He leaves Tarentum, favour'd by the Wind,
And Thurine Bays, and Temises, behind ;
Soft Sybaris, and all the Capes that stand
Along the Shore, he makes in fight of Land;
Still doubling, and still coafting, till he found
The Mouth of Æfaris, and promis'd Ground,
Then faw where, on the Margin of the Flood,
The Tomb that held the Bones of Croton stood:
Here, by the God's Command, he built and wall'd
The Place predicted; and Crotona call'd:
Thus Fame, from time to time, delivers down
The fure Tradition of th' Italian Town.
Here dwelt the Man divine whom Samos bore, But now Self-banish'd from his Native Shore, Because he hated Tyrants, nor cou'd bear The Chains which none but fervile Souls will wear: He,tho'from Heav'n remote, to Heav'n cou'd move, With Strength of Mind, and tread th' Abyss above; And penetrate, with his interior Light, [Sight: Those upper Depths, which Nature hid from And what he had obferv'd, and learnt from thence, Lov'd in familiar Language to difpence.
The Crowd with filent Admiration ftand, Andheard him, as they heard their God'sCommand; While he difcours'd of Heav'ns myfterious Laws, The World's Original, and Nature's Cause ; And what was God, and why the fleecy Snows In Silence fell, and rattling Winds arose; What fhook the ftedfaft Earth, and whence begun The Dance of Planets round the radiant Sun; If Thunder was the Voice of angry Jove, Or Clouds, with Nitre pregnant, burst above: Of thefe, and Things beyond the common Reach, He spoke, and charm'd his Audience with his Speech.
He firft the Tafte of Flesh from Tables drove, And argu'd well, if Arguments cou'd move. O Mortals! from your Fellows Blood abstain, Nor taint your Bodies with a Food profane: While Corn and Pulfe by Nature are bestow'd, And planted Orchards bend their willing Load While labour'd Gardens wholfom Herbs produce, And teeming Vines afford their gen'rous Juice;
Nor tardier Fruits of cruder Kind are loft,
But tam'd with Fire, or mellow'd by the Froft;
While Kine to Pails diftended Udders bring,
And Bees their Hony redolent of Spring;
While Earth not only can your Needs supply, ¦
But, lavish of her Store, provides for Luxury;.
A guiltless Feaft administers with Ease,
And without Blood is prodigal to please.
Wild Beats their Maws with their flain Brethren
And yet not all, for fome refuse to kill:
Sheep, Goats, and Oxen, and the nobler Steed,
On Browz, and Corn, and flow'ry Meadows, feed.
Bears, Tygers, Wolves, the Lion's angry Brood,
Whom Heav'n endu'd with Principles of Blood,
He wifely fundred from the reft, to yell
In Forefts, and in lonely Caves to dwell,
Where stronger Beasts opprefs the weak by Might,
And all in Prey and Purple Feafts delight.
O impious Use! to Nature's Laws oppos'd, Where Bowels are in other Bowels clos'd: Where, fatten'd by their Fellow's Fat, they thrive; Maintain❜d by Murder, and by Death they live.
Tis then for nought that Mother Earth provides
The Stores of all the fhows, and all the hides,
If Men with fleshy Morfels must be fed,
And chaw with bloody Teeth the breathing Bread:
What else is this but to devour our Guests,
And barb'rously renew Cyclopean Feasts!
We, by destroying Life, our Life sustain ;
And gorge th'ungodly Maw with Meats obfcene.
Not fo the Golden Age, who fed on Fruit,
Nor durft with bloody Meals their Mouths pollute.
Then Birds in airy Space might fafely move,
And tim'rous Hares on Heaths fecurely rove:
Nor needed Fish the guileful Hooks to fear,
For all was peaceful; and that Peace fincere.
Whoever was the Wretch (and curs'd be he)
That envy'd first our Food's Simplicity;
Th'effay of bloody Feafts on Brutes began,
And after forg'd the Sword to murther Man.
Had he the sharpen'd Steel alone employ'd,
On Beasts of Prey that other Beasts destroy'd,
Or Man invaded with their Fangs and Paws,
This had been juftify'd by Nature's Laws,
And Self-defence: But who did Feasts begin
Of Flesh, He stretch'd Neceffity to Sin.
To kill Man killers, Man has lawful Pow'r,
But not th' extended Licence, to devour.
Ill Habits gather by unfeen degrees,
As Brooks make Rivers, Rivers run to Seas.
The Sow, with her broad Snout for rooting up
Th'intrufted Seed, was judg'd to spoil the Crop,
And intercept the fweating Farmer's Hope :
The covet'ous Churl, of unforgiving kind,
Th' Offender to the bloody Priest resign'd:
Her Hunger was no Plea: For that she dy'd.
The Goat came next in order, to be try'd:
The Goat had cropt the Tendrills of the Vine:-
In vengeance Laity and Clergy join,
Where one had loft his Profit, one his Wine.
Here was, at least, fome Shadow of Offence:
The Sheep was facrific'd on no pretence,
But meek and unrefifting Innocence.
A patient, useful Creature, born to bear
The warm and woolly Fleece,that.cloath'd herMur-
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