And leaning o'er Castalia's mossy verge,
They mark the cadence of your confluent urns,
How tuneful, yielding gratefullest repose
To their consorted measure: till again,
With emulation all the sounding choir,
And bright Apollo, leader of the song,
Their voices through the liquid air exalt,
And sweep their lofty strings: those powerful strings
That charm the mind of gods 28: that fill the courts
Of wide Olympus with oblivion sweet
Of evils, with immortal rest from cares;
Assuage the terrors of the throne of Jove;
And quench the formidable thunderbolt
Of unrelenting fire. With slacken'd wings,
While now the solemn concert breathes around,
Incumbent o'er the sceptre of his lord
Sleeps the stern eagle; by the number'd notes,
Possess'd; and satiate with the melting tone:
Sovereign of birds. The furious god of war,
His darts forgetting, and the winged wheels
That bear him vengeful o'er the' embattled plain,
Relents, and soothes his own fierce heart to ease,
Most welcome ease. The sire of gods and men,
In that great moment of divine delight,
Looks down on all that live; and whatsoe'er
He loves not, o'er the peopled earth and o'er
The' interminated ocean, he beholds
Curs'd with abhorrence by his doom severe,
And troubled at the sound. Ye, Naiads, ye
With ravish'd ears the melody attend
Worthy of sacred silence. But the slaves
28 This whole passage, concerning the effects of sacred music among the gods, is taken from Pindar's first Pythian ode.
Of Bacchus with tempestuous clamours strive
To drown the heavenly strains; of highest Jove,
Irreverent; and by mad presumption fir'd
Their own discordant raptures to advance
With hostile emulation. Down they rush
From Nysa's vine-impurpled cliff, the dames
Of Thrace, the Satyrs, and the' unruly Fauns,
With old Silenus, reeling through the crowd
Which gambols round him, in convulsions wild
Tossing their limbs, and brandishing in air
The ivy-mantled thyrsus, or the torch
[pipe's 19
Through black smoke flaming, to the Phrygian
Shrill voice, and to the clashing cymbals, mix'd
With shrieks and frantic uproar. May the gods
From every unpolluted ear avert
Their orgies! If within the seats of men,
Within the walls, the gates, where Pallas holds
The guardian key 3o, if haply there be found
Who loves to mingle with the revel-band
And hearken to their accents; who aspires
From such instructors to inform his breast
With verse; let him, fit votarist, implore
Their inspiration. He perchance the gifts
Of young Lyæus, and the dread exploits,
May sing in aptest numbers: he the fate
Of sober Pentheus 31, he the Paphian rites,
29 The Phrygian music was fantastic and turbulent, and fit to excite disorderly passions.
So It was the office of Minerva to be the guardian of walled cities; whence she was named ΠΟΛΙΑΣ and HOАIOTXо2, and had her statues placed in their gates, being supposed to keep the keys; and on that account stiled ΚΛΗΔΟΥΧΟΣ.
S1 Pentheus was torn in pieces by the bacchanalian priests and women, for despising their mysteries.
And naked Mars with Cytherea chain'd,
And strong Alcides in the spinster's robes,
May celebrate, applauded. But with you,
O Naiads, far from that unhallow'd rout,
Must dwell the man whoe'er to praised themes
Invokes the' immortal Muse:-the' immortal Muse
To your calm habitations, to the cave
Corycian or the Delphic mount 33, will guide
His footsteps; and with your unsullied streams
His lips will bathe: whether the' eternal lore
Of Themis, or the majesty of Jove,
To mortals he reveal; or teach his lyre
The' unenvied guerdon of the patriot's toils,
In those unfading islands of the bless'd,
Where sacred bards abide. Hail, honour'd Nymphs:
Thrice hail! For You the Cyrenaïc shell 34
Behold, I touch, revering. To my songs
Be present ye with favourable feet,
And all profaner audience far remove.
32 Of this cave Pausanias, in his Tenth Book, gives the following description: “Between Delphi and the eminences of Parnassus, is a road to the grotto of Corycium, which has its name from the nymph Corycia, and is by far the most remarkable which I have seen. One may walk a great way into it without a torch. 'Tis of a considerable height, and hath several springs within it; and yet a much greater quantity of water distils from the shell and roof, so as to be continually dropping on the ground. The people round Parnassus hold it sacred to the Corycian nymphs and to Pan." 33 Delphi, the seat and oracle of Apollo, had a mountainous and rocky situation on the skirts of Parnassus.
34 Cyrene was the native country of Callimachus, whose hymns are the most remarkable example of that mythological passion which is assumed in the preceding poem, and have always afforded particular pleasure to the author of it, by reason of the mysterious solemnity with which they af fect the mind. On this account he was induced to attempt somewhat in the same manner; solely by way of exercise:
"O Vitæ Philosophia Dux! O Virtutis indagatrix, expul trixque Vitiorum.-Tu Urbes peperisti; tu inventrix Legum, tu magistra Morum et Disciplinæ fuisti: Ad te confugimus, a te Opem petimus." Cic. Tusc. Quast.
SCIENCE! thou fair effusive ray
From the great source of mental day,
Free, generous, and refin'd!
Descend with all thy treasures fraught,
Illumine each bewilder'd thought,
And bless my labouring mind.
But first with thy resistless light,
Disperse those phantoms from my sight,
Those mimic shades of thee:
The scholiast's learning, sophist's cant,
The visionary bigot's rant,
The monk's philosophy.
O! let thy powerful charms impart
The patient head, the candid heart
Devoted to thy sway;
Which no weak passions e'er mislead,
Which still with dauntless steps proceed
Where reason points the way.
the manner itself being now almost intirely abandoned in poetry. And as the mere genealogy, or the personal adventures of heathen gods, could have been but little interesting to a modern reader; it was therefore thought proper to select some convenient part of the history of nature, and to employ these ancient divinities as it is probable they were first employed; to wit, in personifying natural causes, and in representing the mutual agreement or opposition of the corporeal and moral powers of the world; which hath been accounted the very highest office of poetry.
Give me to learn each secret cause;
Let number's, figure's, motion's laws
Reveal'd before me stand;
These to great nature's scenes apply,
And round the globe, and through the sky, Disclose her working hand.
Next, to thy nobler search resign'd,
The busy, restless, human mind
Through every maze pursue;
Detect perception where it lies,
Catch the ideas as they rise,
And all their changes view.
Say from what simple springs began
The vast ambitious thought of man,
Which range beyond controul,
Which seek eternity to trace,
Dive through the' infinity of space,
And strain to grasp the whole.
Her secret stores let memory tell,
Bid fancy quit her fairy cell,
In all her colours drest;
While prompt her sallies to controul;
Reason, the judge, recalls the soul
To truth's severest test.
Then launch through being's wide extent;
Let the fair scale, with just ascent
And cautious steps be trod;
And from the dead, corporeal mass,
Through each progressive order pass
To instinct, reason, God.
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