TRANSLATIONS

FROM

LUCRETI U S.

DELIGHT of human-kind, and Gods above,

Parent of Rome, propitious Queen of Love,

Whofe vital power, air, earth, and sea supplies;
And breeds whate'er is born beneath the rolling skies:
For every kind, by thy prolific might,

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

For thee the land in fragrant flowers is dreft
For thee the ocean fimiles, and fmooths her wavy
breaft;
And Heaven itself with more ferene and purer light is

bleft.

For when the rifing spring adorns the mead,
And a new scene of nature ftands display'd,
When teeming buds and cheerful greens appear,
And western gales unlock the lazy year ;
The joyous birds thy welcome first express,
Whofe native fongs thy genial fire confefs,
Then favage beafts bound o'er their flighted food,
Struck with thy darts, and tempt the raging flood.

All

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 flowery 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 power; fince nothing new can spring
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 furvey,
And fing to Memmius an immortal lay

Of heaven and earth, and every where thy wondrous power difplay:

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

Meantime on land and fea let barbarous difcord cease,

And lull the liftening 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,