HUS fpoke the Goddess of the fearless eye;
And at her voice, renew'd, the Vision rofe.
Firft, in the dawn of time, with eastern swains,
In woods, and tents, and cottages, I liv'd;
While on from plain to plain they led their flocks,
In fearch of clearer fpring, and fresher field.
Thefe, as increafing families difclos'd
The tender ftate, I taught an equal fway,
Few were offences, properties, and laws.
Beneath the rural portal, palm o'erspread,
The father-fenate met. There Juftice dealt,
With reason then and equity the fame,
Free as the common air, her prompt decree;
Nor yet had ftain'd her sword with fubject's blood.
The fimpler arts were all their fimple wants
Had urg'd to light. But inftant, thefe fupply'd,
Another fet of fonder wants arofe,
And other arts with them of finer aim;
Till, from refining want to want impell'd,
The mind by thinking pufh'd her latent powers,
And life began to glow, and arts to fhine.
At first, on brutes alone the ruftic war
Launch'd the rude fpear; fwift, as he glar'd along,
On the grim lion, or the robber-wolf.
For then young sportive life was void of toil,
Demanding little, and with little pleas'd:
But when to manhood grown, and endless joys,
Led on by equal toils, the bofom fir'd;
Lewd lazy rapine broke primæval peace,
And, hid in caves and idle forefts drear,
From the lone pilgrim and the wandering fwain,
Seiz'd what he durft not earn.
First, horrid, fmoak'd on the polluted skies.
Aweful in juftice, then the burning youth,
Led by their temper'd fires, on lawless men,
The last worst monfters of the fhaggy wood,
Turn'd the keen arrow, and the fharpen'd fpear.
Then war grew glorious. Heroes then arofe;
Who, fcorning coward self, for others liv'd,
Toil'd for their ease, and for their safety bled.
Weft with the living day to Greece I came :
Earth fmil'd beneath my beam: the Mufe before
Sonorous flew, that low till then in woods
Had tun'd the reed, and figh'd the fhepherd's pain;
But now, to fing heroic deeds, fhe fwell'd
A nobler note, and bade the banquet burn.
For Greece my fons of Egypt I forfook :
A boastful race, that in the vain abyss
Of fabling ages lov'd to lose their fource,
And with their river trac'd it from the skies.
While there my laws alone defpotic reign'd,
And king, as well as people, proud obey'd;
I taught them science, virtue, wifdom, arts;
By poets, fages, legiflators fought;
The school of polish'd life, and human-kind.
But when myfterious Superftition came,
And, with her civil fister leagu’d, involv’d
In ftudy'd darkness the defponding mind;
Then Tyrant Power the righteous scourge unloos'd :
For yielded reason speaks the soul a slave.
Instead of useful works, like Nature's, great,
Enormous, cruel wonders crush'd the land;
And round a tyrant's tomb, who none deferv'd,
For one vile carcass perish'd countless lives.
Then the great Dragon, couch'd amid his floods,
Swell'd his fierce heart, and cry'd-" This flood is
"'Tis I that bid it flow."-But, undeceiv'd, (mine, His phrenzy foon the proud blafphemer felt;
Felt that, without my fertilizing power,
Suns loft their force, and Niles o'erflow'd in vain. 70 Nought could retard me: nor the frugal state
Of rifing Perfia, fober in extreme,
Beyond the pitch of man, and thence revers'd
Into luxurious wafte: nor yet the ports
Of old Phoenicia; firft for letters fam'd,
That paint the voice, and filent speak to fight,
Of arts prime fource, and guardian! by fair stars,
Firft tempted out into the lonely deep;
To whom I firft difclos'd mechanic arts,
The winds to conquer, to fubdue the waves,
With all the peaceful power of ruling trade;
Earnest of Britain. Nor by these retain'd;
D 3
This hive of science, fhedding fweets divine,
Of active arts, and animated arms.
There, paffionate for Me, an easy-mov'd,
A quick, refin'd, a delicate, humane,
Enlighten'd people reign'd. Oft on the brink
Of ruin, hurry'd by the charm of speech,
Inforcing hafty counfel immature,
Totter'd the rafh democracy; unpois'd,
And by the rage devour'd, that ever tears
A populace unequal; part too rich,
And part or fierce with want or abje&t grown.
Solon, at laft, their mild restorer, rofe:
Allay'd the tempeft; to the calm of laws
Reduc'd the fettling whole; and, with the weight
Which the two fenates to the public lent,
As with an anchor fix'd the driving state.
Nor was my forming care to these confin'd.
For emulation through the whole I pour'd,
Noble contention! who should most excel
In government well-pois'd, adjusted best
To public weal: in countries cultur'd high :
In ornamented towns, where order reigns,
Free focial life, and polish'd manners fair:
In exercife, and arms; arms only drawn
For common Greece, to quell the Perfian pride :
In moral science, and in graceful arts.
Hence, as for glory peacefully they strove,
The prize grew greater, and the prize of all.
By contest brighten'd, hence the radiant youth
Pour'd every beam; by generous pride inflam'd,
Felt every ardour burn their great reward
The verdant wreathe, which founding Pisa gave.
Hence flourish'd Greece; and hence a race of men,
As gods by conscious future times ador'd:
In whom each virtue wore a fmiling air,
Each science shed o'er life a friendly light,
Each art was nature. Spartan valour hence,
At the fam'd pass, firm as an isthmus stood;
And the whole eastern ocean, waving far
As eye could dart it's vision, nobly check'd
While in extended battle, at the field
Of Marathon, my keen Athenians drove
Before their ardent band, an hoft of flaves.
Hence through the continent ten thousand Greeks
Urg'd a retreat, whose glory not the prime
Of victories can reach. Deferts, in vain,
Oppos'd their courfe; and hoftile lands, unknown;
And deep rapacious floods, dire-bank'd with death;
And mountains, in whofe jaws deftruction grin'd
Hunger, and toil; Armenian fnows, and storms;
And circling myriads still of barbarous foes.
Greece in their view, and glory yet untouch'd,
Their steady column pierc'd the scattering herds,
Which a whole empire pour'd; and held its way
Triumphant, by the Sage-exalted Chief
Fir'd and fuftain'd. Oh, light and force of mind,
Almoft almighty in fevere extremes !
The fea at last from Colchian mountains seen,
Kind-hearted transport round their captains threw
The foldiers fond embrace; o'erflow'd their eyes
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