175

Ordine, perpetuoque per ævum flumine labi. Nunc age quo valeat pacto, quâ sensilis arte Affectare viam, atque animi tentare latebras Materies (dictis aures adverte faventes) Exsequar. Imprimis spatii quam multa per

æquor

180

Millia multigenis pandant se corpora seclis, Expende. Haud unum invenies, quod mente licebit

185

Amplecti, nedum propriùs deprendere sensu,
Molis egens certæ, aut solido sine robore, cujus
Denique mobilitas linquit, texturave partes,
Ulla nec orarum circumcæsura coërcet.
Hæc conjuncta adeò totâ compage fatetur
Mundus, et extremo clamant in limine rerum,
(Si rebus datur extremum) primordia. Firmat
Hæc eadem tactus (tactum quis dicere falsum
Audeat?) hæc oculi nec lucidus arguit orbis. 190

Inde potestatum enasci densissima proles:
Nam quodcunque ferit visum, tangive laborat,

V. 175. "Perpetuo possint ævi labentia tractu."

Lucret. v. 1215. V. 177. "Viamque adfectat Olympo," Georg. iv. 562. "Tentare latebras," Æn. ii. 38.

V. 185. "Extima membrorum circumc@sura coercet."

V. 189.

Audeat."

Lucret. iv. 651.

"Solem quis dicere falsum

Virg. Georg. i. 463. V. 190. "At si tantula pars oculi media illa peresa est, Incolumis quamvis alioqui splendidus orbis." Lucret. iii. 415.

V. 191. "Densior hinc soboles," Virg. Georg. iii. 308.

V. 192. "Quæ feriunt oculorum acies, visumque lacessant," Lucret. iv. 329.

Quicquid nare bibis, vel concava concipit auris, Quicquid lingua sapit, credas hoc omne, necesse

est

Ponderibus, textu, discursu, mole, figurâ

195

Particulas præstare leves, et semina rerum.
Nunc oculos igitur pascunt, et luce ministrâ
Fulgere cuncta vides, spargique coloribus orbem,
Dum de sole trahunt alias, aliasque supernè
Detorquent, retròque docent se vertere flammas.

V. 193. "Nare bibis." Is this expression warranted by the authority of any of the Latin poets? Horace has " Bibit aure," Od. ii. xiii. 32; and Statius, in Ach. ii. 120, "Aure bibentem." "Naso videt," Plautius. See Martini. Var. Lect. p. 10. Shakespeare transfers the same word to sight: "And with mine eyes I'll drink the words you send," Cymbel. act i. sc. 2. And Thomson. Spring, 106: "Or taste the smell of dairy." "Elapsusque cav fingitur aure lapis," Ov. Art. Am. i. 432.

V. 196. "Multorum semina rerum," Lucret. ii. 676. Luke. V. 197. "Oculos qui pascere possunt," Lucret. ii. 419.

"Consulit ardentes radios, et luce magistra."

Luke.

Claud. Cons. Honor. vi. 7.

V. 198. "Grammatici veteres notaverunt à Virgilio et antiquioribus poetis, stridere in tertiâ conjugatione cum aliis verbis, ut fervere, fulgere esse usitatum; à Lucano autem, et Statio, et ejus ætatis poetis in secundâ." Vide Priscian. Col. 837. 866. 893. Dousam. ad Lucil. lib. ix. p. 119. N. Marcell. voce "fulgere," ed. Mercer. Coripp. Laud. Justini, iii. 257. Virg. Georg. iv. 262. Æn. iv. 689. vii. 334. xii. 691. Lucan. ii. 250. vi. 179. ed. Oudendorp. Gesner, in a note to Claudian de Cons. Stilich. iii. 142, "Siculas obsident urbes," says, " Obsidere tertiâ conjugatione, nec optimos refugisse docent Thesauri nostri." It was on the authority of the use of these verbs in the third conjugation, that Vossius, in his treatise " De Arte Grammatica," (lib. ii. p. 90), attempted to defend respondĕre in the well-known passage of Manilius, lib. v. 753, and that Scaliger and Bronkhusius read "Jam canis ætas mea canaret annis." v. Propert. El. ii. 14. 7.

V. 200.

Faciunt ignem se vertere in auras."

Lucret. i. 783.

Nunc trepido inter se fervent corpuscula pulsu,
Ut tremor æthera per magnum, latèque natantes
Aurarum fluctus avidi vibrantia claustra
Auditûs queat allabi, sonitumque propaget.
Cominùs interdum non ullo interprete per se
Nervorum invadunt teneras quatientia fibras,
Sensiferumque urgent ultrò per viscera motum.

205

LIBER QUARTUS.

HACTENUS haud segnis Naturæ arcana retexi Musarum interpres, primusque Britanna per arva Romano liquidum deduxi flumine rivum.

Cum Tu opere in medio, spes tanti et causa laboris,

Linquis, et æternam fati te condis in umbram! Vidi egomet duro graviter concussa dolore Pectora, in alterius non unquam lenta dolorem ;

V. 207. "Sensiferos motus quæ dedit prima per artus," Lucret. ii. 246, and iii. 937. "Longe ab sensiferis primordia motibus errant."

V. 2. See Lucret. i. 95; iv. 5. And Columella de Cult. Hort. 435:

"Qui primus veteres ausus recludere fontes,

Ascræum cecinit Romana per oppida carmen.'

Virg. Georg. ii. 175. And iii. 12:

"Aonio rediens deducam vertice Musas."

And see note to Ennius, ed. Hesselii. p. 10.

V. 8. " Languescent lumina morte," Catull. lxiv. 188. "Vultus amatos," Ov. Fast. vi. 579.

Et languere oculos vidi, et pallescere amantem Vultum, quo nunquam Pietas nisi rara, Fidesque, Altus amor Veri, et purum spirabat Honestum. 10 Visa tamen tardi demùm inclementia morbi Cessare est, reducemque iterum roseo ore Salutem Speravi, atque unà tecum, dilecte Favoni! Credulus heu longos, ut quondàm, fallere Soles : Heu spes nequicquam dulces, atque irrita vota! Heu mæstos Soles, sine te quos ducere flendo Per desideria, et questus jam cogor inanes!

16

At Tu, sancta anima, et nostri non indiga luctûs, Stellanti templo, sincerique ætheris igne, Unde orta es, fruere; atque ô si secura, nec ultra Mortalis, notos olìm miserata labores

21

Respectes, tenuesque vacet cognoscere curas; Humanam si fortè altâ de sede procellam Contemplêre, metus, stimulosque cupidinis acres, Gaudiaque et gemitus, parvoque in corde tumultum Irarum ingentem, et sævos sub pectore fluctus;

V. 9.

66

Incorrupta fides, nudaque veritas."

Hor. Od. i. xxiv. 7. V. 11. "Rapit inclementia mortis," Virg. Georg. iii. 68.

Luke.

V. 14. "Tecum etenim longos memini consumere soles." Pers. Sat. v. 41. Virg. Eclog. ix. 51.

V. 17. "Questus ad nubila rumpit inanes," Claud. xxxv. "Questu volvebat inani," Círis. v. 401.

249.

V. 18. "Sancta ad vos anima," Virg. Æn. xii. 648. "Opisque haud indiga nostræ," Georg. ii. 428.

V. 21. "Oh! sola infandos Troja miserata labores!" Æn. i. 597. "Tenuisque piget cognoscere curas," Georg. i. 177. "Si quid pietas antiqua labores

V. 21.

Respicit humanos."

En. v. 688.

V. 24. "Et stimulos acres sub pectore vertit," Æn. ix. 718.

P

Respice et has lacrymas, memori quas ictus amore Fundo; quod possum, juxtà lugere sepulchrum Dum juvat, et mutæ vana hæc jactare favillæ. 29

GREEK EPIGRAM.

[See Mason's Memoirs, vol. iii. p. 45.]

Αζόμενος πολύθηρον ἐκηβόλου ἄλσος ἀνάσσας,
Τᾶς δεινῶς τεμένη λεῖπε κυναγὲ θεᾶς,

Μοῦνοι ἄρ ̓ ἔνθα κύνων ζαθέων κλαγγεῦσιν ὑλάγμοι,
Ανταχεῖς Νυμφῶν ἀγροτερῶν κελάδῳ.

V. 29

66

Taliaque illacrymans mute jace verba faville."

Propert. Eleg. ii. i. 77.