TRANSLATIONS

FROM

LUCRETIU S.

The beginning of the FIRST Book of

LUCRETIU S.

D

Elight of human kind, and Gods above,

Parent of Rome, propitious queen of love, Whofe vital pow'r, air, earth, and fea fupplies;

And breeds whate'er is born beneath the rowling fkies:
For every kind, by thy prolific might,

Springs, and beholds the regions of the light.
Thee, Goddefs, thee the clouds and tempefts fear,
And at thy pleafing prefence difappear:

For thee the land in fragrant flow'rs is drest;

For thee the ocean fmiles, and smooths her wavy breast; And Heav'n itself with more ferene and purer light is bleft.

For when the rifing fpring adorns the mead,
And a new scene of nature stands display'd,
When teeming buds, and chearful greens appear,
And western gales unlock the lazy year;
The joyous birds thy welcome firft exprefs,
Whofe native fongs thy genial fire confess,
Then favage beasts bound o'er their flighted food,
Struck with thy darts, and tempt the raging flood..
All nature is thy gift; earth, air, and sea:
Of all that breathes, the various progeny,
Stung with delight, is goaded on by thee.
O'er barren mountains, o'er the flow'ry plain,

The leafy foreft, and the liquid main,
Extends thy uncontrol'd and boundless reign.
Through all the living regions doft thou move,

}

}

And scatter'ft, where thou go'ft, the kindly feeds of love. Since then the race of every living thing

Obeys thy pow'r; fince nothing new can fpring

Without

Without thy warmth, without thy influence bear;
Or beautiful, or lovefome can appear;
Be thou my aid, my tuneful fong infpire,
And kindle with thy own productive fire;
While all thy province, Nature, I survey,
And fing to Memmius an immortal lay

Of heav'n and earth, and every where thy wondrous pow'r difplay:

To Memmius, under thy fweet influence born,
Whom thou with all thy gifts and graces dost adorn.
The rather then affift my Muse and me,
Infufing verfes worthy him and thee.

Mean-time on land and fea let barb'rous discord cease,
And lull the lift'ning world in universal peace.
To thee mankind their foft repofe must owe;
For thou alone that bleffing canst bestow;
Because the brutal bufinefs of the war

Is manag'd by thy dreadful servant's care;
Who oft retires from fighting fields, to prove
The pleafing pains of thy eternal love;
And, panting on thy breaft, fupinely lies,
While with thy heavenly form he feeds his famish'd eyes;
Sucks in with open lips thy balmy breath,

By turns reftor'd to life, and plung'd in pleafing death.
There while thy curling limbs about him move,
Involv'd and fetter'd in the links of love,
When, wishing all, he nothing can deny,
Thy charms in that aufpicious moment try;
With winning eloquence our peace implore,
And quiet to the weary world restore.

The

The beginning of the SECOND BOOK of

LUCRETIU S.

ידי

IS pleasant, fafely to behold from fhore
The rowling fhip, and hear the tempest roar:
Not that another's pain is our delight;

But pains unfelt produce the pleafing fight.
'Tis pleasant also to behold from far
The moving legions mingled in the war.
But much more fweet thy lab'ring steps to guide
To virtue's heights, with wifdom well fupply'd,
And all the magazines of learning fortify'd:
From thence to look below on human kind,
Bewilder'd in the maze of life, and blind:
To fee vain fools ambitiously contend
For wit and pow'r; their laft endeavours bend
T'outfhine each other, wafte their time and health
In search of honour, and pursuit of wealth.
O wretched man! in what a mift of life,
Inclos'd with dangers and with noify ftrife,
He fpends his little fpan; and overfeeds

His cramm'd defires, with more than nature needs!
For nature wifely flints our appetite,

And craves no more than undisturb'd delight:
Which minds, unmix'd with cares and fears obtain;
A foul ferene, a body void of pain.

So little this corporeal frame requires;
So bounded are our natural defires,
That wanting, all, and fetting pain afide,
With bare privation fenfe is fatisfy'd.

}