VII.
THE GRECIAN JUPITER.
“The philosophers made two Jupiters, one the natural, the
other the fabulous.”
Lactan., Instit. lib. iii De fals. Rel c. 11.
“The later Platonists consider Jupiter to be the soul as it
were of this world.”
Aug De Cons Evan, lib i. 35.
In the vast world, around, beneath, above,
Reflected as in a mysterious glass
They dimly saw a mighty spirit pass,—
Amid the clouds of sin and woe which move
O'er man's fast-waning race—and called it Jove:
Therein embodying both good and ill
In a fond image of the Invisible;
A shade and soul of Power, but not of Love.
And this they mirror'd as the God of Heaven,
To whom a new and iron reign was given,
After the realm of Saturn once all gold,
The God of man in Paradise of old.
But Jove spoke man as fallen, not restor'd,
The soul of a disorder'd universe,
On whom as frail Creation's feeble lord
The shadow rests of a primeval curse.
