The Hunting of the Gods
Songs of shepherds and rustical roundelays
— Formed of fancies and whistled on reeds,
Songs to solace young nymphs upon holidays,
— Are too unworthy for wonderful deeds.
Phoebus ingenious, or wingid Cyllenius,
— His lofty genius may seem to declare
In verse better coinid and voice more refinid
— How stars divinid the hunting the hare.
Stars enamoured with pastimes Olympical,
— Stars and planets that beautiful shone,
Would no longer that earthly men only shall
— Swim in pleasure, and they but look on.
Round about hornid Lucina they swarmid,
— And her informid how minded they were,
Each god and goddess, to take human bodies
— As lords and ladies, to follow the hare.
Chaste Diana applauded the motion,
— And pale Proserpina, set in her place,
Lights the welkin and governs the ocean
— While she conducted her nephews in chase;
Who by her example, her father to trample,
— The old and ample earth, leave the air,
Neptune the water, the wine Liber Pater,
— And Mars the slaughter, to follow the hare.
Light god Cupid was horsed upon Pegasus
— Borrowed of Muses with kisses and prayers,
Strong Alcides upon cloudy Caucasus
— Mounts a centaur that proudly him bears;
Postilion of the sky, light-heelid Mercury,
— Makes his courser fly, fleet as the air,
Yellow Apollo the kennel doth follow
— With whoop and hollo, after the hare.
Hymen ushers the ladies: Astraea
— The just, took hands with Minerva the bold,
Ceres the brown, with bright Cytherea,
— With Thetis the wanton, Bellona the old;
Shamefaced Aurora with subtle Pandora,
— And Maia with Flora, did company bear:
Juno was stated too high to be mated,
— But yet she hated not hunting the hare.
Drowned Narcissus, from his metamorphosis
— Roused by Echo, new manhood did take;
Snoring Somnus up-started in Cimmeris,
— That this thousand year was not awake,
To see club-footed old Mulciber booted,
— And Pan promoted on Chiron's mare;
Proud Faunus pouted, and Aeolus shouted,
— And Momus flouted, but followed the hare.
Deep Melampus and cunning Ichnobates,
— Nape and Tiger and Harper, the skies
Rend with roaring, whilst huntsman-like Hercules
— Winds the plentiful horn to their cries;
Till, with varieties to solace their pieties,
— The weary deities reposed them where
We shepherds were seated, and there we repeated
— What we conceited of their hunting the hare.
Young Amyntas supposed the gods came to breathe,
— After some battles, themselves on the ground;
Thyrsis thought the stars came to dwell here beneath,
— And that hereafter the world would go round.
Corydon agid, with Phyllis engagid,
— Was much enragid with jealous despair;
But fury vaded, and he was persuaded
— When I thus applauded the hunting the hare.
Stars but shadows were, state but sorrow,
— Had they no motion, nor that no delight;
Joys are jovial, delight is the marrow
— Of life, and action the axle of might.
Pleasure depends upon no other friends,
— And yet freely lends to each virtue a share;
Only I measure the jewel of pleasure,
— Of pleasure the treasure is hunting the hare.
Three broad bowls to the Olympical Rector
— His Troy-born eagle he brings on his knee;
Jove to Phoebus carouses in nectar,
— And he to Hermes, and Hermes to me;
Wherewith infusid, I piped and I musid
— In songs unusid this sport to declare:
And that the rouse of Jove round as his sphere may move —
— Health to all that love hunting the hare!
Songs of shepherds and rustical roundelays
— Formed of fancies and whistled on reeds,
Songs to solace young nymphs upon holidays,
— Are too unworthy for wonderful deeds.
Phoebus ingenious, or wingid Cyllenius,
— His lofty genius may seem to declare
In verse better coinid and voice more refinid
— How stars divinid the hunting the hare.
Stars enamoured with pastimes Olympical,
— Stars and planets that beautiful shone,
Would no longer that earthly men only shall
— Swim in pleasure, and they but look on.
Round about hornid Lucina they swarmid,
— And her informid how minded they were,
Each god and goddess, to take human bodies
— As lords and ladies, to follow the hare.
Chaste Diana applauded the motion,
— And pale Proserpina, set in her place,
Lights the welkin and governs the ocean
— While she conducted her nephews in chase;
Who by her example, her father to trample,
— The old and ample earth, leave the air,
Neptune the water, the wine Liber Pater,
— And Mars the slaughter, to follow the hare.
Light god Cupid was horsed upon Pegasus
— Borrowed of Muses with kisses and prayers,
Strong Alcides upon cloudy Caucasus
— Mounts a centaur that proudly him bears;
Postilion of the sky, light-heelid Mercury,
— Makes his courser fly, fleet as the air,
Yellow Apollo the kennel doth follow
— With whoop and hollo, after the hare.
Hymen ushers the ladies: Astraea
— The just, took hands with Minerva the bold,
Ceres the brown, with bright Cytherea,
— With Thetis the wanton, Bellona the old;
Shamefaced Aurora with subtle Pandora,
— And Maia with Flora, did company bear:
Juno was stated too high to be mated,
— But yet she hated not hunting the hare.
Drowned Narcissus, from his metamorphosis
— Roused by Echo, new manhood did take;
Snoring Somnus up-started in Cimmeris,
— That this thousand year was not awake,
To see club-footed old Mulciber booted,
— And Pan promoted on Chiron's mare;
Proud Faunus pouted, and Aeolus shouted,
— And Momus flouted, but followed the hare.
Deep Melampus and cunning Ichnobates,
— Nape and Tiger and Harper, the skies
Rend with roaring, whilst huntsman-like Hercules
— Winds the plentiful horn to their cries;
Till, with varieties to solace their pieties,
— The weary deities reposed them where
We shepherds were seated, and there we repeated
— What we conceited of their hunting the hare.
Young Amyntas supposed the gods came to breathe,
— After some battles, themselves on the ground;
Thyrsis thought the stars came to dwell here beneath,
— And that hereafter the world would go round.
Corydon agid, with Phyllis engagid,
— Was much enragid with jealous despair;
But fury vaded, and he was persuaded
— When I thus applauded the hunting the hare.
Stars but shadows were, state but sorrow,
— Had they no motion, nor that no delight;
Joys are jovial, delight is the marrow
— Of life, and action the axle of might.
Pleasure depends upon no other friends,
— And yet freely lends to each virtue a share;
Only I measure the jewel of pleasure,
— Of pleasure the treasure is hunting the hare.
Three broad bowls to the Olympical Rector
— His Troy-born eagle he brings on his knee;
Jove to Phoebus carouses in nectar,
— And he to Hermes, and Hermes to me;
Wherewith infusid, I piped and I musid
— In songs unusid this sport to declare:
And that the rouse of Jove round as his sphere may move —
— Health to all that love hunting the hare!
— Formed of fancies and whistled on reeds,
Songs to solace young nymphs upon holidays,
— Are too unworthy for wonderful deeds.
Phoebus ingenious, or wingid Cyllenius,
— His lofty genius may seem to declare
In verse better coinid and voice more refinid
— How stars divinid the hunting the hare.
Stars enamoured with pastimes Olympical,
— Stars and planets that beautiful shone,
Would no longer that earthly men only shall
— Swim in pleasure, and they but look on.
Round about hornid Lucina they swarmid,
— And her informid how minded they were,
Each god and goddess, to take human bodies
— As lords and ladies, to follow the hare.
Chaste Diana applauded the motion,
— And pale Proserpina, set in her place,
Lights the welkin and governs the ocean
— While she conducted her nephews in chase;
Who by her example, her father to trample,
— The old and ample earth, leave the air,
Neptune the water, the wine Liber Pater,
— And Mars the slaughter, to follow the hare.
Light god Cupid was horsed upon Pegasus
— Borrowed of Muses with kisses and prayers,
Strong Alcides upon cloudy Caucasus
— Mounts a centaur that proudly him bears;
Postilion of the sky, light-heelid Mercury,
— Makes his courser fly, fleet as the air,
Yellow Apollo the kennel doth follow
— With whoop and hollo, after the hare.
Hymen ushers the ladies: Astraea
— The just, took hands with Minerva the bold,
Ceres the brown, with bright Cytherea,
— With Thetis the wanton, Bellona the old;
Shamefaced Aurora with subtle Pandora,
— And Maia with Flora, did company bear:
Juno was stated too high to be mated,
— But yet she hated not hunting the hare.
Drowned Narcissus, from his metamorphosis
— Roused by Echo, new manhood did take;
Snoring Somnus up-started in Cimmeris,
— That this thousand year was not awake,
To see club-footed old Mulciber booted,
— And Pan promoted on Chiron's mare;
Proud Faunus pouted, and Aeolus shouted,
— And Momus flouted, but followed the hare.
Deep Melampus and cunning Ichnobates,
— Nape and Tiger and Harper, the skies
Rend with roaring, whilst huntsman-like Hercules
— Winds the plentiful horn to their cries;
Till, with varieties to solace their pieties,
— The weary deities reposed them where
We shepherds were seated, and there we repeated
— What we conceited of their hunting the hare.
Young Amyntas supposed the gods came to breathe,
— After some battles, themselves on the ground;
Thyrsis thought the stars came to dwell here beneath,
— And that hereafter the world would go round.
Corydon agid, with Phyllis engagid,
— Was much enragid with jealous despair;
But fury vaded, and he was persuaded
— When I thus applauded the hunting the hare.
Stars but shadows were, state but sorrow,
— Had they no motion, nor that no delight;
Joys are jovial, delight is the marrow
— Of life, and action the axle of might.
Pleasure depends upon no other friends,
— And yet freely lends to each virtue a share;
Only I measure the jewel of pleasure,
— Of pleasure the treasure is hunting the hare.
Three broad bowls to the Olympical Rector
— His Troy-born eagle he brings on his knee;
Jove to Phoebus carouses in nectar,
— And he to Hermes, and Hermes to me;
Wherewith infusid, I piped and I musid
— In songs unusid this sport to declare:
And that the rouse of Jove round as his sphere may move —
— Health to all that love hunting the hare!
Songs of shepherds and rustical roundelays
— Formed of fancies and whistled on reeds,
Songs to solace young nymphs upon holidays,
— Are too unworthy for wonderful deeds.
Phoebus ingenious, or wingid Cyllenius,
— His lofty genius may seem to declare
In verse better coinid and voice more refinid
— How stars divinid the hunting the hare.
Stars enamoured with pastimes Olympical,
— Stars and planets that beautiful shone,
Would no longer that earthly men only shall
— Swim in pleasure, and they but look on.
Round about hornid Lucina they swarmid,
— And her informid how minded they were,
Each god and goddess, to take human bodies
— As lords and ladies, to follow the hare.
Chaste Diana applauded the motion,
— And pale Proserpina, set in her place,
Lights the welkin and governs the ocean
— While she conducted her nephews in chase;
Who by her example, her father to trample,
— The old and ample earth, leave the air,
Neptune the water, the wine Liber Pater,
— And Mars the slaughter, to follow the hare.
Light god Cupid was horsed upon Pegasus
— Borrowed of Muses with kisses and prayers,
Strong Alcides upon cloudy Caucasus
— Mounts a centaur that proudly him bears;
Postilion of the sky, light-heelid Mercury,
— Makes his courser fly, fleet as the air,
Yellow Apollo the kennel doth follow
— With whoop and hollo, after the hare.
Hymen ushers the ladies: Astraea
— The just, took hands with Minerva the bold,
Ceres the brown, with bright Cytherea,
— With Thetis the wanton, Bellona the old;
Shamefaced Aurora with subtle Pandora,
— And Maia with Flora, did company bear:
Juno was stated too high to be mated,
— But yet she hated not hunting the hare.
Drowned Narcissus, from his metamorphosis
— Roused by Echo, new manhood did take;
Snoring Somnus up-started in Cimmeris,
— That this thousand year was not awake,
To see club-footed old Mulciber booted,
— And Pan promoted on Chiron's mare;
Proud Faunus pouted, and Aeolus shouted,
— And Momus flouted, but followed the hare.
Deep Melampus and cunning Ichnobates,
— Nape and Tiger and Harper, the skies
Rend with roaring, whilst huntsman-like Hercules
— Winds the plentiful horn to their cries;
Till, with varieties to solace their pieties,
— The weary deities reposed them where
We shepherds were seated, and there we repeated
— What we conceited of their hunting the hare.
Young Amyntas supposed the gods came to breathe,
— After some battles, themselves on the ground;
Thyrsis thought the stars came to dwell here beneath,
— And that hereafter the world would go round.
Corydon agid, with Phyllis engagid,
— Was much enragid with jealous despair;
But fury vaded, and he was persuaded
— When I thus applauded the hunting the hare.
Stars but shadows were, state but sorrow,
— Had they no motion, nor that no delight;
Joys are jovial, delight is the marrow
— Of life, and action the axle of might.
Pleasure depends upon no other friends,
— And yet freely lends to each virtue a share;
Only I measure the jewel of pleasure,
— Of pleasure the treasure is hunting the hare.
Three broad bowls to the Olympical Rector
— His Troy-born eagle he brings on his knee;
Jove to Phoebus carouses in nectar,
— And he to Hermes, and Hermes to me;
Wherewith infusid, I piped and I musid
— In songs unusid this sport to declare:
And that the rouse of Jove round as his sphere may move —
— Health to all that love hunting the hare!
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