Hence with those coward terms: or fight, or fly; This choice is left ye, to resist or die:
And die I trust ye shall.'
With guilty fears the pale assembly shook.
FROM THE GREEK OF HESIOD.
THE food of man in deep concealment lies,
The angry gods have veil'd it from our eyes.
Else had one day bestow'd sufficient cheer,
And though inactive fed thee through the year;
Then might thy hand have laid the rudder by,
In blackening smoke for ever hung on high;
Then had the labouring ox foregone the soil,
And patient mules had found reprieve from toil;
But Jove conceal'd our food, incensed at heart
Since mock'd by wise Prometheus' wily art.
Sore ills to man devised the Heavenly Sire,
And hid the shining element of fire.
Prometheus, then, benevolent of soul,
In hollow reed the spark recovering stole,
Cheering to man, and mock'd the god whose gaze
Serene rejoices in the lightning's rays.
'Oh son of Japhet! with indignant heart
Spoke the Cloud-gatherer; oh! unmatch'd in art!
Exultest thou in this the flame retrieved,
And dost thou triumph in the god deceived?
But thou, with the posterity of man,
Shalt rue the fraud whence mighter ills began:
I will send evil for thy stealthy fire,
An ill which all shall love, and all desire."
The Sire who rules the earth and sways the pole Had said, and laughter fill'd his secret soul; He bade the crippled god his hest obey,
And mould with tempering water plastic clay;
Imbreathe the human voice within her breast,
With firm-strung nerves the' elastic limbs invest;
Her aspect fair as goddesses above,
A virgin's likeness with the brows of love.
He bade Minerva teach the skill that dyes
The web with colours as the shuttle flies:
He called the magic of love's charming queen
To breathe around a witchery of mien:
Then plant the rankling stings of keen desire,
And cares that trick the limbs with prank'd attire:
Bade Hermes last impart the craft refined
Of thievish manners and a shameless mind.
He gives command, the' inferior powers obey,
The crippled artist moulds the temper'd clay;
A maid's coy image rose at Jove's behest;
Minerva clasp'd the zone, diffused the vest;
Adored Persuasion and the Graces young
Her taper'd limbs with golden jewels hung;
Round her smooth brow the beauteous-tressed
Hours
A garland twined of Spring's purpureal flowers;
The whole attire Minerva's graceful art
Disposed, adjusted, formed to every part;
And last the winged herald of the skies,
Slayer of Argus, gave the gift of lies;
Gave trickish manners, honey'd words instill'd,
As he that rolls the deepening thunder will'd:
Then by the feather'd messenger of Heaven,
The name Pandora to the maid was given;
For all the gods conferr'd a gifted grace
To crown this mischief of the mortal race.
The Sire commands the winged herald bear The finish'd nymph, the' inextricable snare : To Epimetheus was the present brought; Prometheus' warning vanish'd from his thought: That he disclaim each offering from the skies, And straight restore, lest ills to man arise. But he received, and conscious knew too late The' insidious gift, and felt the curse of fate.
On earth of yore the sons of men abode
From evil free and labour's galling load;
Free from diseases that with racking rage
Precipitate the pale decline of age.
Now swift the days of manhood haste away,
And misery's pressure turns the temples gray.
The woman's hands an ample casket bear:
She lifts the lid-she scatters ills in air,
Hope sole remain'd within, nor took her flight,
Beneath the vessel's verge conceal'd from light;
Or ere she fled, the maid, advised by Jove,
Seal'd first the' unbroken cell, and dropp'd the
lid above;
Issued the rest, in quick dispersion hurl'd,
And woes innumerous roam'd the breathing world:
With ills the land is full, with ills the sea;
Diseases haunt our frail humanity: [glide
Self-wandering through the noon, the night, they
Voiceless-a voice the power all-wise denied:
Know then this awful truth-it is not given
To' elude the wisdom of omniscient Heaven.
THE DEFEAT OF THE TITANS.
FROM THE GREEK OF HESIOD.
ALL on that day roused infinite the war,
Female and male: the Titan deities,
The Gods from Saturn sprung, and those whom From subterraneous gloom released to light: Terrible, strong, of force enormous; burst
A hundred arms from all their shoulders huge: From all their shoulders fifty heads upsprang O'er limbs of sinewy mould. They then array'd Against the Titans in fell combat stood,
And in their nervous grasp wielded aloft
The Titan phalanx closed: then hands of strength Join'd prowess, and display'd the works of war. Tremendous then the' immeasurable sea
Roar'd; earth resounded: the wide heaven throughout
Groan'd shattering: from its base Olympus vast
Reeled to the violence of gods: the shock
Of deep concussion rock'd the dark abyss
Remote of Tartarus: the shrilling din
Of hollow tramplings, and strong battle strokes,
And measureless uproar of wild pursuit.
So they reciprocal their weapons hurl'd
Groan-scattering; and the shout of either host
Burst in exhorting ardour to the stars
Of heaven; with mighty war cries either host
Encountering closed.
Nor longer then did Jove Curb his full power; but instant in his soul
There grew dilated strength, and it was fill'd
With his omnipotence. At once he loosed
His whole of might, and put forth all the God.
The vaulted sky, the mount Olympian, flash'd
With his continual presence; for he pass'd
Incessant forth, and scatter'd fires on fires.
Hurl'd from his hardy grasp the lightnings flew
Reiterated swift; the whirling flash
Cast sacred splendour, and the thunderbolt
Fell: roar'd around the nurture-yielding earth
In conflagration, far on every side
The' immensity of forests crackling blazed:
Yea, the broad earth burn'd red, the streams that
With ocean, and the deserts of the sea.
Round and around the Titan brood of earth
Roll'd the hot vapour on its fiery surge;
The liquid heat air's pure expanse divine
Suffused the radiance keen of quivering flame
That shone from writhen lightnings, each dim orb
Strong though they were, intolerable smote,
And scorch'd their blasted vision.
Of Erebus the preternatural glare
[void
Spread, mingling fire with darkness. But to see
With human eye, and hear with ear of man,
Had been as if midway the spacious heaven,
Hurtling with earth, shock'd-e'en as nether earth
Crash'd from the centre, and the wreck of heaven
Fell ruining from high. So vast the din,
When, gods encountering gods, the clang of arms
Commingled, and the tumult roar'd from heaven:
Shrill rush'd the hollow winds,and roused through-
A shaking, and a gathering dark of dusk, [out
The crash of thunders and the glare of flames,
The fiery darts of Jove: full in the midst
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