Cultores, noftro vix conceffura labori.
Hæ quoque & exuviæ florum, ftillataque vulgo
Electra arboribus, rudia atque horrentia visu,
Expurganda manent, ne nos via lædat euntes:
Nox jubet intereà faciles Naturaque fomnos.
Cui deinde eximio formæ concinna decore
Eva refert: O Qui vitæ hoc quodcunque dedifti,
Qui blandis regis imperiis, tua juffa paratâ
Mente fequor; nam fic voluit DEUS: Ille tibi eft Lex,
Tu mihi: nil fcire ulterius pulcherrima laus est
Fœminea; hæc fponfam efficiet Dos fola beatam.
Te mecum verfante, uno fefe ordine volvunt
Tempora diverfæque viccs; honor omnibus idem.
Dulce recens Aurora renidet, amabile odores
Ambrofios exorta refert, vigilumque volucrum
Concentus; primo Sol lumine dulce per herbas,
Per flores rubet, & fructus, arbuftaque guttis
Aureolis rutila, & multo lucentia rore.
That mock our fcant manuring, and require
More hands than ours to lop their wanton growth:
Those Bloffoms also, and those dropping Gums,
That lie bestrown, unfightly, and unsmooth,
Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with eafe:
Mean while, as Nature wills, Night bids us reft.
To whom thus Eve, with perfect beauty adorn'd.
My Author, and difpofer, what thou bidft
Unargu'd I obey; fo GoD ordains:
Gob is thy Law, thou mine: to know no more
Is woman's happiest knowledge, and her praise.
With thee converfing I forget all time;
All feasons, and their change: all please alike.
Sweet is the breath of morn, her rifing sweet,
With charm of earliest Birds: pleasant the Sun,
When first on this delightful Land he spreads
His orient Beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flow'r,
Glift'ring with dew: fragrant the fertile Earth
Suave etiam redolet Tellus fœcunda, benigno
Imbre finus perfufa; it gratus Vefper amicum
Tempus agens: jucunda filet Nox; fuave querelas
Blandula fundit Avis folitas: Luna ore placenti
Enitet; & Lunæ ftipant latus ordine pulchro
Clara Cohors, gemmæ infignes, decora ardua cœli.
At neque delicias fpirans Aurora, Volucrum
Concentus referens vigilum; nec lampade dulci
Sol terram irradians; non Flos, non Herba corufco
Rore micans, Tellufve finus recreata madentes,
Nec tacitus Vefper, Noctifve filentior hora
Carmen avis renovans folitæ: nec Sidera cœli,
Nec Lunæ, Te abfente, nitor mihi pectora tangit.
At quorfum hic fulgor, cur hæc fpectacula cœli
Ardua, dum latè premit omnia lumina fomnus?
Primævus fic deinde Parens: Hominifque DE Ique
Filia, muneribus cunctis fpectabilis Eva!
Obfervant certos volventia Sidera curfus,
After soft show'rs: and fweet the coming on
Of grateful Ev'ning mild: then, filent Night,
With this her folemn bird, and this fair Moon,
And these the Gems of Heav'n, her starry train.
But neither breath of Morn, when she ascends
With charm of earliest Birds; nor rifing Sun
On this delightful land: nor herb, fruit, flow'r,
Glift'ring with dew: nor fragrance after show'rs:
Nor grateful Evening mild: nor filent Night,
With this her folemn Bird: nor walk by Moon,
Or glittering Star-light, without thee is sweet.
But wherefore all night long shine these? for whom
This glorious fight, when fleep hath fhut all eyes?
To whom our general Ancestor reply'd:
Daughter of GOD and Man, accomplish'd Eve,
These have their courfe to finish, round the Earth,
Certum iter inftaurant, Vefper quod claudere cernet
Craftinus: Hæc varias colluftrant ignibus oras,
Poftmodo venturis ut gentibus alma ministrent
Lumina, & alternis cœlo furguntque caduntque.
Ni faciant, iterum tardis Nox atra tenebris
Imperium antiquum renovet, vegetumque vigorem
Naturæ restinguat iners, quæ lumen ab istis
Dulce capit radiis, blandoque animata calore
Nutritur, virefque novas ac pabula ducit:
Sive hinc omnigenos penetrans Vis vivida fœtus
Molliat, hinc terræ fe Spiramenta refolvant
Intima, & excipiant Solis felicius ignes.
Ergo Hæc, nocturnas fi forte haud vifa
per umbras, Non temerè effulgent. Sin terris nulla Hominum gens
Vixerit, haud ideò cœli neglecta niterent
Lumina, nec dignis caruiffet laudibus Autor.
Per terras diffufa Animarum Millia multa
(Seu noftros cum fole redux labor occupet artus,
By morrow Ev'ning; and from Land to Land
In order, though to Nations yet unborn,
Ministring light prepar'd, they fet and rise:
Left total darkness should by Night regain
Her old poffeffion, and extinguish life
In Nature, and all things; which these soft fires
Not only enlighten, but with kindly heat,
Of various influence, foment, and warm,
Temper, or nourish; or in part fhed down
Their ftellar virtue, on all kinds that grow
On Earth; made hereby apter to receive
Perfection from the Sun's more potent Ray.
These then, though unbeheld in deep of night,
Shine not in vain; nor think, though men were
That Heav'n would want spectators, GoD want
Millions of fpiritual Creatures walk the Earth [praise:
Unfeen, both when we wake, and when we fleep:
Seu feffos premat alta quies) Illum usque perenni
Concelebrant ftudio. Quoties de culmine montis
Aerii, quoties inter dumeta sonantes
Accipimus Superûm voces, quæ nocte filenti
Aut folæ, aut vicibus modulamina mutua lætis
Exercent, magnumque canunt fuper aftra Parentem ?
Sæpe ubi nocturnum peragrant iter agmine facto,
Excubiafve tenent, citharis concordibus omnis
Ingeminat Chorus, & muneris Nox longa canoris
Dividitur: nobis tacitam facra Carmina mentem
Attollunt cœlo, & trepidantia pectora mulcent.
Talia diverfo fecum fermone ferentes
Implicitis arctè manibus frondentia læti
Tecta petunt, Sedem ante alias delegerat iftam
Omnipotens Sator, ingentis pulcherrima Mundi
Cum fabrica in dulces hominum concrefceret ufus.
Denfa fuperfufis laquearia finxerat umbris
Laurus Myrto innexa, & quicquid vertice celfo
All these, with ceafelefs praife, his Works be- With Heav'nly touch of inftrumental founds, hold
Both day and night. How often, from the fteep
Of echoing Hill, or Thicket, have we heard
Celestial voices to the midnight air,
Sole, or refponfive each to other's note,
Singing their great Creator? Oft in bands
While they keep watch, or nightly rounding
walk,
In full harmonic number join'd, their fongs
Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to Heaven.
Thus talking, hand in hand, alone they pass'd
On to their blissful Bow'r: it was a place
Chos'n by the Sov'reign Planter, when He fram'd
All things to man's delightful ufe: the roof,
of thickeft covert, was inwoven shade,
Laurel, and Myrtle; and what higher grew,
Altius ad cœlum foliis fragrantibus ibat.
Hinc atque hinc furgebat Acanthus, odoraque junctis
Suaviter ordinibus virides Arbufcula muros
Texebant: variorum interlucentia florum
Agmina jucundo ftant vermiculata lepore,
Jasminique, Rofæque, atque Iris mille colorum.
Sub pedibus Violæque, Crocusque hærens Hyacintho,
Margine humum claudunt vario, fuperantque nitore
Picta pavimenta, omnigenique emblemata saxi.
His Species non ulla Animantum (Insecta, Volucres,
Seu Vermes Pecudesve) aufit fuccedere tectis;
Tanta Hominis tenuit Reverentia. Sed
Sed neque Pana
Silvanumve fenem (quales finxere priorum
Carmina) nec veterem Faunum, neque Naiada texit
Gratior Umbra, facrive magis tenuere Receffus.
Hic variis tacitæ per amica filentia fedis
Lucentum fertis florum, & bene olentibus herbis,
Nupta recens geniale ornaverat Eva Cubile,
Of firm, and fragrant leaf: on either fide
Of costlieft Emblem. Other Creature here,
Acanthus, and each od'rous bufhy fhrub,
Beast, Bird, infect, or Worm, durft enter none;
Fenc'd up the verdant wall: each beauteous flow'r, Such was their awe of Man. In fhady Bow'r
Iris all hues, Roses, and Jeffamin
More facred, and fequefter'd, though but feign'd,
Rear'd high their flourish'd heads between, and Pan, or Sylvanus, never flept; nor Nymph,
[wrought
Mofaic underfoot the Violet,
Crocus, and Hyacinth, with rich inlay [ftone
Broider'd the ground; more colour'd, than with
Nor Faunus haunted. Here, in close recefs,
With Flowers, Garlands, and fweet-fmelling
Herbs,
Efpoufed Eve deck'd firft her nuptial Bed:
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