Lætior, & latè diffufo lumine ridet.
Tum variæ genus omne herbæ fubito ordine furgunt,
Fragrantem decorantque finum, & diverfa comantes
Multiplici lætos intexunt flore colores.
Herbarum dum fe flos panderet, exiit errans
Pampinus, uvarumque & frondis prodiga; repfit
Vafto ventre cucurbita; furrexitque corufcans,
Denfatasque acies per campum inftruxit arundo.
Parte aliâ capite hirfuto vix audet in auras
Ire rubus, dumique comis crifpantibus horrent.
Tandem se choreâ attollunt impune fuperbâ
Arborum opaca cohors, ingens; lætifque gravefcunt
Fructibus, aut tenero trudunt e palmite gemmas.
Hinc altum juga fumma nemus, vallesque coronant
Criftati frutices; hinc undique margine læto
Ornantur virides fontisque & fluminis oræ.
Jamque adeò vultu fplendente fimillima cœlo
Ridebat tellus, fedes peramona, deisque
Then, herbs of ev'ry leaf, that fudden flow'r'd
Op'ning their various colors, and made gay
Her bofom, fmelling fweet. And, thefe fcarce
blown,
Forth-flourish'd thick the cluftring vine,forth crept
The smelling gourd, up ftood the corny reed
Embattel'd in her field; and th' humble shrub,
And bufh, with frizl'd hair implicit. Laft,
Rofe, as in dance, the ftately trees, and spread
Their branches hung with copious fruit, or gemm'd
Their bloffoms: with high woods the hills were
crown'd;
With tufts the vallies; and each fountain fide,
With borders long the rivers: that, earth now
Seem'd like to heav'n; a feat where Gods might
dwell,
Non indigna; deos hæc inter rura vagari
Juverit, umbrarumque facros habitare receffus.
Sed pluviis nondum effufus defcenderat imber
Fertilibus; nec Homo, raftris qui scinderet arva,
Ortus adhuc terrâ vapor exiit almus, & omnes
Largius humectans campos per lucida fæc❜la
Plantarum, variafque herbas (quas ipfe creârat
Ante Pater, quàm nata folo nutritaque in auras
Germina protulerant) rorem difperfit amicum.
Vidit & hæc quoque pulcra Deus: fic Hefperus alter,
Altera lapfa Aurora; & fe Lux tertia claufit.
Tunc iterum Omnipotens: alto fint Lumina cœlo,
Quæ noctem luci abjungant; fulgentia longè
Signa fient, variafque rotantum rite dierum
Annorumque vices, revolutaque tempora monftrent:
Emittant lucem fuper æthera, munere juffo
Fungantur, multâque illuftrent lampade terras.
Dixit, erant: duo magna humanos fingit in ufus
Or wander with delight, and love to haunt
Her facred fhades: tho' God had yet not rain'd
Upon the earth, and man to till the ground
None was but, from the earth a dewy mift
Went up, and water'd all the ground and each
Plant of the field; which, e'er it was in th' earth
God made, and ev'ry herb, before it grew
On the green ftem: God faw that it was good.
So, ev'n and morn recorded the third day.
Again th' Almighty spake: Let there be lights
High in th' expanfe of heav'n, to divide
The day from night: and let them be for signs,,
For feafons and for days and circling years;
And let them be for lights, as I ordain
Their office in the firmament of heav'n,
To give light on the earth!—and it was fo.
And God made two great lights; (great for their
ufe
Lumina, majorique diem noctemque minori
Dat Pater, alternis moderandas: æthere & aftra
Sufpendit, ftabili imperio quæ certa tenerent
Tempora, dividerentque abjunctas luce tenebras.
Vidit opus fublime Opifex, vifumque probavit.
Namque ex corporibus primum, quæ continet æther,
Ingentem antè alios longè fabricaverat orbes
Solem, texturâ æthereâ, fed luce carentem
Primitus: inde globum lunæ, innumerafque micantes
Stellas per liquidi fparfit fata lucida cœli,
Diverfis ftellas radiis & difpare mole.
Continuò lucis longè pars maxima, templo
Edita nubifero, ruit amplum folis in orbem;
Ille repente bibit venis fitientibus haustos
Splendoris fluvios, firmoque in corpore fervat.
Hic tibi, Lux, fuprema palatia: cornua lætus
Lucifer hinc rutilo tingit diftincta colore;
To man) the greater to have rule by day,
The lefs by night, alterne: and made the stars ;
And fet them in the firmament of heav'n
T'illuminate the earth, and rule the day,
In their viciffitude, and rule the night;
And light from darknefs to divide. God faw,
Surveying his great work, that it was good:
For, of cœleftial bodies firft, the fun
Tho' of ethereal mold: then form'd the moon
Globofe; and ev'ry magnitude of ftars;
And fow'd with ftars the heav'n, thick as a field. Of light by far the greater part he took, Tranfplanted from her cloudy fhrine, and plac'd In the fun's orb, made porous to receive And drink the liquid light; firm, to retain Her gather'd beams; great palace now (A mighty fphere !) he fram'd; un-lightfome first, Hither, as to their fountain, other stars
Hunc fe omne ad fontem fydus fert, hìc trahit urnis
Auratis jubar adfuetum; hinc radiantia lucis
Flumina derivant, quas longius æthere fummo
Semotas contracta vides dare lumina flammas.
Primus in eoâ fulfit regione, diei:
Dux, cœlorum illuftre decus, radiifque ferenis
· Vestiit extremas circumfufi ætheris oras,
Longum avidus metiri excelfo in tramite curfum.
Ante choros duxere, micantes luce benignâ
Pleiades, canoque aurora infignis amictu.
Parte aliâ occiduis argentea luna cadebat
Prona plagis, folis fpeculum, de fole fluentes
Ufque bibens adverfa faces, placidum ore tumenti
Diffundens jubar atque alienos mitius ignes.
Quàm magis hic rutilo progreffus tramite cœli,
Tam magis illa fugit, longèque afpectat euntem :
Nocte revertenti mox lætior ipfa renidens
Imperium lene exercet; regnoque fereno
Repairing, in their golden urns draw light:
And hence the morning planet gilds her horns :
By tincture or reflection, they augment
Dawn, and the Pleiades, before him danc'd,
Shedding fweet influence. Lefs bright the moon,
But oppofite in levell'd weft was set,
Their small peculiar, though (from human fight His mirror, with full face borrowing her light
So far remote) with diminution feen.
Firft in his eaft the glorious lamp was feen,
Regent of day; and all th' horizon round
Invested with bright rays, jocund to run
From him; for other light fhe needed none
In that aspect and ftill that distance keeps
"Till night; then, in the east her turn she shines, Revolv'd on heav'n's great axle, and her reign
His longitude through heav'n's high road: the gray With thousand leffer lights dividual holds,
Splendidulis lucent aftrorum millia flammis
Denfa polo, innumerafque accendunt æthere gemmas.
Jam tum mirati Vefperque Auroraque primùm
Splendorem cœlo infolitum & redeuntia certis
Tempora momentis, quartæ decora alta Diei.
Ergo iterum jubet Omnipotens: undæ ova repente
Parturiant, amploque finu promiffa animantum
Plurima diffundant: volucres per inane ferantur
Altius, expanfis puro fuper æthere pennis.
Extemplo creat Omnipotens immania cete
Corpora; felices animata repente per undas
Plurima, per cœlum, generatim millia volgo
Sæc❜la creat volitantum, & millia fæ'cla natantum.
Vidit & hæc quoque pulcra Deus: dixitque, beato
Ferte finu fobolem innumeram; vos lætius omnes
Ubere per fluvios atque alta per æquora partu
Undicolæ, & terris vos luxuriate, volucres.
Protinus omne fretum, finus omnis, & omnia ponti
With thousand thousand stars! that then appear'd
Spangling the hemifphere; then first adorn'd
With their bright luminaries, that fet and rofe.
Glad ev'ning and glad morn crown'd the fourth
day.
And God faid, Let the waters generate
Reptil, with fpawn abundant, living foul!
And let fowl fly above the earth, with wings
Difplay'd on th' open firmament of heav'n!
And God created the great whales, and each
Soul living, each that crept, which plenteously
The waters generated by their kinds :
And every bird of wing after his kind:
And faw that it was good,and blefs'd them, faying,
Be fruitful, multiply, and in the feas
And lakes and running ftreams the waters fill!
And let the fowl be multiply'd on th' earth;
Forthwith the founds and feas, each creek and bay,
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