Of Cafia, Cynamon, and stems of Nard, (For foftness ftrew'd beneath,) his funeral bed is rear'd:

594

Funeral and bridal both; and all around
The borders with corruptlefs myrrh are crown'd:
On this incumbent; till ætherial flame
First catches, then confumes the coftly frame;
Confumes him too, as on the pile he lies;
He liv'd on odours, and in odours dies.

An infant-phoenix from the former fprings, His father's heir, and from his tender wings 601 Shakes off his parent duft; his method he pur

fues,

And the fame leafe of life on the fame terms

renews:

When grown to manhood he begins his reign,
And with stiff pinions can his flight fuftain, 605
He lightens of its load the tree that bore
His father's royal fepulchre before,

And his own cradle this with pious care
Plac'd on his back, he cuts the buxom air,
Seeks the fun's city, and his facred church, 610
And decently lays down his burden in the porch.

A wonder more amazing would we find?
Th' Hyæna fhews it, of a double kind,
Varying the fexes in alternate years,
In one begets, and in another bears.
The thin cameleon, fed with air, receives
The color of the thing to which he cleaves.

615

India, when conquer'd, on the conqu'ring

god

For planted vines the fharp-eyed lynx beftow'd,
Whofe urine, fhed before it touches earth, 620
Congeals in air, and gives to gems their birth.
So coral, foft and white in ocean's bed,
Comes harden'd up in air, and glows with red.

All changing fpecies fhould my fong recite; Before I ceas'd, would change the day to night.

Nations and empires flourish and decay,

625

By turns command, and in their turns obey ; Time foftens hardy people, time again Hardens to war a foft, unwarlike train.

Thus Troy, for ten long years, her foes with

ftood,

630

And daily bleeding bore the expence of blood: Now for thick ftreets it fhews an empty space, Or only fill'd with tombs of her own perifh'd(

race,

Herself becomes the fepulchre of what she was. Mycene, Sparta, Thebes of mighty fame, 635 Are vanish'd out of fubftance into name,

And Dardan Rome, that just begins to rife,. On Tiber's banks, in time fhall mate the skies; Widening her bounds, and working on her

way,

Ev'n now the meditates imperial fway : 640

Yet this is change, but she by changing thrives, Like moons new born, and in her cradle strives To fill her infant-horns; an hour fhall come When the round world fhall be contain'd in Rome.

For thus old faws foretel, and Helenus 645
Anchifes' drooping fon enliven'd thus,
When Ilium now was in a finking state,
And he was doubtful of his future fate:
O goddefs-born, with thy hard fortune ftrive,
Troy never can be loft, and thou alive.
Thy paffage thou fhalt free through fire and
fword,

And Troy in foreign lands fhall be reftor'd.
In happier fields a rifing town I fee,

650

Greater than what e'er was, or is, or e'er shall

be:

And heaven yet owes the world a race deriv'd from thee.

Sages and chiefs, of other lineage born,

655

The city fhall extend, extended fhall adorn :
But from Iulus he muft draw his birth,

By whom thy Rome fall rule the conquer'd

earth:

Whom heaven will lend mankind on earth to

reign,

And late require the precious pledge again.

This Helenus to great Æneas told,

Which I retain, e'er fince in other mold

660

My foul was cloth'd; and now rejoice to view My country walls rebuilt, and Troy reviv'd

anew,

Rais'd by the fall: decreed by loss to gain; 666 Enflav'd but to be free, and conquer'd but to

reign.

"Tis time

troul,

my

hard-mouth'd courfers to con

670

Apt to run riot, and tranfgrefs the goal:
And therefore I conclude; whatever lies
In earth, or flits in air, or fills the fkies,
All fuffer change, and we, that are of foul
And body mix'd, are members of the whole.
Then when our fires, or grandfires, shall for-
fake

The forms of men, and brutal figures take, 675
Thus hous'd, fecurely let their fpirits reft,
Nor violate thy father in the beast,

Thy friend, thy brother, any of thy kin;
If none of thefe, yet there's a man within :
O fpare to make a Thyeftean meal,
To inclofe his body, and his foul expel.

680

Ill cuftoms by degrees to habits rife, Ill habits foon become exalted vice: What more advance can mortals make in fin So near perfection, who with blood begin? 685 Deaf to the calf that lies beneath the knife, Looks

VOL. IV.

up, and from her butcher begs her life ;

F

Deaf to the harmless kid, that, ere he dies,
All methods to procure thy mercy tries,

And imitates in vain thy children's cries. 690 Where will he ftop, who feeds with houshold bread,

Then eats the poultry which before he fed? Let plough thy fteers; that when they lose their breath,

To Nature, not to thee, they may impute their death.

Let goats for food their loaded udders lend, 695
And sheep from winter-cold thy fides defend ;
But neither sprindges, nets, nor fnares employ,
And be no more ingenious to destroy.
Free as in air, let birds on earth remain,
Nor let infidious glue their wings conftrain; 700
Nor opening hounds the trembling ftag affright,
Nor purple feathers intercept his flight;
Nor hooks conceal'd in baits for fish prepare,
Nor lines to heave 'em twinkling up in air.
Take not away the life you cannot give: 705
For all things have an equal right to live.
Kill noxious creatures, where 'tis fin to fave;
This only juft prerogative we have:

But nourish life with vegetable food,

And shun the facrilegious taste of blood.

710

These precepts by the Samian fage were

taught,

Which god-like Numa to the Sabines brought,