Page images
PDF
EPUB

Venus at last beholds her godlike fon

Triumphant, and the field of battle won ;
Brave Turnus flain; strong Ardea but a name,
And buried in fierce deluges of flame;

Her towers, that boafted once a fovereign fway,
The fate of fancy'd grandeur now betray.
A famish'd heron from the afhes fprings,
And beats the ruin with difaftrous wings;
Calamities of towns diftreft the feigns,

And oft', with woeful fhrieks, of war complains.

THE

DEIFICATION OF ENEAS,

Now had Æneas, as ordain'd by Fate,
Surviv'd the period of Saturnia's hate :
And, by a fure irrevocable doom,
Fix'd the immortal majefty of Rome.
Fit for the station of his kindred stars,
His mother Goddess thus her fuit prefers:
Almighty arbiter, whose powerful nod
Shakes diftant earth, and bows our own abode;
To thy great progeny indulgent be,
And rank the Goddess-born a deity.

Already has he view'd, with mortal eyes,
Thy brother's kingdoms of the nether skies.
Forthwith a conclave of the Godhead meets,

Where Juno in the fhining fenate fits.
Remorse for paft revenge the Goddess feels;
Then thundering Jove th' almighty mandate fcals;

Allots

Allots the prince of his celeftial line

An apothëofis, and rights divine.

The crystal manfions echo with applause,

And, with her graces, Love's bright queen withdraws;
Shoots in a blaze of light along the skies,

And, borne by turtle, to Laurentum flies;
Alights where through the reeds Numicius strays,
And to the feas his watery tribute pays.
The God fhe fupplicates, to wash away
The parts more gross, and subject to decay,
And cleanse the Goddess-born from feminal allay.
The horned flood with glad attention stands,
Then bids his ftreams obey their fire's commands.
His better parts by luftral waves refin'd,
More pure, and nearer to æthereal mind,
With gums of fragrant fcent the Goddess ftrews,
And on his features breathes ambrofial dews.
Thus deify'd, new honours Rome decrees,
Shrines, feftivals; and ftiles him Indiges.

THE LINE OF THE LATIAN KINGS.
Afcanius now the Latian fceptre fways;

The Alban nation Sylvius next obeys.
Then young
Latinus: Next an Alba came,
The grace and guardian of the Alban name.
Then Epitus; then gentle Capys reign'd';
Then Capetis the regal power fuftain'd.
Next he who perifh'd on the Tuscan flood,
And honour'd with his name the River God.

}

Now

Now haughty Romulus began his reign,
Who fell by thunder he aspir'd to feign.
Meek Acrota fucceeded to the crown;

From peace endeavouring, more than arms, renown,
To Aventinus well refign'd his throne.

The Mount on which he rul'd preferves his name,
And Procas wore the regal diadem.

}

[blocks in formation]

VERTUMNUS AND POMONA.

A Hama-dryad flourish'd in thefe days,
Her name Pomona, from her woodland race.
In garden culture none could fo excel,
Or form the pliant fouls of plants so well;
Or to the fruit more generous flavours lend,
Or teach the trees with nobler loads to bend.
The Nymph frequented not the flattering ftream,
Nor meads, the subject of a virgin's dream;
But to fuch joys her nursery did prefer,
Alone to tend her vegetable care.

A pruning-hook the carry'd in her hand,

And taught the ftragglers to obey command;
Left the licentious and unthrifty bough,
The too-indulgent parent fhould undo.
She shows, how ftocks invite to their embrace
A graft, and naturalize a foreign race
To mend the salvage teint; and in its stead
Adopt new nature, and a nobler breed.

Now

Now hourly fhe obferves her growing care,
And guards their nonage from the bleaker air:
Then opes her streaming fluices, to fupply
With flowing draughts her thirfty family.

Long had the labour'd to continue free
From chains of love, and nuptial tyranny;
And, in her orchard's fmall extent immur'd,
Her vow'd virginity fhe ftill fecur'd.
Oft' would loofe Pan, and all the luftful train
*Of fatyrs, tempt her innocence in vain.
Silenus, that old dotard, own'd a flame;

And he, that frights the thieves with ftratagem
Of sword, and fomething elfe too grofs to name.
Vertumnus too pursued the maid no lefs;
But, with his rivals, fhar'd a like fuccefs.
To gain accefs, a thousand ways he tries';
Oft', in the hind, the lover would disguife.
The heedlefs lout comes fhambling on, and feems
Juft fweating from the labour of his teams.
Then, from the harveft, oft' the mimic fwain
Seems bending with a load of bearded grain.
Sometimes a dreffer of the vine he feigns,
And lawless tendrils to their bounds reftrains.
Sometimes his fword a foldier fhews; his rod,
An angler; ftill fo various is the God.
Now, in a forehead cloth, fome crone he feems,
A ftaff fupplying the defect of limbs

;

Admittance thus he gains; admires the store
Of fairest fruit, the fair poffeffor more;

Then greets her with a kiss: Th' unpractis'd dame
Admir'd a grandame kiss'd with such a flame.

[ocr errors]

Now, feated by her, he beholds a vine
Around an elm in amorous foldings twine.

If that fair elm, he cry'd, alone should stand,

No grapes would glow with gold, and tempt the hand; Or, if that vine without her elm fhould grow, 'Twould creep a poor neglected shrub below.

Be then, fair Nymph, by thefe examples led;
Nor fhun, for fancy'd fears, the nuptial bed.
Not the for whom the Lapithites took arms,
Nor Sparta's queen, could boast such heavenly charms.
And, if you would on woman's faith rely,

None can your choice direct fo well as I.
Though old, fo much Pomona I adore,
Scarce does the bright Vertumnus love her more.
'Tis your fair felf alone his breast inspires
With fofteft wishes and unfoil'd defires.
Then fly all vulgar followers, and prove
The God of Seasons only worth your love:
On my affurance well you may repose;
Vertumnus fcarce Vertumnus better knows.
True to his choice, all loofer flames he flies;
Nor for new faces fashionably dies.
The charms of youth, and every fmiling grace,
Bloom in his features, and the God confefs.
Befides, he puts on every shape at ease;
But those the most that best Pomona please.
Still to oblige her is her lover's aim;
Their likings and averfions are the fame.
Not the fair fruit your burden'd branches bear,
Nor all the youthful product of the year,
L

Could

« PreviousContinue »