78
AMYNTAS.
"And vacant be it's powers to sacred song."
Whence it is meet I should employ my genius
On themes sublimer than terrestrial love;
And strive to celebrate in sounding strains
The ancestors of my divinity;
Whether my Phœbus, or my Jove to deem him,
I know not, for his attributes resemble
Both deities; a mighty master he,
A guardian of celestial poesy;
A friend, a benefactor of mankind.
Hence to our woods I oft commit the deeds
Of Cœlus, and of Saturn; and he deigns
With ear propitious to receive my verse;
Whether in simple Doric mode I chant it,
Or with the nobler powers of harmony.
Not that himself I e'er presume to sing;
The fittest homage he can have from me,
Is mute admiring reverence; yet his altar,
Shall oft be strewed with my devoted flowers;
And often there shall my religious incense
Exhale in fragrant odour to the skies.
Whence it is meet I should employ my genius
On themes sublimer than terrestrial love;
And strive to celebrate in sounding strains
The ancestors of my divinity;
Whether my Phœbus, or my Jove to deem him,
I know not, for his attributes resemble
Both deities; a mighty master he,
A guardian of celestial poesy;
A friend, a benefactor of mankind.
Hence to our woods I oft commit the deeds
Of Cœlus, and of Saturn; and he deigns
With ear propitious to receive my verse;
Whether in simple Doric mode I chant it,
Or with the nobler powers of harmony.
Not that himself I e'er presume to sing;
The fittest homage he can have from me,
Is mute admiring reverence; yet his altar,
Shall oft be strewed with my devoted flowers;
And often there shall my religious incense
Exhale in fragrant odour to the skies.
And
