1 Her winning voice the youth attentive caught: fought: tain: „They share my bliss; they best can speak my praise: Slander, still prompt true merit to defame; name. XI. By this arriv'd the fair majestic maid: Compos'd advancd) „Kno', Hercules, The said » Thy tender age that lov'd instruction's voice, choice. „Rife, youth! Exalt thyself, and me: approve thy Jove, XII. „But what truth promts, my tongue shall not disguise; Watchings and cares must win the lofty prize „Propos'd by heav'n; true bliss, and real good. „Honour rewards the brave and bold alone; She » She spurns the timorous, indolent, and base: Dr.Lowth. ,,Danger and toil stand stern before her throne; ,,And guard (fo Jove commands,) the sacred place, Who seeks her, must the mighty cost sustain, . And pay the price of fame; labour, and care, and pain. XIII. „Wou'dst thou engage the gods peculiar care? ,, O Hercules, th' immortal powers adore ! With a pure heart, with facrifice and pray'r „Attend their altars; and their aid implore. Or wou'dft thou gain thy country's loud apo plause, Be thou the bold assertor of her cause; „ In peace, in war, pursue thy country's good! For her bare thy bold breast, and pour thy gene rous blood. XIV. „Wou'dst thou, to quell the proud and lift th’opo preft, ,,In arts of war and matchless strength excel? „First conquer thou thyself. To ease, to rest, To each soft thought of pleasure, bid farewel. The night alternate, due to sweet repose, Congeald, amidst the rigorous winter's snows; ,,Scorch'd, by the summer's thirst in flaming ray. Thy harden'd limbs shall boast superior might: „Vigour fhall brace thine arm, refiftless in the fight. XV. „Hear'st thou, what monsters then thou must en. gage: What Dr.Lowth. » What dangers, gentle youth, she bids thee prove ? (Abrupt says sloth) ill fit thy tender age Tumult and wars: fit age, for joy and love. » Turn, gentle youth, to me, to love and joy! „To these I lead: no monsters here shall stay Thine easy course; no cares thy peace annoy: „I lead to bliss a nearer, smoother way. Short is my vay: fair, easy, smooth, and plain : „Turn, gentle youth! With me eternal pleasures reign.“ XVI, „ What pleasures, vain mistaken wretch, are thi ne! (Virtue with scorn reply'd :) , Who sleep'st in eafe „Insensate; whose soft limbs the toil decline, „That seasons bliss, and makes enjoyment please. „Draining the copious bowl, ere thirst require; „Feasting, ere hunger to the feast invite: „Whose tassless joys anticipate desire; Whom luxury supplies with appetite. „Yet Nature loaths; and you employ in vain Variety and art to conquer her disdain. XVII, The sparkling nectar, coold with, summer Inows; To thee are tasteless all! Sincere repose „For thou art only tir'd with indolence: Th’imperfect sleep that lulls thy languid sense „In dull oblivious interval of thought: „That kindly steals th' inactive hours away From the long, ling’ring space, that lengthens out the day, „From bounteous nature's unexhausted stores , Flo's the pure fountain of sincere delights: „Averse to her, you waste the joyless hours; „Sleep drowns thy days, and riot rules thy nights. ,,Immortal tho thou art, indignant Jove „Hurld thee from heaven, th' immortals blissful place; „For ever banish'd from the realms above, „To dwell on earth, with man's degenerate race: ,,Fitter abode! On earth alike dilgrac'd; Rejected by the wise, and by the fool embrac'd. XIX, „Fond wretch, that vainly weenest all delight „To gratify the sense reservd for thee! Yet the most pleasing object to the fight, Thine own fair action never did'st thou see, Tho' lull’d with softest sounds thou lieft along: Soft music, warbling voices, melting lays; „Ne'er did'st thou hear, more sweet than sweetest song Charming the soul, thou ne'er did'It hear thy praise! „No -- to thy revels let the fool repair : „To such go simooth thy speech; et spread thy tempting snare. XX. Vast happiness enjoy thy gay allies! w youth of follies; an old age of cares: » Young, yet enervate; old, yet never wife; Vice waltes their vigour, and their mind impairs; ,,Vain, idle, delicate, in thoughtless eale Reserving woes for age their prime they spend; „All wretched, hopeless, in the evil days „With forrow to the verge of live they tend, Griev'd Dr. Lowrh. Griev'd with the present; of the past af ham'd, „They live, and are despis’d: they die, nor more are nam'd. XXI. ,,But with the gods, and godlike men I dwell: „Me, his supreme delight, th'almighty Sire „Regards well pleas’d: whatever works excel, „All or divine or human, I inspire. „Counsel with strength, and industry with art, ,, In union meet conjoin'd, with me refide: „My dictates arm, instruct, and mend the heart: „The surest policy, the wifest guide. With me, true friendship dwells: she deigns to bind „ Those generous souls alone, whom I before have join'd. XXII. „Nor need my friends the various costly feast; , Hunger to them th’ effects of art supplies; „Labour prepares their weary limbs to rest; ,,Sweet is their sleep: light, chearful, strong they rise. nown, „At length to age all gently sinking down, Look back with transport on a life well-spent: In which no hour flew unimprov'd away: „In which some generous deed distinguish'd every day. XXIII. رو „And when, the destin'd term at length compleat, Their af hes rest in peace, eternal fame ,,Sounds wide their praise: triumphant over fate ,, In sacred song, for ever lives their name. |