PROVERBS, CHAP. VI. VERSES 6-11.
"Go to the ant, thou sluggard!"
TURN on the prudent ant thy heedful eyes,
Observe her labours, sluggard! and be wise:
No stern command, no monitory voice
Prescribes her duties, or directs her choice;
Yet, timely provident, she hastes away,
To snatch the blessings of the plenteous day;
When fruitful summer loads the teeming plain,
She crops the harvest, and she stores the grain.
How long shall Sloth usurp thy useless hours,
Unnerve thy vigour, and enchain thy powers
rs!
While artful shades thy downy couch enclose,
And soft solicitation courts repose,
Amidst the drowsy charms of dull delight,
Year chases year with unremitted flight,
Till Want now following, fraudulent and slow,
Shall spring to seize thee like an ambush'd foe.
OF A SPEECH OF AQUILEIO IN THE ADRIANO OF
METASTASIO.
GROWN old in courts, thou art not surely one
Who keeps the rigid rules of ancient honour;
Well skill'd to soothe a foe with looks of kindness,
To sink the fatal precipice before him,
And then lament his fall with seeming friendship!
Open to all, true only to thyself,
Thou know'st the arts which blast with envious praise,
Which aggravate a fault with feign'd excuses,
And drive discountenanced virtue from the throne;
That leave the blame of rigour to the prince,
And of his every gift usurp the merit,
That hide in seeming zeal a wicked purpose, ་
And only build upon another's ruin.
FROM THE MEDEA OF EURIPIDES.
THE rites derived from ancient days
With thoughtless reverence we praise,
The rites that taught us to combine
The joys of music and of wine,
And bid the feast, and song and bowl
O'erfill the saturated soul:
But ne'er the flute or lyre applied
To cheer despair or soften pride;
Nor call them to the gloomy cells
Where Want repines and Vengeance swells;
Where Hate sits musing to betray,
And murder meditates his prey!
To dens of guilt and shades of care,
Ye sons of melody, repair;
Nor deign the festive dome to cloy
With superfluity of joy,
Ah! little needs the minstrel's power
To speed the light convivial hour,
The board with varied plenty crown'd
May spare the luxuries of sound.
[JAN. 20, 21, 1773.]
VITE qui varias vices
Rerum perpetuus temperat Arbiter,
Læto cedere lumini
Noctis tristitiam qui gelidæ jubet,
Acri sanguine turgidos,
Obductosque oculos nubibus humidis
Sanari voluit meos.
Et me, cuncta beans cui nocuit dies,
Luci reddidit et mihi.
Qua te laude, Deus qua prece prosequar ?
Sacri discipulus libri
Te semper studiis utilibus colam:
Grates, summe Pater, tuis
Recte qui fruitur muneribus, dedit.
NUNC dies Christo memoranda nato
Fulsit, in pectus mihi fonte purum
Gaudium sacro fluat, et benigni
Gratia Cœli!
Christe, da tutam trepido quietam,
Christe, spem præsta stabilem timenti;
Da fidem certam, precibusque fidis
[IN LECTO, DIE PASSIONIS. APR. 13, 1781.]
SUMME Deus, qui semper amas quodcunque creâsti
Judice quo, scelerum est pænituisse salus:
Da veteres noxas animo sic flere novato,
Per Christum ut veniam sit reperire mihi.
[IN LECTO. DEC. 25, 1782.]
SPE non inani confugis,
Peccator, ad latus meum;
Quod poscis haud unquam tibi
Negabitur solatium.
[NOCTE, INTER 16 ET 17 JUNII, 1783.1]
SUMME Pater, quodcunque tuum2 de corpore Numen
Hoc statuat, precibus Christus adesse velit:
Ingenio parcas, nec sit mihi culpa rogâsse,6
Qua solum potero parte, placere tibi.
1 The night above-referred to by Johnson was that in which a paralytic stroke had deprived him of his voice; and, in the anxiety he felt lest it should likewise have impaired his understanding, he composed the above lines, and said concerning them, that he knew at the time that they were not good, but then he deemed his discerning this to be sufficient for the quieting the anxiety before mentioned, as it showed him that his power of judging was not diminished.
3 Al. leges.
6 Al. precari.
4 Al. statuant.
7 Al. litare.
[CAL. JAN. IN LECTO, ANTE LUCEM. 1784.] SUMME dator vitæ, naturæ æterne magister, Causarum series quo moderante fluit, Respice quem subigit senium, morbique seniles, Quem terret vitæ meta propinqua suæ, Respice inutiliter lapsi quem pœnitet ævi; Recte ut pœniteat, respice, magne parens.
PATER benigne, summa semper lenitas,
Crimine gravatam plurimo mentem leva:
Concede veram poenitentiam, precor,
Concede agendam legibus vitam tuis.
Sacri vagantes luminis gressus face
Rege, et tuere, quæ nocent pellens procul;
Veniam petenti, summe da veniam, pater;
Veniæque sancta pacis adde gaudia:
Sceleris ut expers omni, et vacuus metu,
Te, mente purâ, mente tranquillâ colam:
Mihi dona morte hæc impetret Christus suâ.
SUMME Pater, puro collustra lumine pectus,
Anxietas noceat ne tenebrosa mihi.
In me sparsa manu virtutum semina larga
Sic ale, proveniat messis, ut ampla boni.
Noctes atque dies animo spes læta recurset,
Certa mihi sancto flagret amore fides.
Certa vetet dubitare fides, spes læta timere,
Velle vetet cuiquam non bene sanctus amor.
Da, ne sint permissa, pater, mihi præmia frustra,
Et colere, et leges semper amare tuas.
Hæc mihi, quo gentes, quo secula, Christe, piâsti,
Sanguine, precanti promereare tuo!
MENS mea quid quereris ? veniet tibi mollior hora, In summo ut videas numine læta patrem;
Divinam in sontes iram placavit Iesus;
Nunc est pro pœna pœnituisse reis.
CHRISTIANUS PERFECTUS.
QUI cupit in sanctos Christo cogente referri,
Abstergat mundi labem, nec gaudia carnis
Captans, nec fastu tumidus, semperque futuro
Instet, et evellens terroris spicula corde,
Suspiciat tandem clementem in numine patrem.
Huic quoque, nec genti nec sectæ noxius ulli
Sit sacer orbis amor, miseris qui semper adesse
Gestiat, et nullo pietatis limite clausus,
Cunctorum ignoscat vitiis, pietate fruatur.
Ardeat huic toto sacer ignis pectore, possit
Ut vitam, poscat si res, impendere vero.
Cura placere Deo sit prima, sit ultima, sanctæ
Irruptum vitæ cupiat servare tenorem;
Et sibi, delirans quanquam et peccator in horas
Displiceat, servet tutum sub pectore rectum:
Nec natet, et nunc has partes, nunc eligat illas,
Nec dubitet quem dicat herum, sed, totus in uno,
Se fidum addicat Christo, mortalia temnens.
Sed timeat semper, caveatque ante omnia turbæ Ne stolidæ similis, leges, sibi segreget audax Quas servare velit, leges quas lentus omittat, Plenum opus effugiens, aptans juga mollia collo Sponte sua demens; nihilum decedere summæ Vult Deus, at, qui cuncta dedit tibi, cuncta reposcit. Denique perpetuo contendit in ardua nisu, Auxilioque Dei fretus, jam mente serena Pergit, et imperiis sentit se dulcibus actum. Paulatim mores, animum, vitamque refingit, Effigiemque Dei, quantum servare licebit, Induit, et terris major, cœlestia spirat.
ÆTERNE rerum conditor,
Salutis æternæ dator;
Felicitatis sedibus
Qui nec scelestos exigis,
Quoscumque scelerum pœnitet:
Da, Christe, pœnitentiam,
Veniamque, Christe, da mihi;
Ægrum trahenti spiritum
Succurre præsens corpori,
Multo gravatum crimine
Mentem benignus alleva.
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