900

Or should he, thefe calamities to fly,
His honour plight and join the mutual tie,
And should the partner of his bofom prove
A chafte and prudent matron worthy love;
Yet he would find this chafte, this prudent wife
The hapless author of a checquer'd life:
But fhould he, wretched man, a nymph embrace,
A ftubborn confort, of a ftubborn race,
Poor hamper'd flave, how muft he drag the chain!
His mind, his breast, his heart, o'ercharg'd with
pain !

910

What congregated woes muft he endure!
What ills on ills which will admit no cure!
Th' omnipotence of Jove in all we see,
Whom none cludes, and what he wills must be;
Not thou, to none injurious, Japhet's fon,
With all thy wifdom, could his anger fhun;
His rage you fuffer'd, and confefs'd his pow'r,
Chain'd in hard durance in the penal hour.

The brothers Briareus and Cottus lay,
With Gyges, bound in chains, remov'd from day,
By their hard-hearted fire, who with furprife
View'd their vaft ftrength, their form, and mon-
ftrous fize:

930

And from their dungeons burft to light again.
Earth told them all from a prophetic light,
How gods encount'ring gods fhould meet in fight,
To them foretold, who ftood devoid of fear,
Their hour of vict'ry and renown was near;
The Titans, and the bold Saturnian race,
Should wage a dreadful war, ten years the space.
The Titans brave on lofty Othyrs ftand,
And gloriously dare the thund'rer's hand :
The gods from Saturn fprung, ally their pow'r;
(Gods Rhea bore him in a fatal hour):
From high Olympus they like gods engage,
And dauntlefs face, like gods, Titanian rage,
In the dire conflict neither party gains,
In equal balance long the war remains;
At last by truce each foul immortal rests,
Each God on nectar and ambrofia feasts;
Their fpirits nectar and ambrofia raife,
And fire their generous breasts to acts of praife;
To whom, the banquet o'er, in council join'd,
The fire of gods, and men exprefs'd his mind :
Gods, who from earth and heav'n, great rife,
defcend,

940

To what my heart commands to fpeak attend:
For vict'ry long, and empire, have we ftrove,
Long have ye battel'd in defence of Jove;
To war again, invincible your might,
And dare the Titans to the dreadful fight;
Of friendship strict obferve the facred charms,
Be that the cement of the gods in arms;
Grateful remember, when in chains ye lay,
From darkness Jove redeem'd ye to the day.
He fpoke, and Cottus to the god replies:
O venerable fire! in council wife,
Who freed immortals from a ftate of woe,
Of what you utter well the truth we know:

970

Refcu'd from chains and darkness here we ftand,
O fon of Saturn! by thy pow'rful hand; 961
Nor will we, king, the rage of war decline,
ill pow'r, indifputable pow'r, is thine;
The right of conquest shall confirm thy sway,
And teach the Titans whom they must obey.
He ends, the reft affent to what he fays;
And the gods thank him with the voice of praise ;
He more than ever feels himself infpir'd,
And his mind burns with love of glory fir'd.
All rush to battle with impetuous might,
And gods and goddeffes provoke the fight.
The race that Rhea to her lord conceiv'd,
And the Titanic gods by Jove reliev'd
From Erybus, who there in bondage lay,
Ally their arms in this immortal day.
Each brother fearless the dire conflict ftands,
Each rears his fifty heads, and hundred hands;
They mighty rocks from their foundations tore,
And fiercely brave against the Titans bore.
Furious and fwift the Titan phalanx drove, 980
And both with mighty force for empire ftrove:
The ocean roar'd from ev'ry part profound,
And the earth bellow'd from her inmost ground:
Heav'n groans, and, to the gods, conflicting bends,
And the loud tumult high Olympus rends.

So ftrong the darts from god to god were hurl'd,
The clamour reach'd the subterranean world;
And where, with haughty ftrides, each warrior
trod,

Hell felt the weight, and funk beneath the god;
All Tartarus could hear the blows from far: 990
Such was the big, the horrid, voice of war!
And now the murmur of incitement flies,
All rang'd in martial order, through the skies;
Here Jove above the reft confpicuous fhin'd,
In valour equal to his strength his mind;
Erect and dauntless fee the thund'rer stand,
The bolts red hiffing from his vengeful hand;
He walks majestic round the starry frame;
And now the lightnings from Olympus flame;
The earth wide blazes with the fires of Jove, 100❤
Nor the flash fpares the verdure of the grove.
Fierce glows the air, the boiling ocean roars,
And the feas wash with burning waves their shores;
The dazzling vapours round the Titans glare,
A light too pow'rful for their eyes to bear!
One conflagration feems to feize on all,
And threatens Chaos with the gen'ral fall.
From what their eyes behold, and what they hear,
The univerfal wreck of worlds is near:
Should the large vault of stars, the heav'ns, defcend,
And with the earth in loud confufion blend, IOII
Like this would feem the great tumultuous jar:
The gods engag'd, fuch the big voice of war!
And now the batt'ling winds their havoc make,
Thick whirls the duft, carth, thy foundations shake;
The arms of Jove thick and terrific fly,,
And blaze and bellow through the trembling sky;
Winds, thunder, lightning, through both armies

Foremost the labours of the day increase,
Nor let the horrors of the battle ceafe: [throw,
From their strong hands three hundred rocks they
And, oft repeated, overwhelm the foe;
They forc'd the Titans deep beneath the ground,
Caft from their pride, and in fad durance bound;
Far from the surface of the earth they lie, 1030
In chains, as earth is distant from the sky;
From earth the distance to the flarry frame,
From earth to gloomy Tartarus, the fame.
From the high heav'n a brazen anvil caft,
Nine nights and days in rapid whirls would laft,
And reach the earth the tenth, whence ftrongly
hurl'd,

The fame the paffage to th' infernal world,
To Tart'rus; which, a brazen closure bounds,
And whofe black entrance threefold night fur-
rounds,

With earth thy vaft foundations cover'd o'er; 1040
And there the ocean's endless fountains roar :
By cloud-compelling Jove the Titans fell,
And there in thick, in horrid darkness dwell:
They lie confin'd, unable thence to pafs,
The wall and gates by Neptune made of brass;
Jove's trufty guards, Gyges and Cottus, ftand
There, and with Briareus the pass command.
The entrance there, and the laft limits, lie
Of earth, the barren main, the starry sky,
And Tart'rus, there of all the fountains rife, 1050
A fight detefted by immortal eyes:

A mighty chaẩm, horror and darkness here;
And from the gates the journey of a year;
Here ftorms in hoarfe, in frightful murmurs play,
The feat of Night, where mifts exclude the day.
Before the gate the fon of Japhet stands,
Nor from the fkies retracts his head or hands;
Where night and day their courfe alternate lead;
Where both their entrance make and both recede,
Both wait the feafon to direct their way, 106.
And fpread, fucceffive, o'er the earth their fway:
This cheers the eyes of mortals with her light;
The harbinger of Sleep pernicious Night:
And here the fons of Night their manfion keep,
Sad deities, Death and his brother Sleep;
Whom, from the dawn to the decline of day,
The fun beholds not with his piercing ray :
One o'er the land extends, and o'er the feas,
And luils the weary'd nind of man to ease;
That iron-hearted, and of cruel foul,
Brazen his breaft, nor can he brook controul,
To whom, and ne'er return, all mortals go,
And even to immortal gods a foc.
Foremost th' infernal palaces are feen

1070

Of Pluto, and Perfephone his queen;
A horrid dog, and grim, couch'd on the floor,
Guards, with malicious art, the founding door;
On each, who in the entrance first appears,
He fawning wags his tail, and cocks his ears:
If any strive to measure back the way, 1080
Their fteps he watches, and devours his prey.
Here Styx, a goddefs, whom immortals hate,
The firft-born lair of Ocean, keeps her state;
From gods remote her filver columns rife,
Roof'd with large rocks her dome that fronts the

1100

Here, cross the main, swift-footed Iris brings
A meffage feldom from the king of kings;
But when among the gods contention spreads,
And in debate divides immortal heads,
From Jove the goddefs wings her rapid flight 1090
To the fam'd river, and the seat of Night,
Thence in a golden vase the water bears,
By whofe cool ftreams each pow'r immortal swears.
Styx from a facred fount her courfe derives,
And far beneath the earth her paffage drives;
From a ftupendous rock descend her waves,
And the black realms of Night her current laves :
Could any her capacious channels drain,
They'd prove a tenth of all the fpacious main;
Nine parts in mazes clear as filver glide
Along the earth, or join the ocean's tide;
The other from the rock in billows rolls,
Source of misfortune to immortal fouls.
Who with falfe oaths difgrace th' Olympian bow'rs,
Incur the punishment of heav'nly pow'rs:
The perjur'd god, as in the arms of death,
Lethargic lies, nor feems to draw his breath;
Nor him the nectar and ambrofia cheer,
While the fun goes his journey of a year;
Nor with the lethargy concludes his pain,
But complicated woes behind remain :
Nine tedious years he must an exile rove,
Nor join the council, nor the feafts of Jove;
The banish'd god back in the tenth they call
To heav'nly banquets and th' Olympian hall:
The honours fuch the gods on Styx bestow,
Whofe living ftreams through rugged channels
flow,

IIIO

Where the beginning, and last limits lie
Of earth, the barren main, the starry sky,
And l'art'rus; where of all the fountains rise; 1120
A fight detefted by immortal eyes.
Th' inhabitants through brazen portals pass,
Over a threshold of e'erlafting brafs,
The growth fpontaneous, and foundations deep;
And here th' allies of Jove their captives keep,
The Titans, who to utter darkness fell,
And in the fartheft parts of Chaos dwell.
Jove grateful gave to his auxiliar train,
Cottus and Gyges, mansions in the main;
To Briareus, for his fuperior might
Exerted fiercely in the dreadful fight,
Neptune who shakes the earth, his daughter gave,
Cymopolia, to reward the brave.

1130

1139

When the great victor god, almighty Jove, The Titans from celeftial regions drove, Wide Earth Typhoeus bore, with Tart'rus join'd, Her youngest born, and bluft'ring as the wind; Fit for moft arduous works his brawny hands, On feet as durable as gods he stands ; From heads of ferpents hifs and hundred tongues, And lick his horrid jaws, untir'd his lungs; From his dire hundred heads his eye-balls ftare, And fire-like, dreadful to beholders glare; Terrific from his hundred mouths to hear, Voices of ev'ry kind torment the car; His utt'rance founds like gods in council full; And now he bellows like the lordly bull: And now he roars like the ftern bealt that reigns

900

Or fhould he, thefe calamities to fly,
His honour plight and join the mutual tie,
And fhould the partner of his bofom prove
A chafte and prudent matron worthy love;
Yet he would find this chafte, this prudent wife
The hapless author of a checquer'd life :
But fhould he, wretched man, a nymph embrace,'
A ftubborn confort, of a stubborn race,
Poor hamper'd flave,how muft he drag the chain!
His mind, his breast, his heart, o'ercharg'd with
pain!

910

What congregated woes muft he endure!
What ills on ills which will admit no cure!
Th' omnipotence of Jove in all we fee,
Whom none eludes, and what he wills must be;
Not thou, to none injurious, Japhet's fon,
With all thy wisdom, could his anger fhun;
His rage you fuffer'd, and confefs'd his pow'r,
Chain'd in hard durance in the penal hour.

The brothers Briareus and Cottus lay,
With Gyges, bound in chains, remov'd from day,
By their hard-hearted fire, who with surprise
View'd their vaft ftrength, their form, and mon-
ftrous fize:

930

And from their dungeons burft to light again.
Earth told them all from a prophetic light,
How gods encount'ring gods fhould meet in fight,
To them foretold, who stood devoid of fear,
Their hour of vict'ry and renown was near;
The Titans, and the bold Saturnian race,
Should wage a dreadful war, ten years the space.
The Titans brave on lofty Othyrs ftand,
And gloriously dare the thund'rer's hand:
The gods from Saturn fprung, ally their pow'r;
(Gods Rhea bore him in a fatal hour):
From high Olympus they like gods engage,
And dauntlefs face, like gods, Titanian rage,
In the dire conflict neither party gains,
In equal balance long the war remains;
At laft by truce each foul immortal refts,
Each God on nectar and ambrofia feafts;
Their fpirits nectar and ambrofia raise,
And fire their generous breafts to acts of praise;
To whom, the banquet o'er, in council join'd,
The fire of gods, and men exprefs'd his mind:
Gods, who from earth and heav'n, great rife,
defcend,

940

To what my heart commands to fpeak attend:
For vict'ry long, and empire, have we ftrove,
Long have ye battel'd in defence of Jove;
To war again, invincible your might,
And dare the Titans to the dreadful fight;
Of friendship strict obferve the facred charms,
Be that the cement of the gods in arms;
Grateful remember, when in chains ye lay,
From darkness Jove redeem'd ye to the day.
He ipoke, and Cottus to the god replies:
O venerable fire! in council wife,
Who freed immortals from a state of woe,
Of what you utter well the truth we know:

Refcu'd from chains and darkness here we stand,
O fon of Saturn! by thy pow'rful hand; 961
Nor will we, king, the rage of war decline,
ill pow'r, indifputable pow'r, is thine;
The right of conqueft fhall confirm thy sway,
And teach the Titans whom they must obey.

970

He ends, the reft affent to what he says;
And the gods thank him with the voice of praise;
He more than ever feels himself infpir'd,
And his mind burns with love of glory fir'd.
All rush to battle with impetuous might,
And gods and goddeffes provoke the fight.
The race that Rhea to her lord conceiv'd,
And the Titanic gods by Jove reliev'd
From Erybus, who there in bondage lay,
Ally their arms in this immortal day.
Each brother fear lefs the dire conflict ftands,
Each rears his fifty heads, and hundred hands;
They mighty rocks from their foundations tore,
And fiercely brave against the Titans bore.
Furious and fwift the Titan phalanx drove, 980
And both with mighty force for empire ftrove :
The ocean roar'd from ev'ry part profound,
And the earth bellow'd from her inmost ground:
Heav'n groans, and, to the gods, conflicting bends,
And the loud tumult high Olympus rends.

So ftrong the darts from god to god were hurl'd,
The clamour reach'd the fubterranean world;
And where, with haughty ftrides, each warrior
trod,

Hell felt the weight, and funk beneath the god;
All Tartarus could hear the blows from far: 990
Such was the big, the horrid, voice of war!
And now the murmur of incitement flies,
All rang'd in martial order, through the skies;
Here Jove above the reft confpicuous fhin'd,
In valour equal to his strength his mind;
Erect and dauntless see the thund'rer stand,
The bolts red hifling from his vengeful hand;
He walks majestic round the ftarry frame;
And now the lightnings from Olympus flame;
The earth wide blazes with the fires of Jove, 1000
Nor the flash spares the verdure of the grove.
Fierce glows the air, the boiling ocean roars,
And the feas wash with burning waves their fhores;
The dazzling vapours round the Titans glare,
A light too pow'rful for their eyes to bear!
One conflagration feems to feize on all,
And threatens Chaos with the gen'ral fall.
From what their eyes behold, and what they hear,
The univerfal wreck of worlds is near :
Should the large vault of ftars, the heav'ns, defcend,
And with the earth in loud confufion blend, IOII
Like this would feem the great tumultuous jar:
The gods engag'd, fuch the big voice of war!
And now the batt'ling winds their havoc make,
Thick whirls the duft, carth, thy foundations shake;
The arms of Jove thick and terrific fly,
And blaze and bellow through the trembling sky;
Winds, thunder, lightning, through both armies

drove,

Foremost the labours of the day increase,
Nor let the horrors of the battle cease: [throw,
From their strong hands three hundred rocks they
And, oft repeated, overwhelm the foe;
They forc'd the Titans deep beneath the ground,
Caft from their pride, and in fad durance bound:
Far from the furface of the earth they lie, 1030
In chains, as earth is diftant from the sky;
From earth the distance to the flarry frame,
From earth to gloomy Tartarus, the same.
From the high heav'n a brazen anvil caft,
Nine nights and days in rapid whirls would last,
And reach the earth the tenth, whence ftrongly
hurl'd,

The fame the paffage to th' infernal world,
To Tart'rus; which, a brazen closure bounds,
And whofe black entrance threefold night fur-
rounds,

With earth thy vaft foundations cover'd o'er; 1040
And there the ocean's endless fountains roar :
By cloud-compelling Jove the Titans fell,
And there in thick, in horrid darkness dwell:
They lie confin'd, unable thence to pass,
The wall and gates by Neptune made of brass;
Jove's trufty guards, Gyges and Cottus, ftand
There, and with Briareus the pass command.
The entrance there, and the laft limits, lie
Of earth, the barren main, the ftarry sky,
And Tart'rus, there of all the fountains rife, 1050
A fight detefted by immortal eyes:

A mighty chaẩm, horror and darkness here;
And from the gates the journey of a year;
Here torms in hoarfe, in frightful murmurs play,
The feat of Night, where mifts exclude the day.
Before the gate the fon of Japhet stands,
Nor from the skies retracts his head or hands;
Where night and day their course alternate lead;
Where both their entrance make and both recede,
Both wait the feafon to direct their way, 106.
And spread, fucceffive, o'er the earth their sway :
This cheers the eyes of mortals with her light;
The harbinger of Sleep pernicious Night:
And here the fons of Night their manfion keep,
Sad deities, Death and his brother Sleep;
Whom, from the dawn to the decline of day,
The fun beholds not with his piercing ray :
One o'er the land extends, and o'er the feas,
And lulls the weary'd nind of man to ease;
That iron-hearted, and of cruel foul,
Brazen his breast, nor can he brook controul,
To whom, and ne'er return, all mortals go,
And even to immortal gods a foe.
Foremost th' infernal palaces are seen
Of Pluto, and Perfephone his queen;

1070

1080

A horrid dog, and grim, couch'd on the floor,
Guards, with malicious art, the founding door;
On each, who in the entrance first appears,
He fawning wags his tail, and cocks his ears:
If any strive to measure back the way,
Their fteps he watches, and devours his prey.
Here Styx, a goddefs, whom immortals hate,
The firft-born flair of Ocean, keeps her state;
From gods remote her filver columns rife,
Roof'd with large rocks her dome that fronts the

1100

Here, cross the main, swift-footed Iris brings
A message seldom from the king of kings;
But when among the gods contention spreads,
And in debate divides immortal heads,
From Jove the goddefs wings her rapid flight 1090
To the fam'd river, and the seat of Night,
Thence in a golden vase the water bears,
By whofe cool ftreams each pow'r immortal fwears.
Styx from a facred fount her courfe derives,
And far beneath the earth her paffage drives;
From a ftupendous rock defcend her waves,
And the black realms of Night her current laves:
Could any her capacious channels drain,
They'd prove a tenth of all the spacious main;
Nine parts in mazes clear as filver glide
Along the earth, or join the ocean's tide;
The other from the rock in billows rolls,
Source of misfortune to immortal fouls.
Who with falfe oaths difgrace th' Olympian bow'rs,
Incur the punishment of heav'nly pow'rs:
The perjur'd god, as in the arms of death,
Lethargic lies, nor feems to draw his breath;
Nor him the nectar and ambrofia cheer,
While the fun goes his journey of a year;
Nor with the lethargy concludes his pain,
But complicated woes behind remain:
Nine tedious years he muft an exile rove,
Nor join the council, nor the feasts of Jove;
The banish'd god back in the tenth they call
To heav'nly banquets and th' Olympian hall:
The honours fuch the gods on Styx bestow,
Whofe living streams through rugged channels
flow,

Where the beginning, and laft limits lie
Of earth, the barren main, the starry sky,
And Tart'rus; where of all the fountains rife; 1120
A fight detefted by immortal eyes.
Th' inhabitants through brazen portals pass,
Over a threshold of e'erlafting brafs,
The growth spontaneous, and foundations deep;
And here th' allies of Jove their captives keep,
The Titans, who to utter darkness fell,
And in the farthest parts of Chaos dwell.
Jove grateful gave to his auxiliar train,
Cottus and Gyges, mansions in the main;
To Briareus, for his fuperior might
Exerted fiercely in the dreadful fight,
Neptune who shakes the earth, his daughter gave,
Cymopolia, to reward the brave.

1130

1139

When the great victor god, almighty Jove, The Titans from celeftial regions drove, Wide Earth Typhous bore, with Tart'rus join'd, Her youngest born, and bluft'ring as the wind; Fit for moft arduous works his brawny hands, On feet as durable as gods he stands; From heads of ferpents hifs and hundred tongues, And lick his horrid jaws, untir'd his lungs; From his dire hundred heads his eye-balls ftare, And fire-like, dreadful to beholders glare; Terrific from his hundred mouths to hear, Voices of ev'ry kind torment the ear; His utt'rance founds like gods in council full; And now he bellows like the lordly bull: And now he roars like the ftern beast that reigns

And now, furprising to be heard, he yelps, 1150
Like, from his ev'ry voice, the lion's whelps;
And now, fo loud a noife the monster makes,
The loftieft mountain from its bafis fhakes:
And now Typhoeus had perplex'd the day,
And over men and gods ufurp'd the sway,
Had not the pow'rful monarch of the skies,
Of men and gods the fire, great Jove the wife,
Against the foe his hottest vengeance hurl'd,
Which blaz'd and thunder'd through th' ethereal
world;
1159
Through land and main the bolts red hiffing fell,
And through old Ocean reach'd the gates of Hell.
Th' almighty rising made Olympus nod,
And the earth groan'd beneath the vengeful god.
Hoarfe through the cerule main the thunder
roll'd,

Through which the light'ning flew, both uncontroul'd;

Fire caught the winds which on their wings they" bore, [roar,

1170

1180

Fierce flame the earth and heav'n, the feas loud
And beat with burning waves the burning fhore;.
The tumult of the gods was heard afar:
How hard to lay this hurricane of war!
The god who o'er the dead infernal reigns,
E'en Pluto, trembled in his dark domains:
Dire horror feiz'd the rebel Titan band,
In Tartarus who round their Saturn stand:
But Jove at last collected all his might,
With light'ning arm'd, and thunder for the fight.
With ftrides majestic from Olympus ftrode;
What pow'r is able now to face the god!
The flafh obedient executes his ire;
The giant blazes with vindictive fire;
From ev'ry head a diff'rent flame afcends;
The monster bellows, and Olympus bends:
The god repeats his blows, beneath each wound
All maim'd the giant falls, and groans the ground,
Fierce flash the lightnings from the hands of Jove,
The mountains burn, and crackles ev'ry grove.
The melted earth floats from her inmoft caves,
As from the furnace run metallic waves:
Under the caverns of the facred ground,
Where Vulcan works, and reflefs anvils found,
Beneath the hand divine the iron grows
Ductile, and liquid from the furnace flows;
So the earth melted: and the giant fell,
Plung'd by the arms of mighty Jove to hell.

1189

1200

Typhoeus bore the rapid winds which fly With tempefts wing'd, and darken all the sky; But from the bounteous gods derive their birth The gales which breathe frugiferous to earth, The fouth, the north, and the swift weftern wind Which ever blow to profit human kind: Thofe from Typhæus fprung, an useless train, To men pernicious, blufter o'er the main; With thick and fable clouds they veil the deep, And now deftructive crofs the ocean sweep; The mariner with dread beholds from far The gathering storms, and elemental war; His bark the furious blaft and billows rend; The furges rife, and cataracts defcend; Above, beneath, he hears the tempeft roar;

Now finks the veffel,and he fears no more: 1210

And remedy to this they none can find,
Who are refolved to trade by sea and wind.
On land in whirlwinds, or unkindly show'rs,
They blaft the lovely fruits and blooming flow'rs;
O'er fea and land the bluft'ring tyrants reign,
And make of earth-born men the labours vain.

And now the gods, who fought for endless fame,
The god of gods almighty Jove proclaim,
As Earth advis'd: nor reigns Olympian Jove
Ingrate to them who with the Titans strove; 1220
On those who war'd beneath his wide command
He honours heaps with an impartial hand.

And now the king of gods, Jove, Metis led, The wifeft fair one, to the genial bed; Who with the blue-ey'd virgin fruitful proves, Minerva, pledge of their celeftial loves;

The fire, from what kind earth and heav'n reveal'd,

Artful the matron in himself conceal'd;
From her it was decreed a race fhould rife
That would ufurp the kingdom of the fkies: 123
And first the virgin with her azure eyes,
Equal in ftrength, and as her father wife,
Is born, the offspring of th' almighty's brain :
And Metis by the god conceiv'd again,
A fon decreed to reign o'er heav'n and earth,
Had not the fire deftroy'd the mighty birth:
He made the goddess in himself refide,
To be in ev'ry act th' eternal guide.

1250

Eurynome, from ocean sprung, to Jove The beauteous graces bore infpiring love, Aglaia, and Euphrofyne the fair, And thou Thalia of a graceful air; From the bright eyes of thefe fuch charms proceed

As make the hearts of all beholders bleed.

He Ceres next, a bounteous goddess led
To tafte the pleafures of the genial bed;
To him fair-arm'd Perfephone the bore,
Whom Pluto ravish'd from her native fhore:
The mournful dame he of her child bereft,
But the wife fire affented to the theft.

Mnemofyne his breaft with love infpires,
The fair-trefs'd object of the god's defires;
Of whom the mufes, tuneful nine, are born,
Whofe brows rich diadems of gold adorn;
To them uninterrupted joys belong,
Them the gay feaft delights, and facred fong.

126

Latona bore, the fruits of Jove s embrace, The lovelieft offsprings of th' ethereal race; She for Apollo felt the child-bed throw; And Artemis for thee who twang the bow. 1270 Laft Juno fills th' almighty monarch's arms, A blooming confort, and replete with charms; From her Lucina, Mars, and Hebe, fpring; Their fire of gods the god, of kings the king.