Wouldst thou engage the gods peculiar care ?
O Hercules, th' immortal pow'rs adore !
With a pure heart, with facrifice, and pray'r
Attend their altars, and their aid implore.
Or, would'st thou gain thy country's loud applause,
Lov'd as her father, as her god ador'd?

Be thou the bold afferter of her caufe ;

Her voice in council, in the fight her fword: In peace, in war, purfue thy country's good; For her bare thy bold breaft, and pour thy generous blood.

Wouldst thou, to quell the proud and lift th' oppreft,
In arts of war and matchless strength excel?

Firft conquer thou thy felf: to ease, to reft,
To each foft thought of pleasure, bid farewel
The night alternate, due to sweet repofe,

In watches wafte: in painful march, the day:
Congeal'd amidst the rigorous winter's fnows,

Scorch'd by the fummer's thirft-inflaming ray. Thy harden'd limbs fhall boaft fuperior might: Vigour fhall brace thine arm, refiftlefs in the fight."

Hear' thou what monffers then thou must engage ? What dangers, gentle youth, fhe bids thee prove ?" (Abrupt fays Sloth) Ill fit thy tender age Tumult and wars, fit age for joy and love.

Turn,

Turn, gentle youth, to me, to love, and joy!
To thefe I lead: no monflers here shall stay
Thine eafy courfe; no cares thy peace annoy ;
I lead to blifs a nearer, fmoother way:

Short is my way, fair, easy, smooth, and plain :
Turn, gentle youth with me eternal pleasures reign.”

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"What pleasures, vain miflaken wretch, are thine ?" (Virtue with fcorn replied)" who fleep'ft in cafe Infenfate; whofe foft limbs the toil decline

That feafons blifs, and makes enjoyment please:
Draining the copious bowl ere thirft require:
Feafting ere hunger to the feaft invite;
Whofe taftelefs joys anticipate defire,
Whom luxury fupplies wirh appetite;
Yet nature loaths, and you employ in vain.
Variety and art to conquer her difdain.

The fparkling neftar, cool'd with fummer fnows..
The dainty board with choiceft viands fpread..
To thee are tafleless all! fincere repose

Flies from thy flow'ry couch and downy bed.
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' inactive hours away

From the long ling'ring space, that lengthens out the day.

From

From bounteous nature's unexhaufted flores.
Flows the pure fountain of fincere delights:
Averse to her, you waste the joyless hours;
Sleep drowns thy days, and riot rules thy nights.
Immortal tho' thou art, indignant Jove

Hurl'd thee from heaven, th' immortals blissful placé.. For ever banish'd from the realms above,

To dwell on earth with man's degenrate race : Fitter abode on earth alike difgrac'd ;

Rejected by the wife, and by the fool embrac'd..

Fond wretch, that vainly weenest all delight
To gratify the fenfe, referv'd for thee!
Yet the most pleafing object to the fight,

Thine own fair action, never didft thou fee..
Tho' lull'd with fofter founds thou lieft along,
Soft mufic, warbling voices, melting lays;
Ne'er didft thou hear, more fweet than fweeteft fong
Charming the foul, thou ne'er didft hear thy praife !:
No-to thy revels let the fool repair;

To fuch go fmooth thy fpeech, and fpread thy tempting.

fnare.

Vaft happinefs enjoy thy gay allies!

A youth of follies, an old

age

of cares;

Young yet enervate, old yet never wife,

Vice waftes their vigour, and their mind impairs..

Vain,

Vain, idle, delicate, in thoughtless eafe.
Referving woes for age, their prime they fpend;
All wretched, hopelefs, in the evil days,

With forrow to the verge of life they tend.

Griev'd with the prefent, of the pasl asham'd,
They live and are defpis'd; they die, nor more are nam'd.

But with the gods, and godlike men, I dwell;
Me, his fupreme delight, th'Almighty Sire
Regards well pleas'd: whatever works excel,
All, or divine or human, I infpire,
Counfel with ftrength, and induftry with art,

In union meet conjoin'd, with me refide:
My dictates arm, inftruct, and mend the heart,
The fureft policy, the wifeft guide.

With me true friendfhip dwells: fhe deigns to bind Thofe generous fouls alone, whom I before have join'd.

Nor need my friends the various colly feast;

Hunger to them th' effects of art fupplies; Labour prepares their weary limbs to reft;

Sweet is their fleep; light, chearful, flrong they rife.
Thro' health, thro' joy, thro' pleafure, and renown
They tread my paths; and by a foft defcent
At length to age all gently finking down,
Look back with tranfport on a life well spent;

In which no hour flew unimprov'd away ;
In which fome gen'rous deed diftinguifh ev'ry day.

And

And when, the deftin'd term at lengths complete,
Their afhes reft in peace, eternal fame
Sounds wide their praife: triumphant over fate,
In facred fong for ever lives their name.
This, Herculus, is happiness! obey

My voice, and live: let thy celeftial birth
Lift and enlarge thy thoughts: behold the way
That leads to fame, and raifes thee from earth
Immortal! Lo, I guide thy fteps. Arife,
Purfue the glorious path, and claim thy native fkies,"

Her words breathe fire celeflial, and impart

New vigour to his foul, that fudden caught The generous flame: with great intent his heart Swells full, and labours with exalted thought. The mift of error from his eyes difpell'd,

Thro' all her fraudful arts, in cleareft light, Sloth in her native form he now beheld;

Unveil'd the flood confefs'd before his fight: Falfe Siren!All her vaunted charms, that fhone So fresh erewhile and fair, now wither'd, pale, and gone.

No more the rofy bloom in fweet difguife

Mafks her diffembled looks; each borrow'd grace Leaves her wan cheek; pale fickness clouds her eyes Livid and funk, and pallions dim her face.

As