The mournful kingdoms of perpetual Night,
Unvisited but by thy glowing car,--
Radiant and clear as when thy course begun,
Swift as the flame that fires th'etherial blue,
Thro' the wide system, like a sun,
Thy moving glories flew.
Thou shinest terrific to the guilty soul!
But not to him, who calmly brave
Spurns earthly terror's base control,
And dares the yawning grave:
To one superior Will resigned,
He views with an unanxious mind
Earth's passing wonders,--and can gaze
With eye serene on thy innocuous blaze,
As on the meteor-fires, that sweep
O'er the smooth bosom of the deep,
Or gild with lustre pale
The humid surface of some midnight vale.




FROM THE ELEVENTH BOOK OF STATIUS' THEBAID.


Jamque in pulvereum, furiis hortantibus, æquor Prosiliunt, &c.
403--407, 409--423.

Soon as both armies from the field withdrew,
Fierce to the fight the rival brothers flew: