The son inquires into his father's years.
Faith flies, and piety in exile mourns;
And Justice, here opprest, to heaven returns.
Nor were the gods themselves more safe above; Against beleaguer'd heaven the giants move. Hills piled on hills, on mountains mountains lie, To make their mad approaches to the sky. Till Jove, no longer patient, took his time. To avenge with thunder their audacious crime: Red lightning play'd along the firmament, And their demolish'd works to pieces rent. Sing'd with the flames, and with the bolts transfix'd, With native earth their blood the monsters mix'd; The blood, indu'd with animating heat,
Did in the impregnate earth new sons beget:
They, like the seed from which they sprung, accurst,
Against the gods immortal hatred nurst:
An impious, arrogant, and cruel brood;
Expressing their original from blood.
Which when the king of gods beheld from high (Withal revolving in his memory,
What he himself had found on earth of late,
Lycaon's guilt, and his inhuman treat)
He sigh'd, nor longer with his pity strove;
But kindled to a wrath becoming Jove;
Then call'd a general council of the gods;
Who, summon'd, issue from their blest abodes,
And fill the assembly with a shining train.
A way there is in heaven's expanded plain,
Which, when the skies are clear, is seen below,
And mortals by the name of milky know. ́
The ground-work is of stars; thro' which the road
Lies open to the thunderer's abode.
The gods of greater nations dwell around,
And on the right and left the palace bound; 224
The commons where they can; the nobler sort,
With winding doors wide open, front the court.
This place, as far as earth with heaven may vie,
I dare to call the Louvre of the sky.
When all were plac'd, in seats distinctly known,
And he, their father, had assum'd the throne, 230
Upon his ivory sceptre first he leant,
Then shook his head, that shook the firmament:
Air, earth, and seas, obey'd the almighty nod;
And with a general fear confess'd the god.
At length, with indignation, thus he broke
His awful silence, and the powers bespoke.
I was not more concern'd in that debate
Of empire, when our universal state
Was put to hazard, and the giant race
Our eaptive skies were ready to embrace :
For though the foe was fierce, the seeds of all
Rebellion sprung from one original;
Now wheresoever ambient waters glide,
All are corrupt, and all must be destroy'd.
Let me this holy protestation make :
By hell, and hell's inviolable lake,
I tried whatever in the god head lay;
But gangren'd members must be lopt away,
Before the nobler parts are tainted to decay.
There dwells below a race of demi-gods,
Of nymphs in waters, and of fawns in woods;
Who, though not worthy yet in heaven to live,
Let 'em at least enjoy that earth we give.
Can these be thought securely lodg'd below,
When I myself, who no superior know,
I, who have heaven and earth at my command,
Have been attempted by Lycaon's hand?
At this a murmur through the synod went, And with one voice they vote his punishment. Thus, when conspiring traitors dar'd to doom The fall of Cæsar, and in him of Rome, The nations trembled with a pious fear; All anxious for their earthly thunderer: Nor was their care, O Cæsar, less esteem'd By thee, than that of heaven for Jove was deem'd; Who with his hand, and voice, did first restrain Their murmurs, then resum'd his speech again. The gods to silence were compos'd, and sat With reverence due to his superior state.
Cancel your pious cares; already he Has paid his debt to justice, and to me. Yet what his crimes, and what my judgments were, Remains for me thus briefly to declare. The clamours of this vile degenerate age, The cries of orphans, and the oppressor's rage, Had reach'd the stars; I will descend, said I,
246 But gangren'd] Jupiter talks like a surgeon. Dr. J. W.
In hope to prove this loud complaint a lie.
Disguis'd in human shape, I travell'd round
The world, and more than what I heard I found.
O'er Mænalus I took my steepy way,
By caverns infamous for beasts of prey.
Then cross'd Cyllene, and the piny shade,
More infamous by curst Lycaon made:
Dark night had cover'd heaven and earth, before
I enter'd his unhospitable door.
Just at my entrance, I display'd the sign
That somewhat was approaching of divine.
The prostrate people pray the tyrant grins;
And, adding profanation to his sins,
I'll try, said he, and if a god appear,
Το prove his deity shall cost him dear.
"Twas late; the graceless wretch my death prepares, When I should soundly sleep, opprest with cares: This dire experiment he chose, to prove
If I were mortal, or undoubted Jove;
But first he had resolv'd to taste my power:
Not long before, but in a luckless hour,
Some legates sent from the Molossian state,
Were on a peaceful errand come to treat:
Of these he murders one, he boils the flesh,
And lays the mangled morsels in a dish:
Some part he roasts; then serves it up so drest,
And bids me welcome to this human feast.
Mov'd with disdain, the table I o'erturn'd;
And with avenging flames the palace burn'd. 305
The tyrant, in a fright, for shelter gains
The neighb'ring fields, and scours along the plains.
Howling he fled, and fain he would have spoke,
But human voice his brutal tongue forsook.
About his lips the gather'd foam he churns,
And breathing slaughter, still with rage he burns,
But on the bleating flock his fury turns.
His mantle, now his hide, with rugged hairs
Cleaves to his back; a famish'd face he bears;
His arms descend, his shoulders sink away,
To multiply his legs for chase of prey.
He grows a wolf, his hoariness remains,
And the same rage in other members reigns.
still sparkle in a narrower space,
His jaws retain the grin, and violence of his face.
This was a single ruin, but not one
Deserves so just a punishment alone.
Mankind's a monster, and the ungodly times,
Confederate into guilt, are sworn to crimes.
All are alike involv'd in ill, and all
Must by the same relentless fury fall.
Thus ended he; the greater gods assent, By clamours urging his severe intent; The less fill up the cry for punishment. Yet still with pity they remember man ; And mourn as much as heavenly spirits can. They ask, when those were lost of human birth, What he would do with all his waste of earth? If his dispeopled world he would resign To beasts, a mute, and more ignoble line? Neglected altars must no longer smoke,
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