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The IRON AGE.

Hard Steel fucceeded then ;

And ftubborn as the Metal were the Men.
Truth, Modefty, and Shame, the World forfook:
Fraud, Avarice, and Force, their places took.
Then Sails were spread to ev'ry Wind that blew ;
Raw were the Sailors, and the Depths were new:
Trees, rudely hollow'd, did the Waves fuftain;
Ere Ships in Triumph plough'd the watry Plain.
Then Land-marks limited to each his Right.
For all before was common as the Light..
Nor was the Ground alone requir'd to bear
Her annual Income to the crooked Share ;
Buc greedy Mortals, rummaging her Store,
Digg'd from her Entrails first the precious Ore;
Which next to Hell the prudent Gods had laid;
And that alluring Ill to fight difplay'd.

Thus curfed Steel, and more accurfed Gold,
Gave Mifchief Birth, and made that Mischief bold :
And double Death did wretched Man invade,
By Steel affaulted, and by Gold betray'd.

Now (brandish'd Weapons glittring in their Hands)
Mankind is broken loofe from moral Bands ;
No rights of Hospitality remain :

The Gueft, by him who harbour'd him, is flain :
The Son-in-law purfues the Father's Life ;
The Wife her Husband murders, he the Wife..
The Step-dame Poifon for the Son prepares ;
The Son inquires into his Father's Years.
Faith flies, and Piety in Exile mourns ;
And Juftice, here oppreft, to Heav'n returns.

The

The GIANTS WAR?

Nor were the Gods themselves more fafe above;
Against beleagur'd Heav'n the Giants move.
Hills pil'd on Hills, on Mountains Mountains lie,
To make their mad approaches to the Sky.
'Till Jove, no longer patient, took his time
T'avenge with Thunder their audacious Crime :
Red Light'ning play'd along the Firmament,
And their demolish'd Works to pieces rent.
Sing'd with the Flames, and with the Bolts transfix'd,
With Native Earth their Blood the Monsters mix'd;
The Blood, indu'd with animating heat,

Did in th' impregnate Earth new Sons beget:
They, like the Seed from which they fprung, accurft,
Against the Gods immortal Hatred nurft:

An impious, arrogant, and cruel Brood;
Expreffing their Original from Blood.

Which when the King of Gods beheld from high. (Withal revolving in his Memory,

What he himself had found on Earth of late,
Lycaon's Guilt, and his inhuman Treat,)
He figh'd, nor longer with his Pity ftrove;
But kindled to a Wrath becoming Jove :
Then call'd a General Council of the Gods;
Who, fummon'd, iffue from their Bleft Abodes,
And fill th' Affembly with a fhining Train.
A Way there is, in Heav'n's expanded Plain,
Which, when the Skies are clear, is feen below,
And Mortals by the Name of Milky know.

The Ground-work is of Stars; through which the Road
Lies
open to the 'Thunderer's Abode.

The Gods of greater Nations dwell around,

And, on the Right and Left, the Palace bound;

The

The Commons where they can: The Nobler fort,
With Winding-doors wide open, front the Court.
This Place, as far as Earth with Heav'n may vie,
I dare to call the Louvre of the Skie.
When all were plac'd, in Seats diftin&tly known,
And he, their Father, had affum'd the Throne,
Upon his Iv'ry Sceptre first he leant,

Then fhook his Head, that fhook the Firmament:
Air, Earth, and Seas, obey'd th' Almighty Nod;
And, with a gen'ral Fear, confefs'd the God.
At length, with Indignation, thus he broke.
His awful filence, and the Pow'rs befpoke.
I was not more concern'd in that debate
Of Empire, when our Univerfal State
Was put to hazard, and the Giant Race -
Qur Captive Skies were ready to embrace :
For tho' the Foe was fierce, the Seeds of all
Rebellion fprung from one Original;
Now, wherefoever ambient Waters glide,
All are corrupt, and all must be destroy'd.
Let me this Holy Proteftation make:
By Hell, and Hell's inviolable Lake,
I try'd whatever in the God-head lay:
But gangren'd Members must be lop'd away,
Before the Nobler Parts are tainted to decay.
There dwells below a Race of Demi-Gods,
Of Nymphs in Waters, and of Fawns in Woods:
Who, tho' not worthy yet in Heav'n to live,
Let 'em, at least, enjoy that Earth we give.
Can these be thought fecurely lodg❜d below,
When I my self, who no Superior know,
I, who have Heav'n and Earth at my Command,
Have been attempted by Lycaon's Hand?

A

At this a Murmur through the Synod went,
And with one Voice they vote his Punishment.
Thus, when confpiring Traitors dar'd to doom
The fall of Cafar, and in him of Rome,
The Nations trembled with a pious fear;
All anxious for their Earthly Thunderer :
Nor was their Care, O Cæfar, lefs esteem'd
By thee, than that of Heav'n for fove was deem'd :-
Who with his Hand, and Voice, did first restrain
Their Murmurs, then refum'd his Speech again."
The Gods to filence were compos'd, and fate
With reverence due to his Superior State.
Cancel your pious Cares; already he
Has paid his Debt to Justice, and to me.
Yet what his Crimes, and what my Judgments were,
Remains for me thus briefly to declare.

The Clamours of this vile degenerate Age,
The Cries of Orphans, and th' Oppreffor's Rage,
Had reach'd the Stars; I will defcend, faid I,
In hope to prove this loud Complaint a Lye.
Difguis'd in Human Shape, I travell'd round
The World, and more than what I heard I found..
O'er Manalus I took my steepy way,

By Caverns infamous for Beasts of Prey :
Then crofs'd Cyllené, and the piny Shade,
More infamous by curft Lycaon made:

Dark Night had cover'd Heav'n and Earth, before
I enter'd his Unhofpitable Door.

Juft at my Entrance, I difplay'd the Sign.
That somewhat was approaching of Divine.
The proftrate People pray; the Tyrant grins ; :
And, adding Prophanation to his Sins,
I'll try, faid he, and, if a God appear,
To prove his Deity fhall coft him dear.

'Twas

'Twas late; the graceless Wretch my Death prepares,
When I should foundly fleep, oppreft with Cares :-
This dire Experiment he chofe, to prove
If I were Mortal, or undoubted Jove :
But first he had refolv'd to tafte my Pow'r.
Not long before, but in a luckless hour,
Some Legates, fent from the Moloffian State,-
Were on a peaceful Errand come to treat :
Of these he murders one, he boils the Flefni,
And lays the mangled Morfels in a Dish :
Some part he roasts; then ferves it up, so drest,
And bids me welcome to this human Feaft..
Mov'd with difdain, the Table I o'er-turn'd;
And with avenging Flames the Palace burn'd.
The Tyrant, in a fright, for fhelter gains
The neighb'ring Fields, and feours along the Plains.
Howling he fled, and fain he wou'd have spoke;
But human Voice his Brutal Tongue forfook.
About his Lips the gather'd Foam he churns,
And, breathing flaughter, ftill with Rage he burns,
But on the bleating Flock his Fury turns.
His Mantle, now his Hide, with rugged Hairs
Cleaves to his Back; a famifh'd Face he bears;
His Arms defcend, his Shoulders fink away,
To multiply his Legs for chace of Prey.
He grows a Wolf, his hoarinefs remains,
And the fame Rage in other members reigns.
His Eyes ftill fparkle in a narr'wer space:
His Jaws retain the grin, and violence of his Face.
This was a fingle ruin, but not one
Deferves fo juft a Punishment alone.
Mankind's a Monster, and th' Ungodly times,
Confed'rate into Guilt, are fworn to Crimes.

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