Then crofs'd Cyllene, and the piny fhade,
More infamous by curft Lycaon made :
Dark night had cover'd heaven and earth, before
I enter'd his unhofpitable door.

Just at my entrance, I difplay'd the fign
That fomewhat was approaching of divine.
The proftrate people pray, the tyrant grins;
And, adding prophanation to his fins,
I'll try, faid he, and if a God appear,
To prove his deity fhall coft him dear.
'Twas late; the graceless wretch my death prepares,
When I fhould foundly fleep, oppreft with cares :
This dire experiment he chofe, to prove
If I were mortal, or undoubted Jove :
But first he had refolv'd to taste my power:
Not long before, but in a luckiefs hour,
Some legates fent from the Moloflian state,
Were on a peaceful errand come to treat :
Of thefe he murders one, he boils the flesh,
And lays the mangled morsels in a dish :
Some part he roasts, and serves it up fo dreft,
And bids me welcome to this human feast.
Mov'd with disdain, the table I o'erturn'd;
And with avenging flames the palace burn'd.
The tyrant in a fright, for shelter gains
The neighbouring fields, and fcours along the plains.
Howling he fled, and fain he would have spoke,
But human voice his brutal tongue forfook.
About his lips the gather'd foam he churns,
And, breathing flaughter, ftill with rage he
But on the bleating flock his fury turns. [ burns,.
His mantle, now his hide, with rugged hairs
Cleaves to his back; a famifh'd face he bears;
His arms defcend, his fhoulders sink away,
To multiply his legs for chace of prey.
He grows a wolf, his hoarinefs remains,
And the fame rage in other members reigns.
His eyes ftill fparkle in a narrower space,
His jaws retain the grin and violence of his face.
This was a fingle ruin, but not one
Deferves fe juft a punishment alone.
Mankind's a monfter, and th' ungodly times,
Confederate into guilt, or fworn to crimes.
All are alike involv'd in ill, and all
Muft by the fame relentless fury fall.

Thus ended he; the greater Gods affent, By clamours urging his fevere intent; The lefs fill up the cry for punishment. Yet ftill with pity they remember man ; And mourn as much as heavenly spirits can. They afk, when those were loft of human birth, What he would do with all his wafte of earth? If his difpeopled world he would refign To beats, a mute, and more ignoble line? Neglected altars must no longer smoke, If none were left to worship and invoke. To whom the father of the Gods reply'd : Lay that unneceffary fear afide : Mine be the care new people to provide. I will from wondrous principles ordain A race unlike the first, and try my fkill again. Already had he tofs'd the flaming brand, And roll'd the thunder in his fpacious hand; Preparing to difcharge on feas and land :

}

But ftopt, for fear thus violently driven,
The fparks fhould catch the axle-tree of heaven.
Remembering, in the Fates, a time when fire
Should to the battlements of heaven afpire,
And all his blazing worlds above should burn,
And all th' inferior globe to cinders turn.
His dire artillery thus difmifs'd, he bent
His thoughts to fome fecurer panishment:
Concludes to pour a watery deluge down;
And, what he durft not burn, refolves to drown.
The northern breath, that freezes floods, he
binds;

With all the race of cloud-difpelling winds:
The South he loos'd, who night and horror brings;
And fogs are fhaken from his flaggy wings.
From his divided beard two streams he pours;
His head and rheumy eyes distil in fhowers.
With rain his robe and heavy mantle flow:
And lazy mifts are lowering on his brow,
Still as he fwept along, with his clench'd fist,
He fqueez'd the clouds; th' imprison'd clouds
refift:

The fkies, from pole to pole, with peals refound;
And fhowers enlarg'd come pouring on the ground.
Then clad in colours of a various dye,
Junonian Iris breeds a new supply,

To feed the clouds impetuous rain defcends;
The bearded corn beneath the burthen bends:
Defrauded clowns deplore their perish'd grain;
And the long labours of the year are vain.

Nor from his patrimonial heaven alone Is Jove content to pour his vengeance down: Aid from his brother of the feas he craves, To help him with auxiliary waves. The watery tyrant calls his brooks and floods, Who roll from moffy caves, their moist abodes; And with perpetual urns his palace fill: To whom in brief he thus imparts his will:

Small exhortation needs; your powers employ: And this bad world (fo Jove requires) deftrey. Let loofe the reins to all your watery store: Bear down the dams, and open every door.

The floods, by nature enemies to land, And proudly fwelling with their new command, Remove the living ftones that stopp'd their way, And, gufhing from their fource, augment the fea. Then, with his mace, their monarch struck the

ground:

With inward trembling earth receiv'd the wound;
And rifing fireams a ready paffage found.
Th' expanded waters gather on the plain,
They float the fields, and overtop the grain:
Then, rufhing onwards, with a sweepy iway,
Bear flocks, and folds, and labouring hinds away.
Nor fafe their dwellings were; for, fap'd by floods,
Their houfes fell upon their household Gods.
Tho folid piles, too ftrongly built to fall,
High o'er their heads behold a watery wall.
Now feas and earth were in confufion loft;
A world of waters, and without a coaft.
One climbs a cliff; one in his boat is borne,
And ploughs above, where late he fow'd his corn,
Others o'er the chimney tops and turrets row,
And drop their anchors on the meads belows

Or, downward driven, they bruise the tender vine;
Or, tofs'd aloft, are knock'd against a pine.
And where of late the kids had cropp'd the grafs,
The monsters of the deep now take their place.
Infulting Nereids on the cities ride,

And wondering dolphins o'er the palace glide.
On leaves, and mafts of mighty oaks, they brouze;
And their broad fins entangle in the boughs.
The frighted wolf now fwims among the sheep;
The yellow lion wanders in the deep :
His rapid force no longer helps the boar:
The ftag (wims faster than he ran before.
The fowls, long beating on their wings in vain,
Defpair of land, and drop into the main.
Now hills and vales no more diftinction know,
And level'd nature lies opprefs'd below.
The most of mortals perish in the flood,
The fmall remainder dies for want of food.

A mountain of stupendous height there stands Betwixt th' Athenian and Boeotian lands.

The bound of fruitful fields, while fields they

were,

[kies.

But then a field of waters did appear:
Parnaffus in its nature, whofe forky rife
Mounts through the clouds, and mates the lofty
High on the fummit of this dubious cliff,
Deucalion wafting moor'd his little skiff.
He with his wife were only left behind
Of perifh'd man; they two were human kind.
The mountain nymphs and Themis they adore,
And from her oracles relief implore.
The most upright of mortal men was he;
The most fincere and holy woman the.
When Jupiter, furveying earth from high,
Beheld it in a lake of water lie,
That, where fo many millions lately liv'd,
But two, the best of either sex, surviv'd,
He loos'd the northern wind; fierce Boreas flies
To puff away the clouds, and purge the skies:
Serenely, while he blows, the vapours driven
Discover heaven to earth, and earth to heaven.
The billows fall, while Neptune lays his mace
On the rough fea, and smooths its furrow'd face.
Already Triton, at his call, appears,
Above the waves: a Tyrian robe he wears;
And in his hand a crooked trumpet bears.
The fovereign bids him peaceful founds infpire,
And give the waves the fignal to retire.
His writhen fhell he takes, whofe narrow vent
Grows by degrees into a large extent; [found,
Then gives it breath; the blast, with doubling
Runs the wide circuit of the world around.
The fun first heard it, in his earthly East,
And met the rattling echoes in the Weft.
The waters, liftening to the trumpet's roar,
Obey the fummons, and forfake the thore.

}

A thin circumference of land appears; And earth, but not at once, her vifage rears, And peeps upon the feas from upper grounds: The ftreams, but juft contain'd within their bounds, By flow degrees into their channels crawl; And earth increafes as the waters fall. In longer time the tops of trees appear, Which mud on their dishonour'd branches bear.

At length the world was all restor'd to view, But defolate, and of a fickly hue: Nature beheld herself, and stood aghast, A difmal defert, and a filent waste. Which when Deucalion, with a piteous look, Beheld, he wept, and thus to Pyrrha spoke : Oh wife, oh fifter, oh of all thy kind The beft, and only creature left behind, By kindred, love, and now by dangers join'd; Of multitudes, who breath'd the common air, We two remain; a fpecies in a pair: The reft the feas have fwallow'd; nor have we Ev'n of this wretched life a certainty. The clouds are still above; and, while I speak, A fecond deluge o'er our heads may break. Should I be fnatch'd from hence, and thou remain,

Without relief, or partner of thy pain,

How could't thou fuch a wretched life fuftain?
Should I be left, and thou be loft, the sea
That bury'd her I lov'd, fhould bury me.
Oh could our father his old arts infpire,
And make me heir of his informing fire,
That fo I might abolish'd man retrieve,
And perish'd people in new fouls might live!
But Heaven is pleas'd, nor ought we to complain,
That we th' examples of mankind, remain.
He faid: the careful couple join their tears,
And then invoke the Gods with pious prayers.
Thus in devotion having eas'd their grief,
From facred oracles they feck relief :
And to Cephifus' brook their way pursue:
The ftream was troubled, but the ford they knew.
With living waters in the fountain bred,
They fprinkle fire their garments and their
head,

Then took the way which to the temple led.
The roofs were all defil'd with mofs and mire,
The defert altars void of folenın fire.
Before the gradual proftrate they ador'd,
The pavement kifs'd, and thus the faint implor'd.
O righteous Themis, if the powers above
By prayers are bent to pity, and to love;
If human miferies can move their mind;
If yet they can forgive, and yet be kind;
Tell how we may reftore, by fecond birth,
Mankind, and people defolated earth.

Then thus the gracious Goddefs, nodding, faid;
Depart, and with your vestments veil your head:
And ftooping lowly down, with loofen'd zones,
Throw cach behind your backs your mighty mo

ther's bones.

Amaz'd the pair, and mute with wonder stand,
Till Pyrrha first refus'd the dire command.
Forbid it heaven, faid she, that I should tear
Thofe holy relics from the fepulchre.
They ponder'd the mysterious words again,
For fome new fenfe; and long they fought in va
At length Deucalion clear'd his cloudy brow,
And faid, The dark ænigma will allow
A meaning; which if well I understand,
From facrilege will free the God's command
This earth our mighty mother is, the fon
In her capacious body are her bones:

Betwixt th' extremes, two happier climates hold
The temper that partakes of hot and cold.
The fields of liquid air, inclofing all,
Surround the compafs of this earthly ball;
The lighter parts lie next the fires above;
The groffer near the watery furface move:
Thick clouds are fpread, and ftorms engender
there,
[fear,
And thunder's voice, which wretched mortals
And winds that on their wings cold winter
bear.

Nor were thofe blustering brethren left at large,
On feas and fhores their fury to difcharge:
Bound as they are, and circumfcrib'd in place,
They rend the world, refiftlefs, where they pass;
And mighty marks of mifchief leave behind;
Such is the rage of their tempeftuous kind.
First Eurus to the rifing morn is fent,
(The regions of the balmy continent)
And Eastern realms, where early Perfians run,
To greet the bleft appearance of the sun.
Weftward the wanton Zephyr wings his flight,
Pleas'd with the remnants of departing light:
Fierce Boreas with his offspring iffues forth,
T'invade the frozen waggon of the North.
While frowning Auster seeks the southern sphere,
And rots, with endlefs rain, th' unwholfomic
year.

High o'er the clouds, and empty realms of
wind,

The God a clearer space for heaven design'd; Where fields of light and liquid æther flow, Purg'd from the ponderous dregs of earth be low.

Scarce had the power diftinguifh'd these, when
ftraight

The ftars, no longer overlaid with weight,
Exert their heads from underneath the mass,
And upward Choot, and kindle as they pass,
And with diffufive light adorn the heavenly (
place.

Then, every void of nature to fupply,
With forms of Gods he fills the vacant sky:
New herds of beafts he fends, the plains to
fhare;

New colonies of birds, to people air;
And to their oczy beds the timny fish repair.
A creature of a more exalted kind

Was wanting yet, and then was man defign'd:
Conscious of thought, of more capacious breast,
For empire form'd, and fit to rule the reft:
Whether with particles of heavenly fire
'The God of nature did his foul infpire;
Or earth, but now divided from the sky,
And pliant fill, retain'd th' ætherial energy:
Which wife Prometheus temper'd into paste,
And, mixt with living ftreams, the godlike image
caft.

Thus, while the mute crcation downward bend
Their fight, and to their earthly mother tend,
Man looks aloft, and with created eyes
Beholds his own hereditary skies.
From fuch rude principles our form began,.
And earth was metamorphos'd into man..

THE GOLDEN AGE.

The golden age was firft; when man, yet

new,

No rule but uncorrupted reafon knew;
And, with a native bent, did good purfue.
Unforc'd by punishment, unaw'd by fear,
His words were fimple, and his foul fincere:
Needlefs was written law, where none oppreft;
The law of man was written in his breast:
No fuppliant crowds before the judge appear'd;)
Nor court erected yet, nor caufe was heard,
But all was fafe, for confcience was their guard.)
The mountain trees in diftant prospect please,
E'er yet the pine defcended to the feas;
E'er fails were fpread new oceans to explore;
And happy mortals, unconcern'd for more,
Confin'd their wishes to their native fhore.
No walls were yet, nor fence, nor mote, nor
mound:

Nor drum was heard, nor trumpet's angry found:
Nor fwords were forg'd; but, void of care and
The foft creation flept away their time. [ctime,
The teeming earth, yet guiltless of the plough,
And unprovok'd, did fruitful stores allow :
Content with food, which nature freely bred,
On wildings and on ftrawberries they fed;
Cornels and bramble-berries gave the reft,
And falling acorns furnish'd out a feast,
The flowers unfown in fields and meadows reign'd;
And western winds immortal Spring maintain'd.
In following years the bearded corn enfu'd
From carth unafk'd, nor was that earth renew'd.
From veins of vallies milk and nectar broke;
And honey fweating from the pores of oak.

THE SILVER AGE.

But when good Saturn, banish'd from above, Was driven to hell, the world was under Jove. Succeeding times a filver age behold, Excelling brass, but more excell'd by gold. Then Summer, Autumn, Winter, did appear; And Spring was but a season of the year. The fun his annual courfe obliquely made, Good days contracted, and enlarg'd the bad. Then air with fultry heats began to glow, The wings of winds were clogg'd with ice and And fhivering mortals, into houles driven, [fnow; Sought shelter from th' inclemency of heaven. Thole houses, then, were caves, or homely they With twining oziers fenc'd, and mofs their beds Then ploughs, for feed, the fruitful furrows broke, And oxen labour'd first beneath the yoke.

THE BRAZEN AGE.

To this next came in course the brazen age, A warlike offspring, prompt to bloody rage, Not impious yet