'Then, golden-wanded brother, ask me not To speak the fates by Jupiter designed; But be it mine to tell their various fot
To the unnumbered tribes of human-kind. Let good to these, and ill to those be wrought As I dispense-but he who comes consigned By voice and wings of perfect augury
To my great shrine, shall find avail in me.
'Him will I not deceive, but will assist ; But he who comes relying on such birds
As chatter vainly, who would strain and twist
The purpose of the Gods with idle words,
And deems their knowledge light, he shall have missed
His road-whilst I among my other hoards
His gifts deposit. Yet, O son of May,
I have another wondrous thing to say.
'There are three Fates, three virgin Sisters, who Rejoicing in their wind-outspeeding wings,
Their heads with flour snowed over white and new,
Sit in a vale round which Parnassus flings
Its circling skirts-from these I have learned true
Vaticinations of remotest things.
My father cared not. Whilst they search out dooms,
They sit apart and feed on honeycombs.
"They, having eaten the fresh honey, grow
Drunk with divine enthusiasm, and utter
With earnest willingness the truth they know;
But if deprived of that sweet food, they mutter
All plausible delusions;-these to you
I give;-if you inquire, they will not stutter; Delight your own soul with them:-any man You would instruct may profit if he can.
"Take these and the fierce oxen, Maia's child— O'er many a horse and toil-enduring mule,
O'er jagged-jawed lions, and the wild
White-tusked boars, o'er all, by field or pool,
Of cattle which the mighty Mother mild
Nourishes in her bosom, thou shalt ruleThou dost alone the veil from death upliftThou givest not-yet this is a great gift.'
Thus King Apollo loved the child of May
In truth, and Jove covered their love with joy.
Hermes with Gods and Men even from that day
761 from Harvard MS.; of edd. 1824, 1839.
Harvard MS.; them with love and joy, edd. 1824, 1839,
Mingled, and wrought the latter much annoy, And little profit, going far astray
Through the dun night. Farewell, delightful Boy, Of Jove and Maia sprung,-never by me,
Nor thou, nor other songs, shall unremembered be.
HOMER'S HYMN TO CASTOR AND POLLUX
[Published by Mrs. Shelley, P. W., 1839, 2nd ed.; dated 1818.]
YE wild-eyed Muses, sing the Twins of Jove,
Whom the fair-ankled Leda, mixed in love
With mighty Saturn's Heaven-obscuring Child,
On Taygetus, that lofty mountain wild,
Brought forth in joy: mild Pollux, void of blame,
And steed-subduing Castor, heirs of fame.
These are the Powers who earth-born mortals save
And ships, whose flight is swift along the wave.
When wintry tempests o'er the savage sea
Are raging, and the sailors tremblingly
Call on the Twins of Jove with prayer and vow,
Gathered in fear upon the lofty prow,
And sacrifice with snow-white lambs,-the wind
And the huge billow bursting close behind,
Even then beneath the weltering waters bear
The staggering ship-they suddenly appear,
On yellow wings rushing athwart the sky,
And lull the blasts in mute tranquillity,
And strew the waves on the white Ocean's bed,
Fair omen of the voyage; from toil and dread
The sailors rest, rejoicing in the sight,
And plough the quiet sea in safe delight.
HOMER'S HYMN TO THE MOON
[Published by Mrs. Shelley, P. W., 1839, 2nd ed.; dated 1818.]
DAUGHTERS of Jove, whose voice is melody,
Muses, who know and rule all minstrelsy,
Sing the wide-winged Moon! Around the earth,
From her immortal head in Heaven shot forth,
Far light is scattered-boundless glory springs;
Where'er she spreads her many-beaming wings
The lampless air glows round her golden crown.
But when the Moon divine from Heaven is gone
Under the sea, her beams within abide,
Till, bathing her bright limbs in Ocean's tide,
Clothing her form in garments glittering far,
And having yoked to her immortal car
The beam-invested steeds whose necks on high
Curve back, she drives to a remoter sky
767 going] wandering Harvard MS. 6 steed-subduing emend. Rosselli; steel-subduing 1899, 2nd ed.
A western Crescent, borne impetuously.
Then is made full the circle of her light,
And as she grows, her beams more bright and bright
Are poured from Heaven, where she is hovering then,
A wonder and a sign to mortal men.
The Son of Saturn with this glorious Power
Mingled in love and sleep-to whom she bore
Pandeia, a bright maid of beauty rare
Among the Gods, whose lives eternal are.
Hail Queen, great Moon, white-armed Divinity,
Fair-haired and favourable! thus with thee
My song beginning, by its music sweet
Shall make immortal many a glorious feat
Of demigods, with lovely lips, so well
Which minstrels, servants of the Muses, tell.
HOMER'S HYMN TO THE SUN
[Published by Mrs. Shelley, P. W., 1839, 2nd ed.; dated 1818.] OFFSPRING of Jove, Calliope, once more
To the bright Sun, thy hymn of music pour;
Whom to the child of star-clad Heaven and Earth
Euryphaëssa, large-eyed nymph, brought forth;
Euryphaëssa, the famed sister fair
Of great Hyperion, who to him did bear
A race of loveliest children; the young Morn,
Whose arms are like twin roses newly born,
The fair-haired Moon, and the immortal Sun.
Who borne by heavenly steeds his race doth run
Unconquerably, illuming the abodes
Of mortal Men and the eternal Gods.
Fiercely look forth his awe-inspiring eyes,
Beneath his golden helmet, whence arise
And are shot forth afar, clear beams of light;
His countenance, with radiant glory bright.
Beneath his graceful locks far shines around,
And the light vest with which his limbs are bound,
Of woof aethereal delicately twined,
Glows in the stream of the uplifting wind.
His rapid steeds soon bear him to the West;
Where their steep flight his hands diving arrest.
And the fleet car with yoke of gold, which he
Sends from bright Heaven beneath the shadowy wa.
HOMER'S HYMN TO THE EARTH: MOTHER OF ALL [Published by Mrs. Sheley, P. W., 1997), 2nd ed.; dated 1818 ] O UNIVERSAL Mother, who dost keep
From everlasting thy foundations deep.
Eldest of things, Great Earth. I sing of ther!
All shapes that have their d dồng in the wa
All things that fly, or on the ground divine
Live, move, and there are nourished-these are thine;
These from thy wealth thou dost sustain; from thee
Fair babes are born, and fruits on every tree
Hang ripe and large, revered Divinity!
The life of mortal men beneath thy sway
Is held; thy power both gives and takes away!
Happy are they whom thy mild favours nourish;
All things unstinted round them grow and flourish.
For them, endures the life-sustaining field
Its load of harvest, and their cattle yield
Large increase, and their house with wealth is filled.
Such honoured dwell in cities fair and free,
The homes of lovely women, prosperously;
Their sons exult in youth's new budding gladness,
And their fresh daughters free from care or sadness,
With bloom-inwoven dance and happy song.
On the soft flowers the meadow-grass among,
Leap round them sporting such delights by thee
Are given, rich Power, revered Divinity.
Mother of gods, thou Wife of starry Heaven,
Farewell! be thou propitious, and be given
A happy life for this brief melody,
Nor thou nor other songs shall unremembered be.
[Published by Mrs. Shelley, P. W., 1839, 2nd ed.; dated 1818.]
I SING the glorious Power with azure eyes,
Athenian Pallas! tameless, chaste, and wise,
Tritogenia, town-preserving Maid,
Revered and mighty; from his awful head
Whom Jove brought forth, in warlike armour dressed, 5 Golden, all radiant! wonder strange possessed
The everlasting Gods that Shape to see,
Shaking a javelin keen, impetuously
Rush from the crest of Aegis-bearing Jove;
Fearfully Heaven was shaken, and did move
Beneath the might of the Cerulean-eyed;
Earth dreadfully resounded, far and wide;
And, lifted from its depths, the sea swelled high
In purple billows, the tide suddenly
Stood still, and great Hyperion's son long time
Checked his swift steeds, till, where she stood sublime, Pallas from her immortal shoulders threw
The arms divine; wise Jove rejoiced to view.
Child of the Aegis-bearer, hail to thee,
Nor thine nor others' praise shall unremembered be.
HOMER'S HYMN TO VENUS
[Published by Garnett, Relics of Shelley, 1862; dated 1818.]
[Vv. 1-55, with some omissions.]
MUSE, sing the deeds of golden Aphrodite,
Who wakens with her smile the fulled delight
Of sweet desire, taming the eternal kings
Of Heaven, and men, and all the living things
That fleet along the air, or whom the sea,
Or earth, with her maternal ministry,
Nourish innumerable, thy delight
Three spirits canst thou not deceive or quell:
Minerva, child of Jove, who loves too well
Fierce war and mingling combat, and the fame
Of glorious deeds, to heed thy gentle flame.
Diana
Is tamed not by thy smiles; the shadows green
Of the wild woods, the bow, the..
And piercing cries amid the swift pursuit
Of beasts among waste mountains,-such delight
Is hers, and men who know and do the right.
Nor Saturn's first-born daughter, Vesta chaste,
Whom Neptune and Apollo wooed the last,
Such was the will of aegis-bearing Jove;
But sternly she refused the ills of Love,
And by her mighty Father's head she swore
An oath not unperformed, that evermore
A virgin she would live mid deities
Divine: her father, for such gentle ties
Renounced, gave glorious gifts-thus in his hall
She sits and feeds luxuriously. O'er all
In every fane, her honours first arise
From men-the eldest of Divinities.
These spirits she persuades not, nor deceives,
But none beside escape, so well she weaves
Her unseen toils; nor mortal men, nor gods
Who live secure in their unseen abodes.
She won the soul of him whose fierce delight
Is thunder-first in glory and in might.
And, as she willed, his mighty mind deceiving,
With mortal limbs his deathless limbs inweaving,
Concealed him from his spouse and sister fair,
Whom to wise Saturn ancient Rhea bare.
In Venus Jove did soft desire awaken.
That by her own enchantments overtaken,
She might, no more from human union free,
Burn for a nur-ling of mortality.
For once. amid the assembled Deities.
The laughter-loving Venus from her eye,
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