Tempora, dum grandi redeat Dux magnus ab auso.
Pars celeres fublime ferunt in nubila pennas,
Exercentve leves super arva patentia cursus
Certatim, quales Elea aut Pythia quondam
Per spatia arrecti Juvenes; Pars effera frænis
Indignantis Equi premit ora, rotisve citatis
Vix metam fugit & rapido prælabitur axe.
Inftruxere alii bella horrida, qualia fervent
Æthere, cum populis fignum fatale fuperbis
Imminet; aerii præcurrunt agmina prima
Protentis Equites hastis, dum prælia jungant
Ambæ acies; ferventque poli, totumque coruscans
Hinc atque hinc cœlum diro fulgore renidet.
Pars alia immani nifu rabieque Typhχ
Montes saxaque convellunt, equitantve per auras
Turbinibus; vix tantum Orcus capit ipse fragorem.
Qualis ab Oechalia victor cum sensit acerbæ
Alcides pallæ stimulos, sævoque dolore
Truce to his restless thoughts, and entertain
The irksome hours, till his great Chief return.
Part on the Plain, or in the Air fublime
Upon the wing, or in swift race contend,
As at th' Olympian games, or Pythian fields :
Part curb their fiery Steeds, or shun the goal
With rapid wheels, or fronted Brigads form.
As when, to warn proud Cities, War appears
Wag'd in the troubled sky, and armies rush
To battle in the Clouds; before each Van
Prick forth the airy Knights, and couch their spears
Till thickest Legions close: with feats of arms
From either end of heav'n the welkin burns.
Others, with vast Typhean rage, more fell
Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air
In whirlwind: Hell scarce holds the wild uproar.
As when Alcides, from Oechalia crown'd
With conquest, felt th' envenom'd robe, and tore
Infrendens pinus ruit ab radicibus imis
Thessalicas, raptumque Lichan de culmine torsit
Oetæo, Euboicisque immifit desuper undis.
At Queis mitius ingenium, convalle reductâ
Succedunt umbris, & fecum fila retractant
Cœleftis defueta lyræ; sua bella suorumque
Indignam memorant cladem ; numerisque queruntur
Flebilibus, fato cogente quòd ardua Virtus
Vi fæva ruat, aut forti fuccumbat iniquæ.
Sic fua nominibus prætexunt crimina falfis ;
Sed numeri (quid enim minus immortalia gentis
Carmina fidereæ poterant?) suspensa tenebant
Tartara, & attonitâ densatas aure catervas.
At procul & temerè fusi super avia montis
Pars læti eloquio (quod carmine dulcius ipso
Infinuare amat in pectus) fermonibus altis
Oblectant animos, rerumque arcana requirunt;
Quos tenuere altercantes Fatumque Voluntasque
Through pain up by the roots Theffalian Pines,
And Lichas from the top of Oeta threw
Into th' Euboic Sea. Others more mild,
Retreated in a filent valley, fing
With notes Angelical to many a harp
Their own Heroic deeds, and hapless fall
By doom of battle: and complain that Fate
Free Virtue should inthrall to Force or Chance.
Their Song was partial; but the Harmony
(What could it less when Spirits immortal fing?)
Suspended Hell, and took with ravishment
The thronging audience. In discourse more sweet,
(For Eloquence the Soul, Song charms the Sense)
Others apart fat on a Hill retir'd,
In thoughts more elevate; and reason'd high
Of Providence, Foreknowledge, Will, and Fate;
Fix'd Fate, free Will, Foreknowledge absolute;
And found no end, in wandring mazes loft.
Atque Dei mens alta; Futuri gnara Dei mens,
Sed Fati lex fixa, & fato avulsa Voluntas :
Frustra! perpetuis urget Nox densa tenebris
Palantes, & ludit inextricabilis Error.
Necnon multa Boni fuper explicuere Malique
Indole; quid faciat miferos, servetque beatos;
An lentum torpere animum stimulisne moveri
Præftet; quid fit Honos, quid demum Infamia vera :
Vana nimis fructuque carens Sapientia! falsæ
Sermonum illecebræ! Sed & hæ mulsere dolorem,
Spesque aluere breves, animis mala ferre dederunt
Fortibus, ac triplici durarunt pectora ferro.
Pars alia audaci excursu loca tristia latè
Luftrant turmatim, fi quæ plaga mitior esset
Orbe novo, miserisque magis spirabilis æther.
Quatuor hi ripis, funesta ut littora ducunt,
Diversi rapuere vias, ubi quatuor amnes
Arva secant Erebi, totidemque per ora voluti
Flumina dira vomunt flammanti immissa paludi.
Of good and evil much they argu'd then,
Of happiness and final misery,
Paffion and Apathy, and Glory and Shame;
Vain wisdom all, and false Philosophy:
Yet, with a pleasing sorcery, could charm
Pain for a while, or anguish; and excite
Fallacious hope, or arm th' obdurate breaft
With stubborn patience, as with triple steel.
Another part, in Squadrons and gross Bands,
On bold adventure to discover wide
That dismal world (if any Clime perhaps
Might yield them easier habitation) bend
Four ways their flying March, along the banks
Of four infernal Rivers, that disgorge
Hic effudit aquas implacati horridus amnis
Styx Odii: hìc squalens Acheron mærore profundo
Volvitur ater, iners; tum fluctum triste sonantem
Urget Cocytus, nomen cui sæva dederunt
Lamenta horrendas volgo exaudita per undas:
Extremus Phlegethontis atrox ebulliit æftus
Igne fluens, rabiemque animat, geminatque furores.
Lethæus procul hinc tacitos tardo agmine fluctus
Rivus agit, variisque vagans oblivia ducit
Flexibus; hinc quicunque haurit, monumenta prioris
Expungit vitæ, luctusque & gaudia delet.
Hunc ultra fluvium æternâ densata pruinâ
Terra jacet latè informis, rapidisque procellis
Turbinibusque agitata feris, & grandine dira,
Quæ firmo durata solo coalefcit acervos
In rigidos, veterifque imitatur fragmina molis.
Hinc atque hinc circum horrefcit nix alta geluque,
Ore patens rabido gurges, Serbonia qualis
Into the burning Lake their baleful streams:
Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate;
Sad Acheron, of forrow, black and deep;
Cocytus, nam'd of lamentation loud
Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon,
Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.
Far off from these, a flow and filent stream,
Lethe, the river of Oblivion, rolls
Her wat'ry Labyrinth; whereof who drinks,
Forthwith his former state and being forgets,
Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain.
Beyond this food a frozen Continent
Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms
Of Whirlwind, and dire Hail; which on firm land
Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems
Of ancient pile: all else, deep Snow and Ice :
A gulf profound as that Serbonian Bog
'Twixt Damiata, and mount Cafius old;
Vasta palus Damiatam inter Cafiumque cacumen
Antiquum, innumeras acies quæ sæva recepit
Immani barathro absorptas; furit efferus ardor
Aere fub gelido & concretum frigus adurit.
Huc olim, quotcunque luunt commissa sub Orco,
Harpyiis tracti, Furiarumque unguibus uncis,
Deveniunt; hìc dira pati contraria diris
Afperaque alternis jussi mutare, per ipsas
Afperiora vices: flammarum è gurgite vixdum
Emersus Calor æthereæ divinior auræ
Frigoribus torpet duris, mollisque animai
Fixa gelu natura riget; quotiesque recurrens
Hora vocat, sævos torrenda refertur in ignes.
Quòque dolor crefcat, Lethea hæc flumina crebro
Tranfmittunt cursu, & multùm luctantur anheli
Labra ferè lambente oblivia ducere lymphâ.
Fata obstant, vetitumque vadum terrore Medufa
Gorgonio cingit frendens: quin sponte recedit
Where Armies whole have funk: the parching Air
Burns frore, and Cold performs the effect of Fire.
Thither by harpy-footed Furies hal'd,
At certain revolutions all the damn'd
Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change
Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce:
From beds of raging Fire to starve in Ice
Their soft Ethereal warmth, and there to pine
Immoveable, infix'd, and frozen round,
Periods of time; thence hurried back to Fire.
They ferry over this Lethean Sound
Both to and fro, their forrow to augment;
And wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach
The tempting stream, with one small drop to lose
In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe,
All in one moment, and so near the brink:
But Fate withstands; and to oppose th' attempt
Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards
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