 | Miscellanies in Verse and Prose |  |
From Aratus.
Εκ Διος αρχωμεα: τον ουδεποτ' ανδρες εωμεν Αρρητον: &c.
Begin from Jove, ye Muses; his great Name
Joyful adore, and magnify the same.
Ineffable! his Presence knows no Bound;
He fills the Air, and Earth, and Seas profound!
We use, enjoy him, and his Influence share
To cherish Life; for we his Offspring are.
By chearful Signs, good Fortune he foreshows,
And Tasks of healthful Labour does impose,
To rouze the Nations from enervate Ease,
Life to consult, and tend its Services.
He gives, the Seasons of the Year to know,
To plant, to water, and the Grain to sow,
And when to dig the Soil, or turn it with the Plow.
In order rang'd along the Plains on high,
The burnish'd Stars he kindled in the Sky,
And mark'd their Measures; his extensive Care,
For ev'ry Quarter of the rolling Year,
Its Constellation furnish'd, when to reign,
And in his Bus'ness guide th'industrious Swain:
All to subserve the Whole; and all proceed
By the fix'd Laws and Methods he decreed.
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I will invoke, and worship in my Lays,
Indulgent Father of the human Race!
| Miscellanies in Verse and Prose | |