Odes 3.4 (Creech): Descende Caelo

DEscend, my Muse, compose a long
A pleasing and a grateful Song,
Or to the Pipe or sounding Flute,
Or gently move Apollo's Lute:
D'ye hear? or airy frenzy cheat
My mind, well pleas'd with the deceit?
I seem to hear, I seem to move
And wander thro the happy Grove
Where smooth Springs flow, and murmuring Breez
Do's wanton thro the waving Trees:
In lofty Vultur's rising grounds
Without my Nurse Apulia's bounds
When young, and tir'd with sport and play,
And bound with pleasing sleep I lay,
Doves cover'd me with myrtle boughs
And with soft murmurs sweetned my repose:
A wonder this, and strange to all
That liv'd in fat Ferenti's Vale;
High Acherontia, Bantine groves
Admir'd the kindness of the Doves:
'Twas strange that I midst Thorny Brakes,
Secure from Bears and creeping Snakes
Should lie so long; that Doves should spread
The Sacred Laurel round my Head,
And I a Child not fear the Woods
The Care and Darling of the Gods:
Yours, Muses, yours, I live your Care
On Sabine Hills, or cold Praeneste's Air:
Or whether watry Baiae please,
Or wanton Tibur lulls me into ease:
Because your Springs, your Sport, and Grove
Are all the objects of my Love;
When Brutus lost Philippi's Field,
I safely fled, and scorn'd my Shield,
'Twas Sin to guard or to defend
By mortal Arms the Muses Friend:
By you the proud Sicilian Rock
I brav'd, and scap't the cursed Oak:
Whilst you my feeble Ship shall guide,
I'le singly stem the proudest Tide;
I'le travel thro the farthest East,
Where never Mortal foot hath prest;
Britans Inhospitable Flood
And Thracians pleas'd with Horses Blood,
On Scythian Sands I'le boldly tread,
And stoutly see the quiver'd Mede:
When Caesar, great as all our Hopes,
In Towns hath hid his weary Troops,
You cheer his Soul, you soften Cares,
And ease the harsh fatigue of Wars:
You, Kind, instruct him how to live,
Give good advice, and joy to give:
We know, we know how mighty Jove
(Whose guiding Nod rules all above,
Who governs with an equal hand
The raging Sea, and quiet Land;
Whose easy and Almighty sway
The Gods, and Ghosts, and all obey;)
With Thunder strook bold Titans down,
And beat their fury from his Throne;
We know how impious Giants fell
From climbing Heaven to deepest Hell:
That horrid Troop, those impious Bands,
Relying on their numerous hands,
Whilst they on Mountains climb'd on high
Spread no small terror thro the Sky;
And shady Pelion, rais'd above
The high Olympus, frighted Jove:
But how could Brawny Mimas rise,
How large Porphyrion's frightful size
Against the Thunder of the Skies?
How bold Typhaeus aim a stroak,
How impious Encel dart his Oak?
Too weak their force, and soon repell'd
By Virgin Pallas sounding Shield:
Here Vulcan fought, a greedy God,
On that side Matron Juno stood;
And Phoebus there, a dreadful Foe
Still arm'd with an unerring Bow:
Who loves to haunt the Lycian Woods,
And in the pure Castalian Floods
Wash his loose locks; who Songs inspires,
And fills his Priests with pleasing fires,
On Patara and Delos Fame
Bestows, and takes from both a Name.

Rash force by its own weight must fall,
But Pious strength will still prevail;
For such the Gods assist, and bless,
But hate a mighty Wickedness.
Proud Gyges proves this fatal truth,
And hot Orion's lawless youth,
E'en Virgin Pallas scarce could scape
The Lustful fury of a Rape;
'Till her Bow reach't him, whilst He strove,
With fiercer Darts than those of Love:
The Earth on her own Monster thrown
Now mourns the ruin of her Son,
She grieves that her proud Children fell
By Thunder strook to deepest Hell:
Nor do hot Aetna's flames decay,
Yet cannot eat the load away:
Hot Tytius Liver, Vulturs tear,
They watch as soon as parts appear,
And seize them streight; the Doom was just,
He punisht in the seat of Lust;
Wrath waits on Sin, three hundred Chains
Perithous bind in endless pains.