To thy foreknowing mother!) trod tumultuous Their mystic dance, and clang'd their sounding Industrious with the warlike din to quell [arms; Thy infant cries, and mock the ear of Saturn.
Swift growth and wondrous grace, O heavenly
Waited thy blooming years: inventive wit, [Jove,
And perfect judgment crown'd thy youthful act.
That Saturn's sons received the three-fold empire
Of heaven, of ocean, and deep hell beneath,
As the dark urn and chance of lot determined,
Old poets mention, fabling. Things of moment,
Well nigh equivalent and neighbouring value,
By lot are parted: but high heaven, thy share,
In equal balance laid 'gainst sea or hell,
Flings up the adverse scale, and shuns proportion :
Wherefore not chance, but power above thy
brethren
Exalted thee their king. When thy great will
Commands thy chariot forth, impetuous strength
And fiery swiftness wing the rapid wheels
Incessant; high the eagle flies before thee.
And, oh! as I and mine consult thy augur,
Grant the glad omen; let thy favourite rise
Propitious, ever soaring from the right.
Thou to the lesser gods hast well assign'd
Their proper shares of power; thy own, great Jove,
Boundless and universal. Those who labour
The sweaty forge, who edge the crooked scythe,
Bend stubborn steel, and harden gleaming armour,
Acknowledge Vulcan's aid. The early hunter
Blesses Diana's hand, who leads him safe
O'er hanging cliffs, who spreads his net successful,
And guides the arrow through the panther's heart.
The soldier from successful camps returning
With laurel wreath'd, and rich with hostile spoil
Severs the bull to Mars. The skilful bard,
Striking the Thracian harp, invokes Apollo,
To make his hero and himself immortal.
Those, mighty Jove, meantime thy glorious care
Who model nations, publish laws, announce
Or life or death, and found or change the empire.
Man owns the power of kings, and kings of Jove:
And as their actions tend subordinate
To what thy will designs, thou givest the means
Proportion'd to the work; thou seest, impartial,
How they those means employ. Each monarch
His different realm accountable to thee,
[rules
Great ruler of the world: these only have
To speak and be obey'd; to those are given
Assistant days to ripen the design;
To some, whole months; revolving years to some:
Others, ill-fated, are condemn'd to toil
Their tedious life, and mourn their purpose, blasted With fruitless act and impotence of counsel.
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.
SECOND HYMN OF CALLIMACHUS.
HA! how the laurel, great Apollo's tree,
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 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 re-
leased
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.
So may ye flourish, favour'd 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 Pæan! nor dares Thetis
Longer bewail her loved Achilles' death;
For Phoebus was his foe: nor must sad Niobe
In fruitless sorrow persevere, or weep
E'en through the Phrygian marble. Hapless mo-
Whose fondness could compare her mortal off-
To those which fair Latona bore to Jove. [spring
Iö! again repeat ye, Iö Pæan!
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 unfinish'd, 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,
His duteous handmaid, through the air improved,
With lavish hand diffuses scents ambrosial.
The spearman's arm by thee, great god, directed, Sends forth a certain wound. The laurel'd 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. Sithence the cow
Produced an ampler store of milk, the she-goat
Not without pain dragg'd her distended udder;
And ewes, that erst brought forth but single lambs,
Now dropp'd their two-fold burdens. Bless'd the
On which Apollo cast his favouring eye! [cattle
But, Phoebus, thou, to man beneficent,
Delight'st in building cities. Bright Diana,
Kind sister to thy infant-deity,
New-wean'd, and just arising from the cradle,
Brought hunted wild-goats; heads, and branching
Of stags, the fruit and honour of her toil. [antlers
These with discerning hand thou knew'st to range,
(Young as thou wast) and in thewell-framed models,
With emblematic skill and mystic order,
[rise, Thou show'dst where towers or battlements should Where gates should open, or where walls should
While from thy childish pastime man received
The future strength and ornament of nations.
Battus, our great progenitor, now touch'd
The Lybian 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 Böedromian hear'st thou, pleased, or Clarian
Phœbus, 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 appoint
Thy annual feasts, kind god, and bless thy altars,
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