Poems on Several Occasions With Imitations from Horace, Ovid, Martial, Theocritus, Bachylides, Anacreon, &c. To which is prefix'd A Discourse on Criticism, and the Liberty of Writing. In a letter to a Friend. By Samuel Cobb ... The Third Edition. To which is added, Poems on the Duke of Marlborough, Prince Eugene, the Electoral Prince of Hannover, with other Poems. Never before Printed |
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EUGENIUS. |
 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
269
EUGENIUS.
------ Totos infusa per artus
Major in exiguo regnabat corpore Virtus.
Major in exiguo regnabat corpore Virtus.
So
Tydeus look'd, when, single, He oppos'd
The perjur'd Brother, with his Guards inclos'd;
When fifty Traytors by his Valour slain,
Their Length had measur'd on the Theban Plain;
Of Stature low, but of a Soul so high,
It tower'd from whence it came, and reach'd the Skie.
Heroic Spirits are of Heavenly Birth,
Gyants alone are Off-springs of the Earth:
Whose Figures may suprize, but are no odds
Oppos'd to Heaven, and Adversary-Gods.
Their Heighth exceeds the Level of Mankind,
But lesser Bodies share a larger Mind.
As in a Glass the crowding Sun-beams meet,
Small is the Point, but violent the Heat.
The perjur'd Brother, with his Guards inclos'd;
When fifty Traytors by his Valour slain,
Their Length had measur'd on the Theban Plain;
Of Stature low, but of a Soul so high,
It tower'd from whence it came, and reach'd the Skie.
Heroic Spirits are of Heavenly Birth,
Gyants alone are Off-springs of the Earth:
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Oppos'd to Heaven, and Adversary-Gods.
Their Heighth exceeds the Level of Mankind,
But lesser Bodies share a larger Mind.
As in a Glass the crowding Sun-beams meet,
Small is the Point, but violent the Heat.
Such is the Man, whom Germany has lent
To bridle France, and curb the Continent.
To whom kind Heaven Valour and Prudence gave,
Cool, but not Dull, and without Rashness, Brave.
Stout like Achilles, like Ulysses wise,
Who seeks not Danger, nor from Danger flyes.
A Life of so much Moment and Import,
Should not be Chance's Trust, nor Fortune's Sport.
To bridle France, and curb the Continent.
To whom kind Heaven Valour and Prudence gave,
Cool, but not Dull, and without Rashness, Brave.
Stout like Achilles, like Ulysses wise,
Who seeks not Danger, nor from Danger flyes.
A Life of so much Moment and Import,
Should not be Chance's Trust, nor Fortune's Sport.
The Son of Atreus, whom beleaguer'd Troy
Did twice five Years in a long Siege employ,
Wish'd for ten Nestors to reduce the Place;
Hadst Thou, Great Man! liv'd in those Antique Days,
To lesser room he had his Wish confin'd,
Blest with ten Nestors in Thy Single Mind.
Did twice five Years in a long Siege employ,
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Hadst Thou, Great Man! liv'd in those Antique Days,
To lesser room he had his Wish confin'd,
Blest with ten Nestors in Thy Single Mind.
Go, Dauntless Prince, and stem the Gallick Rage,
Act in one Year the Business of an Age.
Tho' small the Span of Life, yet courteous Fate,
With greater Souls requites our shorter Date.
Tho' no new Instance in the World appears
Of Pylian Age, and Patriarchal Years;
Yet if our Time by Action number'd be,
H' has liv'd Three hundred, who has sought like Thee.
Act in one Year the Business of an Age.
Tho' small the Span of Life, yet courteous Fate,
With greater Souls requites our shorter Date.
Tho' no new Instance in the World appears
Of Pylian Age, and Patriarchal Years;
Yet if our Time by Action number'd be,
H' has liv'd Three hundred, who has sought like Thee.
| Poems on Several Occasions | |