I walk unseen with men on earth by day.
So, too, do other stars step from their spheres,
Down to this lower world; so willeth Jove,
Ruler of gods and men; he sends us forth
Each on our several paths throughout all lands,
To note the ways of men, and all they do;[1]
If they be just and pious; if their wealth
Be well employed, or squandered harmfully;
Who in a false suit use false witnesses;
Who by a perjured oath forswear their debts;—
Their names do we record and bear to Jove.
So learns He day by day what ill is wrought
By men below; who seek to gain their cause
By perjury, who wrest the law to wrong;
Jove's court of high appeal rehears the plaint,
And mulcts them tenfold for the unjust decree.
In separate tablets doth he note the good.
And though the wicked in their hearts have said,
He can be soothed with gifts and sacrifice,
They lose their pains and cost, for that the god
Accepts no offering from a perjured hand.
After this fine exordium, so unlike the ordinary tone of the writer that we may be sure he is here translating from a great original, the prologue goes on to set forth the story of the piece. The speaker gives the audience some description of the opening scene, and a key to the characters. It is the tradition of the com-
- ↑ The same idea occurs in a well-known passage in Homer:—
"Gods in the garb of strangers to and fro
Wander the cities, and men's ways discern;
Yea, through the wide earth in all shapes they go,
Changed, yet the same, and with their own eyes learn
How live the sacred laws, who hold them, and who spurn."
Odyss. xvii. 485 (Worsley's Transl.)
