My soul is wrought to sing of forms transformedto bodies new and strange! Immortal Godsinspire my heart, for ye have changed yourselvesand all things you have changed! Oh lead my songin smooth and measured strains, from olden dayswhen earth began to this completed time!

Before the ocean and the earth appeared—before the skies had overspread them all—the face of Nature in a vast expansewas naught but Chaos uniformly waste.It was a rude and undeveloped mass,that nothing made except a ponderous weight;and all discordant elements confused,were there congested in a shapeless heap.As yet the sun afforded earth no light,nor did the moon renew her crescent horns;the earth was not suspended in the airexactly balanced by her heavy weight.Not far along the margin of the shoreshad Amphitrite stretched her lengthened arms,—for all the land was mixed with sea and air.The land was soft, the sea unfit to sail,the atmosphere opaque, to naught was givena proper form, in everything was strife,and all was mingled in a seething mass—with hot the cold parts strove, and wet with dryand soft with hard, and weight with empty void.But God, or kindly Nature, ended strife—he cut the land from skies, the sea from land,the heavens ethereal from material air;and when were all evolved from that dark masshe bound the fractious parts in tranquil peace.The fiery element of convex heavenleaped from the mass devoid of dragging weight,and chose the summit arch to which the airas next in quality was next in place.The earth more dense attracted grosser partsand moved by gravity sank underneath;and last of all the wide surrounding wavesin deeper channels rolled around the globe.And when this God —which one is yet unknown—had carved asunder that discordant mass,had thus reduced it to its elements,that every part should equally combine,when time began He rounded out the earthand moulded it to form a mighty globe.Then poured He forth the deeps and gave commandthat they should billow in the rapid winds,that they should compass every shore of earth. he also added fountains, pools and lakes,and bound with shelving banks the slanting streams,which partly are absorbed and partly jointhe boundless ocean. Thus received amidthe wide expanse of uncontrolled waves,they beat the shores instead of crooked banks.At His command the boundless plains extend,the valleys are depressed, the woods are clothedin green, the stony mountains rise. And asthe heavens are intersected on the rightby two broad zones, by two that cut the left,and by a fifth consumed with ardent heat,with such a number did the careful Godmark off the compassed weight, and thus the earthreceived as many climes.—Such heat consumesthe middle zone that none may dwell therein;and two extremes are covered with deep snow;and two are placed betwixt the hot and cold,which mixed together give a temperate clime;and over all the atmosphere suspendswith weight proportioned to the fiery sky,exactly as the weight of earth compareswith weight of water.And He ordered mistto gather in the air and spread the clouds.He fixed the thunders that disturb our souls,and brought the lightning on destructive windsthat also waft the cold. Nor did the greatArtificer permit these mighty windsto blow unbounded in the pathless skies,but each discordant brother fixed in space,although His power can scarce restrain their rageto rend the universe. At His commandto far Aurora, Eurus took his way,to Nabath, Persia, and that mountain rangefirst gilded by the dawn; and Zephyr's flightwas towards the evening star and peaceful shores,warm with the setting sun; and Boreasinvaded Scythia and the northern snows;and Auster wafted to the distant southwhere clouds and rain encompass his abode.—and over these He fixed the liquid sky,devoid of weight and free from earthly dross.And scarcely had He separated theseand fixed their certain bounds, when all the stars,which long were pressed and hidden in the mass,began to gleam out from the plains of heaven,and traversed, with the Gods, bright ether fields:and lest some part might be bereft of lifethe gleaming waves were filled with twinkling fish;the earth was covered with wild animals;the agitated air was filled with birds. But one more perfect and more sanctified,a being capable of lofty thought,intelligent to rule, was wanting stillman was created! Did the Unknown Goddesigning then a better world make manof seed divine? or did Prometheustake the new soil of earth (that still containedsome godly element of Heaven's Life)and use it to create the race of man;first mingling it with water of new streams;so that his new creation, upright man,was made in image of commanding Gods?On earth the brute creation bends its gaze,but man was given a lofty countenanceand was commanded to behold the skies;and with an upright face may view the stars:—and so it was that shapeless clay put onthe form of man till then unknown to earth.

First was the Golden Age. Then rectitudespontaneous in the heart prevailed, and faith.Avengers were not seen, for laws unframedwere all unknown and needless. Punishmentand fear of penalties existed not.No harsh decrees were fixed on brazen plates.No suppliant multitude the countenanceof Justice feared, averting, for they dweltwithout a judge in peace. Descended notthe steeps, shorn from its height, the lofty pine,cleaving the trackless waves of alien shores,nor distant realms were known to wandering men.The towns were not entrenched for time of war;they had no brazen trumpets, straight, nor hornsof curving brass, nor helmets, shields nor swords.There was no thought of martial pomp —securea happy multitude enjoyed repose.Then of her own accord the earth produceda store of every fruit. The harrow touchedher not, nor did the plowshare woundher fields. And man content with given food,and none compelling, gathered arbute fruitsand wild strawberries on the mountain sides,and ripe blackberries clinging to the bush,and corners and sweet acorns on the ground,down fallen from the spreading tree of Jove.Eternal Spring! Soft breathing zephyrs soothedand warmly cherished buds and blooms, producedwithout a seed. The valleys though unplowedgave many fruits; the fields though not renewedwhite glistened with the heavy bearded wheat:rivers flowed milk and nectar, and the trees,the very oak trees, then gave honey of themselves.When Saturn had been banished into nightand all the world was ruled by Jove supreme,the Silver Age, though not so good as goldbut still surpassing yellow brass, prevailed.Jove first reduced to years the Primal Spring,by him divided into periods four,unequal,—summer, autumn, winter, spring.—then glowed with tawny heat the parched air,or pendent icicles in winter frozeand man stopped crouching in crude caverns, whilehe built his homes of tree rods, bark entwined.Then were the cereals planted in long rows,and bullocks groaned beneath the heavy yoke.The third Age followed, called The Age of Bronze,when cruel people were inclined to armsbut not to impious crimes. And last of allthe ruthless and hard Age of Iron prevailed,from which malignant vein great evil sprung;and modesty and faith and truth took flight,and in their stead deceits and snares and fraudsand violence and wicked love of gain,succeeded.—Then the sailor spread his sailsto winds unknown, and keels that long had stoodon lofty mountains pierced uncharted waves.Surveyors anxious marked with metes and boundsthe lands, created free as light and air:nor need the rich ground furnish only crops,and give due nourishment by right required,—they penetrated to the bowels of earthand dug up wealth, bad cause of all our ills,—rich ores which long ago the earth had hidand deep removed to gloomy Stygian caves:and soon destructive iron and harmful goldwere brought to light; and War, which uses both,came forth and shook with sanguinary griphis clashing arms. Rapacity broke forth—the guest was not protected from his host,the father in law from his own son in law;even brothers seldom could abide in peace.The husband threatened to destroy his wife,and she her husband: horrid step dames mixedthe deadly henbane: eager sons inquiredtheir fathers, ages. Piety was slain:and last of all the virgin deity,Astraea vanished from the blood-stained earth.And lest ethereal heights should long remainless troubled than the earth, the throne of Heavenwas threatened by the Giants; and they piledmountain on mountain to the lofty stars.But Jove, omnipotent, shot thunderboltsthrough Mount Olympus, and he overturnedfrom Ossa huge, enormous Pelion.And while these dreadful bodies lay overwhelmedin their tremendous bulk, (so fame reports)the Earth was reeking with the copious bloodof her gigantic sons; and thus repletewith moisture she infused the steaming gorewith life renewed. So that a monumentof such ferocious stock should be retained,she made that offspring in the shape of man; but this new race alike despised the Gods,and by the greed of savage slaughter proveda sanguinary birth.

When, from his thronesupreme, the Son of Saturn viewed their deeds,he deeply groaned: and calling to his mindthe loathsome feast Lycaon had prepared,a recent deed not common to report,his soul conceived great anger —worthy Jove— and he convened a council. No delaydetained the chosen Gods.When skies are cleara path is well defined on high, which men,because so white, have named the Milky Way.It makes a passage for the deitiesand leads to mansions of the Thunder God,to Jove's imperial home. On either sideof its wide way the noble Gods are seen,inferior Gods in other parts abide,but there the potent and renowned of Heavenhave fixed their homes.—It is a glorious place,our most audacious verse might designatethe “Palace of High Heaven.” When the Godswere seated, therefore, in its marble hallsthe King of all above the throng sat high,and leaning on his ivory scepter, thrice,and once again he shook his awful locks,wherewith he moved the earth, and seas and stars,—and thus indignantly began to speak;“The time when serpent footed giants stroveto fix their hundred arms on captive Heaven,not more than this event could cause alarmfor my dominion of the universe.Although it was a savage enemy,yet warred we with a single source derivedof one. Now must I utterly destroythis mortal race wherever Nereus roarsaround the world. Yea, by the Infernal Streamsthat glide through Stygian groves beneath the world,I swear it. Every method has been tried.The knife must cut immedicable wounds,lest maladies infect untainted parts.“Beneath my sway are demi gods and fauns,nymphs, rustic deities, sylvans of the hills,satyrs;—all these, unworthy Heaven's abodes,we should at least permit to dwell on earthwhich we to them bequeathed. What think ye, Gods,is safety theirs when I, your sovereign lord,the Thunder-bolt Controller, am ensnaredby fierce Lycaon?” Ardent in their wrath,the astonished Gods demand revenge overtakethis miscreant; he who dared commit such crimes.'Twas even thus when raged that impious bandto blot the Roman name in sacred bloodof Caesar, sudden apprehensive fearsof ruin absolute astonished man,and all the world convulsed. Nor is the lovethy people bear to thee, Augustus, lessthan these displayed to Jupiter whose voiceand gesture all the murmuring host restrained:and as indignant clamour ceased, suppressedby regnant majesty, Jove once againbroke the deep silence with imperial words;“Dismiss your cares; he paid the penaltyhowever all the crime and punishmentnow learn from this:—An infamous reportof this unholy age had reached my ears,and wishing it were false, I sloped my coursefrom high Olympus, and—although a God—disguised in human form I viewed the world.It would delay us to recount the crimesunnumbered, for reports were less than truth.“I traversed Maenalus where fearful densabound, over Lycaeus, wintry slopesof pine tree groves, across Cyllene steep;and as the twilight warned of night's approach,I stopped in that Arcadian tyrant's realmsand entered his inhospitable home:—and when I showed his people that a Godhad come, the lowly prayed and worshiped me,but this Lycaon mocked their pious vowsand scoffing said; ‘A fair experimentwill prove the truth if this be god or man.’and he prepared to slay me in the night,—to end my slumbers in the sleep of death.So made he merry with his impious proof;but not content with this he cut the throatof a Molossian hostage sent to him,and partly softened his still quivering limbsin boiling water, partly roasted themon fires that burned beneath. And when this fleshwas served to me on tables, I destroyedhis dwelling and his worthless Household Gods,with thunder bolts avenging. Terror struckhe took to flight, and on the silent plainsis howling in his vain attempts to speak;he raves and rages and his greedy jaws,desiring their accustomed slaughter, turnagainst the sheep—still eager for their blood.His vesture separates in shaggy hair,his arms are changed to legs; and as a wolfhe has the same grey locks, the same hard face,the same bright eyes, the same ferocious look.“Thus fell one house, but not one house alonedeserved to perish; over all the earthferocious deeds prevail,—all men conspirein evil. Let them therefore feel the weightof dreadful penalties so justly earned,for such hath my unchanging will ordained.”with exclamations some approved the wordsof Jove and added fuel to his wrath,while others gave assent: but all deploredand questioned the estate of earth deprivedof mortals. Who could offer frankincenseupon the altars? Would he suffer earthto be despoiled by hungry beasts of prey?Such idle questions of the state of manthe King of Gods forbade, but granted soonto people earth with race miraculous,unlike the first.

And now his thunder boltswould Jove wide scatter, but he feared the flames,unnumbered, sacred ether might igniteand burn the axle of the universe:and he remembered in the scroll of fate,there is a time appointed when the seaand earth and Heavens shall melt, and fire destroythe universe of mighty labour wrought.Such weapons by the skill of Cyclops forged,for different punishment he laid aside—for straightway he preferred to overwhelmthe mortal race beneath deep waves and stormsfrom every raining sky. And instantlyhe shut the Northwind in Aeolian caves,and every other wind that might dispelthe gathering clouds. He bade the Southwind blow:—the Southwind flies abroad with dripping wings,concealing in the gloom his awful face:the drenching rain descends from his wet beardand hoary locks; dark clouds are on his browsand from his wings and garments drip the dews:his great hands press the overhanging clouds;loudly the thunders roll; the torrents pour;Iris, the messenger of Juno, cladin many coloured raiment, upward drawsthe steaming moisture to renew the clouds.The standing grain is beaten to the ground,the rustic's crops are scattered in the mire,and he bewails the long year's fruitless toil.The wrath of Jove was not content with powersthat emanate from Heaven; he brought to aidhis azure brother, lord of flowing waves,who called upon the Rivers and the Streams:and when they entered his impearled abode,Neptune, their ancient ruler, thus began;“A long appeal is needless; pour ye forthin rage of power; open up your fountains;rush over obstacles; let every streampour forth in boundless floods.” Thus he commands,and none dissenting all the River Godsreturn, and opening up their fountains rolltumultuous to the deep unfruitful sea.And Neptune with his trident smote the Earth,which trembling with unwonted throes heaved upthe sources of her waters bare; and throughher open plains the rapid rivers rushedresistless, onward bearing the waving grain,the budding groves, the houses, sheep and men,—and holy temples, and their sacred urns.The mansions that remained, resisting vastand total ruin, deepening waves concealedand whelmed their tottering turrets in the floodand whirling gulf. And now one vast expanse,the land and sea were mingled in the wasteof endless waves—a sea without a shore.One desperate man seized on the nearest hill;another sitting in his curved boat,plied the long oar where he was wont to plow;another sailed above his grain, abovehis hidden dwelling; and another hookeda fish that sported in a leafy elm.Perchance an anchor dropped in verdant fields,or curving keels were pushed through tangled vines;and where the gracile goat enjoyed the green,unsightly seals reposed. Beneath the waveswere wondering Nereids, viewing cities, grovesand houses. Dolphins darting mid the trees,meshed in the twisted branches, beat againstthe shaken oak trees. There the sheep, affrayed,swim with the frightened wolf, the surging wavesfloat tigers and lions: availeth naughthis lightning shock the wild boar, nor availsthe stag's fleet footed speed. The wandering bird,seeking umbrageous groves and hidden vales,with wearied pinion droops into the sea.The waves increasing surge above the hills,and rising waters dash on mountain tops.Myriads by the waves are swept away,and those the waters spare, for lack of food,starvation slowly overcomes at last.A fruitful land and fair but now submergedbeneath a wilderness of rising waves,'Twixt Oeta and Aonia, Phocis lies,where through the clouds Parnassus' summits twainpoint upward to the stars, unmeasured height,save which the rolling billows covered all:there in a small and fragile boat, arrived,Deucalion and the consort of his couch,prepared to worship the Corycian Nymphs,the mountain deities, and Themis kind,who in that age revealed in oraclesthe voice of fate. As he no other livedso good and just, as she no other fearedthe Gods.When Jupiter beheld the globein ruin covered, swept with wasting waves,and when he saw one man of myriads left,one helpless woman left of myriads lone,both innocent and worshiping the Gods,he scattered all the clouds; he blew awaythe great storms by the cold northwind.