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

The Design of this Ode was to insinuate to Augustus the Danger of transferring the Seat of the Empire from Rome to Troy, which we are inform'd be once entertain'd thoughts of.

[I.]

The Man, to Right inflexibly inclin'd,
Poising on Virtue's Base his Mind,
Rests in himself secure,
Indissolubly firm in Good;

101

Let Tempests rise, and Billows rage,
All Rock within, he can unmov'd endure
The foaming Fury of the Flood,
When bellowing Winds their jarring Troops engage,
Or wastful civil Tumults roll along
With fiercer Strength, and louder Roar,
Driving the Torrent of the Throng,
And gath'ring into Pow'r.
Let a proud Tyrant cast a killing Frown;
Or Jove in angry Thunder on the World look down;
Nay, let the Frame of Nature crack,
And all the spacious Globes on high,
Shatter'd with Universal Rack,
Come tumbling from the Sky:
Yet he'll survey the horrid Scene
With steady Courage, and undaunted Mien,
The only thing Serene!

II.

Thus Pollux, and great Hercules,
Roam'd thro' the World, and blest the Nations round,
Till, rais'd at length to heav'nly Palaces,
Mankind, as Gods, their Benefactors crown'd.
With these, Augustus shall for ever shine,
And stain his rosy Lips in Cups Divine.
Thus his fierce Tigers dauntless Bacchus bear;
The glaring Savages resist in vain,

102

Impatient of the Bit, and fretting on the Rein;
Thro' yielding Clouds he drives th'impetuous Car.
Great Romulus pursu'd the shining Trace,
And leapt the Lake, where all
The rest of Mortals fall,
And with his Father's Horses scour'd the same bright airy Race.

III.

Then in full Senate of the Deities,
Settling the Seats of Pow'r, and future Fate,
Juno began the high Debate,
And with this righteous Sentence pleas'd the Skies:
‘O Troy! she said, O hated Troy!
‘A Foreign Woman, and a Boy,
‘Leud, partial, and unjust,
‘Shook all thy proudest Tow'rs to Dust;
‘Inclin'd to Ruin from the time,
‘Thy King did mock two Pow'rs Divine,
‘And rais'd thy fated Walls in Perjury.
‘But doubly damn'd by that Offence,
‘Which did Minerva's Rage incense,
‘And offer'd Wrong to Me.
‘No more the treach'rous Ravisher
‘Shines in full Pomp and youthful Charms;

103

‘Nor Priam's impious House with Hector's Spear,
‘Repels the Violence of Grecian Arms.

IV.

‘Our Feuds did long embroil the Mortal Rout,
‘At last the Storm is spent,
‘My Fury with it ebbing out,
‘These Terms of Peace content;
‘To Mars I grant among the Stars a Place
‘For his Son Romulus, of Trojan Race;
‘Here shall he dwell in these Divine Abodes,
‘Drink of the heav'nly Bowl,
‘And in this shining Court his Name enrol,
‘With the serene and ever-vacant Gods;
‘While Seas shall rage between his Rome, and Troy,
‘The horrid Distance breaking wide,
‘The banish'd Trojans shall the Globe enjoy,
‘And reign in ev'ry place beside;
‘While Beasts insult my Judge's Dust, and hide
‘Their Litter in his cursed Tomb,
‘The shining Capitol of Rome
‘Shall overlook the World with awful Pride,
‘And Parthians take their Law from that Eternal Dome.

V

‘Let Rome extend her Fame to ev'ry Shore;
‘And let no Banks or Mounds restrain

104

‘Th'impetuous Torrent of her wide Command;
‘The Seas from Europe, Africk part in vain;
‘Swelling above those Floods, her Pow'r
‘Shall, like its Nile, o'erflow the Libyan Land.
‘Shining in polish'd Steel, she dares
‘The glitt'ring Beams of Gold despise,
‘Gold, the great Source of human Cares,
‘Hid wisely deep from mortal Eyes,
‘Till, sought in evil hour by Hands unblest,
‘Opening the dark Abodes,
‘There issu'd forth a direful Train of Woes,
‘That give Mankind no Rest;
‘For Gold, devoted to th'Infernal Gods,
‘No native human Uses knows.

VI.

‘Where-e'er great Jove did place
‘The Bounds of Nature yet unseen,
‘He meant a Goal of Glory to the Race
‘The Roman Arms shall win:
‘Rejoicing, onward they approach
‘To view the Outworks of the World,
‘The madding Fires, in wild Debauch,
‘The Snows and Rains unborn, in endless Eddies whirl'd!

VII.

‘'Tis I, O Rome, pronounce these Fates behind,
‘But will thy Reign with this Condition bind,

105

‘That no false Filial Piety,
‘In idle Shapes deluding Thee,
‘Or Confidence of Pow'r,
‘Tempt thee again to raise a Trojan Tow'r;
‘Troy, plac'd beneath malignant Stars,
‘Haunted with Omens still the same,
‘Rebuilt shall but renew the former Flame,
‘Jove's Wife and Sister leading on the Wars,
‘Thrice let her shine with Brasen Walls,
‘Rear'd up by heav'nly Hands;
‘And thrice in fatal Dust she falls,
‘By faithful Grecian Bands;
‘Thrice the dire Scene shall on the World return,
‘And Captive Wives again their Sons and Husbands mourn.
But stop, presumptuous Muse, thy daring Flight,
Nor hope, in thy weak Lyrick Lay,
The heav'nly Language to display,
Or bring the Counsels of the Gods to Light.

Romulus was supposed to be the Son of Mars by the Priestess Ilia.

Helen.

Paris.