Arma cient truculenta cohors, placidamque quieten
Dirumpunt pugnæ; ufque adeo insincera voluptas
Omnibus, et miftæ caftigant gaudia enræ.
Jam gladii, tubulique ingesto fulphure fæti,
Protenfæque hafta, fulgentiaque arma, minæque
Telorum ingentes fubeunt; dant clauftra fragorem
Horrendum, ruptæ Aridente bitumine chartæ
Confufos reddunt crepitus, et fibila miscent.
Sternitur omne folum pereuntibus; undique cæfæ 60
Apparent turmæ, civilis crimina belli.
Sed poftquam infanus pugnæ deferbuit æftus,
Exuerintque truces animos, jam Marte fugato,
Diverfas repetunt artes, curasque priores.
Nec raro prifci heroes, quos pagina facra
Suggerit, atque olim peperit felicior ætas,
Hic parva redeunt fpecie. Cano ordine cernas
Antiquos prodire, agmen venerabile, patres.
Rugis fulcantur vultus, prolixaque barbæ
Canities mente pendet: fic tarda fenectus
Tithonum minuit, cam moles tota cicadam
Induit, in gracilem sensim collecta figuram.
Nunc tamen unde genus ducat, quæ dextra latentes Suppeditet vires, quem pofcat turba moventem, Expediam. Truncos opifex et inutile lignum Cogit in humanas fpecies, et robore natam Progeniem telo efformat, nexuque tenaci
Crura ligat pedibus, humerisque accommodat armos, Et membris membra aptat, et artubus infuit artus,
Tunc habiles addit trochleas, quibus arte pufillum 80
Verfat onus, molique manu famulatus inerti
Sufficit occultos motus, vocemque miniftrat.
His ftructa auxiliis jam machina tota peritos
Oftendit fulcos, duri et veftigia ferri:
Hinc falit, atque agili fe fublevat incita motu,
Voce que emittit tenues, et non fua verba.
SACRE THEORIE TELLURIS AUTOREM.
NON ufitatum carminis alitem,
Burnette, pofcis, non humiles modos:
Vulgare plectrum, languidæque
Refpuis officium camœnæ.
Auditur ingens continuo fragor,
Illapfa tellus lubrica deferit
Fundamina, et compage fracta
Suppofitas gravis urget undas.
Impulfus erumpit medius liquor,
Terras aquarum effufa licentia
Claudit viciffim; has inter orbis
Relliquiæ fluitant prioris.
Nunc et reclufo carcere lucidam
Balæna fpectat folis imaginem,
Stellafque miratur nutantes,
Et tremulæ fimulacra lunæ.
Quæ pompa vocum non imitabilis!
Qualis calefcit fpiritus ingen?!
Ut tollis undas! ut frementem
Diluvii reprimis tumultum !
Quis tam valenti pectore ferreus
Ut non tremifcens et timido pede
Incedat, orbis dum dolofi
Detegis inftabiles ruinas?
Quin hæc cadentum fragmina montium
Natura vultum fumere fimplicem
Coget refingens, in priorem
Mox iterum reditura formam.
Nimbis rubentem fulphureis Jovem
Cernas ; ut udis fævit atrox hyems
Incendiis, commune mundo
Et populis meditata bustum !
Nudus liquentes plorat Athos nives,
Et mox liquefcens ipse adamantinum
Fundit cacumen, dum per imas
Saxa fluunt refoluta valles.
O pectus ingens! O animum gravem,
Mundi capacem! si bonus auguror,
Te, noftra quo tellus fuperbit,
Accipiet renovata civem.
FROM OVID'S METAMORPHOSES.
BOOK II.
The ftory of Phaeton.
THE fun's bright palace, on high columns rais'd,
With burnish'd gold and flaming jewels blaz'd,
The folding gates diffus'd a filver light,
And with a milder gleam refresh'd the fight;
Of polish'd iv'ry was the cov'ring wrought,
The matter vy'd not with the fculptor's thought,
For in the portal was display'd on high
(The work of Vulcan) a fictitious sky,
A waving fea th' inferior earth embrac’d,·
And gods and goddesses the waters grac'd:
Ægeon here a mighty whale bestrode;
Triton and Proteus (the deceiving god)
With Doris here were carv'd, and all her train,
Some loosely fwimming in the figur'd main,
While fome on rocks their dropping hair divide, 15
And fome on fishes thro' the waters glide.
Tho' various features did the fifters grace,
A fifter's likenefs was in ev'ry face.
On earth a diff'rent landscape courts the eyes,
Men, towns, and beasts, in distant profpects rife, 20
And nymphs, and ftreams, and woods, and rural
|