Tempora, dum grandi redeat Dux magnus ab auso.
Pars celeres fublime ferunt in nubila pennas,
Exercentve leves fuper arva patentia cursus
Certatim, quales Elea aut Pythia quondam
Per spatia arrecti Juvenes; Pars effera frænis
Indignantis Equi premit ora, rotifve citatis
Vix metam fugit & rapido prælabitur axe.
Inftruxere alii bella horrida, qualia fervent
Æthere, cum populis fignum fatale superbis
Imminet; aerii præcurrunt agmina prima
Protentis Equites haftis, dum prælia jungant
Ambæ acies; ferventque poli, totumque corufcans
Hinc atque hinc cœlum diro fulgore renidet.
Pars alia immani nifu rabieque Typhχ
Montes faxaque convellunt, equitantve per auras
Turbinibus; vix tantum Orcus capit ipse fragorem,
Qualis ab Oechalid victor cum fenfit acerbæ
Alcides pallæ ftimulos, fævoque dolore
Truce to his reftless thoughts, and entertain
The irksome hours, till his great Chief return.
Part on the Plain, or in the Air fublime
Upon the wing, or in fwift race contend,
As at the Olympian games, or Pythian fields:
Part curb their fiery Steeds, or fhun the goal
With rapid wheels, or fronted Brigads form.
As when, to warn proud Cities, War appears
Wag'd in the troubled sky, and armies rufa
To battle in the Clouds; before each Van
Prick forth the airy Knights, and couch their spears
Till thickest Legions close: with feats of arms
From either end of heav'n the welkin burns.
Others, with vaft Typbaan rage, more fell
Rend
up both rocks and hills, and ride the air
In whirlwind: Hell fcarce holds the wild uproar.
As when Alcides, from Oechalia crown'd
With conqueft, felt th' envenom'd robe, and tore
Infrendens pinus ruit ab radicibus imis
Thessalicas, raptumque Lichan de culmine torfit
Oetao, Euboicifque immifit defuper undis.
At Queis mitius ingenium, convalle reductâ
Succedunt umbris, & fecum fila retractant
Cœleftis defueta lyræ; fua bella fuorumque
Indignam memorant cladem; numerisque queruntur
Flebilibus, fato cogente quòd ardua Virtus
Vi sævâ ruat, aut forti fuccumbat iniquæ.
Sic fua nominibus prætexunt crimina falfis;
Sed numeri (quid enim minus immortalia gentis
Carmina fidereæ poterant?) suspensa tenebant
Tartara, & attonitâ denfatas aure catervas.
At procul & temerè fufi fuper avia montis
Pars læti eloquio (quod carmine dulcius ipfo
Infinuare amat in pectus) fermonibus altis
Oblectant animos, rerumque arcana requirunt;
Quos tenuere altercantes Fatumque Voluntasque
Through pain up by the roots Theffalian Pines,
And Lichas from the top of Oeta threw
Into th' Euboic Sea. Others more mild,
Retreated in a filent valley, fing
With notes Angelical to many a harp
Their own Heroic deeds, and hapless fall
By doom of battle: and complain that Fate
Free Virtue fhould inthrall to Force or Chance.
Their Song was partial; but the Harmony
(What could it lefs when Spirits immortal fing?)
Sufpended Hell, and took with ravishment
The thronging audience. In difcourfe more sweet,
(For Eloquence the Soul, Song charms the Senfe)
Others apart fat on a Hill retir'd,
In thoughts more elevate; and reason'd high
Of Providence, Foreknowledge, Will, and Fate ;
Fix'd Fate, free Will, Foreknowledge abfolute;
And found no end, in wandring mazes loft.
Atque Dei mens alta; Futuri gnara Dei mens,
Sed Fati lex fixa, & fato avulfa Voluntas:
Fruftra perpetuis urget Nox denfa tenebris
Palantes, & ludit inextricabilis Error.
Necnon multa Boni fuper explicuere Malique
Indole; quid faciat miferos, fervetque beatos;
An lentum torpere animum ftimulisne moveri
Præftet; quid fit Honos, quid demum Infamia vera :
Vana nimis fructuque carens Sapientia! falsæ
Sermonum illecebra! Sed & hæ mulfere dolorem,
Spefque aluere breves, animis mala ferre dederunt
Fortibus, ac triplici durârunt pectora ferro.
Pars alia audaci excurfu loca triftia latè
Luftrant turmatim, fi quæ plaga mitior effet
Orbe novo, miserisque magis fpirabilis æther.
Quatuor hi ripis, funefta ut littora ducunt,
Diverfi rapuere vias, ubi quatuor amnes
Arva fecant Erebi, totidemque per ora voluti
Flumina dira vomunt flammanti immiffa paludi.
Of good and evil much they argu'd then,
Of happiness and final misery,
Paffion and Apathy, and Glory and Shame;
Vain wisdom all, and falfe Philofophy:
Yet, with a pleafing forcery, could charm
Pain for a while, or anguish; and excite
Fallacious hope, or arm th' obdurate breast
With ftubborn patience, as with triple steel.
Another part, in Squadrons and grofs Bands,
On bold adventure to discover wide
That dismal world (if any Clime perhaps
Might yield them easier habitation) bend
Four ways their flying March, along the banks
Of four infernal Rivers, that difgorge
Hic effudit aquas implacati horridus amnis
Styx Odii: hic fqualens Acheron mærore profundo
Volvitur ater, iners; tum fluctum trifte fonantem
Urget Cocytus, nomen cui fæva dederunt
Lamenta horrendas volgo exaudita per undas:
Extremus Phlegethontis atrox ebulliit æftus
Igne fluens, rabiemque animat, geminatque furores.
Lethæus procul hinc tacitos tardo agmine fluctus
Rivus agit, variifque vagans oblivia ducit
Flexibus; hinc quicunque haurit, monumenta prioris
Expungit vitæ, luctufque & gaudia delet.
Hunc ultra fluvium æternâ denfata pruinâ
Terra jacet latè informis, rapidifque procellis
Turbinibufque agitata feris, & grandine dirâ,
Quæ firmo durata folo coalefcit acervos
In rigidos, veterifque imitatur fragmina molis.
Hinc atque hinc circum horrefcit nix alta geluque,
Ore patens rabido gurges, Serbonia qualis
Into the burning Lake their baleful streams:
Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate;
Sad Acheron, of forrow, black and deep;
Cocytus, nam'd of lamentation loud
Heard on the rueful ftream; fierce Phlegethon,
Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.
Far off from these, a flow and filent ftream,
Lethe, the river of Oblivion, rolls
Her wat'ry Labyrinth; whereof who drinks,
Forthwith his former ftate and being forgets,
Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain.
Beyond this flood a frozen Continent
Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual ftorms
Of Whirlwind, and dire Hail; which on firm land
Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems
Of ancient pile: all elfe, deep Snow and Ice:
A gulf profound as that Serbonian Bog
'Twixt Damiata, and mount Cafius old;
Vafta palus Damiatam inter Cafiumque cacumen
Antiquum, innumeras acies quæ fæva recepit
Immani barathro abforptas; furit efferus ardor
Aere fub gelido & concretum frigus adurit.
Huc olim, quotcunque luunt commiffa fub Orco,
Harpyiis tracti, Furiarumque unguibus uncis,
Deveniunt; hìc dira pati contraria diris
Afperaque alternis juffi mutare, per ipfas
Afperiora vices: flammarum è gurgite vixdum
Emerfus Calor æthereæ divinior auræ
Frigoribus torpet duris, mollisque animai
Fixa gelu natura riget; quotiefque recurrens
Hora vocat, fævos torrenda refertur in ignes.
Quòque dolor crefcat, Lethaa hæc flumina crebro
Transmittunt curfu, & multùm luctantur anheli
Labra ferè lambente oblivia ducere lymphâ.
Fata obstant, vetitumque vadum terrore Medufa
Gorgonio cingit frendens: quin fponte recedit
Where Armies whole have funk: the parching Air
Burns frore, and Cold performs th' effect of Fire.
Thither by harpy-footed Furies hal'd,
At certain revolutions all the damn'd
Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change.
Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce:
From beds of raging Fire to starve in Ice
Their soft Ethereal warmth, and there to pine
Immoveable, infix'd, and frozen round,
Periods of time; thence hurried back to Fire.
They ferry over this Lethean Sound
Both to and fro, their forrow to augment;
And wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach
The tempting ftream, with one small drop to lose
In fweet forgetfulness all pain and woe,
All in one moment, and fo near the brink:
But Fate withstands; and to oppose th' attempt
Medufa with Gorgonian terror guards
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