 | An Ode on the Powers of Eloquence |  |
3
AN ODE ON THE Powers of Eloquence.
To the Right Honourable
WILLIAM MURRAY Esq; The King's Attorney General.
I
When Philip's Arms thro Greece their Terrors spread,And shak'd Ilyssus in his oozy Bed,
While Slaughter in the Front chas'd abject Fear,
And Chains, and Blood, and Torture, fill'd the Rear,
When Philip's Gold with dire Contagion ran
Thro all the States, and sap'd the Heart of Man,
4
Unnerv'd the strong, and ty'd the venal Tongue,
Say, Murray, say, for thou can'st tell the Pow'r
Which rous'd the Nations in the perlous Hour,
What Dreams, what Signs, what Oracle, what God,
Mov'd the fierce Greeks to break the Tyrant's Rod?
No visionary Forms by Day or Night,
No bleeding Entrails, or propitions Flight,
No Answer from the Groves, or Delphic Shrine,
No Pallas arm'd, but Eloquence like thine.
In vain the Trumpet early wakes the Day,
In vain is hear'd of War the dreadful Bray,
In vain the warlike Steed starts at the Sound,
And neighs with Mane erect, and paws the Ground,
And all in vain blazes Minerva's Shield,
While the proud Macedonian keeps the Field;
All Greece was ready to receive the Yoke,
Till like a God th' Athenian Pleader spoke.
II
When the Bacchanalian FifeCalls to Merriment and Joy,
Wine and Beauty are at Strife
Which shall most your Thoughts employ:
Ranging over Hill and Dale,
Ev'ry Mountain, ev'ry Vale,
5
Follow, follow, come along,
Follow Bacchus, crys the Song,
Hasten to the Rites away.
Where is the Blush of Shame, ye impious Train,
Ye minstrel Crew who listen to the Voice
Of ev'ry Syren's soft and Lydian Strain,
Whom Revels and nocturnal Feasts rejoice?
Dear, O! dear, the Price ye pay
For your rosy Crowns, and Bow'rs;
Sighs succeed the spritely Lay,
Woeful Years to joyful Hours:
If ye would the Danger shun,
Bravely into Danger run:
To preserve a spotless Name,
With Resentment and Disdain
Throw aside the golden Chain;
Arm for Liberty and Fame.
III
Thus spoke the Sage; and from their Minds,Like Leaves before autumnal Winds,
Their venal Inclination flew:
6
Like Night to the Approach of Day,
When all th' Horizon opens to our View.
With Safety o'er the swelling Tydes
The Bark the skilful Pilot guides,
With Safety gains the well known Shore:
The gallant Chief his Army leads
Where Honour calls and Valour bleeds,
The Glory of his Country to restore:
Where Falsehood lurks, and Peril lys,
Are best detected by the wise;
They see Security and Truth:
To them the Provinces belong
To fix the Pale of Right and Wrong,
Age to convince, and bridle erring Youth:
But where's the Pow'r that rules the Soul,
That can our Griefs or Joys controul,
Where is that Energy divine,
Sov'reign of all the human Race,
The Queen of universal Space,
Where, Murray, where? 'Tis Eloquence like thine.
IV
Wisdom and Truth are the celestial SpringsOf what the Pleader speaks or Poet sings:
7
As the Sun gilds with saffron Robes the Morn,
Expression gives to Truth resistless Arms,
And to fair Wisdom adds unfading Charms;
That breaks the Point of Envy's poys'nous Dart,
And pours the Balm into th' afflicted Heart;
That calms the Breast, or fills it with Surprise,
And draws the Current from the Tyrant's Eyes.
He, who 'e'rewhile return'd with Glory crown'd,
And march'd in Triumph thro the sacred Ground,
Whom Rome decreed her Axes and her Rods,
And shew'd a Conqu'ror to his Country's Gods,
Before the grand Tribunal now appears,
Loaded with Sorrows and the Weight of Years:
While his bare Bosom shews his manly Scars,
The Marks of Honour in the Field of Mars,
The venerable Consul waits from Rome
His future Freedom, or an Exile's Doom:
While the great Spokesman for Aquilius pleads,
And, pointing to his Wounds, relates his Deeds,
Malice away, with all her Scorpions, creeps,
And Marius, iron-hearted Marius, weeps.
8
V
As from Troy's capacious SteedNone but mighty Leaders came,
Mortals of heroic Breed,
Sons of Gods, and Sons of Fame,
From the Schools of Eloquence
Flow the Streams which feed the Sense,
All that can th' Affections bind;
From those sacred Fountains rise
All that's lovely, all that's wise,
Thence the Nectar of the Mind:
Near to the Muse's Font are these ally'd,
To one immortal Source they owe their Birth,
Like Thame and Isis flow one blended Tyde,
Untasted by the grosser Sons of Earth.
Like the Gold which Fire refines,
Wisdom by Expression dress'd,
As it more resplendent shines,
Takes Possession of the Breast.
Seek, ye dull and sordid Train,
Seek the potent Stone in vain,
9
This the Alchymy of Life,
This to Love conciliates Strife,
This from Error turns the Soul!
VI
Fair Truth with Dignity express'd,Like Venus by the Graces dress'd,
Takes, thro th' admiring Eye, the Heart;
Her first Approach the Bosom warms,
Her Look, her ev'ry Motion, charms,
At last she Captive leads the nobler Part:
On Merit she bestows Renown
More lasting than the regal Crown;
To Beauty she Duration gives;
Her Cheeks no Wrinkles shall deform,
Her Roles shall defy the Storm;
Thus Hellen blooms, and Portia's Virtue lives.
The Virgin to the Voice of Praise
Delighted her Attention pays;
Obedient to the sov'reign Call,
She sends her Wishes from her Eyes,
Becomes of Eloquence the Prize,
And to the prosp'rous Bridegroom gives up all.
10
Have of the Nymph Pandora told,
Adorn'd by ev'ry Pow'r divine,
In whom the Majesty of Jove
Was soften'd by the Queen of Love,
Is, Murray, seen in Eloquence like thine.
The END.
Τι δη ποτε, ω Ανδρες Αθηναιοι, νομιζετε την μεν των Παναθηναιων Εορτην και την των Διονυσιων αει του καθηκοντος; Χρονου γιγνεσθαι, &c. Why, says Demosthenes in his first Philippic, Athenians, do ye think all Times lawful and convenient to celebrate the Festivals of Minerva and of Bacchus, &c. and then he proceeds to reproach them with the Neglect of their Navy and of the Opportunitys of making Use of it: he endeavours in all his Philippics, and, indeed in his other Orations, to warn his Countrymen of the fatal Effects of Luxury and Corruption, and to rouse them to a Sense of their Danger from Philip of Macedon, and to induce them to arm, in Defence of their Liberty, against the common Enemy who was then aiming at a universal Monarchy.
Cum C. Marius Mœrorem Orationis meæ præsens ac sedens multum Lachrymis suis adjuvaret. Cic. De Orat. Lib. 2. Cicero there relates the Circumstances which I here introduce of the Tryal of Aquilius, who was defended by Anthony the illustrious Orator.
This noble Simile is used by Cicero, in his second Book de Oratore, to the Honour of Isocrates: ecce tibi, says he, exortus est Isocrates, cujus e Ludo, tanquam ex Equo Trojano, innumeri Principes exierunt.
| An Ode on the Powers of Eloquence | |