Ergo erit ut quandoque fond dilapfa tremendo
Convexi tabulata ruant, atque obvius ictu

20

Stridat uterque polus, fuperaque ut Olympius aula
Decidat, horribilifque retecta Gorgone Pallas;
Qualis in Ægeam proles Junonia Lemnon
Deturbata facro cecidit de limine cœli ?

Tu quoque, Phœbe, tui cafus imitabere nati;
Præcipiti curru, fubitaque ferere ruina
Pronus, et extincta fumabit lampade Nereus,
Et dabit attonito feralia fibila ponto.
Tunc etiam aerei divulfis fedibus Hæmi
Diffultabit apex, imoque allifa barathro
Terrebunt Stygium dejecta Ceraunia Ditem,
In fuperos quibus ufus erat, fraternaque bella.
At pater omnipotens, fundatis fortius aftris,
Confuluit rerum fummæ, certoque peregit
Pondere fatorum lances, atque ordine fummo
Singula perpetuum juffit fervare tenorem.

23. Qualis in Egeam, &c.] See above, EL..vi. 81.

Sic dolet amiffum PROLES JUNONIA cœlum, &c.

And PARAD. L. B. i. 740.

Men call'd him Mulciber, and how he fell
From heaven, they fabled, &c.

Dropt from the zenith life a falling ftar

On Lemnos th' Ægean isle.

25

30

35

In the last line Bentley reads, "On Lemnos thence his ifle." But, to fay no more, Egean is perhaps afcertained by our Latin text.

Volvitur

Volvitur hinc lapfu mundi rota prima diurno;
Raptat et ambitos focia vertigine cœlos.

40

45

Tardior haud folito Saturnus, et acer ut olim
Fulmineum rutilat criftata caffide Mavors.
Floridus æternum Phoebus juvenile corufcat,
Nec fovet effœtas loca per declivia terras
Devexo temone Deus; fed femper amica
Luce potens, eadem currit per figna rotarum.
Surgit odoratis pariter formofus ab Indis,
Æthereum pecus albenti qui cogit Olympo,
Mane vocans, et ferus agens in pascua cœli ;
Temporis et gemino difpertit regna colore.
Fulget, obitque vices alterno Delia cornu,
Cæruleumque ignem paribus complectitur ulnis.
Nec variant elementa fidem, folitoque fragore 51
Lurida perculfas jaculantur fulmina rupes.
Nec per inane furit leviori murmure Corus,
Stringit et armiferos æquali horrore Gelonos

Trux Aquilo, fpiratque hyemem, nimbofque vo

lutat.

Utque folet, Siculi diverberat ima Pelori

55

Rex maris, et rauca circumftrepit æquora concha Qceani tubicen, nec vafta mole minorem

Ægeona fuerunt dorfo Balearica cete.

Sed neque, Terra, tibi fæcli vigor ille vetufti 60 Prifcus abeft, fervatque fuum Narciffus odorem, Et puer ille fuum tenet, et puer ille, decorem, Phoebe, tuufque, et, Cypri, tuus; nec ditior olim Terra datum fceleri celavit montibus aurum Confcia, vel fub aquis gemmas. Sic denique in

ævum

Ibit cunctarum feries juftiffima rerum ;

Donec flamma orbem populabitur ultima, late
Circumplexa polos, et vafti culmina cœli;
Ingentique rogo flagrabit machina mundi *.

De Idea Platonica quemadmodum Ariftoteles

D

intellexit.

Icite, facrorum præfides nemorum deæ,
Tuque O noveni perbeata numinis

Memoria mater, quæque in immenfo procul

64. Terra datum fceleri celavit montibus aurum

v, 718.

65

Confcia, vel fub aquis gemmas. -] See EL. v. 77. And CoмUS,

In her own loins

She hutcht th' all-worshipt ore, &c.

Again, ibid. 732.

And th' unfought diamonds

Would fo imblaze the forehead of the deep, &c.

* This poem is replete with fanciful and ingenious allufions. It has alfo a vigour of expreffion, a dignity of fentiment, and elevation of thought, rarely found in very young writers.

3. This is a fublime perfonification of Eternity. And there is great reach of imagination in one of the conceptions which follows, that the original archetype of Man may be a huge giant, ftalking in fome

remote

Antro recumbis otiofa Æternitas,
Monumenta fervans, et ratas leges Jovis,
Cœlique faftos atque ephemeridas Deum;
Quis ille primus, cujus ex imagine
Natura folers finxit humanum genus,
Æternus, incorruptus, æquævus polo,
Unufque et univerfus, exemplar Dei?
Haud ille Palladis gemellus innubæ
Interna proles infidet menti Jovis ;
Sed quamlibet natura fit communior,
Tamen feorfus extat ad morem unius,
Et, mira, certo ftringitur fpatio loci:

Seu fempiternus ille fiderum comes

10

15

Cœli pererrat ordines decemplicis,

Citimumve terris incolit lunæ globum :

remote unknown region of the earth, and lifting his head fo high as to be dreaded by the gods, &c. v. 21.

Sive in remota forte terrarum plaga

Incedit ingens HOMINIS ARCHETYPUS gigas,
Et diis tremendus erigit celfum caput,

Atlante major portitore fiderum, &c.

11. Haud ille Palladis gemellus innubæ, &c.] "This aboriginal Man, "the twin-brother of the virgin Pallas, does not remain in the brain "of Jupiter where he was generated; but, although partaking of "Man's common nature, ftill exifts fomewhere by himself, in a state "of fingleness and abstraction, and in a determinate place. Whether "among the stars, &c."

13. Quamlibet ejus natura fit communior," that is, communis. 15. "Et (res mira!) certo, &c."

17. In another place, he makes the heavens ninefold. 18. That part of the moon's orb nearest the earth.

Sive inter animas corpus adituras fedens,
Obliviofas torpet ad Lethes aquas:
Sive in remota forte terrarum plaga
Incedit ingens hominis archetypus gigas,
Et diis tremendus erigit celfum caput,
Atlante major portitore fiderum.

Non, cui profundum cæcitas lumen dedit,
Dircæus augur vidit hunc alto finu;
Non hunc filente nocte Pleiones nepos
Vatum fagaci præpes oftendit choro ;
Non hunc facerdos novit Affyrius, licet
Longos vetufti commemoret atavos Nini,
Prifcumque Belon, inclytumque Ofiridem.
Non ille trino gloriofus nomine

Ter magnus Hermes, ut fit arcani fciens,

19. See Virgil, N. vi. 713.

Animæ, quibus altera fato

Corpora debentur, Lethæi ad fluminis undam,
Æternos latices et longa oblivia potant.

20

25

30

But this is Plato's philofophy, PHD. Opp. 1590. p. 400. C. col. 1. 25. Tiresias, of Thebes.

27.Pleiones nepos.] Mercury. Ovid, EPIST. HEROID. XV. 62. Atlantis magni PLEIONESQUE NEPOS.

And METAM. ii. 743. "Atlantis PLEIONESQUE NEPOS." See alío, FAST. B. V. 83.663.

29. Non bune facerdos novit Affyrius. -] Sanchoniathon, the eldest of the profane hiftorians. His existence is doubted by Dodwell.

33. Ter magnus Hermes.] Hermes Trifmegiftus, an Egyptian philofopher, who lived foon after Mofes. See IL PENS. v. 88. With 66 THRICE-GREAT Hermes, &c.”

Talem