Envy.

She sought out Envy in her dark Abode,
Defil'd with ropy Gore and Clots of Blood:
Shut from the Winds, and from the wholsome Skies,
In a deep Vale the gloomy Dungeon lies,
Dismal and cold, where not a Beam of Light
Invades the Winter, or disturbs the Night.

A poisonous Morsel in her Teeth she chew'd,
And gorg'd the Flesh of Vipers for her Food.
Minerva, loathing, turn'd away her Eye:
The hideous Monster, rising heavily,
Came stalking forwards, with a sullen Pace,
And left her mangled Offals on the Place.

Soon as she saw the Goddess gay and bright,
She fetch'd a Groan at such a chearful Sight.
Livid and meager were her Looks, her Eye
In foul distorted Glances turn'd awry:
A Hoard of Gall her inward Parts possess'd,
And spread a Greenness o'er her canker'd Breast:
Her Teeth were brown with Rust: and from her Tongue,
In dangling Drops, the stringy Poison hung.

She never smiles, but when the Wretched weep,
Nor lulls her Malice with a Moment's Sleep:
Restless in Spite! while, watchful to destroy,
She pines and sickens at another's Joy:
Foe to herself, distressing and distress'd,
She bears her own Tormentor in her Breast.

She takes her Staff hung round with Wreaths of Thorn,
And sails along, in a black Whirlwind born,
O'er Fields and flow'ry Meadows; where she steers
Her baneful Course a mighty Blast appears,
Mildews, and Blights: the Meadows are defac'd,
The Fields, the Flow'rs, and the whole Year laid Waste.
On Mortals next, and peopled Towns she falls,
And breathes a burning Plague among their Walls.
When Athens she beheld, for Arts renown'd,
With Peace made happy, and with Plenty crown'd:
Scarce could the hideous Fiend from Tears forbear,
To find out Nothing that deserv'd a Tear.--

She stroak'd the Virgin with her canker'd Hand,
Then prickly Thorns into her Breast convey'd,
That stung to Madness the devoted Maid:
Her subtle Venom still improves the Smart,
Frets in the Blood, and festers in the Heart.

To make the Work more sure, a Scene she drew,
And plac'd before the dreaming Virgin's View
Her Sister's Marriage, and her glorious Fate:
Th' imaginary Bride appears in State:
The Bridegroom with unwonted Beauty glows:
For Envy magnifies whate'er she shows.
Full of the Dream Aglauros pin'd away
In Tears all Night, in Darkness all the Day:
Consum'd like Ice, that just begins to run,
When feebly smitten by the distant Sun:
Or like unwholesome Weeds, that set on Fire
Are slowly wasted, and in Smoke expire.
Giv'n up to Envy (for in ev'ry Thought
The Thorns, the Venom, and the Vision wrought,)
Oft did she call on Death--

--The meager Envious rise,
And look on others Wealth with troubled Eyes:
Griev'd to the Soul, they inwardly repine,
That some with Pow'r, and some with Honour shine:
While they are mean, and low, and without Fame:
And even die for Statues and a Name.--

Envy thou cursed Plague of Humankind!
To whom another's Happiness, or Praise,
Is Pain insufferable!--
Equinoctial--Line.

Bright Phoebus, here, to neither Pole declines,
But from his Zenith vertically shines:
Hence, ev'n the Trees no friendly shelter yield,
Scarce their own Trunks the leafy Branches shield;
The Rays descend direct, all round embrace,
And almost to a Point the Shadow chace.
Here equally the middle Line is found,
To cut the radiant Zodiac in it's Round:
Here unoblique the Bull and Scorpion rise,
Nor mount too swift, nor leave too soon the Skies:
Nor Libra does too long the Ram attend,
Nor bids the Maid the fishy Sign descend.
The Twins and Centaur justly Time divide,
And equally their several Seasons guide:
Alike the Crab and wintry Goat return,
Alike the Lion and the flowing Urn.
Here slow Bootes, with his lazy Wain,
Descending, seems to reach the watry Main.
Of all the Lights which high above they see,
No Star whate'er from Neptune's Waves is free,
The whirling Axle drives 'em round, and plunges in the Sea.--
Equinox.

When Libra weighs the Hours in equal Scales,
Nor Day on Night, nor Night on Day prevails:
For Work, and Rest, when equal Times are made,
The World enjoying equal Light and Shade.--

But when the genial Heat began to shine,
With stronger Beams in Aries' vernal Sign,
Again the golden Day resum'd it's Right,
And rul'd in just Equation with the Night.--

The Sun, returning, in his yearly Race,
To Cancer's Sign, meets Aries midst the Space,
Seated between the Point from whence he bends
His upward Course, and that in which he ends.
There plac'd as Umpire in the middle Way,
O'er all the Globe he equals Night and Day.

Oppos'd to Aries, Libra's Stars appear,
With the like Power to sway the rolling Year:
It equals Day and Night.--
Evening.

And now the Village Tops at distance smoke,
And longer Shades from lofty Mountains fall.--

Behold the Oxen homewards draw the Plough,
Less lab'ring with it's Weight: and now the Sun,
Retiring, doubles the increasing Shades.--

At the Sun's Setting, Vesper's cooling Breeze
Allays the Fervor of the sultry Air:
And now the Groves are by the dewy Moon
Refresh'd: the Shores Halcyone resound:
And the sweet Goldfinch warbles thro' the Brakes.--

The Labour of the Day now near an End,
From steep Olympus Phoebus' Steeds descend.--

Half hid in Seas descending Phoebus lay,
And upwards half, half downwards shot the Day.--

Bright Sol had now his Journey almost done,
And to the western Ocean downward run.--

Now o'er the Skies is spread that doubtful Light,
Which cannot Day be call'd, nor is it Night.

Now headlong to the West the Sun was fled,
And half in Seas obscur'd his beamy Head:
Such seems the Moon, while, growing yet, she shines,
Or waining, from her fuller Orb declines.--

'Twas at that Season when the fainting Light,
Just in the Evening's close, brought on the Night.--
Example.
See Education.

Fuscinus, those ill Deeds that sully Fame,
And lay such Blots upon an honest Name:
In Blood once tainted, like a Current run,
From the lewd Father, to the lewder Son.
If Gaming does an aged Sire entice,
Then my young Master quickly learns the Vice,
And shakes, in Hanging--Sleeves, the little Box and Dice.
Thus, the voluptuous Youth, bred up to dress,
For his fat Gransire, some delicious Mess:
In feeding high his Tutor will surpass,
As Heir--apparent of the Gourmand Race.
And, should a thousand grave Philosophers
Be always hollowing Temp'rance in his Ears,
They would at last their Loss of Time lament,
And give him o'er, as Glutton by Descent.

Can cruel Rutilus, who loves the Noise
Of Whips far better than a Syren's Voice,
Set up to teach Humanity, and give
By such Example, Rules for Us to live?
Can he preach up Equality of Birth,
And tell Us how we all began from Earth?
Can he a Son to soft Remorse incite,
Whom Goals, and Chains, and Punishments delight?

Who would expect the Daughter should be other
Than common Punk, if Larga be the Mother?
Whose Lovers Names in order to run o'er,
The Girl took Breath full thirty times, and more:
She, when but yet a tender Minx, began
To hold the Door, but now sets up for Man:
And to her Gallants, in her own Hand--writing,
Sends Billets--douxs of the old Bawd's Inditing.
So Nature prompts: so soon we go astray,
When old Experience puts Us in the Way:
Our green Youth copies what grey Sinners act,
When venerable Age commends the Fact.--

My honour'd Father did his Precepts use
By Force of strong Example to infuse:
'Twas so he labour'd to direct my Will,
Point me to Good, or turn me back from Ill.
When studious to inculcate frugal Care,
And make me happy with what ever Share
Of Riches he should leave: Observe, said He,
How wretched Albus' Son and Barus be:
Young Heirs, to squander their Estates inclin'd,
In their sad Fate may good Instruction find.
When to deter me from the shameful Love
Of vile seducing Prostitutes he strove,
Beware, he'd cry: nor like Sectanus prove.
That after Others Wives I should not stray,
Nor follow Women in a lawless Way:
Thereby, quoth he, Trebonius is undone;
Caught in the Fact, his Reputation's gone.

--Thus he
Did in my Non--age wisely tutor me.
When he propos'd a Duty to be done,
Thou hast, he'd cry, a fair Example, Son,
Before thine Eyes, for doing of the same:
And then some Great and Worthy Man he'd Name.
But, if a Vice he caution'd me to fly,
A Man, says he, may see with half an Eye;
This Action, which Thou'rt now about to do,
Is against Honesty, and Int'rest too:
For the same Thing, there's such and such a One,
With Infamy is branded thro' the Town.--

True Toil and Virtue learn, dear Youth, from Me:
Fortune from Others.--
Be Thou industrious, when mature of Age,
To fix these great Examples in thy Mind,
And them revolving, copy out thy Sire
Æneas, and thy Unkle Hector's Fame.—