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ODE V.
To trace the world's benignant laws,
And judge of that presiding cause
Who founds in discord beauty's reign,
Converts to pleasure every pain,
Subdues the hostile forms to rest,
And bids the universe be blest.
O thou, whose pleasing pow'r I sing!
If right I touch the votive string,
If equal praise I yield thy name,
Still govern thou thy poet's flame;
Still with the Muse my bosom share,
And sooth to peace corroding care.
But most exert thy genial pow'r
On friendship's consecrated hour;
And while my Agis leads the road
To fearless wisdom's calm abode,
Or, warm in freedom's sacred cause,
Pursues the light of Græcian laws,
Attend, and grace our gen'rous toils
With all thy garlands, all thy smiles.
But
