ODE IV.

ΤΟ

VIRTUE.

FROM ARISTOTLE'S PAEAN.

BY THOMAs neville, M.A.

OF JESUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.

HAIL, VIRTUE! Goddess! sovereign good,
By man's bold race with pain pursued!
Where'er thou dart'st thy radiant eye,
Greece sees her sons with transport fly;
Danger before thee disappears,

And Death's dark frown no terror wears.

II.

So full into the breast of man descends

Thy rich ambrosial shower;

A shower, that gold, that parents far transcends, Or, sleep's soft-soothing power.

III.

By thee ALCIDES soar'd to fame,

Thy influence LEDA's twins proclaim:

Heroes for thee have dauntless trod
The dreary paths of hell's abode;
Fir'd by thy form, all beamy bright,
Atarneus' nursling left the light.

IV.

His deeds, his social love (so will the Nine,
Proud to spread wide the praise

Of friendship and of friendly Jove) shall shine
With ever-living rays.

ODE V.

FROM ARISTOTLE'S

PAEAN TO VIRTUE.

BY THE REVEREND

R. SHEPHERD, D.D.

VIRTUE, stern Tutress, hail!

Hail thou, whose guidance trains

In life's rough paths the delegated youth;
Each thought, each enterprising deed arraigns
At the tribunal of impartial Truth:

What charms attractive grace thy modest mien,
Or in Religion's snow-white veil,

Or unstain'd robes of Honor drest;

Thy eye how bold, yet mild; how rigid, yet serene!
Thine, virgin, was the genial fire

That glow'd in each heroic breast;
And prompted to aspire,

On Merit's field to win an honor'd name

In the bright annals of distinguish'd fame:

Bade them the deathless crown of Glory seize;

The crown, that, cull'd from Labor's arduous grove,
The sister Graces for his temples wove,

Who dar'd, amidst a loose and venal state,
Look down superior to th' alluring bait,
And spurn the sluggard bed of downy ease.

II.

O say, what soul-supporting thought
In that dread hour inspir'd th' Athenian sage;
When, victim to a faction's rage,
Unmov'd he quaff'd the fatal bowl:

Thy influence fortified his soul,

And tempered to his taste the bitter draught.
Robed in Religion's purer vest,

Whilst every heighten'd charm more fair appeared,
Martyrs thy consecrated form confessed.

Hail'd Truth's bright dictates, and thy power revered.
Nor lure, nor threats their fixt resolves could shake,
For thee they soared above the narrow views,
The scenes that more contracted minds amuse,
And smil'd amidst the tortures of the stake.

III.

Estranged from Pleasure's soft embrace,
Whoe'er aspires in Glory's race

By proof of many a noble deed

To win the prize for him decreed
Who Virtue's height attains;

His name the Muse, chaste Virtue's friend,
Shall bid, emblaz`d in purest strains,
To the bold arch of Heaven ascend:

And whilst the golden numbers flow,

Where all the Graces all their influence breathe,

Fair Fame with never-fading wreath
Shall deck his laurell'd brow.

Vol. XVIII.