Medulla Poetarum Romanorum Or, the Most Beautiful and Instructive Passages of the Roman Poets. Being a Collection, (Disposed under proper Heads,) Of such Descriptions, Allusions, Comparisons, Characters, and Sentiments, as may best serve to shew the Religion, Learning, Politicks, Arts, Customs, Opinions, Manners, and Circumstances of the Antients. With Translations of the same in English Verse. By Mr. Henry Baker |
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Neptune.
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 | Medulla Poetarum Romanorum |  |
Neptune.
Mean while the Noise and Tumult of the Main
Neptune perceives: the Bottom of the Deep
Turn'd upwards, and the Storm's licentious Rage.
Highly provok'd, and careful for his Realms,
Above the Waves, serene, he rears his Head:
He sees the Trojan Fleet o'er all the Sea
Dispers'd: Æneas, and his Ships o'erpow'r'd
With Surges, and the Ruin of the Sky.
East and West Winds he hails: and then proceeds:—
From your high Birth does this Presumption rise?
And dare You thus, without my Sov'reign Leave,
Mix Earth, and Heav'n, and such vast Billows raise?
Whom I:—But first 'tis fit we should compose
The troubled Ocean. For your next Offence
A more severe Correction you shall find.
Hence, fly: and bear this Message to your King:
To Me, not Him, the Empire of the Main,
And aweful Trident fell: Huge rocky Caves
Are his Dominions: Eurus, your Abodes:
Proud in that Palace Æolus may reign,
But bid him bar the Prison of his Winds.—
Neptune perceives: the Bottom of the Deep
Turn'd upwards, and the Storm's licentious Rage.
Highly provok'd, and careful for his Realms,
Above the Waves, serene, he rears his Head:
He sees the Trojan Fleet o'er all the Sea
Dispers'd: Æneas, and his Ships o'erpow'r'd
With Surges, and the Ruin of the Sky.
East and West Winds he hails: and then proceeds:—
From your high Birth does this Presumption rise?
And dare You thus, without my Sov'reign Leave,
Mix Earth, and Heav'n, and such vast Billows raise?
Whom I:—But first 'tis fit we should compose
The troubled Ocean. For your next Offence
A more severe Correction you shall find.
Hence, fly: and bear this Message to your King:
To Me, not Him, the Empire of the Main,
And aweful Trident fell: Huge rocky Caves
Are his Dominions: Eurus, your Abodes:
Proud in that Palace Æolus may reign,
But bid him bar the Prison of his Winds.—
So spoke the God: and sooner than he spoke,
Appeas'd the tossing of the Waves, dispell'd
The Clouds collected, and restor'd the Sun.
Cymothoê too, and Triton join their Strength
To clear the Vessels from the pointed Rock:
Himself his Trident plies, to heave them off,
Levels the Banks of Sand, and calms the Sea,
And with light Wheels o'er the smooth Surface rides.—
— Father Neptune
Appeas'd the tossing of the Waves, dispell'd
The Clouds collected, and restor'd the Sun.
Cymothoê too, and Triton join their Strength
To clear the Vessels from the pointed Rock:
Himself his Trident plies, to heave them off,
Levels the Banks of Sand, and calms the Sea,
And with light Wheels o'er the smooth Surface rides.—
His wild Sea-Horses joins in Harness, adds
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The flowing Reins: In his cerulean Car
Lightly He skims the Surface of the Deep:
The Waves subside: The swelling Sea lies smooth
Beneath the thund'ring Axle: And the Clouds
Fly from the vast Horizon. Various then
The Forms of his Retinue: Monstrous Whales,
Old Glaucus' Train, Palemon Ino's Son,
The nimble Tritons, and all Phorcus' Band:
Thetis, and Melite upon the Left,
Niseæ, Spio, and Cymodoce,
Thalia, and the Virgin Panopea.—
Nor from his patrimonial Heav'n alone,
Is Jove content to pour his Vengeance down:
Aid from his Brother of the Sea, he craves,
To help him with auxiliary Waves.
Neptune the Rivers summons to his Court,
To whom, when there obedient they resort,
And with their swelling Streams his Palace fill,
He thus, in brief, declares his mighty Will.
Small Exhortation needs: your Pow'rs employ:
And this bad World, so Jove requires, destroy:
All Banks, all Lets, all Obstacles remove,
At large let all your Floods unbridled rove.
Thus charg'd, in haste, their Fountains all set free,
Headlong they roll, impetuous, to the Sea.
Then, with his Mace he struck: the trembling Earth,
Broke up her hidden Springs, and gave a Deluge Birth.
The Land and Sea seem'd diff'rent now no more,
For all was Sea, but Sea without a Shore.—
Calm grows the Sea, while Neptune lays his Mace
O'er the wide Surface of it's furrow'd Face:
Already Triton at his Call appears
Above the Waves: a purple Robe he wears,
And in his Hand a crooked Trumpet bears.
The Sov'reign bids him peaceful Sounds inspire,
And give the Waves the Signal to retire.
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Grows by Degrees into a large Extent,
And gives it Breath: The Blast with doubling Sound,
Runs the wide Circuit of the World around:
From the Sun's Rising to it's Ev'ning Fall,
'Twas heard by ev'ry Wave, and was obey'd by All.—
| Medulla Poetarum Romanorum | |