Medulla Poetarum Romanorum - Vol. Ii. (Presumption - Race) Poem by Henry Baker

Presumption.

Bold Man, that all Things dares essay,
Thro' Crimes forbidden makes his Way:
Bold Japhet's Race, of Humankind
The Curse, celestial Fire purloin'd:
The Fire celestial ill--obtain'd,
Strait, the wan ling'ring Pthisis reign'd;
Came Fevers, with pestif'rous Breath,
A spotted Legion! and slow Death,
Far off before, tho' sure decreed,
Catch'd up his Steps, and march'd with Speed:
Presumptuous Daedalus! he try'd
Thro' Air, with Wings to Man deny'd,
To journey: Rash Alcmena's Son
The Barriers broke of Acheron:
To Deeds stupendous Mortals rise:
We e'en in Folly brave the Skies:
Nor suffer Jove, thro' stubborn Pride,
To lay th' uplifted Bolt aside.--


Pride.
See Boasting.

--Surrounded with a courtly Guard,
The royal Niobè in State appear'd:
Array'd in Robes embroider'd o'er with Gold,
And mad with Rage; yet lovely to behold:
Her beauteous Tresses, o'er her Shoulders spread,
Wav'd with becoming Grace, whene'er she mov'd her Head.
Then, darting round a proud disdainful Look,
In haughty Tone her hasty Passion broke,
And thus began: What Madness this, to court
A Goddess founded merely on Report?
Dare ye Latona's fancy'd Power invoke,
While yet no Altars to my Godhead smoke?--

Where e'er around I turn my wond'ring Eyes,
My Riches glitter, and my Treasures rise:
Add too, th'unequall'd Beauties of my Face,
Whose Charms celestial might a Goddess grace.
My Happiness beyond all Doubt is fixt,
And with no Tincture of Misfortune mixt:
My Plenty guards me against future Ill,
And spite of Fortune I'll be happy still:
I stand superior to her giddy Power;
For tho' she much may take, she still must leave me more.--

Narcissus many a blooming Youth caress'd,
And many a Maid her Love for him confess'd:
Yet tho' his Form was soft, his Pride was such,
That Youth, nor Maid, his haughty Heart could touch.

Whilst the old Frog was gone to range abroad,
An Ox came by, and on her young ones trod.
One 'scap'd, and told her, that a monstrous Beast
Had trampled on her Young, and kill'd the rest.
How large, says she; As large as I am now?
And swells:--Yes, yes, 'twas twice as large as You.
What! larger still? and then she swells again.
Ay, larger much, and you contend in vain:
Forbear your Swelling, for you cannot be,
Tho' you should burst yourself, as large as he.--


Procession.
See Majesty.

Mean while a mournful supplicating Train
Of Trojan Matrons, to Minerva's Fane
In sad Procession with a Veil repair,
Beat their white Breasts, and rend their flowing Hair.
Unmov'd with Pray'rs, disdainfully she frown'd,
And fixt her Eyes, relentless, on the Ground,--

Mean while the Queen to Pallas' stately Dome
Amidst a num'rous Quire of Matrons, rode,
And Off'rings bore: Lavinia by her Side,
The Royal Virgin, Cause of all their Woe:
Her beauteous Eyes cast down, and bent on Earth.
The Matrons follow: and with Incense sweet
Perfume the Temple: and with mournful Sound
Thus from the stately Entrance breath their Pray'r.
Tritonian Virgin! Arbitress of War!
Break with thy Pow'r the Phrygian Pirate's Lance:
And Him lay prone extended on the Ground,
And roll his Trunk beneath the lofty Gates.--


Prosperity.
See Fortune.

Who thinks that Fortune cannot change her Mind,
Prepares a dreadful Jest for all Mankind!
And who stands safest, tell me? is it he
That spreads and swells with puff'd Prosperity,
Or, blest with little, who preventing Care,
In Peace provides fit Arms against a War?--

O Mortals! blind in Fate, who never know
To bear high Fortune, or endure the low.--

When Fortune smiles, hold not your Head too high:
Nor sink, desponding, in Adversity.--

--Ill Fortune still reveals
The Temper of the Mind, which good conceals.--

A Mind at Ease may easily be won,
As Corn delights in Fields blest by the Sun.
When Fortune's Favours make the Soul rejoice,
The Mind is open to Perswasion's Voice.--

Tho' Fortune smiles, and swells thy Mind,
It gilds, but cannot change thy Kind.--

No one's belov'd, but he whom Fortune favours.--

Whom Fortune's Favours over much delight,
Her Frowns will terrify with great Affright.--

When every Thing goes on prosperously, People should consider how to behave themselves in Cases of Adversity: such as Dangers, Losses, Banishment.--


Providence.
See Chance. Fate. God.

I'll sing, how God, the World's Almighty Soul,
Fills Heav'n, and Earth, and Seas, and sways the Whole;
Each Part disposes with an equal Hand,
While subject Nature bends to his Command:
How all by Reason moves: because one Mind
Does all pervade, and all together bind.--

For did not all the friendly Parts conspire
To make one Whole, and keep the Frame entire:
And did not Wisdom's constant Laws controul
That vast stupendious Machine of the Whole,
The Earth would lose it's Place; the Skies would fall;
And want of Motion prove the Bane of all:
No more the Stars would roll; nor Day, nor Night,
By turns, each other fly, and put to Flight:--
Rains would not chear the Earth; nor Winds supply
Mists to the Clouds, and Vapours to the Sky:
Nor Seas would fill the Springs, nor Springs return
A grateful Tribute from their flowing Urn:
Nor would the All, unless contriv'd by Art,
So justly be proportion'd in each Part,
That neither Seas, nor Skies, nor Stars exceed
Our Wants, nor are too scanty for our Need.
Thus stands the Frame, and one Almighty Soul
Thro' all diffus'd, so turns and guides the Whole,
That Nothing from it's settled Station swerves:
Motion, not alters, but the World preserves.--

The Stars still keep one Course: they still pursue
Their constant Track, nor vary in a new:
From one fixt Point they start: their Course maintain:
Repeat their Whirl, and visit it again:
A most convincing Reason drawn from Sense,
That this vast Frame is rul'd by Providence:
Which, like the Soul, does every Whirl advance:
It must be God, nor was it made by Chance,
As Epicurus dream'd: who madly thought
This beauteous Frame of senseless Atoms wrought;
That Seas, and Earth, the Stars, and spacious Air,
What forms new Worlds, or does the old repair,
First rose from These, by These supply'd remain:
And All must be, when Chance shall break the Chain,
Dissolv'd to these wild Principles again.
Absurd, and Nonsense! Atheist, use thine Eyes,
And having view'd the Order of the Skies,
Think, if Thou canst, that Matter blindly hurl'd,
Without a Guide should frame this wondrous World.--

Receive my Council, and securely move;
Instruct thy Fortune to the Pow'rs above:
Leave them to manage for thee, and to grant
What their unerring Wisdom sees thee Want:
In Goodness as in Greatness they excell:
Ah! that we lov'd Ourselves but half so well!
We, by our headstrong Passions blindly led,
Are hot for Action, and desire to wed:
Then wish for Heirs:--but, to the Gods alone
Our future Offspring, and our Wives, are known.--

On human Prudence safely none depend,
For ill Advice Success does oft attend:
Fortune but seldom Merit's Side approves,
But here and there without Distinction roves.
So that some greater over--ruling Cause
Subjects all mortal Things to it's appointed Laws.--


Purgation of Souls, and their return into Bodies.

--Æneas sees
A Grove, secluded, in a secret Vale,
Shrubs rattling in the Woods, and Lethe's Stream,
Which near the peaceful Mansions glides along:
Round which unnumber'd Crowds, and Nations flew.
As when the Bees in Meads, while Summer shines,
On various Flowers alight, and hover o'er
The Snow--white Lillies: all the Field resounds
With humming Noise.--Struck at the sudden Sight,
Surpriz'd, and ignorant, Æneas asks
The Cause: enquires, what River That? and who
The thronging Ghosts that crouded to the Shore?

Anchises then: Those Souls, to whom by Fate
New Bodies are decreed, at Lethe's Stream
Drink long Oblivion from the drowsy Waves.

O Father, is it then to be conceiv'd,
That any of these Spirits so sublime,
Would go to upper Light, and re--assume
Their sluggish Bodies? whence such fond Desire,
Such miserable Love of wretched Life?

Yes; all, my Son, to thee I will explain,
Replies Anchises.--

First, Heaven, and Earth, and Oceans liquid Plains,
The Moon's bright Globe, the Sun, and shining Stars,
A Soul within enlivens: and a Mind
Diffus'd thro' all it's Parts, the gen'ral Mass
Invigorates, and mingles with the Whole.
Hence Men, and Beasts, and all the feather'd Kind
Proceed, and Monsters of the boundless Deep.
A fiery Force and Origine divine
These Seeds inspires: so far as not controul'd
By their terrestrial Bodies, clog'd and damp'd
By their dull Flesh, and cumbrous mortal Frame.
Hence they desire, and fear, rejoice, and grieve:
Nor see the Light, in Prison dark confin'd
Nor, ev'n when Life is fled, do all their Ills,
And all their Pests corporeal wear away:
But many Stains, in such a Length of Time
Contracted, marvellously must inhere.
Therefore with Punishment they are explor'd,
And pay due Penance for their former Crimes.
Some hang expanded to the empty Winds:
The Guilt, ingrain'd, of Other's in th' Abyss
Of Seas is wash'd: or burnt away with Fire.
Each of Us from our several Manes bear
Purgation: to Elysium then we go,
And here We few enjoy these blissful Fields.
When tract of Time (it's fatal Round at length
Revolv'd) has quite work'd off the blended Stain,
Leaving defecated th' etherial Ray,
And simple Energy of heav'nly Fire:
All These (the Circle of a thousand Years
Compleat) the God to Lethe's River calls
Assembl'd: that, forgetful of the past,
They may return to Life, and re--ascend,
Contented, to their first embodied State.--


Race.

They take their Places: And, the Signal giv'n,
Fleet as a Tempest, spring at once, and leave
The Bounds, fly o'er the Field, and mark the Goal.
Nisus the first, and long before the rest,
Swift shoots away: more swift than Winds, or Wings
Of Light'ning.--Next, but far at Distance next,
Him Salius follows: Near to Him, the Third
Euryalus--.
Him Elymus succeeds: Whom pressing close,
Diores flies: and justles Heel with Heel,
Imminent o'er his Shoulder: and had Room
More wide been giv'n him, foremost he had sprung,
Or left him doubtful.--Now They panting reach'd
The utmost Line, and almost touch'd the Goal:
When Nisus, sliding on the slipp'ry Gore,
Which there by chance, from Oxen slain, besmear'd
The Ground and verdant Grass, his tott'ring Steps
Could not support: but now, ev'n Victor, fell,
Prone in the Mire obscene, and sacred Blood,
Unfortunate: Yet not unmindful Then
Of Friendship, and Euryalus, oppos'd
Himself to Salius, from the slipp'ry Place
Rising: He, tumbling on the clotted Sand,
Extended lay: Euryalus springs on,
And, Victor by th' Assistance of his Friend,
Comes in the first, with Shouts, and mix'd Applause.