"Honour rewards the brave and bold alone; "She fpurns the timorous, indolent, and base: "Danger and toil stand stern before her throne; "And guard (fo Jove commands) the facred place, "Who feeks her muft the mighty cost sustain, "And pay the price of fame; labour, and care, and pain. "Wou'dft thou engage the gods peculiar care? "O Hercules, th' immortal powers adore! "Or wou'dit thou gain thy country's loud applaufey "Lov'd as her father, as her god ador'd? "Be thou the bold affertor of her caufe; "Her voice, in council; in the fight, her fword. "In peace, in war, pursue thy country's good: "For her, bare thy bold breast; and pour thy generous blood. XIV. "Wou'dft thou, to quell the proud and lift th' oppreft, "In arts of war and matchless strength excel? "Firft conquer thou thyfelf. To ease, to rest, "To each foft thought of pleasure, bid farewel. "The night alternate, due to fweet repose, "In watches wafte; in painful march, the day: "Congeal'd, amidst the rigorous winter's fnows; "Scorch'd, by the summer's thirst-inflaming ray. Thy harden'd limbs shall boast superior might: "Vigour fhall brace thine arm, refiftless in the fight." XV. "Hear'st XV. Hear'ft thou, what monsters then thou must engage; "What dangers, gentle youth, the bids thee prove? (Abrupt fays Sloth) "ill fit thy tender age "Tumult and wars; fit age, for joy and love. "Turn, gentle youth, to me, to love and joy! "To these I lead: no monsters here shall stay "Thine easy courfe; no cares thy peace annoy : "I lead to blifs a nearer, smoother way. "Short is my way; fair, eafy, fmooth, and plain: "Turn, gentle youth! With me eternal pleasures reign." 66 XVI. "What pleasures, vain mistaken wretch, are thine! (Virtue with scorn reply'd :) " who sleep'st in ease "Infenfate; whose soft limbs the toil decline "That feafons blifs, and makes enjoyment please. "Draining the copious bowl, ere thirst require; "Feasting, ere hunger to the feaft invite: "Whose tasteless joys anticipate defire; "Whom luxury fupplies with appetite : "Yet Nature loaths; and you employ in vain Variety and art to conquer her disdain, XVII. "The sparkling nectar, cool'd with fummer fnows; "The dainty board, with choiceft viands fpread; "To thee are taftelefs all! Sincere repose "Flies from thy flow'ry couch and downy bed. "For "For thou art only tir'd with indolence: "Nor is thy fleep, with toil and labour bought : "Th' imperfect fleep that lulls thy languid fenfe "In dull oblivious interval of thought: "That kindly fteals th' inactivè hours away "From the long, ling'ring fpace, that lengthens out the day. XVIII. : : "From bounteous nature's unexhaufted ftores "Flows the pure fountain of fincere delights « Averse to her, you wafte the joyless hours; Steep drowns thy days, and riot rules thy nights. "Immortal tho' thou art, indignant Jove "Hurl'd thee from heaven, th' immortals blissful place; "For ever banish'd from the realms above, "To dwell on earth, with man's degenerate race: "Fitter abode! On earth alike difgrac'd;" Rejected by the wife, and by the fool embrac'd. XIX. "Fond wretch, that vainly weeneft all delight "To gratify the fenfe referv'd for thee! "Yet the most pleasing object to the fight, "Thine own fair action, never didst thou fee. "Tho' lull'd with fofteft founds thou lieft along; "Soft mufic, warbling voices, melting lays: "Ne'er did't thou hear, more fweet than fweeteft fong "Charming the foul, thou ne'er didft hear thy praise! "No-to thy revels let the fool repair: "Tofuch, go fmooth thy fpeech; and spread thy tempting "fnare. XX. "Vaft XX. «Vast happiness enjoy thy gay allies! "A youth of follies; and old age, of cares: "Young, yet enervate; old, yet never wife ; "Vice waftes their vigour, and their mind impairs. "Vain, idle, delicate, in thoughtless ease "Referving woes for age their prime they spend ; "All wretched, hopeless, in the evil days "With forrow to the verge of life they tend. "Griev'd, with the prefent; of the paft, afham'd:" They live, and are defpis'd: they die, nor more are nam'd. XXI. "But with the gods, and godlike men, I dwell: Counsel with ftrength, and industry with art, "My dictates arm, inftruct, and mend the heart; "The fureft policy, the wifeft guide. "With me, true friendship dwells: fhe deigns to bind "Those generous fouls alone, whom I before have join'd. XXII. "Nor need my friends the various costly feast; "Sweet is their fleep: light, chearful, ftrong they rife. "Thro' "Thro' health, thro' joy, thro' pleasure and renown, "They tread my paths; and by a foft descent, "At length to age all gently finking down, "Look back with transport on a life well-spent : "In which, no hour flew unimprov'd away; "In which, fome generous deed diftinguish'd every day. XXIII. "And when, the deftin'd term at length compleat, "Their ashes reft in peace; eternal Fame "Sounds wide their praise: triumphant over fate, "In facred fong, for ever lives their name. "This, Hercules, is happiness! Obey My voice, and live. Let thy celestial birth "Lift, and enlarge, thy thoughts. Behold the way "That leads to fame; and raises thee from earth "Immortal! Lo, I guide thy steps. Arise, "Pursue the glorious path; and claim thy native skies.” XXIV. Her words breathe fire celeftial, and impart Sloth in her native form he now beheld; XXV. No |