University of Virginia Library

Divining Arts, and Stars foreknowing Fate,
Varying the divers Turns of Humane State,
(The Work, of Heav'ns high Reason) We bring down
In Verse, from Heaven; and first move Helicon,
And it's green Groves, with unacquainted Rimes,
Offering strange Rites, not known to former Times.

Cæsar! thy Countries Prince and Father! Thou,
To whose Imperial Laws the World doth bow,
Who merit'st, what was granted to thy Sire,
Heaven as a God! do'st this high Song inspire.

And now, Heaven kinder to the Curious grows,
And courts in Verse, it's Treasure to disclose.
Fit Task alone for Peaceful Leisure! Rise
We then through yielding Aire, and mount the Skies,
There live and range; Learn all the Signs, and prove
How in their adverse Course the Planets move:
To know but which were little; we will sound
The hidden Entrails of this ample Round,
Enquire how Stars Creatures beget and sway,
Which whilst we sing, Apollo's self shall play.

Two Altars bright with Flames, we raise; repair
T' a double shrine, prest with the double Care
Of Verse and Matter; on these certain Grounds
Raising our Song, concordant Heaven surrounds
It's Poet with deep Harmony, and Words
Scarce fit for Latian Characters affords.

Who to inferiour Earth did first reveal
These Gifts of Gods? Who, what they hid, could steal?
All-ruling Heaven! What Mortal dar'd so high
As spite of Gods, himself to Deifie?
Open the highest Path, the lowest Deep?
Tell how the Stars their bounded Courses keep?
The Force, and Motions of the Signs impart?
Cyllenius! Thou first taught'st this sacred Art;
Thou th' inmost Heavens, & utmost Stars mad'st known,
That so to Natures Power, not Face alone,
Might greater Awe, and Reverence accrue;
And Nations learn what to that God was due,
Who did through Seasons, to be known, display
The Heavens, and this great Worlds Phænomena.
Nature help'd too; Her self, Her self improv'd,
And Monarchs (next to Heaven in power) first mov'd
T' affect these Arts; who near Sol's rising Beams
Fierce Nations tam'd; whose Lands Euphrates Streams
Divide, and Nile inundates; where the Sun
Returning, does o're Negro Cities run.
Next, chosen Priests, who serve from Age to Age
At Publick Altars, and with vows ingage
Th' indulgent God, whose awful Presence fires
Their Zealous Minds with uncorrupt Desires;
He with himself possest them, and made known
His unveil'd Deity unto his own.
Such were the Men, who first could apprehend
That Humane Fates on wandring Stars depend;
They to each time apply'd its own Events,
And by long Toyl observ'd the Accidents
Of many Ages, Birth-days, Lives, what Power
Of Fortune govern'd each successive Hour,
And what great Changes the least Motions cause.
Thus when Heavens various Face, (the Stars by Laws
Of Fate returning in their ordered Course)
Was fully known; and each Signs proper Force,
Experience fram'd thereof an Art; the Way
Shown by Example; Which through long Essay,
And various Speculation, learn'd from far
The tacit Laws of every ruling Star;
Saw in alternate Course Heaven still move round,
And Fate to vary as it's Aspects, found.
For before them, rude Man no difference made
'Twixt Natures works, nor things with Reason weigh'd;
Astonish'd at Heavens new disclosed Light,
Now mourn'd the Stars as lost; now at their Sight
As if new-born rejoyc'd: th' uncertain Times
Of Day and Night, differing in different Climes,
Till then none knew; nor could the Causes clear
Of shades unlike the Sun far off and near.
Yet witty Cunning no learn'd Arts had found;
Under rude Swains waste lay the untill'd Ground:
Gold then in Desert Mountains lodg'd at Ease,
New Worlds lay hid in unattempted Seas,
To waves and winds to trust their Lives none dar'd,
To know themselves and theirs, Men only car'd.
But when long Time and Toyl their Wits had whet,
And Want an Edge on Industry had set,
Then thousand Cares their working Heads possest,
Whilst to scape Need, they Sacrifice their Rest;
Conclusions try'd: and whatsoe're wise Use
By oft-repeated Practice did produce
Of sure Effect; the new Experiment
Unto the Common Good they gladly lent.
Then Barbarous Tongues receiv'd new Laws, the Earth
Manur'd, to various Fruits gave timely Birth.
Bold Seamen the blind Ocean did invade,
And 'twixt strange Lands procur'd a mutual Trade:
Thence Arts of War and Peace in time arose,
For Art by Practice propagated, growes.
What's yet more strange, they learnt the Tongues of Birds,
Entrails t'inspect, burst Snakes with powerful words;
Call'd up pale Ghosts, mov'd Hell it self, the Light
Turn'd into Darkness, into Day the Night.
Ingenious Industry made All things bend;
Nor put they to their curious Search an End,
Till Reason had scal'd Heaven, thence view'd this round,
And Nature latent in its Causes found;
Why Thunder does the suffering Clouds assail;
Why Winters Snow's more soft than Summers Hail;
Whence Earthquakes come, and Subterranean fires,
Why show'rs descend, what force the wind inspires.
From Error thus she wondring Minds uncharm'd;
Unsceptred Jove; the Thunderer disarm'd;
Of Name and Power dispoyl'd him, and assign'd
Fire to the Labouring Clouds, Noise to the Wind.

These to their proper Causes having brought,
Next on the whole Worlds Mass she casts her Thought,
Of which the System in her self she frames,
Dispensing to the Signs both Forms and Names;
Their Aspects and their Order notes, and saw
Heavens changing Face gave fatal changes Law.

This is our Muses Theme, as yet display'd
In Verse by None: Propitious Fortune aid
The bold Attempt; with Ease my Life befriend,
And to a long and chearful Age extend,
That so I sink not with my Subjects weight,
But with like care, great Things, and small relate.

Now since from Heaven it self our Verse descends,
And down to Earth Fates settled Order tends,
We first must Natures General State reherse,
And draw the Picture of the Universe.
Which, whether it from Nothing were deriv'd;
Or (of Beginning both, and End depriv'd)
Hath ever been, and ever shall endure;
Or Chaos severing from the Mass obscure
The mixed Principles of things, this bright
World teem'd, whilst Darkness took to Hell its Flight;
Or that made up of Atoms Nature's Frame
Exists, and shall resolve into the same
Some thousand Ages hence, and almost brought
From Nothing, fall again to almost Nought;
Or that the Heavenly Spheres and Globe of Earth,
From Fire, not such blind Matter, drew their Birth,
Whose flames in all things dwell, kindled Heav'ns Eys,
And form the glittering Lightning of the Skies;
Or sprung from Water, which dry Matter soaks,
And ravenous Fire, that would devour it, choaks;
Or unbegot were Earth, Air, Water, Fire,
And these four Limbs make up the God entire,
And form this World; nor will that ought be found
Beyond themselves, since All things they compound,
Applying Hot to Cold, to Humid Dry,
To Heavy Light, which kind Discordancy
The Matrimonial Bands of Nature knits,
And Principles for all Production fits;
We can but guess its Birth: obscur'd it lies
Beyond the reach of Men and Deities.
Yet though its Birth behid, its Form's disclos'd,
And in due Order all its Parts dispos'd;
Fire up to the Æthereal Confines flew,
And a round Wall of Flame 'bout Nature drew,
The subtle Air possest the second Place
Diffus'd throughout the vast Globes middle space,
Whence its hot Neighbour draws cool Nourishment:
The third Lot level'd the wide Seas Extent,
And in a liquid Plain the Waters spread,
Whence hungry Air is by thin Vapours fed;
Prest down b' its Sediment, Earth lowest fell,
Whilst sand-mixt slime contracting did expel
The subtler moysture; which to flight constrain'd
Rose by degrees 'till it the surface gain'd,
And the more that into pure Water went,
The more the squeez'd out Seas the drain'd Earth pent,
Settling in hollow Vales; whilst Hills thrust out
Their Heads from Waves circling the Globe about:
This lowest, in the midst is still confin'd,
On all parts equally from Heaven disjoyn'd,
Secur'd from further falling by its fall,
The Middle both and Bottom of this All,
In whose concentring Parts, on every side
Bodies Encountring, are to sink deny'd.

And did not Earth by its self-Poize suspend,
Phœbus, the Stars approaching, could not bend
His Course to set, nor set, e're rise again,
Nor Phœbe drive through the Aereal plain
Her Wave-drench'd Steeds; nor Phosphorus the Light
E're usher more, if Hesperus to Night.
Now in the Middle Earth suspending thus,
Not sunk to th' Bottom, All is Pervious:
For We nor can the rising Stars conceive
A casual Production; nor believe
Of the chang'd Heavens, the oft-renascent State,
Sol's frequent Births, and his Quotidian Fate;
Since the Signs always shew the self-same Face,
Heav'n keeps one Course, the Sun one constant Race,
The Moon in certain, although various, ways,
The changes of her Light, and Orb displays.
Nature, the Tract which first she made, observes;
Nor e're like an unskilful Novice swerves.
Day with eternal Light is carried round,
This the times shew, in several Regions found
Successively the same; and we may see
Eastward its Rise, its Setting West to be
(The further unto either as we run)
Continued with Heavens Motion, and the Sun.

Nor need the Pendent Earth wonder beget,
Since the whole World suspends as well as it,
Whose Foot upon no certain Bottom rests,
As its swift Course and Circular attests.
The radiant Sun suspended runs its Rounds,
Never transgressing his Æthereal Bounds.
The Moon and Stars in Skies suspended stray,
And Earth by Imitation hangs as they,
Poiz'd in the middle of circumfluent Air:
Not flatly stretch'd, but swell'd into a Sphere,
Rising alike, and falling every where.

This is the Face of Nature; thus th' Heav'ns roll'd
Swiftly about, into round Figures mould
The Sun and Stars; round is the Moon to sight,
And with a swelling Body barrs the Light;
Hence never wholly Lucid is her Ball,
When the Sun's Beams on it obliquely fall.
A Form eternal, like the Gods alone,
In which, Beginning there or End is none;
But like throughout, and every where the same.
Such are the Stars, such is the whole Worlds Frame.
Hence 'tis We see not in all Lands all Signs,
Canopus not till you reach Ægypt shines,
And they lack Helice, who see his Light,
Earth's Tumour hind'ring th'intercepted Sight.
The Truth of this Thou Cynthia mayst attest,
When dark'ning Shadows thy bright Looks invest,
At once thou dost not all the World amaze,
But first the Eastern Nations miss thy Rays;
Then those which under the Mid-Heaven are plac'd;
Next, tow'rd Hesperia fly'st thou, cloudy-fac'd;
Then those who yet more distant have their Seat,
Later (to aid thee) brazen Vessels beat.
If then the Earth were flat, this sad Defect
Of Light, the whole World might at once detect,
But since 'tis Round, to These first, then to Those,
Her Rising self, or setting Delia shows;
For carried Circular, she first attains
Th' Ascending Parts, then the Descending gains;
Now climbs this Arch, anon leaves that behind,
Whence that the Earth is Round, we clearly find.
This is by Men, and Beasts, and Birds possest,
The North Parts Eminent, the South deprest
Beneath our Feet; whose surface seems to be
(It's Breadth deceiving its Declivitie)
Stretch'd to a lengthful Plain; the large Extent
Compos'd of equal Rising and Descent.
Hence when Sol's Beams i'th' West our Orient Face
There rising Day does sleep from Mortals chace,
And when the Light to Labour summons Those,
'Tis Night with Us, and Time for our Repose.
The watry Girdle of the Ambient Main,
Does either Hemisphere divide, and chain.

This Worlds huge Mass fram'd into One Entire
Of different Parts, as Earth, Air, Water, Fire,
A Power Divine, whose sacred Influence glides
Through all its Limbs, with tacit Reason guides,
And mutual Leagues inclines them to contract,
That some may suffer, what the Others act,
And the whole Frame (although diversify'd
By various Figures) be throughout ally'd.

Now we the radiant Signs in Order sing;
First those which guirt Heaven with an Oblique Ring,
And Phœbus by alternate Courses bear
Through the successive Seasons of the Year.
Then those whose Course to Heav'n is Opposite,
All which may numbred be in a clear Night;
The Laws of Fate depending on their Power.
First then of Heav'ns chief Part, its Starry Tower.

The Princely Ram glittering in Golden Wool,
Wonders to see the backward-rising Bull
With submiss Looks beckon the Twins; next whom
Cancer, who after him sees Leo come;
Him Virgo follows; then the Scales, that weigh
In even Ballance equal Night and Day,
Draw on the Scorpion with the fiery Sting,
At which the Centaur his Shaft levelling
Seems ready to let fly: To these comes on
The Goats contracted Constellation.
Aquarius next pours from his Urn a Flood,
Whilst the glad Fish to the lov'd Waters scud,
By Aries touch'd, and make the closing Sign.

Now in the Skies near where the bright Bears shine
(Which from Heavens Top on all the Stars look down,
Nor know to set; but plac'd on the World's Crown,
Though differently, whirle round the Stars and Skies)
Stretch'd through thin Air the subtle Axis lies,
Whose distant Poles the Ballanc'd Fabrick hold;
Round this the Star-imbellish'd Orbs are rowl'd:
Whilst yet it self unmov'd through empty Air,
And the Earths Globe extends to either Bear.
Nor is't a solid Substance, or opprest
With Weight, though the Worlds weight upon it rest.
But as the Air mov'd in a Circle goes,
And on it self, whence first it flow'd, reflows,
What e're that is which still the midst doth hold,
'Bout which, (it self unmov'd) All else is rowl'd,
So subtle it can no way be inclin'd,
That by the Name of Axis is design'd.
Upon whose Top (to Mariners distrest
Well known, their Guides through Seas) two bright signs rest.
Great Helice moves in a greater Bend
Mark'd with seven fair Stars, the Greek Pilot's Friend,
Small Cynosure, less both in Light and size,
A less Orb holds; whom yet the Tyrians prize
More than the Great; by This the Pœni steer
Through vast Seas to the Western Hemisphere.
These joyn not Fronts, but eithers Head turns to
The others Tayl; pursu'd, as they pursue.
Between both which, his large unfolded Spires
A Serpent stretches; and with winding fires
Embracing them, one from the other parts,
And from their Stations sees that neither starts.

'Twixt this, and Heavens Mid-Circle, where the Sun,
And six Lights more 'gainst the bright Zodiack run,
Rise Stars of different Magnitude and Power,
Some near the Pole, some near Heav'ns radiant Tower.
Which temper'd by the disagreeing Air
The fruitful Earth for humane use prepare.

Next the cold Bears, (the Cause t' himself best known)
Shines forth a kneeling Constellation.
Behind whose Back Arctophylax appears,
The same Boötes call'd, because yoak'd Steers
He seeming drives; who through the rapid Skies
(Bearing Arcturus in his Bosome) hies.
On th' other side see the rich Crown display
Its Luminous Gems, bright with a different Ray:
For the fair Round is by One Star out-vy'd,
Near to the middle of its Front descry'd,
Whose clear Fires make the other pale Lights fade,
Bright Marks of the deserted Gnossian Maid.
Then see the crook'd-neckt Lyre to Heaven advanc'd,
Whose Musick whatsoe're was struck with, danc'd:
By Orpheus touch'd; forc'd down to Hell his Way,
And made th' infernal Laws his Verse obey;
Cœlestial Honour's added; the same Cause
Remains, once Woods and Stones, now Stars it draws
And leads about the revoluble Spheres.

With large Lights parted Ophiuchus bears
A Snake; and from its Winding Body strives
To free his own, and loose its sinuous Gives,
Which, writhing its soft Neck, turns Head again;
Their equal Strengths, still equal Fight maintain.
Next see the Swan plac'd in the Skies by Jove
As Guerdon of that form which gain'd his Love:
For once the God on Earth transform'd to such
Submitted to fair Leda's softer touch
His downy Back; This now through ample Skies
Roving, a winged Constellation flies.
Here Stars an Arrows shape and flight present;
There with unusual Wing the Firmament
Jove's Eagle Scales; now justly stellify'd,
Who Heav'n and him with sacred Arms supply'd.
Then see from Seas to Stars the Dolphin rise,
The Grace both of the Ocean and the Skies,
Whom the swift Courser strives t' oretake, his Brest
With a refulgent Signature imprest,
Which closes in the fair Andromeda:
Kind Perseus Shoulder lends her Feet a Stay,
And ioyns t' himself; but a large Space divides
Deltoton brighter in its Base than sides,
So call'd from its Resemblance; Cepheus
And Cassiopea made conspicuous
Ev'n to her Punishment, seems to deplore
Andromeda chain'd to the rocky shore,
Fearing the gaping Monster of the Deep;
But Perseus still does his old kindness keep,
Comes to her Aid, and of the Gorgon slain
Shows the fear'd Head, his Spoyl the Seers Bane.
Close running by the kneeling Bull, behold
Heniochus, who gain'd by skill of old
Heav'n and his Name; as first four Steeds he drove
On flying Wheels, seen, and install'd by Jove.
The Kids next, the Seas barring till the Spring,
Then the Goat, Nurse to the Worlds Infant King,
Who from her Teats scal'd Heaven, her Milk, did grow
To brandish Lightning, and fear'd Thunder throw,
By her own Jove a Constellation made,
And for the Heav'n she gave, with Heav'n repay'd.
Last view the Pleiad's and the Hyades,
Both Parts o'th' Bull; The Northern Signs are These.

Now see the Stars which 'bove the scorcht Earth run
Rising beneath the Path-way of the Sun,
And those which 'twixt the Tropick are confin'd
Of Capricorn, and Pole that is declin'd.

Near to the Twins behold Orion rise
With stretch'd Arms almost fathoming the Skies:
Nor marching with a less extended Pace.
Bright shining Stars his either shoulder grace.
Three Lights his Pendant Sword obliquely sign,
In his advanced Head three others shine
Deep in the Skies immerst; nor yet less bright,
Though such they seem 'cause more remov'd from Sight.
Him, as through Heaven he marches, follow All
The starry Legions as their General.
Next after whom with rapid Motion bent,
(No Star than that 'gainst Earth more violent)
The fierce Dog runs; not one for Heat does rise,
Not one for Cold more grievous quits the Skies,
The World afflicting with a different Fate:
Nor ever fails upon the Sun to waite.
Who this from Taurus Crown first rising see
Ghess thence of Fruits what the Event may be:
What Health, what Quiet may the Year befal:
Here War it makes, there Peace does reinstal;
And as it variously returns, doth awe
Th' inferiour World; It's Aspect is their Law.

'Tis strongly credited this owns a Light
And runs a Course not than the Sun's less bright,
But that remov'd from Sight so great a Way
It seems to cast a dim and weaker Ray:
All other Stars it foyls, none in the Main
Is drench'd, or brighter thence ascends again.
Next, with the nimble Hare see Procyon rise,
And then the noble Argo; to the Skies
From Seas translated which she first did plow;
Once tost with mighty storms, in Heaven fixt now,
And deify'd for saving Deities.
Close boarding her a glittering Serpent lies,
And by so ordered Lights, seems to present
His speckled Bodies scaly Ornament.
Sols Bird, the Cup dear to the God of Wine,
And Centaure next in a mix'd shape does shine,
Half Man, half Horse; then Heavens bright Temple see,
And Altar consecrate to Victorie,
What time th' inraged Earth a Giant Race
'Gainst Heaven produc'd, then Gods besought the Grace
Of the great Gods; and Jove himself fear'd too
He wanted Power to do, what he could do.
When he amaz'd the rising Earth beheld,
How ev'n 'gainst Natures self, Nature rebell'd,
Saw Mountains heap'd on Mountains to aspire,
And Stars from the approaching Hills retire,
Charg'd with dire Arms by a deformed Birth
Issuing from Ruptures of the teeming Earth.
No Victime-Bearers yet the Gods had known,
Or that there were Powers Greater than their own;
Then did Heav'ns King this Starry Altar raise,
Whose fires ev'n yet with brightest Lustre blaze.
Near which the Whale raising his scaley Limbs
In large Wreaths, wallowing on his Belly swims,
And gapes as ready just to seize his Prey:
As when the same th' expos'd Andromeda
To her sad Fate approaching once beheld,
Who the forc'd Waves beyond their Shore impell'd.
In Heaven's South Part, the Fish then from the Wind,
Call'd Southern, rises; close to which conjoyn'd
In mighty flexures starry Rivers run.
One of their Heads flows from Aquarius Tun,
Whose Waters by communicated Streams
Meet in the midst, and mix Sidereal Beams.

'Twixt the Ecliptick and the latent Bears,
Which 'bout the creaking Axis turn the Sphears,
Heaven's stranger Orbe with these Stars painted shines,
Which Antient Poets call'd the Southern Signs.

The rest o'th' World lies under Water hid,
Where unknown Realms, Lands to our Sight forbid,
Take from one Sun with us a common Light,
But several Shadows, and a different Night.
Where Stars sinistral set, and dextral rise,
Their Heav'n as ample, nor less bright their Skies,
Their Stars as numerous, only thus outvy'd,
In that to them Augustus Star's deny'd,
Which does our World with Rayes propitious bless;
Earths present, and Heavens future Happiness.

That the Extreams which 'bout the neather Pole
Deck'd with bright Stars, though inconspicuous, rowl,
The upper Pole's resemble, with Signs grac'd
Like that; where Bears with Fronts averse are plac'd,
And by one Dragon parted; we suppose,
Induc'd to credit what Example shows,
For Reason urges from Analogie,
The Parts unseen are like to those we see.

These several Stations, by large Skies disjoyn'd;
To all the Constellations are assign'd,
Yet think not they corporeal Figures are,
Or all their Members equal Lustre share;
Heaven could not suffer so intense a Heat,
Were no Part voyd, but all with Fire repleat.
Some therefore cautious Nature kept from Flame,
Lest it should hazard the Cœlestial Frame,
Only to mark their Figures out content,
And Signs by certain Stars to represent,
Whose Lights design their shapes; fire answers fire,
Mean to Extream, the Lower to the Higher,
It is enough they are not hidden quite.
Some Stars the Moon half full show greatest Light,
But all the nameless Commons of the Sky
Obscur'd by her completed Splendour, fly:
The brighter Signs yet nor their Number change,
Nor with less Stars in mixed Motion range,
But the same Course (the better to be known)
And Order, in their Rise and Setting, own.
Nor in this World may Ought more wonder raise
Than that the Whole Reason, and Laws, obeys,
Where Nothing's crowded, Nothing loosely roves,
Or cross to its determin'd Order, moves;
What more confus'd in shew? yet what in Course
More certain? a clear Reason to inforce
That this World's govern'd by a Deity
And is it self a God; nor casually
Together met, as he would once perswade,
Who first the VValls of this wide System made
Of Atoms, and to those resolves again;
Of which, the solid Earth, the floating Main,
The fiery Stars, and Æther that creates
Infinite Orbs, and others dissipates,
Consist: All which revert unto their Springs,
And transmutate the various Forms of things.
But who can think this World educ'd should be
From such blind Grounds without a Deitie?
If Chance did give, Chance rules this All; Whence are
The Signs then in their Course so regular?
Rising by Turns, as if by Laws injoyn'd,
None posting on, whilst others stay behind?
The same Stars Summer, the same Winter grace,
Day takes, and leaves to Heaven one certain Face.
What time Troy's State was by the Greeks undon,
Oppos'd did Arctos and Orion run.
She the World's Top to circle still content,
He facing her, to round th' whole Firmament.
The times of obscure Night, were then devin'd
From the bright Stars; Heaven had its Hours design'd:
Since when how many Kingdoms waste are lay'd?
How many Nations have been Captive made?
Empire and Servitude how oft dissolv'd
By Fortunes Power? and differently revolv'd?
Troy's Ashes now to what a glorious State
She reinspires? Greece suffers Asia's Fate.
'Twere tedious to recount the Ages past,
How oft the Sun hath seen the World new cast.
All Things by humane Laws created, change:
Lands to each other known, in time grow strange:
Nations in course of many Years, put on
A various Face; but Heaven wears always one;
Grows not by length of Days, nor wastes with Age,
Always in Course, yet faints not in its Stage,
Will ever be the same, since such 'twas ever;
Other than 'tis our Fathers saw it never,
Nor shall our Nephews: 'tis a God, and knows;
Nothing of Change, which Age and Time impose.
That the Sun ne'r starts to the North aside,
Nor changing Course back to the East does ride,
And to strange Lands a new-born Day disclose;
That the Moon always the same changes shows,
The Laws observ'd of her Increase and Wain,
That Stars themselves from falling still sustain,
And run in measur'd Courses, seems to Sense
No Work of Chance, but Act of Providence.

These Signs divided thus by equal space
Heavens azure Ceiling with Gold fret-work Grace,
'Bove which is Nothing; there the Worlds height ends,
Nor further Natures Publick House extends,
Which Seas imbraces and the Earths round Ball.
All These in mutual Courses rise and fall,
As the revolving Skies, here downward bend
Beneath th' Horizon, and there reascend.

Now to what Compass Heaven's extreamest Round
Is stretch'd; what Limits the bright Zodiack bound,
Reason will teach; to whom there's nothing hard,
From whom by space or Bulk nothing's debarr'd;
To her all stoop; She sounds the Depths of Night,
And Heaven it self is pervious to her Sight.

How far the Stars are 'bove the Earth and Main,
So great the space is, which two Signs contain,
And if the Worlds Diameter you take,
That, with small Difference, will a third Part make
Of its Circumference; Four Signs then, (so far)
Heavens Zenith and its Nadir distant are;
And twice four added its whole Round compleat.
But since i'th' midst Earth hath its Pendant Seat,
'Tis two Signs distant from Heaven's Depth or Height.
Thus All which 'bove the Earth is reach'd by Sight,
Or underneath, by that unseen, extends,
Each way the space of two Signs comprehends:
And six times that measures the Circle, where
Twelve Constellations equal Mansions share.

Nor wonder that the self same Signs create
Uncertain Births mix'd with much different Fate;
Since Each six rising with their Lights entire,
So great a space, and so long time require.

It rests, We now th' Ætherial Bounds design,
The Circles which the parted Heavens confine,
And of the Stars the splendid Order steer.
One tow'rd the North sustains the shïning Bear,
And from the Pole six Parts of Heaven retires,
The other touching Cancer's utmost Fires,
(Where Phœbus consummates his Light and stay,
Bearing through tedious Rounds the tardy Day)
Does from the Season, and Mid-Summers heat
Derive its Name; and to the Sun's Race set
Th' extreamest Bound: which five Parts of the whole
Declines the Circle of the Northern Pole.
The Third, which the Worlds middle Region holds,
Olympus with a mighty Bend infolds,
On either Hand viewing the Pole; the Way,
In which the Sun makes even Night and Day.
When by the Springs and Autumn's Points he glides,
And Heaven i'th' midst by equal Parts divides.
This from the Solstice four Degrees retreits;
The next beyond nam'd from the Winter, sets
The utmost Bound to the Sun's backward flight,
Obliquely rend'ring us his niggard Light
By a short Course; but long o're Those He stays,
Whose Lands are warm'd by his directer Rays;
The slow-pac'd Day there hardly passing round.
This from th' Æquator four Degrees is found.
One Circle more yet rests, whose Site inclines
Tow'rd the South Pole, and Southern Bears confines,
Rang'd from the Winter Tropick five Degrees,
And near its Pole, as the North's far from his.
Thus Heaven in two divided, Pole from Pole,
Does by that double Summ measure the Whole,
And by five Bounds distinguish'd into Climes,
Marks out the Difference of Place and Times.
Which (Parallels) One Course with Heaven partake,
And equal Rise with that and Setting make,
Since in th' Æthereal Texture they observe
Their stated Distance, and thence never swerve.
Passing a-cross by either Pole two more
There are, which intersect all Those before,
And themselves too; concurring in th' Extreams
Of the Worlds Axis at right-angled Scheams,
Which mark the Seasons out, and Heaven beside
Into four Quarters equally divide.
Of these, through highest Heaven its Course one steers
Parting the Serpents Tayl and undrench'd Bears,
And Tips of Scorpio's Claws, born through Mid-skies,
Of Hydra cutting the Extremities
And Middle of the Southern Centaur, then
Concurring in the Adverse Pole, agen
Returns by the huge Whale: whose Scaly Chine,
Bright Trigon, and the Bounds the Ram confine
It marks; then by Cepheïs Waste doth run,
Her Mothers Head, and ends where it begun.
By th' midst of this, the Worlds Extremitie,
And the Fore-feet and Neck of Helice,
(Which first of all when Sol withdraws his Light
With seven fair Stars illuminates the Night)
The other runs; the Crab and Twins divides,
By the fierce Dog and Argo's steerage glides;
Then cross the formers travers'd Signs is born
By the South Pole; Thee touching Capricorn!
Parting the Eagle from its Starry Fires
By the Lyre running, and the Dragons Spires;
Then cuts the less Bears Tayl and hinder Feet,
And makes its End with its Beginning meet.

The Seasons thus have fixt within these Rounds,
Their Everlasting Seats and changeless Bounds.

These two are moveable: Whereof one Bend
Does through Mid-Heaven from Helice ascend,
The Day distinguishes, the sixth Hour tries,
And at just distance East and West descries,
Changing the Signs by turns, still as we run,
Or tow'rd the rising or the setting Sun,
Cutting Heavens hight ith' midst; and with Earth's Place,
Varies the Skies Position, and Times Race.
All have not one Meridian; th' Hours fly round:
When first we see Sol rise from th' Eastern Sound,
'Tis their sixth Hour by his gold Orb then prest;
Such theirs, when he to us sets in the West.
These two sixth Hours we count our first, and last,
When from th' Extreams of Light chill Beams are cast.
The others Bound if thou desir'st to know,
Look round about far as thy sight will go,
What e're Earths Surface with Heavens Verge doth close,
And the divided Hemispheres compose;
Couches in Seas the Stars and thence doth send;
Rounding the travers'd Earth with a slight Bend;
That, shifting Place about the World still flies,
Now more and more unto the South applies,
Now to the North again as much inclines,
Now runs against, now with the moved Signs.
But wheresoe're its wandring Course it steers,
As now to this, then to that Part it bears,
It changes still; a new Arch always making;
For leaving now this Heav'n, then that forsaking,
One half 'twill still disclose, or hide, and sign
With varying Limits which the Sight confine.
This is terrestrial, 'cause the Earth it rounds,
And call'd Horizon, 'cause the sight it bounds.

To these two others add, obliquely born,
Whereof the one twelve radiant Signs adorn,
Through which the Sun runs his Career of Light,
And the Moon follows in her Coach of Night,
And five Stars more 'gainst Heavens swift Course advance
Their oppositely Nature-guided Dance.
On whose Top Cancer, Base the Goat resides,
Twice through th' Æquator runs it, twice divides
At Libra and the Ram; whose sloping Bend
Obliquely by three Circles does extend;
Not hid; nor, as the rest (discern'd alone
By mental view) to mental view is shown;
But shines a glittering Belt with bright Stars grac'd,
And girdles with its golden Fires Heavens Waste.
Degrees three hundred and thrice twenty counts
Its Circles Round; its Breadth to twelve amounts:
Within which measur'd Limits is confin'd
The Planet's Motion, variously inclin'd.

The other, carried tow'rd the opposed Bears
Its Course close by the Artick Circle steers,
And by inverted Cassiopea tends;
Thence by the Swan obliquely it descends
The Summer Tropick, and Jove's Bird divides,
Then cross th' Æquator and the Zodiack glides
'Twixt Scorpio's burning Tail, and the left Part
Of Sagittarius, near the fiery Dart;
Then by the other Centaure's Legs and Feet
Winding, remounts the Skies (again to meet)
By Argo's Topsail and Heaven's middle Sphere,
Passing the Twins t' o'retake the Charioteer;
Thence Cassiopea seeking Thee does run,
O're Perseus Head, and ends where it begun.
Three middle Circles and the Zodiack too
Twice passing, and by that as oft past through.
Nor needs it to be sought; its obvious Course
It self illustrates, and the sight doth force;
For in the azure skies its candid Way
Shines like the dawning Morn, or closing Day;
And as by often passing o're some Green,
An even Path, parting the Mead, is seen;
Or as a Ship plowing the Seas smooth Plain,
Of foaming Bubbles leaves a silver Train:
So shines its milky Path in the dark Night,
Parting the blew Skies with its numerous Light.
And as through Clouds the Rainbow does extend,
So on Olympus Height shows its white Bend,
And Mortals fills with Wonder, whilst they spy
New Lights unknown Flames darting through the sky.
The sacred Causes humane Breasts enquire,
Whether the Heavenly Segments there retire
(The whole Mass shrinking) and the parting Frame
Through cleaving Chinks admits the stranger flame?
Astonishment must sure their Senses reach
To see the Worlds wounds, and Heavens gaping breach!
Or meets Heaven here? and this white cloud appears
The Cement of the close-wedg'd Hemispheres?
Or seems that old Opinion of more sway
That the Sun's Horses here once ran astray,
And a new Path mark'd in their straggling flight
Of scorched Skies, and Stars adusted Light,
Changing to paler white Heavens azure Face,
And with the burnt Worlds Ashes strew'd the Place?
Fame likewise from old Time to us succeeds
How Phaëton driving his Fathers Steeds
Through radiant Signs, and with a wounding Eye
Viewing th' approached Beauties of the Sky,
(Whilst in his Chariot proud he childlike plays,
And things yet greater than his Sire essays)
Left the known Path, and a rough Tract imprest
In the smooth Skies, whilst wand'ring Flames infest
Th' affrighted Signs, not brooking the loose Course
Of th' erring Chariot and ill-guided Horse.
Hence the whole World became a fiery spoyl,
And burning Cities made Earths funeral Pile;
When from the hurried Chariot Lightning fled,
And scattered Blazes all the Skies o'respred;
By whose approach new Stars enkindled were,
Which still as Marks of that sad Chance appear.
Nor must that gentler Rumour be supprest,
How Milk once flowing from fair Juno's Breast,
Stain'd the Cœlestial Pavement; from whence came
This Milky Path, its Cause shown in its Name.
Or is't a Crowd of Stars crowning the Night?
A candid Diadem of condens'd Light?
Or valiant Souls freed from corporeal Gives
Thither repair and lead Ætherial Lives?
There the Atrides, there th' Æacides,
Fierce Diomede; He, who through Lands and Seas
His Triumphs over conquer'd Nature rear'd,
Subtle Ulysses, We believe inspher'd.
There Nestor's thron'd among the Grecian Peers,
Crown'd with a triple Century of years.
Aurora's Black Son, He who Lycia sway'd
Jove's Royal Issue; and Thou Martial Maid!
The Kings whom Asia did or Greece beget,
Or Pella justly greatest in the Great.
There those whom Wisdom hath exalted, shine;
Just Solon, stout Lycurgus, the Divine
Plato, and He who made him such; whose Doom
Justlier condemns his Athens: He by whom
Persia was foyl'd, which strow'd with Fleets the Main,
And Roman Worthies, the more numerous Train.

There's all their Kings but the Proud Tarquin; there
Th' Horatït, who their Sides sole Army were;
Scævola glorying in his Arms stump; then,
Clælia although a Maid more Brave than Men.
Cocles with Romes Walls crown'd which he maintain'd,
And He who by a Crows Assistance gain'd
Both Spoyls and Name, Corvinus! on whose Crest
Phœbus does in his black-plum'd Emblem rest.
Camillus too, who Heaven with Jove may claim,
Whom saving Rome, We may Rome's Founder name.
The Generous Brutus her Infranchiser,
Papyrius, who reveng'd the Pyrrhick War;
Stayd Curius, and Fabricius, a stern Pair!
Marcellus, who the third rich Trophies bare
And Cossus Second, from Kings spoyl'd of Life.
The Decii in their Vows at noble strife,
In Honours equal; Fabius, Romes Defence,
In War unconquer'd, by the War's suspence.
Livius the Victor of slain Asdruball,
With Nero the joynt Authour of his Fall.
The Scipio's unto Carthage both one Fate:
Pompey, 'fore Cæsar Prince of Rome's great State,
And the aw'd World, which thrice his Triumphs sung,
And Tullius worthy Heaven for his sweet Toung.
There the great Claudian Progeny does shine,
And all the Worthies of th' Æmilian Line;
Metelli, signal for their Noble Name;
Cato, who Fortune ev'n in Death o'rcame;
Agrippa, Souldier from his Mothers Brest;
Venus her Julian Offspring, repossest
Of Heaven, whence first descended; which now proves
The Rule of great Augustus joyn'd with Jove's;
Who 'mong the Deathless Deities inroll'd,
His Father and Quirinus doth behold.
More high th' Immortal Gods have fix'd their Seat,
Next whom, is This, with Godlike Men repleat.

But of the Stars e're we the Laws rehearse,
And fatal Changes, We the Universe
Must first compleat; and shew what does dispence
Throughout the Whole, or Light, or Influence.
Some Stars there are which 'gainst the World's Course bend,
And wand'ring 'twixt the Earth and Heaven suspend.
As Saturn, Jove, Mars, Phœbus, Maia's Son,
Plac'd under these 'twixt Venus and the Moon.

Others there are too of less usual kind;
For Suddain Flames streaming through Skies We find,
And Times more rare have Comets seen to blaze
And loose midst mighty stirs their threatning Rays.
Whither as Earth transpires its Native fumes,
Those humid Spirits the hot Air consumes,
When a long Drouth from Clouds hath clear'd the Sky
And Heav'n by the Sun's scorching Beams grows dry;
Whence fitting Aliment is snatch'd by Fire,
And Matter like to Tinder flames acquire.
And since the Principles which Air compose
Are not gross Bodies, but like Smoke that flows,
The fiery Substance is not permanent,
But with the Comet, soon as kindled, spent.
Else, if its Rise and Fall were not so nigh,
We should another Day in Night descry,
And the couch'd Sun, when from the watery Deep
Return'd, would the whole World surprize in sleep.

Then since the arid Vapour is not us'd
To be alike attracted, or diffus'd;
Hence several Shapes to Meteors are assign'd,
As in dark Nights their suddain Births they find.
For now (like long hairs flowing from some head)
The Flame is in dishevell'd Tresses spred;
Then what a fiery Peruke first appear'd,
Assumes the Figure of a blazing Beard.
Sometimes 'twixt equal-bounded Sides it flows,
And a square Post, or a round Pillar shows,
Like a big-bellied Tun now its swoln Beams
Dilate, and then contract to narrower Streams,
Like little Locks which in small Curles are ti'd,
Now like fir'd sheafs, now like branch'd lamps descri'd,
Now falling Stars seem to shoot every where,
When wandring Lights do sparkle in the Aire.
And darted Flames swift Arrows imitate,
When the dry Train runs in a narrow Strait,
For every Thing does mixed Fire infold;
That dwells in pregnant Clouds which Thunder mold,
Pierces Earths Veins; Heavens Terrors counterfeits
From Ætna's Caves; in Springs cold Water heats;
Lurks in hard Flints, and in green Bark finds Room,
When Woods by their Collision flames assume;
So fertile every Matter is in fire.
Nor suddain Flames breaking through Skies admire,
Nor frequent Coruscations by Earths hot
Exhaling Vapours in the Aire begot,
Which the swift-feeding Flame pursues or flies;
Since trembling Lightning darted through the Skies,
Thou mayst behold in midst of falling Rain,
And Thunder through forc'd Clouds its way constrain:

Whether from fiery Seeds inclos'd in Earth,
And thence emitted, Comets draw their Birth,
Or Nature did those fading Lights design
As sub-united Stars in Heaven to shine,
Or the Sun's rapid Course these Meteors rears
And draws t' himself, his flames involving theirs,
And now dismisses; Like Cyllenius Light,
Or fair Dione's Star, Usher to Night;
Which often shine, as oft the sight delude,
(Hiding themselves) and then again are view'd:
Or God in Pity to our humane State,
Sends these as Nuncio's of ensuing Fate,
Never did Heav'n with these fires vainly burn;
Deluded Swains their blasted Labours mourn,
And the tir'd Husband-man to fruitless Toyl
Compels his Oxen in a barren Soyl:
Or the lethiferous Fire their Bodies kills,
Wasting their Marrows out with lingring Ills,
People consumes, whole Towns depopulates,
Whilst flaming Piles conclude the publick Fates.
Through Erecthean Lands as that Plague stray'd,
Old Athens waste by peaceful Funerals lay'd,
When each contracted others Death; whilst Art
No Cure could find, nor Prayers no help impart;
Care to the Sick, and Funerals to the Dead,
Ev'n Tears were wanting: Those no Mourners shed.
The wearied Flame did from its Office cease,
And Heaps of fir'd Bones burnt dead Carkasses;
Whilst to so great a People scarce an Heir
Remain'd: Such Woes dire Comets oft declare.
They bring with them the Worlds last Funeral Fire,
In which sick Nature one Day must expire.
Wars they proclaim too, Tumults to arise,
And open Arms from secret Treacheries.

So when the Nations late from Faith withdrew,
When the fierce Germans our great Varus slew,
And Fields in Blood of three whole Legions drown'd,
Through all the Skies such Ominous Lights were found;
As if with Those warr'd Nature; and 'gainst Ours,
Threatning an End to All; oppos'd her Powers.

Nor wonder Men and States such Mischiefs grieve,
The fault's at Home; We will not Heav'n believe.
Oft Civil Wars, and Kindred Arms they raise,
Nor more did Heaven with such fires ever blaze,
Than when fierce Leaders joyning bloody hands
Rang'd on Philippick Plains confederate Bands.
The Roman Souldiers on Sands yet scarce dry,
Trampled fresh Reliques of Mortality.
Empire, It self with its own Strength assayl'd,
But Great Augustus (Julius-like) prevail'd.
Yet ends not there: the Actian Battle's fought;
When Armies as a fatal Dowry brought,
Once more engag'd for the Worlds glorious Prize,
And sought at Sea, a Ruler of the Skies;
When Fleets did on a Womans Sway depend:
Nile's Timbrels 'gainst Rome's Thunder durst contend.
There yet remain'd the servile War behind;
When with his Countries Foes young Pompey joyn'd,
Harrass'd those Seas his Father did defend.
But this suffice the Fates; now let Wars end;
And Adamantine Fetters Discord bind,
To close Restraint eternally confin'd.
Whilst Father of his Country ne're o'recome,
Augustus lives; such too beneath him, Rome.
And when a God she to a Heavenly Throne
Resigns Him up; else in the World seek None.