Here, dormant matter waits a call to life; 720 Half life, half death, join there; here, life and sense; There, sense from reason steals a glimmering ray; Reason shines out in man. But how preserved The chain unbroken upward, to the realms Of incorporeal life? those realms of bliss, Where Death hath no dominion? Grant a make Half mortal, half immortal; earthy, part, And part ethereal; grant the soul of man 728 Eternal; or in man the series ends. Wide yawns the gap; connexion is no more; Check'd Reason halts; her next step wants support; Striving to climb, she tumbles from her scheme; A scheme, analogy pronounced so true; Analogy, man's surest guide below. 734 Thus far, all nature calls on thy belief. And will Lorenzo, careless of the call, False attestation on all nature charge, Rather than violate his league with Death? Renounce his reason, rather than renounce The dust beloved, and run the risk of heaven? 740 Oh, what indignity to deathless souls! What treason to the majesty of man! Of man immortal! Hear the lofty style: "If so decreed, th' Almighty Will be done. Let earth dissolve, yon ponderous orbs descend, And grind us into dust. The soul is safe; The man emerges; mounts above the wreck, As towering flame[31] from Nature's funeral pyre; O'er devastation, as a gainer, smiles; His charter, his inviolable rights, 750 Well pleased to learn from thunder's impotence, Death's pointless darts, and hell's defeated storms." But these chimeras touch not thee, Lorenzo! The glories of the world thy sevenfold shield. Other ambition than of crowns in air, And superlunary felicities, Thy bosom warm. I'll cool it, if I can; And turn those glories that enchant, against thee. What ties thee to this life, proclaims the next. 759 If wise, the cause that wounds thee is thy cure. Come, my ambitious! let us mount together (To mount, Lorenzo never can refuse); And from the clouds, where pride delights to dwell, Look down on earth.--What seest thou? Wondrous things! Terrestrial wonders, that eclipse the skies. What lengths of labour'd lands! what loaded seas! Loaded by man, for pleasure, wealth, or war! Seas, winds, and planets, into service brought, His art acknowledge, and promote his ends. Nor can th' eternal rocks his will withstand; 770 What levell'd mountains! and what lifted vales! O'er vales and mountains sumptuous cities swell. And gild our landscape with their glittering spires. Some mid the wondering waves majestic rise; And Neptune holds a mirror to their charms. Far greater still! (what cannot mortal might?) See, wide dominions ravish'd from the deep! The narrow'd deep with indignation foams. Or southward turn; to delicate and grand,