When thwart the road a river rolled its flood
Tempestuous, and all further course withstood;
The torrent stream his ancient bounds disdains,
Swollen with new force, and late-descending rains.
Irresolute they stand when, lo! appears
The wondrous Sage: vigorous he seemed in years,
Awful his mien, low as his feet there flows
A vestment unadorned, though white as new-fallen snows;
Against the stream the waves secure he trod,
His head a chaplet bore, his hand a rod.
As on the Rhine, when Boreas' fury reigns,
And winter binds the floods in icy chains,
Swift shoots the village-maid in rustic play
Smooth, without step, adown the shining way,
Fearless in long excursion loves to glide,
And sports and wantons o'er the frozen tide.
So moved the Seer, but on no hardened plain;
The river boiled beneath, and rushed toward the main.
Where fixed in wonder stood the warlike pair,
His course he turned, and thus relieved their care :
"Vast, O my friends, and difficult the toil
To seek your hero in a distant soil!
No common helps, no common guide ye need,
Art it requires, and more than wingéd speed.
What length of sea remains, what various lands,
Oceans unknown, inhospitable sands!
For adverse fate the captive chief has hurled
Beyond the confines of our narrow world :
Great things and full of wonder in your ears.
I shall unfold; but first dismiss your fears:
Nor doubt with me to tread the downward road
That to the grotto leads, my dark abode."
Scarce had he said, before the warriors' eyes
When mountain-high the waves disparted rise;
The flood on either hand its billows rears,
And in the midst a spacious arch appears.
Their hands he seized, and down the steep he led
Beneath the obedient river's inmost bed;
The watery glimmerings of a fainter day
Discovered half, and half concealed their way;
As when athwart the dusky woods by night
The uncertain crescent gleams a sickly light.
Through subterraneous passages they went,
Earth's inmost cells, and caves of deep descent;
Of many a flood they viewed the secret source,
The birth of rivers rising to their course,
Whate'er with copious train its channel fills,
Floats into lakes, and bubbles into rills;
The Po was there to see, Danubius' bed,
Euphrates' fount, and Nile's mysterious head.
Further they pass, where ripening minerals flow,
And embryon metals undigested glow,
Sulphureous veins and living silver shine,
Which soon the parent sun's warm powers refine,
In one rich mass unite the precious store,
The parts combine and harden into ore;
Here gems break through the night with glittering beam,
And paint the margin of the costly stream,
All stones of lustre shoot their vivid ray,
And mix attempered in a various day;
Here the soft emerald smiles of verdant hue,
And rubies flame, with sapphire's heavenly blue;
The diamond there attracts the wondrous sight,
Proud of its thousand dyes and luxury of light.
ON THE MARRIAGE OF HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES.
IGNARÆ nostrûm mentes, et inertia corda,
Dum curas regum, et sortem miseramur iniquam,
Quæ solio affixit, vetuitque calescere flammâ
Dulci, quæ dono divûm, gratissima serpit
Viscera per, mollesque animis lene implicat æstus;
Nec teneros sensus, Veneris nec præmia nôrunt,
Eloquiumve oculi, aut facunda silentia linguæ :
Scilicet ignorant lacrymas, sævosque dolores,
Dura rudimenta, et violentæ exordia flammæ ;
Scilicet ignorant, quæ flumine tinxit amaro
Tela Venus, cæcique armamentaria Divi,
Irasque, insidias tacitum et sub pectore vulnus;
Namque sub ingressu, primoque in limine Amoris
Luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;
Intus habent dulces Risus, et Gratia sedem,
Et roseis resupina toris, roseo ore Voluptas :
Regibus huc faciles aditus; communia spernunt.
Ostia, jamque expers duris custodibus istis
Panditur accessus, penetraliaque intima Templi.
Tuque O! Angliacis, Princeps, spes optima regnis, Ne tantum, ne finge metum : quid imagine captus Hæres, et mentem pictura pascis inani?
Umbram miraris: nec longum tempus, et ipsa
Ibit in amplexus, thalamosque ornabit ovantes.
Ille tamen tabulis inhians longum haurit amorem,
Affatu fruitur tacito, auscultatque tacentem
Immemor artificis calami, risumque, ruboremque
Aspicit in fucis, pictæque in virginis ore:
Tanta Venus potuit; tantus tenet error amantes.
Nascere, magna Dies, qua sese AUGUSTA Britanno
Committat Pelago, patriamque relinquat amœnam ;
Cujus in adventum jam nunc tria regna secundos
Attolli in plausus, dulcique accensa furore
Incipiunt agitare modos, et carmina dicunt:
Ipse animo sedenim juvenis comitatur euntem
Explorat ventos, atque auribus aëra captat,
Atque auras, atque astra vocat crudelia; pectus
Intentum exultat, surgitque arrecta cupido;
Incusat spes ægra fretum, solitoque videtur
Latior effundi pontus, fluctusque morantes.
Nascere, Lux major, qua sese AUGUSTA Britanno Committat juveni totam, propriamque dicabit ; At citius (precor) O! cedas melioribus astris; Nox finem pompæ, finemque imponere curis Possit, et in thalamos furtim deducere nuptam; Sufficiat requiemque viris, et amantibus umbras : Adsit Hymen, et subridens cum matre Cupido Accedant, sternantque toros, ignemque ministrent ; Ilicet haud pictæ incandescit imagine formæ Ulterius juvenis, verumque agnoscit amorem.
Sculptile sicut ebur, faciemque arsisse venustam Pygmaliona canunt: ante hanc suspiria ducit, Alloquiturque amens, flammamque et vulnera narrat; Implorata Venus jussit cum vivere signum, Foemineam inspirans animam; quæ gaudia surgunt, Audiit ut primæ nascentia murmura linguæ, Luctari in vitam, et paulatim volvere ocellos Sedulus, aspexitque novâ splendescere flammâ ; Corripit amplexu vivam, jamque oscula jungit Acria confestim, recipitque rapitque; prioris Immemor ardoris, Nymphæque oblitus eburneæ.
DUM NOx rorantes, non incomitata per auras
Urget equos, tacitoque inducit sidera lapsu;
Ultima sed nulli soror inficianda sororum,
Huc mihi, Musa; tibi patet alti janua cœli,
Astra vides, nec te numeri, nec nomina fallunt.
Huc mihi, Diva, veni; dulce est per aperta serena
Vere frui liquido, campoque errare silenti;
Vere frui dulce est; modo tu dignata petentem
Sis comes, et mecum gelidâ spatiere sub umbrâ.
Scilicèt hos orbes, coeli hæc decora alta putandum est,
Noctis opes, nobis tantum lucere; virûmque
Ostentari oculis, nostræ laquearia terræ,
Ingentes scenas, vastique aulæa theatri?
O! quis me pennis æthræ super ardua sistet
Mirantem, propiusque dabit convexa tueri;
Teque adeo, undè fluens reficit lux mollior arva
Pallidiorque dies, tristes solata tenebras ?
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