Whether great Jove refign fupreme command,
And truft his fceptre to thy abler hand;
Or if thou choose the empire of the day,
And make the fun's unwilling fteeds obey;
Aufpicious if thou drive the flaming team,
While earth rejoices in thy gentler beam;
Where-e'er thou reign, with one confenting voice,
The gods and nature shall approve thy choice.
But, oh! whatever be thy godhead great,
Fix not in regions too remote thy feat;
Nor deign thou near the frozen bear to shine,
Nor where the fultry southern stars decline;
Lefs kindly thence thy influence fhall come,
And thy blest rays obliquely visit Rome.
Prefs not too much on any part the sphere :
Hard were the task thy weight divine to bear;
Soon would the axis feel th' unusual load,
And groaning bend beneath th' incumbent god:
O'er the mid orb more equal fhalt thou rise,
And with a jufter balance fix the skies.
Serene for ever be that azure space,
No blackening clouds the purer heaven disgrace,
Nor hide from Rome her Cæfar's radiant face.
Then fhall mankind confent in fweet accord,
And warring nations fheath the wrathful sword;
Peace fhall the world in friendly leagues compofe,
And Janus' dreadful gates for ever close.
To me thy prefent godhead stands confeft,
Oh let thy facred fury fire
So thou vouchfafe to hear, let Phoebus dwell
Still uninvok'd in Cyrrha's myftic cell;
By me uncall'd, let fprightly Bacchus reign,
And lead the dance on Indian Nyfa's plain..
To thee, O Cæfar, all my vows belong;
Do thou alone infpire the Roman fong.
And now the mighty talk demands our care,
The fatal fource of difcord to declare;
What cause accurft produc'd the dire event,
Why rage fo dire the madding nations rent,
And peace was driven away by one confent.
But thus the malice of our fate commands,
And nothing great to long duration stands;
Afpiring Rome had rifen too much in height,
And funk beneath her own unwieldy weight.
So fhall one hour at laft this globe controul,
Break up the vast machine, diffolve the whole,
And time no more through measur'd ages
roll.
Then Chaos hoar fhall feize his former right,
And reign with anarchy and eldest night;
The starry lamps shall combat in the sky,
And loft and blended in each other die;
Quench'd in the deep the heavenly fires fhall fall,
And ocean caft abroad o'er-fpread the ball:
The moon no more her well-known course fhall run,
But rife from western waves, and meet the fun;
Ungovern'd shall she quit her ancient way,
Herself ambitious to fupply the day:
Confufion wild fhall all around be hurl'd,
And difcord and diforder tear the world.
Thus power and greatness to deftruction hafte,
Thus bounds to human happiness are plac'd,
And Jove forbids prosperity to last.
Yet Fortune, when fhe meant to wreak her hate,
From foreign foes preferv'd the Roman ftate,
Nor fuffer'd barbarous hands to give the blow,
That laid the queen of earth and ocean low;
To Rome herself for enemies the fought,
And Rome herself her own deftruction wrought;
Rome, that ne'er knew three lordly heads before,
First fell by fatal partnership of power.
What blind ambition bids your force combine?
What means this frantic league in which you join?
Mistaken men! who hope to share the spoil,
And hold the world within one common toil!
While earth the feas fhall in her bofom bear,
While earth herself shall hang in ambient air,
While Phoebus fhall his conftant task renew;
While through the Zodiac night shall day pursue ;
No faith, no truft, no friendship, shall be known
Among the jealous partners of a throne;
But he who reigns, fhall ftrive to reign alone.
Nor feek for foreign tales to make this good,
Were not our walls firft built in brother's blood?
Nor did the feud for wide dominion rife,
Nor was the world their impious fury's prize;
Divided power contention still affords,
And for a village ftrove the petty lords.
The fierce triumvirate combin'd in peace,
Preferv'd the bond but for a little space,
Still with an aukward difagreeing grace.
'Twas not a league by inclination made,
But bare agreement, fuch as friends perfuade.
Defire of war in either chief was seen,
Though interpofing Craffus ftood between.
Such in the midft the parting Ifthmus lies,
While fwelling feas on either fide arise;
The folid boundaries of earth restrain
The fierce Ionian and Ægean main;
But, if the mound gives way, ftraight roaring loud
In at the breach the rushing torrents croud;
Raging they meet, the dashing waves run high,
And work their foamy waters to the sky.
So when unhappy Craffus, fadly flain,
Dy'd with his blood Affyrian Carre's plain;
Sudden the feeming friends in arms engage,
The Parthian fword let loose the Latian rage.
Ye fierce Arfacidæ ! ye foes of Rome,
Now triumph, you have more than overcome:
The vanquish'd felt your victory from far,
And from that field receiv'd their civil war.
The fword is now the umpire to decide,
And part what friendship knew not to divide.
'Twas hard, an empire of so vaft a size,
Could not for two ambitious minds fuffice;
The peopled earth, and wide-extended main,
Could furnish room for only one to reign.
When dying Julia first forsook the light,
And Hymen's tapers funk in endless night,
The tender ties of kindred-love were torn,
Forgotten all, and bury'd in her urn.
Oh! if her death had haply been delay'd,
How might the daughter and the wife perfuade!
Like the fam'd Sabine dames fhe had been feen
To stay the meeting war, and stand between:
On either hand had woo'd them to accord,
Sooth'd her fierce father, and her furious lord,
To join in peace, and sheath the ruthless fword.
But this the fatal fifters doom deny'd;
The friends were fever'd, when the matron dy'd.
The rival leaders mortal war proclaim,
Rage fires their fouls with jealousy of fame,
And emulation fans the rifing flame.
Thee Pompey thy past deeds by turns infeft,
And jealous glory burns within thy breast;
Thy fam'd piratic laurel seems to fade,
Beneath fuccessful Cæsar's rising shade ;
His Gallic wreaths thou view'ft with anxious eyes
Above thy naval crowns triumphant rise.
Thee, Cæfar, thy long labours past incite,
Thy use of war, and custom of the fight;
While bold ambition prompts thee in the race,
And bids thy courage scorn a second place.
Superior power, fierce faction's dearest care,
One could not brook, and one disdain'd to share.
Juftly to name the better caufe were hard,
While greatest names for either fide declar'd:
Victorious Cæfar by the gods was crown'd,
The vanquish'd party was by Cato own'd.
Nor came the rivals equal to the field;
One to increasing years began to yield,
Old age came creeping in the peaceful gown,
And civil functions weigh'd the foldier down;
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