Elysian--Fields.
See Hell.

--To the Realms of Joy
At length They come, and to the blissful Greens,
Fortunate Groves, and Mansions of the Blest.
An Æther more enlarg'd here cloaths the Fields
With purple Light: and their own proper Sun
And proper Stars they know. On grassy Meads
Some wrestling exercise their Limbs, contend
In Sport, and struggle on the yellow Sand.
Others in Dances artful Measures beat
And Verse recite.--

--With wonder they behold
Their Arms, and empty Chariots on the Plain
At distance rang'd: their Spears stand fix'd in Earth:
And loose o'er all the Field their Horses feed.
The same Delight in Chariots, and in Arms,
And shining Steeds, which living they conceiv'd,
Pursues them still beneath the Earth repos'd.

Others, on either Hand, he sees reclin'd,
Feasting, along the Grass, and Paeans sweet
Singing in Chorus, in the fragrant Grove
Of Lawrel: whence, descending thro' the Wood,
Eridanus abundant rolls his Waves.

Here, those who for their Country Wounds endur'd
In War: and Priests whose Life was chast and pure:
And pious Poets, who recited Things
Worthy of Phoebus: those who polish'd Life
With Arts invented: or consign'd their Names
To Memory, by well deserving Deeds.
Their Heads are all with snow white Fillets wreath'd.

In no fix'd Place the happy Souls reside:
In Groves we live, and lie on mossy Beds,
By christal Streams that murmur thro' the Meads.--

Between thick baleful Yews, the steep dark Way
To Hell's dire Realms, thro' dismal Silence lay:
There Stygian Mists infect the Road; and there
New Ghosts, of Bodies just entomb'd, appear.
Paleness and Cold surround the loathsome Place,
And new come Spirits, with a mournful Pace,
The Way to Hell's chief Seat, which yet they know not, trace.
A thousand Avenues, a thousand Gates,
Th' insatiable Metropolis dilates:
And as the Ocean's spacious Womb receives
All Streams, yet room for coming Waters leaves;
So, that devouring Place, all Ghosts retains,
Yet never fills, or of the Crowd complains.
There the pale Ghosts, unbodied, loosely roam:
Some haunt the Pleas, their Tyrant's Palace some:
Others, for their Amusement, imitate
The past Employments of their mortal State:--
The rest are tortur'd for their former Crimes.--

Thrice roars, at once, three--headed Cerberus:
Th' avenging Furies, Daughters of old Night,
Implacable, and hating all Delight,
Before the adamantine Entrance sit,
Comb out their hissing Snakes, their tangl'd Curls unknit.--

Here Ghosts of Nations numberless repair:
Pass the dark Way, and glide along the Gloom.
One Habitation here does all receive.
A Space prodigious in the midst extends:
Hither, whatever Earth, or Sea, or Air,
From the first forming of the fruitful World,
Has bred and nourish'd, Death all--destroying, drives.
All, all descend: the unproductive Plains
Receive whate'er has dy'd, whate'er shall die.

Ten Gates around these Regions open wide
Their ample Portals: To the first resort
Those doom'd, by rigid Fate, to fall in War.
The next receives such as have Laws compil'd,
The Rights of Nations fix'd, and with strong Walls
Made Cities safe. Thro' the third Portal pass
The Countrymen, Ceres' most honest Tribe,
Of all the num'rous Ghosts that hither come
The most Upright, untainted with Deceit.
Who useful Arts invent, or find out means
To polish Life, or Verses to the God
Inspiring Phoebus, not unworthy, sing,
The fourth fair Gate admits. Those whom the Winds
And cruel Storms have wreck'd, an Entrance find
Thro' what stands next, thence call'd the Shipwreck--Gate.
Near this, there opens wide a Passage vast,
For all the Wicked who confess their Crimes.
Here Rhadamanthus, when they first arrive,
The guilty Ghosts condemns to endless Woe,
To be for ever dying, never dead.

The female World crouds thro' the seventh Gate,
Near which chast Proserpine's aspiring Groves
Project an horrid Shade. Hence lies the Way
Where Troops of Infants pass, and spotless Maids
Whose nuptial Beds were turn'd to Funerals,
And Crowds expiring e'er they saw the Light;
A Gate well known for Children's feeble Cries.
Distant from hence, and glitt'ring thro' the Gloom,
Appear the shining Doors, whence lies the Way,
Shady, and private, to th' Elysian Fields.
Here dwell the Righteous: not in Hell's dark Realm,
Nor where the Sun's superior Light is seen,
But beyond Ocean's Bounds, where they contend
Who first shall reach slow Lethe's sacred Stream,
And drink Forgetfulness. The outmost Gate
Bright glows with Gold: and here the Beam of Day
Is just perceiv'd, like the Moon's feeble Shine.
The Passage this by which the Souls ascend
To Day again, and in new Bodies live,
After five thousand Years: forgetful quite
Of all that pass'd in Pluto's dreary Realms.
Grim Death, thro' all these Ways, with horrid Grin,
Stalks to and fro, and passes ev'ry Gate.--

But me, since Love was still my tender Vow,
Venus shall lead to happy Meads below:
There Songs perpetual charm the list'ning Ear,
Whilst all the feather'd Wand'rers of the Air,
To join the Sound, their warbling Throats prepare.
Cassia from ev'ry Hedge unbidden breathes,
And to the Gales it's fragrant Sweets bequeaths:
The bounteous Earth it's purple Product yields,
And od'rous Roses paint the blushing Fields.
There Trains of blooming Youths, and tender Maids
Sport on the Green, and wanton in the Shades;
While busy Love attends them all the Way,
Joins in the Conflict, and provokes the Fray.
There ev'ry One by hasty Death betray'd,
The faithful Lover, and the constant Maid,
Above the rest distinguish'd, all repair,
And bind with Myrtle Wreaths their flowing Hair.--
Embrace.

She said: and round him threw her snowy Arms,
And warm'd him, wav'ring, with a soft Embrace:
He soon receives the wonted Flame, which flies
Swift thro' his Marrow, and his melting Bones:
As when in Thunder, lanc'd along the Sky,
A Streak of Fire runs streaming thro' the Clouds.
Pleas'd with her Wiles, and conscious of her Charms,
She silently perceives it: And involv'd
In Love's eternal Bond the God replies.
Whatever by my Art can be perform'd,
I promise: Spare Intreaties, nor distrust
Your Int'rest in my Soul. This said, He gave
The wish'd Embrace, and sunk to pleasing Rest.--

--See! wide--display'd,
A grateful Poplar courts us with its Shade.
The grassy Turf, beneath, so verdant shows,
Let us thereon delightfully repose:
With her Adonis here be Venus bless'd:
And swift at once the Grass and him she press'd.
Then sweetly smiling, with a raptur'd Mind,
On his lov'd Bosom she her Head reclin'd,
And thus began:--but mindful still of Bliss,
Seal'd the soft Accents with a softer Kiss.--
Embroidery.

With rich Embroidery, the curious Maid,
Her native Heav'n, and th' Elements display'd:
How parent Nature hush'd the ancient Wars
Of huddled Chaos, and its inbred Jars:
Sever'd the Seeds: and suiting to their Kind,
To proper Places all the Parts assign'd.
Sublimely born, the Light ascend on high:
The Heavier sink, and in the middle lye:
The Sky is lighted up: the Planets roll:
And active Flame informs the rapid Pole:
And flow the Seas, and pour their Waves along:
And Earth suspended on her Ballance hung.
In various Colours she express'd the Whole:
With Gold the Stars are kindl'd: purple roll
The washing Billows: and bright Gems display
An imitated Shore, to bound the seeming Sea.
The mimic Waves, so curious is her Skill,
Deceive the Sight, and really seem to swell.
The gath'ring Ooze the slimy Rock besmears,
And working, in a Foam, the Main appears,
Dashing upon the Sands, and murm'ring to the Ears.
The World's five Zones she adds: the torrid One
Glows with the Fervor of th' incessant Sun.
The habitable Two, a milder Sky
Does with more gentle Heat and calmer Beams supply.
At both the Poles eternal Winter reigns,
And bitter Frost the bleaky Robe constrains,
Shiv'ring to Sight, and bound with icy Chains.—