The polish'd pillar diff'rent sculptures grace;
A work outlasting monumental brass.
Here fmiling Loves and Bacchanals appear,
The Julian ftar, and great Augustus here.
The Doves that round the infant poet spread 230
Myrtles and bays, hung hov'ring o'er his head.
Here in a shrine that cast a dazling light,
Sate fix'd in thought the mighty Stagirite;
His facred head a radiant Zodiac crown'd,
And various Animals his fides furround ;
His piercing eyes, erect, appear to view
Superior worlds, and look all Nature through.

IMITATIONS.

235

The action of the Doves hints at a paffage in the fourth ode of his third book.

Me fabulofa Vulture in Appulo

Altricis extra limen Apuliæ,
Ludo fatigatumque fomno,

Fronde nova puerum palumbes

Texêre; mirum quod foret omnibus-
Ut tuto ab atris corpore viperis

Dormirem et urfis; ut premerer facra

Lauroque collataque myrto,

Non fine Diis animofus infans.

Which may be thus Englished;

While yet a child, I chanc'd to stray,
And in a defert fleeping lay;
The favage race withdrew, nor dar'd
To touch the Mufes' future bard;
But Cytherea's gentle dove

Myrtles and Bays around me spread,
And crown'd your infant Poet's head,
Sacred to Mufic and to Love. P.

With equal rays immortal Tully fhone, The Roman Roftra deck'd the Conful's throne: Gath'ring his flowing robe, he seem'd to stand 240 In act to speak, and graceful stretch'd his hand. Behind, Rome's Genius waits with Civic crowns, And the great Father of his country owns.

250

These maffy columns in a circle rise, O'er which a pompous dome invades the skies i Scarce to the top I stretch'd my aking fight, 246 So large it spread, and swell'd to such a height. Full in the midst proud Fame's imperial seat With jewels blaz'd, magnificently great; The vivid em'ralds there revive the eye, The flaming rubies fhew their fanguine dye, Bright azure rays from lively fapphires stream, And lucid amber cafts a golden gleam. With various-colour'd light the pavement shone, And all on fire appear'd the glowing throne; 255 The dome's high arch reflects the mingled blaze, And forms a rainbow of alternate rays.

When on the Goddess firft I caft

my fight,

Scarce feem'd her ftature of a cubit's height; But fwell'd to larger fize, the more I gaz'd, 260 Till to the roof her tow'ring front she rais'd.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 259. Scarce feem'd her ftature, etc.]

Methought that he was fo lite,
That the length of a cubite

With her, the Temple ev'ry moment grew,
And ampler Vista's open'd to my view:
Upward the columns fhoot, the roofs afcend,
And arches widen, and long ifles extend. 265
Such was her form as ancient bards have told,
Wings raise her arms, and wings her feet infold;
A thousand bufy tongues the Goddess bears,
And thousand open eyes, and thousand list'ning

ears.

Beneath, in order rang'd, the tuneful Nine 270 (Her virgin handmaids) ftill attend the shrine: With eyes on Fame for ever fix'd, they fing; For Fame they raise the voice, and tune the ftring; With time's first birth began the heav'nly lays, And last, eternal, thro' the length of days. 275

IMITATIONS.

Was longer than fhe feemed be;

But thus foon in a while fhe,

Herself tho wonderly straight,

That with her feet the the earth reight,

And with her head fhe touchyd heaven. P.

VER. 270. Beneath, in order rang'd, etc.]

I heard about her throne y-fung

That all the palays walls rung
So fung the mighty Mufe, fhe
That cleped is Calliope,
And her feven fifters eke.-P.

Around thefe wonders as I cast a look, The trumpet founded, and the temple fhook, And all the nations, fummon'd at the call, From diff'rent quarters fill the crouded hall: 279 Of various tongues the mingled founds were heard; In various garbs promifcuous throngs appear'd; Thick as the bees, that with the spring renew Their flow'ry toils, and fip the fragrant dew, When the wing'd colonies first tempt the sky, ́O'er dusky fields and shaded waters fly,

285

Or fettling, seize the sweets the bloffoms yield,
And a low murmur runs along the field.
Millions of fuppliant crouds the shrine attend,
And all degrees before the Goddess bend;
The poor, the rich, the valiant, and the sage, 290
And boasting youth, and narrative old-age.

IMITATIONS.

VER. 276. Around thefe wonders, etc.]

I heard a noise approchen blive,
That far'd as bees done in a hive,
Against her time of out flying;
Right fuch a manere murmuring,
For all the world it feemed me.
I look about and fee

Tho gan

That there came entring into th' hall,
A right great company withal;

And that of fundry regions,

Of all kind of conditions, etc.-P.

Their pleas were diff'rent, their request the fame:
For good and bad alike are fond of Fame.
Some the difgrac'd, and fome with honours
crown'd;

Unlike fucceffes equal merits found.

295

Thus her blind fifter, fickle Fortune, reigns,
And, undifcerning, scatters crowns and chains.

Firft at the shrine the Learned world appear,
And to the Goddess thus prefer their pray'r. 299
Long have we fought t'inftruct and please mankind,
With studies pale, with midnight vigils blind ;
But thank'd by few, rewarded yet by none,
We here appeal to thy fuperior throne:
On wit and learning the just prize bestow,

For Fame is all we must expect below,

305

The Goddess heard, and bade the Mufes raise

The golden Trumpet of eternal Praise:
From pole to pole the winds diffuse the found,
That fills the circuit of the world around;
Not all at once, as thunder breaks the cloud; 310
The notes at firft were rather sweet than loud:

IMITATIONS.

VER. 294, Some she difgraç'd, etc.]

And fome of them the granted fone,
And fome fhe warned well and fair,
And fome the granted the contrair-
Right as her fifter dame Fortune
Is wont to ferve in commune. P.