woods, and terrour of the plains;
And now, surprising to be hear'd, he yelps, 1150
Like, from his ev'ry voice, the lion's welps;
And now, so loud a noise the monster makes,
The loftiest mountain from its basis shakes:
And now Typhous had perplex'd the day,
And over men and gods usurp'd the sway,
Had not the pow'rful monarch of the skies,
Of men and gods the sire, great Jove the wise,
Against the foe his hottest vengeance hurl'd,
Which blaz'd and thunder'd thro' th' etherial world;
From Jove the goddess wings her rapid flight 1090 Thro' land and main the bolts red hissing feil, 1160
To the fam'd river, and the seat of Night,
Thence in a golden vase the water bears, [swears.
By whose cool streams each pow'r immortal
Styx from a sacred font her course derives,
And far beneath the earth her passage drives;
From a stupendous rock descend her waves,
And the black realms of Night her current laves:
Could any her capacious channels drain,
They'd prove a tenth of all the spacious main;
Nine parts in mazes clear as silver glide
Along the earth, or join the ocean's tide;
The other from the rock in billows rolls,
Source of misfortune to immortal souls.
And thro' old Ocean reach'd the gates of Hell.
Th' almighty rising made Olympus nod, -
And the earth groan'd beneath the vengeful god.
Hoarse thro' the cœrule main the thunder roll'd
Thro' which the lightning flew, both uncontroul'd;
Fire caught the winds which on their wings they
bore,
[roar,
Fierce flame the earth and Heav'n, the seas loud
And beat with burning waves the burning shore;
The tumult of the gods was hear'd afar:
How hard to lay this hurricane of war!
The god who o'er the dead infernal reigns,
E'en Pluto, trembled in his dark domains;
Dire horrour seiz'd the rebel Titan band,
In Tartarus who round their Saturn stand:
But Jove at last collected all his might,
With lightning arm'd, and thunder, for the fight,
With strides majestic from Olympus strode;
What pow'r is able now to face the god!
The flash obedient executes his ire;
The giant blazes with vindictive fire;
From ev'ry head a diff'rent flame ascends;
The monster bellows, and Olympus bends:
The god repeats his blows, beneath each wound
All maim'd the giant falls, and groans the ground.
Fierce flash the lightnings from the hands of Jove,
The mountains burn, and crackles ev'ry grove.
The meited carth floats from her inmost caves,
As from the furnace run metallic waves:
Under the caverns of the sacred ground,
Where Vulcan works, and restless anvils sound,
Beneath the hand divine the iron grows
Ductile, and liquid from the furnace flows;
So the earth melted: and the giant fell,
Plung'd by the arms of mighty Jove to Hell.
Typhous bore the rapid winds which fly
With tempests wing'd, and darken all the sky;
But from the bounteous gods derive their birth
The gales which breathe frugiferous to earth,
The south, the north, and the swift western wind,
Which ever blow to profit human kind: 1200
Those from Typheus sprung, an useless train,
To men pernicious, bluster o'er the main;
With thick and sable clouds they veil the deep,
And now destructive cross the ocean sweep:
The mariner with dread beholds from far
The gath'ring storms, and elemental war;
His bark the furious blast and billows rend;
The surges rise, and cataracts descend;
Above, beneath, he hears the tempest roar;
Now sinks the vessel, and he fears no more: 1210
And remedy to this they none can find,
Who are resolv'd to trade by sea and wind.
On land in whirlwinds, or unkindly show'rs,
They blast the lovely fruits and blooming flow'rs;
O'er sea and land the blust'ring tyrants reign,
And make of earth-born men the labours vain.
And now the gods, who fought for endless fame,
The god of gods almighty Jove proclaim,
As Earth advis'd: nor reigns olympian Jove
Ingrate to them who with the Titans strove; 1220
On those who warr'd beneath his wide command
He honours heaps with an impartial hand.
And now the king of gods, Jove, Metis led,
The wisest fair one, to the genial bed;
Who with the blue-ey'd virgin fruitful proves,
Minerva, pledge of their celestial loves;
The sire, from what kind Earth and Heav'n re-
Artful the matron in himself conceal'd;
From her it was decreed a race should rise
That would usurp the kingdom of the skies; 1230
And first the virgin with her azure eyes,
Equal in strength, and as her father wise,
Is born, th' offspring of th' almighty's brain:
And Metis by the god conceiv'd again,
A son deciced to reign o'er Heav'n and Earth,
Had not the sire destroy'd the mighty birth:
He made the goddess in himself reside,
To be in ev'ry act th' eternal guide.
The Hours to Jove did lovely Themis bear,
Eunomie, Dice, and Irene fair;
O'er human labours they the pow'r possess, With seasons kind the fruits of earth to bless :
He Ceres next, a bounteous goddess, led To taste the pleasures of the genial bed; To him fair-arm'd Persephone she bore, Whom Pluto ravish'd from her native shore: The mournful dame he of her child bereft, But the wise sire assented to the theft. Mnemosyne his breast with love inspires, The fair-tress'd object of the god's desires; Of whom the Muses, tuneful nine, are born, Whose brows rich diadems of gold adorn; To them uninterrupted joys belong, Them the gay feast delights, and sacred song. Latona bore, the fruits of Jove's embrace, The loveliest offsprings of th' ethereal race; She for Apollo felt the child-bed throw; And, Artemis, for thee who twang the bow.
Maia, of Atlas born, and mighty Jove,
Join in the sacred bands of mutual love;
From whom behold the glorious Hermes rise,
A god renown'd, the herald of the skies.
Cadmean Simele, a mortal dame,
Gave to th' almighty's love a child of fame,
Bacchus, from whom our cheerful spirits flow,
Mother and son alike immortal now.
The mighty Hercules Alcmena bore
To the great god who makes the thunder roar.
Lame Vulcan made Aglaia fair his bride,
The youngest Grace, and in her blooming pride.
Bacchus, conspicuous with his golden hair,
Thee Ariadne weds, a beauteous fair,
From Minos sprung, whom mighty Jove the sage
Allows to charm herlord exempt from age. 1311
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