Page:The Works of Alexander Pope (1717).djvu/378
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342
The FIRST BOOK of
Demands their lives by whom his monster fell,
And dooms a dreadful sacrifice to hell.
Bless'd be thy dust, and let eternal fame
Attend thy Manes, and preserve thy name;
Undaunted Hero! who, divinely brave,
In such a cause disdain'd thy life to save;
But view'd the shrine with a superior look,
And its upbraided Godhead thus bespoke.
With piety, the soul's securest guard,
And conscious virtue, still its own reward,
Willing I come, unknowing how to fear;
Nor shalt thou, Phœbus, find a suppliant here.
Thy monster's death to me was ow'd alone,
And 'tis a deed too glorious to disown.
Behold him here, for whom, so many days,
Impervious clouds conceal'd thy sullen rays;
For whom, as Man no longer claim'd thy care,
Such numbers fell by pestilential air!
But if th' abandon'd race of human-kind
From Gods above no more compassion find,
And dooms a dreadful sacrifice to hell.
Bless'd be thy dust, and let eternal fame
Attend thy Manes, and preserve thy name;
Undaunted Hero! who, divinely brave,
In such a cause disdain'd thy life to save;
But view'd the shrine with a superior look,
And its upbraided Godhead thus bespoke.
With piety, the soul's securest guard,
And conscious virtue, still its own reward,
Willing I come, unknowing how to fear;
Nor shalt thou, Phœbus, find a suppliant here.
Thy monster's death to me was ow'd alone,
And 'tis a deed too glorious to disown.
Behold him here, for whom, so many days,
Impervious clouds conceal'd thy sullen rays;
For whom, as Man no longer claim'd thy care,
Such numbers fell by pestilential air!
But if th' abandon'd race of human-kind
From Gods above no more compassion find,
If