The Third Volume of the Works of Mr. William Congreve ::

That impious Men shall joyless hear, &c. This Thought or Opinion is borrow'd from Pindar, Pyth. 1. where he says—But such Men whom Jupiter hates are confounded with Terror when they hear the sweet Harmony of the Muses. This Passage is often cited by Plutarch, and others, in favour of Musick and Poetry. Mr. Cowley in his Notes on his Davideis, Book 1. on David's dispossessing Saul of the Evil Spirit, collects a great number of surprizing Citations on this Subject.

That impious Men shall joyless hear
The Muses Harmony!
Their sacred Songs, (the Recompence
Of Virtue, and of Innocence)
Which pious Minds to Rapture raise,
And worthy Deeds, at once excite and praise,
To guilty Hearts afford no kind Relief;
But add inflaming Rage, and more afflicting Grief.

II.

Monstrous

Typhœus, one of the Giants who attempted to storm Heav'n; but Jupiter struck him with Thunder, and laid him under the Island of Sicily, with Ætna on his Breast. This Stanza is also copied from the same Ode of Pindar, where this Monster is said to have an hundred Heads, as also in Olymp. 4.

Typhœus, thus, new Terrors fill,
He, who assail'd the Skies,

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And now, beneath the burning Hill
Of dreadful Ætna lyes.
Hearing the Lyre's Celestial Sound,
He bellows in th'Abyss profound;
Sicilia trembles at his Roar,
Tremble the Seas, and far Campania's Shoar;
While all his hundred Mouths, at once expire
Volumes of curling Smoke, and Floods of liquid Fire.

III.

From Heav'n alone, all Good proceeds;
To heav'nly Minds belong
All Pow'r and Love, Godolphin, of good Deeds,
And Sense of Sacred Song!
And thus, most pleasing are the Muse's Lays
To them who merit most her Praise;
Wherefore, for thee, her Iv'ry Lyre she strings,
And soars with Rapture while she sings.

University of Virginia Library

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