Before Heav'ns Gate unfolds his threatning Armes Prodigious ills must needs from thence ensue In which one House we may distinctly view A numerous Cabal of Stars conspire To hurl at once on Air their bainfull fire All this the Rev'rend Artist did descry Who nightly watch'd the Motions of the Sky Ye Gods he cry'd what does your rage prepare What unknown Plague engenders in the Air Besides I see dire Wars on Europe shed Ausonian Fields with Native Gore o'erspread Thus Sung the Sage and to prevent dâ—â—ate In writing left the Story of our Fate When any certain Course of years is run E'er the next Revolution be begun Heavens Method is for Iove in all his State To weigh Events and to determine Fate To search the Book of destiny and show What change shall rise in Heav'n or Earth below Behold him then in awfull Robes array'd And calling his known Counsel to his aid Saturn and Mars the Thundring Summons call The Crab's portentous Armes unlock the Hall Mark with what various meen the Gods repair First Mars with sparkling Eyes and flaming Hair So furious and addicted to Alarms He dreams of Battels though in Venus Armes But see with what august and peacefull brow Of Gold his Chariot if the Fates allow Great Iove appears who do's to all extend Impartial Justice Heav'n and Nature's friend Old Saturn last with heavy pace comes on Loath to obey the Summons of his Son Oft going stopt oft ponder'd in his mind Heaven's Empire lost oft to return inclin'd Thus much distracted and arriving late Sits grudging down beside the Chair of State Iove now unfolds what Fate 's dark laws contain Which Iove alone has Wisedom to Explain Sees ripning Mischiefs ready to be hurl'd And much Condoles the Suffrings of the World Unfolded views deaths Adamantine Gates War Slaughters Factions and subverted States But most astonish'd at a new Disease That must forthwith on helpless Mortals seize These secrets he unfolds and shakes the Skies The Gods Condole and from the Council rise Hell's Agent thus no sooner quits his Cage But on the starting Spheres he hurles his rage The purer Orbs disdain th' Infernal foe And shake the Taint upon the Air below The grosser Air receives the banefull Seeds Converting to the Poison which it feeds Whether the Sun from Earth this Vapour drew In late Conjunction with his fiery Crew Or from Fermenting Seas by Neptune sent In Envy to the higher Element Is hard to say or if more Powers combin'd Sent forth this Prodigy to fright Mankind The Offices of Nature to define And to each Cause a true effect assign Must be a Task both hard and doubtfull too Since various consequences oft ensue Nor Nature always to her self is true Some Principles shall on the Instant work Whilst others shall for tedious Ages lurk Besides the Power of Chance shall oft prevail On Natures force and cause Events to fail Nor is the influence of Maladies Less various than the Seeds from whence they rise Sometimes th' infected Air hurts Trees alone To grass and tender flowers pernicious known The blast sometimes destroys the furrow'd soil With mildew'd Ears not worth the Reapers toil Or if some Dale with Grain seems more enrich'd It moulds and rots before the sheaves are pitchd When Earth yields store yet oft some strange Disease Shall fall and onely on poor Cattel seize Here it shall sweep the Stock while there it sheds Its fury onely on devoted Heads My own Remembrance to this hour retains An Autumn drown'd with never ceasing Rains Yet this Malignant Luxury the breed Of Goats alone did rue the rest were freed See how at break of day their number 's told See how the Keeper drives them from the Fold Behold him next beneath a hanging Rock And chearing with his Reed the browzing Flock While them he charms nor is himself less pleas'd With a sharp sudden Cough some darling Kid is seiz'd The Cough his Knell for with a giddy round He whirls and streight falls dead upon the ground This fever thus to Goats and Kids severe While Autumn held confined his Vengeance there Next Spring both lowing Herd and Bleating Flock At once it seiz'd spar'd none but swept the Stock With such uncertainty from tainted Skies In Bodies plac't on Earth effects arise Since then by dear experiment we find Diseases various in their Rise and Kind Of this Contagion let us take a view More terrible for being Strange and new That with the proudest Son of Slaughter vies And claims no lower kindred than the Skies And as he did aloft conceive his Flame The proud Destroyer seeks no common Game He scorns the well finn'd Sporters of the Flood He scorns the well plum'd Singers of the wood Disdains the wanton Browzers of the Rock Disdains the lowing Herd and bleating Flock With Wolf or Bear despizes to engage Nor can the generous Horse provoke his rage The Lords of Nature onely he annoys And humane frame Heav'ns Images destroys The bloud 's black viscous parts he seizes first By whose malignant Aliments he 's nurst And e'er he can the fierce Assault begin Factions of humours take his part within The strongest Holds of nature thus he gains Quar'tring his cruel Troops throughout the veins While some more noble Seat the Tyrant's Throne contains Such principles brought this Distemper forth Such Aliments maintain'd the dreadfull Birth His certain signs and symptoms to rehearse Is the next taske of our instructing Verse O may it prove of such a lasting date To conquer Time and Triumph over Fate Apollo's self inspires the usefull Song And all that to Apollo do's belong Like him should ever live and be for ever young How shall Posterity admire our skill Taught by our Muse to know the lurking ill And when his dreadfull Visage they behold Cry this is the Disease whose Signs of old Th' inspir'd Physician in bright numbers told For thô th' infernal Pest should quit the Earth Absconding in the Hell that gave it Birth Yet after lazy Revolutions past The unsuspected Prodigy at last Shall from the womb of Night once more be hurl'd T' infect the Skies and to amaze the World What therefore seems most wondrous in his course Is that he should so long conceal his Force For when the Foe his secret way has made And in our Intrails strong detachments laid Yet oft the Moon four monthly rounds shall steer Before convincing Symptoms shall appear So long the Malady shall lurk within And grow confirm'd before the danger 's seen Yet with Disturbance to the wretch diseas'd Who with unwonted heaviness is seiz'd With drooping Spirits his affairs persues And all his Limbs their offices refuse The chearfull glories of his Eyes decay And from his Cheeks the Roses fade away A leaden hue o'er all his Face is spread And greater weights depress his drooping Head Till by degrees the Secret parts shall show By open proofs the undermining Foe Who now his dreadfull ensigns shall display Devour and
Wind And thought their Owners more than humane kind Some Gods or Heroes to the Gods ally'd And more than Mortal reverence apply'd But to our Chief their first Respect they paid And cheap but yet most royal Presents made Rich golden Oar of use and worth unknown And onely priz'd by them because it shone With which the blessings of their Fields were born Ripe blushing Fruits and pondrous Ears of Corn Unpolisht but capacious Vessels fill'd With Hony from each fragrant Tree distill'd Which did from Heaven in nightly Dew arrive Without the tedious labours of the Hive With them our Garments like Reception found And now the Tribes sate mingled on the Ground With Indian Food and Spanish Vintage crown'd Who can express the Savages delight As if the Gods some Mortal shou'd invite To heavenly Courts and with the Nectar-bowl Into a Deity exalt his ravisht Soul By chance the solemn Day was drawing near The greatest Festival of all the Year And to the Sun their greatest God belong'd To which from ev'ry part the Natives throng'd With whom their Neighbours of Hesperia met And now within the sacred Vale were set Each Sex and all degrees of Age were seen But plac'd without distinction on the Green Yet from the Infant to the grizled Head A cloud of Grief o'er ev'ry Face was spread All languish'd with the same obscene Disease And years not Strength distinguisht the Degrees Dire flames upon their Vitals fed within While Sores and crusted Filth prophan'd their Skin At last the Priest in snowy Robes array'd The Boughs of healing Guiacum display'd Which dipt in living Streams he shook around To purge for holy Rites the tainted Ground An Heifer then before the Altar slew A Swain stood near on whom the Bloud he threw Then to the Sun began his mystick Song And streight was seconded by all the Throng Both Swine and Heifers now by thousands bleed And Natives on their roasted Entrails feed Our Train with wonder saw these Rites but more Astonisht at the Plague unseen before Mean while our Leader in his carefull breast Form'd sad Conjectures of this dreadfull Pest This this said he the Gods avert our Fate Is that dire Curse which Phoebus did relate The Birds prodigious Song I now recall The strange Disease that on our Troops shou'd fall As therefore from the Altar they retir'd Our Gen'ral of the Native Prince enquir'd To what dread Power these Off'rings did belong What meant that languishing infected Throng And why the Shepherd by the Altar stood And wherefore Sprinkled with the gushing bloud To which the Island Monarch noble Guest With annual Zeal these Off'rings are addrest To Phoebus enrag'd Deity assign'd And by our Ancestours of old enjoin'd But if a foreign Nations toils to learn And less refin'd be worth your least concern If you have any Sense of Strangers fate From its first source the Story I 'll relate Perhaps you may have heard of Atlas name From whom in long descent great Nations came From him we sprang and once a happy Race Belov'd of Heav'n while Piety had place While to the Gods our Ancestours did Pray And gratefull Off'rings on their Altars lay But when the Powers to be despis'd began When to leud Luxury our Nation ran Who can express the Mis'ries that ensu'd And Plagues with each returning Day renew'd Then fair Atlantia once an Isle of fame That from the mighty Atlas took its Name Who there had govern'd long with upright Sway Was gorg'd intire and swallowed by the Sea With which our Flocks and Herds were wholly drown'd Not one preserv'd or ever after found Since when outlandish Cattle here are slain And Bulls of foreign Breed our Altars stain In that dire Season this Disease was bred That thus o'er all our tortur'd Limbs is spread Most universal from it Birth it grew And none have since escap'd or very few Sent from above to scourge that vicious Age And chiefly by incens'd Apollo's Rage For which these annual Rites were first ordain'd Whereof this firm Tradition is retain'd A Shepherd once distrust not ancient Fame Possest these Downs and Syphilus his Name A thousand Heifers in these Vales he fed A thousand Ews to those fair Rivers led For King Alcithous he rais'd this Stock And shaded in the Covert of a Rock For now 't was Solstice and the Syrian Star Increast the Heat and shot his Beams afar The Fields were burnt to ashes and the Swain Repair'd for shade to thickest Woods in vain No Wind to fan the scorching Air was found No nightly Dew refresht the thirsty Ground This Drought our Syphilus beheld with pain Nor could the suff'rings of his Flock sustain But to the Noon-day Sun with up-cast Eyes In rage threw these reproaching Blasphemies Is it for this O Sol that thou art styl'd Our God and Parent how are we beguil'd Dull Bigots to pay Homage to thy Name And with rich Spices feed thy Altar's flame Why do we yearly Rites for thee prepare Who tak'st of our affairs so little Care At least thou might'st between the Rabble Kine Distinguish and these royal Herds of Mine These to the great Alcithous belong Nor ought to perish with the Vulgar throng Or shall I rather think your Deity With envious Eyes our thriving Stock did see I grant you had sufficient cause indeed A thousand Heifers of the snowy Breed A thousand Ews of mine these Downs did feed Whilst one Etherial Bull was all your stock One Ram and to preserve this mighty Flock You must forsooth your Syrian Dog maintain Why do I worship then a Pow'r so Vain Henceforth I to Alcithous will bring My Off'rings and Adore my greater King Who do's such spacious Tracts of Land possess And whose vast Pow'r the conquer'd Seas confess Him I 'll invoke my Suff'rings to redress Hee 'll streight command the cooling Winds to blow Refreshing Show'rs on Trees and Herbs bestow Nor suffer Thirst both Flock and Swain to kill He said and forthwith on a neighbouring Hill Erects an Altar to his Monarch's name The Swains from far bring Incense to the Flame At length to greater Victims they proceed Till Swine and Heifers too by hundreds Bleed On whose half roasted Flesh the impious Wretches feed All quarters soon were fill'd with the Report That ceas'd not till it reacht the Monarch's Court Th' aspiring Prince with Godlike Rites o'er joy'd Commands all Altars else to be destroy'd Proclaims Himself in Earth's low sphere to be The onely and sufficient Deity That Heav'nly Pow'rs liv'd too remote and high And had enough to do to Rule the Sky Th' all-seeing Sun no longer could sustain These practices but with enrag'd Disdain Darts forth such pestilent malignant Beams As shed Infection on Air Earth and Streams From whence this Malady its birth receiv'd And first th' offending Syphilus was griev'd Who rais'd forbidden Altars on the Hill And Victims bloud with impious Hands did spill He first wore Buboes dreadfull to the sight First felt strange Pains and
sleepless past the Night From him the Malady receiv'd its name The neighbouring Shepherds catcht the spreading Flame At last in City and in Court 't was known And seiz'd th' ambitious Monarch on his Throne In this distress the wretched Tribes repair To Ammerice the Gods Interpreter Chief Priestess of the consecrated Wood In whose Retreats the awfull Tripod stood From whence the Gods responsal she exprest The Crowd enquire what Cause produc'd this Pest What God enrag'd and how to be appeas'd And last what Cure remain'd for the Diseas'd To whom the Nymph reply'd the Sun incens'd With just revenge these Torments has commenc'd What man can with immortal Pow'rs compare Fly wretches fly his Altars soon repair Load them with Incense Him with Pray'rs invade His Anger will not easily be laid Your Doom is past black Styx has heard him swear This Plague should never be extinguisht here Since then your Soil must ne'er be wholly free Beg Heav'n at least to yield some Remedy A milkwhite Cow on Iuno's Altar lay To Mother Earth a jet-black Heifer slay One from above the happy Seeds shall shed The other rear the Grove and make it spread That onely for your Grief a Cure shall yield She said the Croud return'd to th' open'd Field Rais'd Altars to the Sun without delay To Mother Earth and Iuno Victims slay 'T will seem most strange what now I shall declare But by our Gods and Ancestours I swear 'T is sacred Truth These Groves that spread so wide and look so green Within this Isle till then were never seen But now before their Eyes the Plants were found To spring and in an instant Shade the ground The Priest forthwith bids Sacrifice be done And Justice paid to the offended Sun Some destin'd Head t' attone the Crimes of all On Syphilus the dreadfull Lot did fall Who now was plac'd before the Altar bound His head with sacrificial Garlands crown'd His Throat laid open to the lifted Knife But interceding Iuno spar'd his Life Commands them in his stead a Heifer slay For Phoebus Rage was now remov'd away This made our gratefull Ancestours enjoin When first these annual Rites they did assign That to the Altar bound a Swine each time Should stand to witness Syphilus his Crime All this infected Throng whom you behold Smart for their Ancestours Offence of old To heal their Plague this Sacrifice is done And reconcile them to th' offended Sun The Rites perform'd the hallow'd Boughs they seize The speedy certain Cure for their Disease With such discourse the Chiefs their Cares deceive Whose Tribes of different Worlds united live Till now the Ships sent back to Europes shore Return and bring prodigious Tidings o'er That this Disease did now through Europe rage Nor any Med'cine found that cou'd assuage That in their Ships no slender Number mourn'd With Boils without and inward Ulcers burn'd Then call'd to mind the Bird 's prophetick sound That in those Groves Relief was to be found Then each with solemn Vows the Sun entreats And gentle Nymphs the Gardians of those Seats With lusty Strokes the Grove they next invade Whose weighty Boughs are on their Shoulders laid Which with the Natives methods they prepare And with the healing Draughts their Health repair But not forgetfull of their Country's good They fraight their largest Ships with this rich Wood To try if in our Climate it would be Of equal use for the same Malady The years mild Season seconds their desire And western Winds their willing Sails inspire Iberian Coasts you first were happy made With this rich Plant and wonder'd at its Aid Known now to France and neighbouring Germany Cold Scythian Coasts and temp'rate Italy To Europe's Bounds all bless the vital Tree Hail heav'n-born Plant whose Rival ne'er was seen Whose Virtues like thy Leaves are ever green Hope of Mankind and Comfort of their Eyes Of new discover'd Worlds the richest Prize Too happy would Indulgent Gods allow Thy Groves in Europe's nobler Clime to grow Yet if my Streins have any force thy Name Shall flourish here and Europe sing thy Fame If not remoter Lands with Winter bound Eternal Snow nor Libya's scorching Ground Yet Latium and Benacus cool Retreats Shall thee resound with Athesis fair Seats Too blest if Bembus live thy Growth to see And on the Banks of Tyber gather thee If he thy matchless Virtues once rehearse And crown thy Praises with eternal Verse FINIS ERRATA Page 5. line 12 for newer reade never p. 35. l. 3. for wandring r. wondring p. 58 l. 5. for to Bard r. Bard to