TRANSLATIONS

FROM

LUCRETIUS.

THE BEGINNING OF

THE FIRST BOOK

OF

LUCRETIUS.

DELIGHT of human kind, and gods above, Parent of Rome, propitious Queen of Love, Whofe vital power, air, earth, and sea supplies, And breeds whate'er is born beneath the rolling fkies:

For every kind, by thy prolific might,

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Springs, and beholds the regions of the light. Thee, goddess, thee the clouds and tempefts fear,

And at thy pleafing prefence disappear:
For thee the land in fragrant flowers is dreft
For thee the ocean fmiles, and smooths her
wavy breast;

And heaven itself with more ferene and

light is bleft.

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purer

For when the rifing fpring adorns the mead,
And a new scene of nature ftands difplay'd,

When teeming buds, and chearful greens ap

pear,

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And western gales unlock the lazy year:
The joyous birds thy welcome first express,
Whose native fongs thy genial fire confefs;
Then favage beasts bound o'er their flighted
food,

Struck with thy darts, and tempt the raging flood.

All nature is thy gift; earth, air, and fea: 207 Of all that breathes, the various progeny, Stung with delight, is goaded on by thee. O'er barren mountains, o'er the flowery plain, The leafy forest, and the liquid main,

Extends thy uncontrol'd and boundless reign. Through all the living regions doft thou move, 26 And scatter'st, where thou go'ft, the kindly feeds of love.

Since then the race of every living thing

Obeys thy power; fince nothing new can spring Without thy warmth, without thy influence bear,

Or beautiful, or lovefome can appear;
Be thou my aid, my tuneful fong infpire,
And kindle with thy own productive fire;
While all thy province, Nature, I furvey,
And fing to Memmius an immortal lay
Of heaven and earth, and every where thy
wondrous power display:

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To Memmius, under thy sweet influence born, Whom thou with all thy gifts and graces

adorn.

my

The rather then affift Mufe and me,
Infufing verfes worthy him and thee.

doft

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Meantime on land and fea let barbarous difcord cease,

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And lull the liftning world in univerfal peace.
To thee mankind their foft repose must owe;
For thou alone that bleffing canst bestow;
Because the brutal bufinefs of the war
Is manag'd by thy dreadful fervant's care;
Who oft retires from fighting fields, to prove
The pleasing pains of thy eternal love;
And, panting on thy breaft, fupinely lies,
While with thy heavenly form he feeds his fa-
mith'd eyes;

Sucks in with open lips thy balmy breath,

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By turns restor❜d to life, and plung'd in pleasing

death.

There while thy curling limbs about him move,
Involv'd and fetter'd in the links of love,
When, wishing all, he nothing can deny,
Thy charms in that aufpicious moment try;
With winning eloquence our peace implore,
And quiet to the weary world restore.

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