And fuel'd Entrails thence conceiving Fire,
Sublim'd with min'ral Fury, aid the Winds,
And leave a finged Bottom all involv'd
With Stench and Smoke.
The Four AGES of the World.
GOLDEN AGE.
The Golden Age was first, when Man yet new,
No Rule, but uncorrupted Reason, knew;
And with a native Bent did Good pursue.
Unforc'd by Punishment, unaw'd by Fear,
His Words were simple, and his Soul fincere :
Needless was written Law, where none oppress'd,
The Law of Man was written in his Breast.
No suppliant Crowds before the Judge appear'd,
No Court erected yet, nor Gause was heard;
But all was safe, for Conscience was their Guard.
The Mountain Trees in distant Prospect please;
E'er yet the Pine descended to the Seas;
E'er Sails were spread new Oceans to explore,
And happy Mortals, unconcern'd for more,
Confin'd their Wishes to their native Shore.
No Walls were yet, nor Fence, nor Moat, nor Mound;
Nor Drum was heard, nor Trumpet's angry Sound;
Nor Swords were forg'd: But void of Care and Crime,
The soft Creation slept away their Time.
The teeming Earth, yet guiltless of the Plough,
And unprovok'd, did fruitful Stores allow.
Content with Food which Nature freely bred,
On Wildings and on Strawberries they fed;
Cornels and Bramble-berries gave the rest,
And falling Acorns furnish'd out a Feaft.
The Flow'rs unsown in Fields and Meadows reign'd,
And Western Winds immortal Spring maintain'd.
In following Years the bearded Corn ensu'd
From Earth unask'd, nor was that Earth renew'd.
From Veins of Vallies Milk and Nectar broke,
And Honey sweated thro' the Pores of Oak.
But when Good Saturn, banish'd from above,
Was driv'n to Hell, the World was under Jove:
Succeeding Times a filver Age behold,
Excelling Brafs, but more excell'd by Gold.
Then Summer, Autumn, Winter, did appear,
And Spring was but a Season of the Year.
The Sun his annual Course obliquely made,
Good Days contracted, and enlarg'd the bad.
The Air with sultry Heats began to glow,
The Wings of Winds were clog'd with Ice and Snow: And
And shiv'ring Mortals, into Houses driven,
Sought Shelter from th'Inclemency of Heaven.
Their Houses then were Caves, or homely Steds,
With twining Oziers fenc'd, and Moss their Beds.
Then Ploughs for Seed the fruitful Furrows broke,
And Oxen labour'd first beneath the Yoke.
To this came next in Course the Brazen Age;
A warlike Off-spring, prompt to bloody Rage,
Not impious yet.
IRON AGE.
Hard Steel succeeded tin,
And stubborn, as the Metal, were the Men.
Truth, Modesty, and Shame, the World forfook,
Fraud, Avarice, and Force, their Places took :
Then Sails were spread to ev'ry Wind that blew,
Raw were the Sailors, and the Depths were new.
Trees rudely hollow'd did the Waves sustain,
E'er Ships in Triumph plow'd the watry Main.
Then Land-marks limited to each his Right,
For all before was common as the Light :
Nor was the Ground alone requir'd to bear
Her annual Income to the crooked Share;
But greedy Mortals rummaging her Store,
Dig'd from her Entrails first the precious Ore;
(Which next to Hell the prudent Gods had laid,)
And that alluring Ill to fight display'd :
Thus cursed Steel, and more accursed Gold,
Gave Mischief Birth, and made that Mischief bold;
And double Death did wretched Man invade,
By Steel afsaulted, and by Gold betray'd.
Now, brandish'd Weapons glitt'ring in their Hands,
Mankind is broken loose from moral Bands.
No Rights of Hospitality remain,
The Guest, by him that harbour'd him, is flain:
The Son-in-Law pursues his Father's Life;
The Wife her Husband murthers, he the Wife:
The Stepdame Poyfon for the Son prepares;
The Son inquires into his Father's Years;
Faith flies, and Piety in Exile mourns,
And Justice, here oppress'd, to Heav'n returns.
E'er this no Peasant vex'd the peaceful Ground,
Which only Turfs and Greens for Altars found :
No Fences parted Fields; nor Marks, nor Bounds
Distinguish'd Acres of litigious Grounds :
But all was common, and the fruitful Earth
Was free to give her unexacted Birth.
Fove added Venom to the Vipers Brood,
And fwell'd with raging Storms the peaceful Flood;
Commiffion'd hungry Wolves t'infest the Fold,
And fhook from Oaken Leaves the liquid Gold:
Remov'd from human Reach the chearful Fire;
And from the Rivers bad the Wine retire :
That studious Need might useful Arts explore
From furrow'd Fields to reap the foodful Store :
And force the Veins of clashing Flints t'expire
The lurking Seeds of their celestial Fire..
Then first on Seas the hollow'd Alder swam:
Then Sailors quarter'd Heav'n, and found a Name
For ev'ry fixt, and ev'ry wand'ring Star,
The Pleiads, Hyads, and the Northern Car.
Then Toils for Beasts, and Lime for Birds were found;
And deep-mouth'd Dogs did Forest-Walks furround;
And Cafting-Nets were spread in hollow Brooks;
Drags in the deep, and Baits were hung on Hooks:
Then Saws were tooth'd, and founding Axes made;
And various Arts in Order did succeed.
Unbidden Earth shall wreathing Ivy bring,
And fragrant Herbs, the Promises of Spring :
The Goats with strutting Dugs shall homeward speed,
And lowing Herds, secure from Lions, feed.
The Serpents Brood shall die: The sacred Ground
Shall Weeds and poys'nous Plants refuse to bear,
Each common Bush shall Syrian Roses wear:
Unlabour'd Harvests shall the Fields adorn,
And cluster'd Grapes shall blush on ev'ry Thorn.
The knotted Oak shall Show'rs of Honey weep;
And thro' the matted Grass the liquid Gold shall creep.
The greedy Sailor shall the Seas forego;
No Keel shall cut the Waves for foreign Ware,
For ev'ry Soil shall ev'ry Product bear.
The lab'ring Hind his Oxen shall disjoin,
No Plough thall hurt the Glebe, no Pruning-Hook the
Nor Wool shall in dissembled Colours shine.
But the luxurious Father of the Fold,
With native Purple, or unborrow'd Gold,
Beneath his pompous Fleece shall proudly sweat,
And under Tyrian Robes the Lambs shall bleat.
The Virgin Daughter of eternal Night. She still delights in War, and human Woes.
Ev'n Pluto hates his own mishapen Race.
Her Sifter Furies fly her hideous Face :
So frightful are the Forms the Monster takes,
So fierce the Hissings of her speckled Snakes.
'Tis hers, to ruin Realms, o'erturn a State;
Betwixt the dearest Friends to raise Debate,
And kindle Kindred Blood to mutual Hate.
Her Hand o'er Towns the fun'ral Torch displays,
And forms a Thousand Ills, Ten thousand Ways.
She shakes from out her fruitful Breast the Seeds
Of Envy, Discord, and of cruel Deeds:
Confounds establish'd Peace, and does prepare
Their Souls to Hatred, and their Hands to War. Dryd. Virg.
The Fates infernal Minister;
War, Death, Destruction, in her Hands she bears;
Her curling Snakes with Hissings fill the Place,
And open all the Furies of her Face.
Her Chains she rattles, and her Whips she shakes,
Churning her bloody Foam.
So march'd the Thracian Amazons of old
When Thermodon with bloody Billows roul'd;
Such Troops as these in shining Arms were seen,
When Theseus met in Fight their Maiden Queen.
Such to the Field Penthesilea led,
From the fierce Virgin when the Grecians fled.
With such return'd triumphant from the War,
Her Maids with Cries attend the lofty Car
They clash with manly Force their moony Shields,
With female Shouts resound the Phrygian Fields. Dryd. Virg.
Resistless thro' the War Camilla rede,
In Danger unappall'd, and pleas'd with Blood.
One Side was bare for her exerted Breast,
One Shoulder with her painted Quiver press'd.
Now from afar her fatal Jav'lins play;
Now with her Ax's Edge she hews her Way.
Diana's Arms upon her Shoulders found,
And when too closely press'd, she quits the Ground,
From her bent Bow she sends a backward Wound. Dryd.Virg.
Penthefilea there, with haughty Grace,
Leads to the War an Amazonian Race:
In their right Hands a pointed Dart they wield;
Their left, for Ward, sustains the Lunar Shield.
Athwart her Breast a golden Belt she throws;
Amidst the Press, alone, provokes a thousand Foes,
And dares her maiden Arms to manly Force oppose.Dryd.Virg.
The little Amazon could hardly go,
He loads her with a Quiver and a Bow,
And that the might her stagg'ring Steps command,
He with a flender Jav'lin fills her Hand :
Her flowing Hair no golden Fillets bound,
Nor swept her trailing Robe the dusty Ground.
Instead of these a Tyger's Hide o'erspread
Her Back and Shoulders, fasten'd to her Head,
The flying Dart she first attempts to fling,
And round her tender Temples toss'd the Sling.
Then as her Strength with Years increas'd, began
To pierce aloft in Air the foaring Swan,
And from the Clouds to fetch the Heron and the Crane.
Ambition is a Lust that's never quench'd,
Grows more enflam'd, and madder by Enjoyment. Otw.Cai.Mar.
A goodly Profpect, tempting to the View:
The Height delights us, and the Mountain-Top
Looks beautiful, because 'tis nigh to Heav'n;
But we ne'er think how fandy's the Foundation,
What Storms will batter, and what Tempests shake us.
At lowest Ebb of Fortune when you lay
Contented, then how happy was the Day:
But oh! the Curse of aiming to be great,
Dazled with Hope, we cannot see the Cheat,
When wild Ambition in the Heart we find,
Farewel Content, and Quiet of the Mind:
For glitt'ring Clouds we leave the folid Shore,
And wanted Happiness returns no more:
But wild Ambition loves to slide, not stand; And Fortune's Ice prefers to Virtue's Land. Dryd.Abs. & Achit. Yet true Renown is still with Virtue joyn'd,
But Luft of Pow'r lets loose th'unbridl'd Mind. Dryd. Auren,
Ambition! the Defire of active Souls,
That pushes them beyond the bounds of Nature,
And elevates the Hero to the Gods.
O Energy divine of great Ambition! That can inform the Souls of beardless Boys, And ripen 'em to Men in spite of Nature.
Ambition is like Love, impatient..
Both of Delays and Rivals.
Ambition's never safe, till Pow'r be past.
As Men, till impotent, are seldom chaste. Sedl. Ant. & Cleop.
Ambition is the Dropsey of the Soul,
Whose Thirst we must not yield to, but controul. Sedl.Ant. If Glory was a Bait that Angels swallow'd,
How then should Souls ally'd to Sense, resist it? Dryd. Sec. Love.
One World fuffic'd not Alexander's Mind :
Coop'd up he seem'd, in Earth and Seas, confin'd:
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