The thief beholds them, with ambitious eyes,
And bent on fraud, he meditates the prize;
As the most noble gift he could bestow
(Next to the fire) on human race below;
At length th' immortals reconcil'd, resign'd
The fair celestial sisters to mankind.
Tho' bound to Caucasus with solid chains,
Th' aspiring robber groan'd in endless pains;
By which deter'd, for ages lay supine
The race of mortals, nor invok'd the nine;
'Till heav'n in verse shew'd man his future state,
And open'd every distant scene of fate.
First the great father of the gods above,
Sung in Dodona, and the Lybian grove;
Next to th' inquiring nations Themis gave
Her sacred answers from the Phocian cave;
Then Phœbus warn'd 'em from the Delphick dome
Of future times, and ages yet to come;
And rev'rend Faunus utter'd truths divine
To the first founders of the Latian line.
Next the great race of hallow'd prophets came,
With them the sibyls of immortal fame.
Inspir'd
