THE TRIAL OF THE GODS.
7
And he who took, unknown to any other,
The sweet refreshment handed to a brother.
And so, from each to each, till round was made
The circuit wholly—when the grapes at last,
Untouched and tempting, to Macarius passed.
"Now God be thanked!" he cried, and ceased his toil;
"The seed was good, but better was the soil.
My brothers, join with me to bless the day."
But, ere they knelt, he threw the grapes away.
THE TRIAL OF THE GODS.
"On a regular division of the [Roman] Senate, Jupiter was condemned and degraded by the sense of a very large majority."—Gibbon's Decline and Fall.
NEVER nobler was the Senate,
Never grander the debate:
Rome's old gods are on their trial
By the judges of the state!
