Miscellanies in Verse and Prose By Mr. Jabez Hughes |
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The Description of a STORM, from the First Book of Statius's Thebais.
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 | Miscellanies in Verse and Prose |  |
The Description of a STORM, from the First Book of Statius's Thebais.
Jamque per emeriti surgens Confinia Phœbi,
Titanis, &c.
Titanis, &c.
Now rising, as the Sun declin'd, the Moon
In Silence drove her dewy Chariot on;
The Beasts and Birds were hush'd; and quiet Sleep
On Cares began indulgently to creep,
And Toils of anxious Life in sweet Oblivion steep.
The low'ring Heav'n that usher'd in the Night,
Promis'd no Dawn, and quench'd at once the Light;
Night wrapp'd the Poles; th'Æolian Dens profound
Denounc'd the Tempest, with a roaring Sound;
The Winds, releas'd, their furious Circuit take,
And heave the Globe, and the fix'd Axle shake;
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The Clouds amasses, and pours down the Rain,
And Boreas beats his Hailstones on the Plain.
Thro' the black Storm, the wreathy Lightnings fly,
And streak with flashing Fires the sullen Sky:
Th'Arcadian Mountains, from their steepy Crown,
Roll rapidly a sudden Deluge down;
And, rising o'er their Beds, the Rivers rear
Their Waves to Heav'n, and wash the wintry Bear;
No Banks nor Mounds the hasty Flood restrain,
And Lerna's Lake now overflows again;
The ruin'd Groves are rudely shatter'd; all
The Forest thunders, and the Branches fall;
And deep Licæus, whose impervious Shade
Ne'er saw the Sun, ly's open and display'd.
| Miscellanies in Verse and Prose | |