4 A Greek poet. He was refused by Lycambes as a suitor to his daughters, and in
revenge lampooned the entire family. Lycambes's daughters hanged themselves.
5 Erebus and Erynnis are Furies.
6 See Milton's Fifth Elegy, line 6, and the note thereto.
7 The constellation Scorpio.
That Nature is Not Subject to Decay.
Ah, how the Human Mind wearies herself
With her own wand'rings, and, involved in gloom
Impenetrable, speculates amiss!
Measuring, in her folly, things divine
By human, laws inscrib'd on adamant
By laws of Man's device, and counsels fix'd
For ever, by the hours, that pass, and die.
How?--shall the face of Nature then be plow'd
Into deep wrinkles, and shall years at last
On the great Parent fix a sterile curse? 10
Shall even she confess old age, and halt
And, palsy-smitten, shake her starry brows?
Shall foul Antiquity with rust and drought
And famine vex the radiant worlds above?
Shall Time's unsated maw crave and engulf
The very heav'ns that regulate his flight?
And was the Sire of all able to fence
His works, and to uphold the circling worlds,
But through improvident and heedless haste
Let slip th'occasion?--So then--All is lost-- 20
And in some future evil hour, yon arch
Shall crumble and come thund'ring down, the poles
Jar in collision, the Olympian King
Fall with his throne, and Pallas, holding forth
The terrors of her Gorgon shield in vain,1
Shall rush to the abyss, like Vulcan hurl'd
Down into Lemnos through the gate of heav'n.
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