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The beauteous goddess, that Æneas bore,
Foresaw it, and foreseeing did deplore;
For well she knew her hero's fate was nigh,
Devoted by conspiring arms to die.
Trembling, and pale, to every god she cry'd,
"Behold, what deep and subtile arts are try'd,
To end the last, the only branch that springs
From my lulus, and the Dardan kings!
How bent they are! how desp'rate to destroy
All that is left me of unhappy Troy!
Am I alone by fate ordain'd to know
Uninterrupted care, and endless woe?
Now from Tydides' spear I feel the wound:
Now Ilium's tow'rs the hostile flames surround:
Troy laid in dust, my exil'd son I mourn,
Through angry seas and raging billows borne,
O'er the wide deep his wand'ring course he bends;
Now to the sullen shades of Styx descends;
With Turnus driv'n at last fierce wars to wage,
Or rather with unpitying Juno's rage.
But why record I now my ancient woes?
Sense of past ills in present fears I lose;
On me their points the impious daggers throw;
Forbid it, gods, repel the direful blow:
If by curs'd weapons Numa's priest expires,
No longer shall ye burn, ye vestal fires."

While such complainings Cypria's grief disclose,
In each celestial breast compassion rose:
Not gods can alter fate's resistless will!

Yet they foretold by signs th' approaching ill.
Dreadful were heard, among the clouds, alarms
Of echoing trumpets, and of clashing arms;
The Sun's pale image gave so faint a light,
That the sad Earth was almost veil'd in night;
The ether's face with fiery meteors glow'd;
With storms of hail were mingled drops of blood;
A dusky hue the morning star o'erspread,
And the Moon's orb was stain'd with spots of red;
In every place portentous shrieks were heard,
The fatal warnings of th' infernal bird;
In ev'ry place the marble melts to tears;

[dare,

Your doubts to banish, enter Fate's abode,
A privilege to heav'nly powers allow'd;
There shall you see the records grav'd in length,
On ir'n and solid brass, with mighty strength;
Which Heav'n's and Earth's concussion shall en-
Maugre all shocks, eternal, and secure:
There, on perennial adamant design'd,
The various fortunes of your race you'll find:
Well I have mark'd them, and will now relate
To thee the settled laws of future fate.
He, goddess, for whose death the fates you blame,
Has finish'd his determin'd course with fame:
To thee, 'tis giv'n at length, that he shall shine
Among the gods, and grace the worshipp'd shrine:
His son to all his greatness shall be heir,
And worthily succeed to empire's eare:
Ourself will lead his wars, resolv❜d to aid
The brave avenger of his father's shade.
To him its freedom Mutina shall owe,
And Decias his auspicious conduct know:
His dreadful powers shall shake Pharsalia's plain,
And drench in gore Philippi's fields again:
A mighty leader, in Sicilia's flood,

Great Pompey's warlike son, shall be subdu❜d:
Egypt's soft queen, adorn'd with fatal charms,
Shall mourn her soldiers' unsuccessful arms:
Too late shall find her swelling hopes were vain,
And know, that Rome o'er Memphis still must
reign:

What name I Afric, or Nile's hidden head?
For as both oceans roll, his power shall spread:
All the known earth to him shall homage pay,
And the seas own his universal sway:
When cruel war no more disturbs mankind,
To civil studies shall he bend his mind,
With equal justice guardian laws ordain,
And by his great example vice restrain.
Where will his bounty or his goodness end?
To times unborn his gen'rous views extend;
The virtues of his heir our praise engage,
And promise blessings to the coming age:

While in the groves, rever'd through length of Late shall he in his kindred orbs be plac'd,

years,

Boding and awful sounds the ear invade,
And solemn music warbles through the shade;
No victim can atone the impious age,
No sacrifice the wrathful gods assuage;
Dire wars and civil fury threat the state;
And every omen points out Cæsar's fate;
Around each hallow'd shrine, and sacred dome,
Night-howling dogs disturb the peaceful gloom;
Their silent seats the wand'ring shades forsake,
And fearful tremblings the rock'd city shake.

Yet could not, by these prodigies, be broke
The plotted charm, or staid the fatal stroke;
Their swords th' assassins in the temple draw;
Their murd'ring hands nor gods nor temples
awe;

This sacred place their bloody weapons stain, - And virtue falls, before the altar slain.

'Twas now fair Cypria, with her woes opprest,
In raging anguish smote her heav'nly breast;
Wild with distracting fears, the goddess try'd
Her hero in th' etherial cloud to hide,
The cloud, which youthful Paris did conceal,
When Menelaus urg'd the threat'ning steel;
The cloud, which once deceiv'd Tydides' sight,
And sav'd Æneas in th' unequal fight.

When Jove-"In vain, fair daughter, you essay To o'er-rule destiny's unconquer'd sway:

With Pylian years, and crowded honours grac'd.
Mean-time, your hero's fleeting spirit bear,
Fresh from his wounds, and change it to a star:
So shall great Julius rites divine assume,
And from the skies eternal smile on Rome."

This spoke, the goddess to the senate flew;
Where her fair form conceal'd from mortal view,
Her Cæsar's heav'nly part she made her care,
Nor left the recent soul to waste to air;
But bore it upwards to its native skies:
Glowing with new-born fires she saw it rise;
Forth springing from her bosom up it flew,
And kindling, as it soar'd, a comet grew:
Above the lunar sphere it took its flight,
And shot behind it a long trail of light.

THE REIGN OF AUGUSTUS, IN WHICH OVID FLOURISHED.

THUS rais'd, his glorious offspring Julius view'd, Beneficently great, and scattering good; Deeds, that his own surpass'd, with joy beheld, And his large heart dilates to be excell'd. What though this prince refuses to receive The pref'rence, which his juster subjects give; Fame uncontroll'd, that no restraint obeys, The homage, shunn'd by modest virtue, pays, And proves disloyal only in his praise.

Though great his sire, him greater we proclaim:
So Atreus yields to Agamemnon's fame;
Achilles so superior honours won,
And Peleus must submit to Peleus' son;
Examples yet more noble to disclose,

So Saturn was eclips'd, when Jove to empire rose;
Jove rules the Heav'ns, the Earth Augustus sways;
Each claims a monarch's, and a father's praise.

Celestials, who for Rome your cares employ; Ye gods, who guarded the remains of Troy; Ye native gods, here born and fix'd by fate; Quirinus, founder of the Roman state; O parent Mars, from whom Quirinus sprung; Chaste Vesta, Cæsar's houshold gods among Most sacred held; domestic Phoebus, thou To whom with Vesta chaste alike we bow; Great guardian of the high Tarpeian rock; And all ye powers whom poets may invoke;

O grant, that day may claim our sorrows late, When lov'd Augustus shall submit to fate, Visit those seats where gods and heroes dwell, And leave, in tears, the world he rul'd so well!

THE POET CONCLUDES.

THE work is finish'd, which nor dreads the rage

Of tempests, fire, or war, or wasting age;
Come, soon or late, death's undetermin'd day,
This mortal being only can decay;

My nobler part, my fame, shall reach the skies,
And to late times with blooming honours rise:
Whate'er th' unbounded Roman power obeys,
All climes and nations shall record my praise:
If 'tis allow'd to poets to divine,
One half of round eternity is mine.

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