Poems on Several Occasions :: :: University of Virginia Library

'Twas at the Royal Feast, for Persia won
By Philip's warlike Son;
Aloft in awful State,
The Godlike Hero sat
On his Imperial Throne:
His valiant Peers were plac'd around;
Their Brows with Roses and with Myrtles bound.

AIR.

Lovely Thais by his Side,
Blooming sat in Beauty's Pride.
Happy, happy, happy Pair!
None but the Brave deserves the Fair!

II. Recitative.

Timotheus plac'd on high,
Amid the tuneful Quire,
With flying Fingers touch'd the Lyre;
Trembling the Notes ascend the Sky,
And Heav'nly Joys inspire.
The Song began from Jove,
Who left his blissful Seats above;
(Such is the Pow'r of mighty Love!)
A Dragon's fiery Form bely'd the God;
Sublime on radiant Spires he rode,
When he to fair Olympia press'd,
And while he sought her snowy Breast;
Then round her slender Waste he curl'd,
And stamp'd an Image of himself, a Sov'reign of the World.
The list'ning Croud adore the lofty Sound,
A present Deity, they shout around;
A present Deity, the echoing Roofs rebound!

AIR.

With ravish'd Ears
The Monarch hears,
Assumes the God,
Affects the Nod,
And seems to shake the Spheres.

III. Recitative.

The Praise of Bacchus then the sweet Musician sung,
Of Bacchus ever Fair, and ever Young:
Behold he comes, the Victor God!
Flush'd with a purple Grace,
He shews his honest Face;
As when, by Tigers drawn, o'er India's Plains he rode,
While loud with Conquest and with Wine,
His jolly Troop around him reel'd along,
And taught the vocal Skies to join
In this applauding Song.

DUETTO.

Bacchus ever gay and young,

1.
First did Drinking Joys ordain:

2.
Bacchus' Blessings are a Treasure;

1.
Drinking is the Soldier's Pleasure:

2.
Rich the Treasure,

Both.

Sweet the Pleasure!
Sweet is Pleasure after Pain!

IV. Recitative.

Fir'd with the Sound, the King grew vain;
Fought all his Battles o'er again,
And thrice he routed all his Foes, and thrice he slew the Slain.

The Master saw the Madness rise,
His glowing Cheeks, his ardent Eyes;
And while he Heav'n and Earth defy'd,
He chose a mournful Muse,
Soft Pity to infuse;
Then thus he chang'd his Song, and check'd his Pride.

AIR.

See Darius Great and Good,
By too severe a Fate,
Fallen from his high Estate;
Behold his flowing Blood!
On Earth th'expiring Monarch lies,
With not a Friend to close his Eyes.

V. Recitative.

With downcast Looks the joyless Victor sat
Revolving in his alter'd Soul
The various Turns of Chance below;
And, now and then, a Sigh he stole,
And Tears began to flow.
The mighty Master smil'd to see
That Love was in the next Degree:
'Twas but a Kindred-Sound to move;
For Pity melts the Mind to Love.
Softly sweet in Lydian Measures,
Soon he sooth'd his Soul to Pleasures.

AIR.

[With Flutes.]
War is Toil and Trouble,
Honour is an airy Bubble,
Never ending, still beginning,
Fighting still, and still destroying,
If the World be worth thy winning,
Think, O think, it worth enjoying:
Lovely Thais sits beside thee,
Take the Good the Gods provide thee.

VI. Recitative.

The Prince, unable to conceal his Pain,
Gaz'd on the Fair,
Who caus'd his Care,
And sigh'd and look'd, sigh'd and look'd,
Sigh'd and look'd, and sigh'd again:
At length, with Love and Wine at once oppress'd,
The vanquish'd Victor sunk upon her Breast.

DUETTO.

1.
Phœbus, Patron of the Lyre,

2.
Cupid, God of soft Desire,

1.
Cupid, God of soft Desire,

2.
Phœbus, Patron of the Lyre,

1 & 2.
How victorious are your Charms?

1.
Crown'd with Conquest,

2.
Full of Glory,

1 & 2.
See a Monarch fall'n before ye,
Chain'd in Beauty's clasping Arms!

VII. Recitative.

Now strike the golden Lyre again;
A louder yet, and yet a louder Strain:
Break his Bands of Sleep asunder,
Rouze him, like a rattling Peal of Thunder.
Hark, hark, the horrid Sound
Has rais'd up his Head,
As awak'd from the Dead,
And amaz'd he stares around!

AIR.

[With Symphonies.]
Revenge, Revenge, Alecto cries,
See the Furies arise!
See the Snakes that they rear,
How they hiss in their Hair,
And the Sparkles that flash from their Eyes!

VIII. Recitative.

Behold a ghastly Band,
Each a Torch in his Hand!

Those are Grecian Ghosts, that in Battle were slain,
And unbury'd remain,
Inglorious on the Plain.
Give the Vengeance due
To the valiant Crew.
Behold how they toss their Torches on high,
How they point to the Persian Abodes,
And glitt'ring Temples of their Hostile Gods!

AIR.

The Princes applaud with a furious Joy;
And the King seiz'd a Flambeau, with Zeal to destroy;
Thais led the way,
To light him to his Prey,
And, like another Helen, fir'd another Troy.

IX. Recitative.

Thus, long ago,
Ere heaving Bellows learn'd to blow,
While Organs yet were mute;
Timotheus, to his breathing Flute,
And sounding Lyre,
Cou'd swell the Soul to Rage, or kindle soft Desire.
At last Divine Cecilia came,
Inventress of the vocal Frame;

The sweet Enthusiast, from her sacred Store,
Enlarg'd the former narrow Bounds,
And added Length to solemn Sounds,
With Nature's Mother-Wit, and Arts unknown before.

AIR.

Let old Timotheus yield the Prize,
Or Both divide the Crown;
He rais'd a Mortal to the Skies,
She drew an Angel down.