University of Virginia Library

When in the dome empyreal of high Jove,
To list'ning Gods enraptured Hermes struck,
His sounding shell; then first in heaven awoke
Music divine, and her first song was love:
Venus' self inspired the measure,
Such as sooths the soul to pleasure.
Attending deities approved the strains,
Thronging from the bright domains:
Jove smooth'd the terrors of his face,
And bade his awful thunder cease,
All heaven rejoiced, and from th'ambrosial bowers
A glorious train proceeding gay with flowers,
With ever living wreaths the lyrist crown'd;
And Herme's honours flung thro' all th'ethereal round.
Amphion next upraised the lyre,
Who by Hermes early taught,
Swelled the bold strain with all the master's fire;
And vent'rous to excel, he paths untrodden sought.
With added chords enriched the Grecian lay,
And thro' the realms of fancy wing'd a glorious way!
Apollo, from his glowing car,
Heard the thrilling sounds afar;
Stoop'd from his fiery course with eager ear,
The mighty strain to hear:
To list'ning spheres his golden lyre he strung,
And his own bright transcendent glories sung.
To sounds before untouched the song he rear'd,
Astonished heaven his numbers heard;
And God of Music hail'd the unconquer'd bard.
Next Orpheus touch'd the trembling chord,
And all the wonders of the lyre explor'd:
Pity and love he sung with magic sway,
Whilst Savage nations list'ning to the lay,
Their barbarous actions stayed:
And gentler grown,
The master own;

And wonder at the change that music made.
Whilst oft in secret solitude he sung,
The woods and rocks around attentive hung:
The forest tribes lull'd by his numbers sweet,
Shook off their fierceness at the lyrist's feet:
Even Tartarus, and all its horrors quell'd
By music's power;
Pluto, amaz'd beheld!
The dreaded sisters in their Stygian bower
Attentive sate:
And while the bard enchanting play'd,
Awhile their busy task delay'd,
And gave a pause to fate.
Even Cerberus, to roar,
As he touch'd the lyre, forbore.—
The list'ning furies laid their whips aside,
And bade the torments of the damn'd subside:
The ghosts forget their pains,
And silent stand around the infernal plains;
'Till hell, consenting to restore the wife,
Gave back his lov'd Euridyce to life.
From him Musus caught the heav'nly flame,
And sang of wars, and the revolving spheres;
And Thamyris next rose to deathless fame,
And praised the Gods, despising worldly cares.
Hesiod appears, a venerable bard!
And legislative songs he most prefer'd;
'Twas his the actions of the Gods to unfold!
He sang the love inspiring queen,
Rising from the Cyprian main;
O'er men and gods to hold her sway:
Whilst unnumber'd flowrets sweet,
Beneath her soft ambrosial feet,
For ever blush and mark her rosy way:
And of the Grecian Deities, in order, told.—
But Homer rose, the lyre he boldly smote!
Wide to list'ning realms remote
The mighty song instructive flew;
And ages yet unborn shall pay him honours due.
Hark! in his song the noise of battle ring,
Resounds the war, the brazen bucklers sing;
Still in our view Pelides' anger low'rs,
And woes again oppress the Grecian pow'rs:
Ulysses' wiles the wise debates prolong,
And honey trickles from old Nestor's tongue:
The sages counsel, and the chiefs obey;
Now Troy recedes, and now the Greeks give way;
O'er flying hosts rebounds the furious car,
And tow'ring Ajax turns the tide of war.
Amidst the din, Tidydes storms amain,
And harness'd dead deform the sanguin'd plain!
Priam from far surveys his hero's deeds;
Again he mourns—again his Hector bleeds:
Scamander's waves the moving ranks defile,
Shouts the exulting foe, and flames the funeral pile,
Sublimest Pindar! next on eagle wing
Prodigious soar'd; and while each lab'ring string
Confess'd the master as he sang the chase,
In numbers rapid as the Olympic race,
The envious gods his lays to death consign'd,
And but a remnant left of all behind.—