To Esculapius. The Fumigation from Manna.
Great Esculapius, skill'd to heal mankind,
All-ruling Pæan, and physician kind;
Whose arts medic'nal, can alone assuage
Diseases dire, and stop their dreadful rage:
Strong lenient God, regard my suppliant pray'r,
Bring gentle Health, adorn'd with lovely hair;
Convey the means of mitigating pain,
And raging, deadly pestilence restrain,
O pow'r all-flourishing, abundant, bright,
Apollo's honor'd offspring, God of light;
Husband of blameless Health, the constant foe
Of dread Disease the minister of woe
Come, blessed saviour, and my health defend,
And to my life afford a prosp'rous end,
To Health. The Fumigation from Manna.
O Much-desir'd, prolific, gen'ral queen,
Hear me, life-bearing Health, of beauteous mien,
Mother of all; by thee diseases dire,
Of bliss destructive, from our life retire
And ev'ry house is flourishing and fair,
If with rejoicing aspect thou art there
Each dædal art, thy vig'rous force inspires,
And all the world thy helping hand desires;
Pluto life's bane alone resists thy will,
And ever hates thy all-preserving skill.
O fertile queen, from thee forever flows
To mortal life from agony repose
And men without thy all-sustaining ease,
Find nothing useful, nothing form'd to please
Without thy aid, not Plutus' self can thrive,
Nor man to much afflicted age arrive;
For thou alone of countenance serene,
Dost govern all things, universal queen.
Assist thy mystics with propitious mind,
And far avert disease of ev'ry kind.
To the Furies. The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Vociferous, Bacchanalian Furies, hear!
Ye, I invoke, dread pow'rs, whom all revere
Nightly, profound, in secret who retire,
Tisiphone, Alecto, and Megara dire:
Deep in a cavern merg'd, involv'd in night,
Near where Styx flows impervious to the sight;
Ever attendant on mysterious rites,
Furious and fierce, whom Fate's dread law delights
Revenge and sorrows dire to you belong,
Hid in a savage veil, severe and strong,
Terrific virgins, who forever dwell
Endu'd with various forms, in deepest hell
Aerial, and unseen by human kind,
And swiftly coursing, rapid as the mind.
In vain the Sun with wing'd refulgence bright,
In vain the Moon, far darting milder light,
Wisdom and Virtue may attempt in vain,
And pleasing Art, our transport to obtain;
Unless with these you readily conspire,
And far avert your all-destructive Ire.
The boundless tribes of mortals you descry,
And justly rule with Right's impartial eye,
Come, snaky-hair'd, Fates many-form'd, divine,
Suppress your rage, and to our rites incline,
To the Furies. The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Hear me, illustrious Furies, mighty nam'd,
Terrific pow'rs, for prudent counsel fam'd;
Holy and pure, from Jove terrestrial born
And Proserpine, whom lovely locks adorn;
Whose piercing sight, with vision unconfin'd,
Surveys the deeds of all the impious kind
On Fate attendant, punishing the race
(With wrath severe) of deeds unjust and base.
Dark-colour'd queens, whose glittering eyes, are bright
With dreadful, radiant, life destroying light:
Eternal rulers, terrible and strong,
To whom revenge, and tortures dire belong;
Fatal and horrid to the human sight,
With snaky tresses wand'ring in the night;
Hither approach, and in these rites rejoice,
For ye, I call, with holy, suppliant voice.
To Melinoe. The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Call Melinoe, saffron-veil'd, terrene,
Who from infernal Pluto's sacred queen,
Mixt with Saturnian Jupiter, arose,
Near where Cocytus' mournful river flows;
When under Pluto's semblance, Jove divine
Deceiv'd with guileful arts dark Proserpine.
Hence, partly black thy limbs and partly white,
From Pluto dark, from Jove etherial, bright.
Thy colour'd members, men by night inspire
When seen in specter'd forms with terrors dire;
Now darkly visible, involv'd in night,
Perspicuous now they meet the fearful sight.
Terrestrial queen expel wherever found
The soul's mad fears to earth's remotest bound;
With holy aspect on our incense shine,
And bless thy mystics, and the rites divine.
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