Messenger
Would he were found. That we must leave to
Be it as it may, I never will return :
Thus safe beyond my hopes, 'tis fit I pay
My thanks to the kind gods who have preserved me.
Since first this active world began.
Nature is busy all in every part ;
But passing all in wisdom and in art,
Superior shines inventive man :
Fearless oibvintry winds and circling waves,
le ocean and the tempest braves ;
'him unwearied earth with lavish hand,
Immortal goddess, all her'bounty pours.
Patient beneath the rigid plough's command,
Year after year she yields her plenteous stores.
To drive the natives of the wood
From their rude haunts, or in the cruel snare,
To catch the winged inhabitants of air,
Or trap the scaly brood ;
To tame the fiery courser yet unbroke
With the hard rein, or to the untried yoke
To bend the mountain bull, who wildly free
O'er the steep rocks had wandered unconfined —
These are the arts of mortal industry,
And such the subtle power of humankind.
By learning, and fair science crowned.
Behold him now full-fraught with wisdom's lore,
The laws of nature anxious to explore.
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With depth of thought profound.
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But naught, alas ! can human wisdom see
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In the dark bosom of futurity.
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The power of wisdom may awhile prevail,
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Awhile suspend a mortal's fleeting breath,
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But never can her fruitless arts avail
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To conquer fate, or stop the hand of death.
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Man's ever-active changeful will
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Sometimes to good shall bend his virtuous mind,
Sometimes behold him to foul deeds inclined.
Who guiltless keeps the laws is still approved
By every tongue, and by his country loved ;
But he who doth not, from his native land
A wretched exile, far, oh ! far from me
May he be driven, by angry Heaven's command,-
And live devote to shame and infamy !
