Cedars and pines that wave above,
And mighty oaks belov'd of Jove;
Omen, monster, prodigy,
Or nothing are, or Jove from thee!
Whether various nature play,
Or reinvers'd thy will obey,
And to rebel man declare
Famine, plague, or wasteful war.
Laugh, ye prophane, who dare despise
The threatening vengeance of the skies,
Whilst the pious, on his guard,
Undismay'd is still prepar`d:
Life or death, his mind's at rest,
Since what thou send'st must needs be best.
No evil can from thee proceed:
'Tis only suffer'd, not decreed. Darkness is not from the sun,
Nor mount the shades till he is gone :
Then does night obscene arise
From Erebus, and fill the skies,
Fantastic forms the air invade,
Daughters of nothing, and of shade.
Can we forget thy guardian care,
Slow to punish, prone to spare!
Thou break'st the haughty Persian's pride,
That dar'd old Ocean's power deride;
Their shipwrecks strew'd th' Eubean wave,
At Marathon they found a grave.
O ye blest Greeks who there expir'd,
For Greece with pious ardor fir'd,
What shrines or altars shall we raise
To secure your endless praise?
Or need we monuments supply,
To rescue what can never die?
And yet a greater hero far
(Unless great Socrates could err)
Shall rise to bless some future day,
And teach to live, and teach to pray.
Come, unknown instructor, come!
Our leaping hearts shall make thee room:
Thou with Jove our vows shalt share,
Of Jove and thee we are the care.
O father, king, whose heavenly face
Shines serene on all thy race,
We thy magnificence adore,
And thy well-known aid implore:
Nor vainly for thy help we call ;
Nor can we want: for thou art all!
GREAT Father of the skies, whose boundless sway
Both Gods above and worlds below obey.
Thy laws sustain the universal frame,
Various thy titles, but thy power the same.
Hail, sovereign Jove! all nations shall address
Their songs to thee, who gave them tongues to bless.
Behold thy image grovelling on the earth,
Faint echoes of thy voice, which gave us birth:
Then back will I reflect thy praises still,
And sing the wonders of almighty skill.
The wide expanse of yon etherial plin,
And all below, is subject to thy reign.
The forked lightnings, which, with double glare,
Sublimely wave, and linger in the air,
From thy dread arm with pointed fury fly,
And, ting'd with ruddy vengeance, sweep the sky.
The ray divine o'er all the frame presides,
Glows in the sun, and in the ocean glides.
From thee each atom of creation springs;
Hail! great support of all inferior things!
The orbs above, and floating seas below,
Move by thy laws, and by thy influence flow:
All, rang'd in order, know their destin'd place,
All but the mad, degenerate human race:
But thou can'st order from confusion bring,
Bid peace from discord, good from evil spring:
And when all nature frowns, and nations jar,
Set calms in storms, and harmony in war.
Great Jove so justly fram'd the earthly ball,
That universal good results from all;
While common sense still shines with certain ray,
And thro' the seeming maze points out the way;
Yet thoughtless men, to this blest convoy blind,
Court the wild dictates of a restless mind;
Perversely fly the universal light,
And the sweet voice of heavenly Reason slight.
Unhappy men! who toil and hunt for bliss,
But the plain road of sacred wisdom miss:
Led by this constant, this unerring guide,
Through flowery paths man's life would smoothly
But urg'd by passion, heedless we pursue
The first mad pleasures that invite the view.
Some avarice and sordid taste inspire,
Ambition some, and fame's ungovern'd fire;
Soft luxury some, and Cyprian charms delight,
While all rush forward to the heaven in iht.
But thou, who thunderest in the vault above,
Correct these vain desires, O bounteous Jove!
Let god-like reason in our bosoms dwell,
And from weak minds this lunacy expel;
A ray of wisdom on our souls bestow,
By which thou rul'st all nature's scene below:
Then with devotiou fir'd, we'll hail thee King,
And in eternal songs thy wonders sing.
No greater good can men or Gods attend,
Than at thy throne with prostrate hearts to bend.
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