Hymn to Jupiter. Most glorious of th' immortal powers above-- O thou of many names--mysterious Jove! For evermore almighty! Nature's source, That govern'st all things in their ordered course, All hail to thee! Since, innocent of blame, E'en mortal creatures may address thy name-- For all that breathe and creep the lowly earth Echo thy being with reflected birth-- Thee will I sing, thy strength for aye resound! The universe that rolls this globe around Moves wheresoe'er thy plastic influence guides, And, ductile, owns the god whose arm presides. The lightnings are thy ministers of ire, The double-forked and ever-living fire; In thy unconquerable hand they glow, And at the flash all nature quakes below. Thus, thunder-armed, thou dost creation draw To one immense, inevitable law; And with the various mass of breathing souls Thy power is mingled and thy spirit rolls. Dread genius of creation! all things bow To thee! the universal monarch thou! Nor aught is done without thy wise control On earth, or sea, or round the ethereal pole, Save when the wicked, in their frenzy blind, Act o'er the follies of a senseless mind. Thou curb'st th' excess; confusion to thy sight Moves regular; th' unlovely scene is bright. Thy hand, educing good from evil, brings To one apt harmony the strife of things. One ever-during law still binds the whole, Though shunned, resisted, by the sinner's soul. Wretches! while still they course the glittering prize, The law of God eludes their ears and eyes. Life then were virtue, did they this obey; But wide from life's chief good they headlong stray. Now glory's arduous toils the breast inflame; Now avarice thirsts, insensible of shame; Now sloth unnerves them in voluptuous ease, And the sweet pleasures of the body please. With eager haste they rush the gulf within, And their whole souls are centred in their sin. But oh, great Jove! by whom all good is given-- Dweller with lightnings and the clouds of heaven-- Save from their dreadful error lost mankind! Father, disperse these shadows of the mind! Give them thy pure and righteous law to know, Wherewith thy justice governs all below. Thus honored by the knowledge of thy way, Shall men that honor to thyself repay, And bid thy mighty works in praises ring, As well befits a mortal's lips to sing; More blest nor men nor heavenly powers can be Than when their songs are of thy law and thee. --Trans, by ELTON.