The man of honest life, firm to his trust,
Devoid of ill, benevolent and just,
May the rude threats of rable foes disdain,
Their bawling clamours and their threats are vain;
The tyrant's frowning looks he doth depise,
And the stern brow and harshest voice defies,
And with superior greatness rolls his eyes;
Not the rude tempest whose vast surge deforms,
The Adriatic gulph and vexes it with storms,
The stubborn virtues of his soul can move,
Nor the red arm of threat'ning angry J OVE ,
Who from the sky the forky light'nings dart,
Who rage and fury equally impart.
Should one confusion seize on all the world,
In a void chaos heav'n and earth be hurl'd,
He unconcern'd would hear the thunders roll,
And unapal'd would gaze at nature's fall.
Such were the godlike arts that led the bright,
The noble P OLLUX to the realms of light,
Such did the great A LCIDES plead the case,
And gain'd him in the ranks of god a place.
A UGUSTUS now mix'd in the heav'nly roll,
Quaffs with the gods the sacred nectar bowl,
His ruddy lips with hallow'd tincture shine,
And with immortal strains they glow divine,
By arts like these, did young L YACUS rise,
His grisly tygers drew him to the skies,
Wild from the desert, whence they ne'er had roam'd,
In vain their eye-balls roll'd, in vain they foam'd,
Their savage nature to the lash he broke,
And tam'd the hideous monster's to the yoke.
Such were the ways that Rome's great founder sought,
Who in a whirlwind up to heav'n was caught,
His mortal body from him straight he tost,
And in a god the glorious monarch lost,
'Twas then bright J UNO awful silence broke,
And thus th' assembl'd deities bespoke,
Troy, said the goddess, with an awful sound,
The dire effects of tyrant's guilt has found,
The tow'ring piles, the soft and calm abodes,
Whose walls were founded by the servile gods,
In wilder'd ruin now dejected spreads,
The lofty battlements bow down their heads,
An empire, cruel, partial and unjust,
And a lascivious woman's impious lust;
Now o'er her head, heav'n's judgments all impend,
And in the mould'ring dust she meets her end;
Oh! false L AOMEDON , tyrannic sire,
Who durst defraud immortals of their hire!
Thy guardian gods their succours disavow,
Nor to the foe their contradiction shew,
To my resentment and M INERVA'S cheat,
The king and people their destruction meet;
But now the noise of jarring wars are o'er,
The Grecian fair adultress shines no more!
No more doth Hector , the bright shield display,
Who in the field so often gain'd the day;
My vengeance now on Troy is satisfied,
To M ARS let Trojan offspring be apply'd,
Advanc'd to god-head let the victor rise,
And take his happy station in the skies:
His eyes with scenes of pleasure entertain,
In endless glory he shall still remain,
And with the gods shall quaff immortal wine,
And see adoring nations croud his shrine;
The small remains of Troy's afflicted band,
May find a refuge on some desert land,
And concord in a distant land enjoy,
But far be separated Rome from Troy—
Divided by the sea, from that curs'd shore,
Between, let rolling storms and tempests roar;
Still let that curs'd and sad detested place,
Where P RIAM lies, and P RIAM'S guilty race,
Be cover'd o'er with weeds and hid in grass.