B. I.
Preserving HEALTH.
3
Of cold and hot, or moist and dry produce;
They fly thy pure effulgence: they, and all
The secret poisons of avenging heaven,
And all the pale tribes halting in the train
30Of vice and heedless pleasure: or if aught
The comet's glare amid the burning sky,
Mournful eclipse, or planets ill-combin'd,
Portend disastrous to the vital world;
Thy salutary power averts their rage,
35Averts the general bane: and but for thee
Nature would sicken, nature soon would die.
Without thy chearful active energy
No rapture swells the breast, no poet sings,
No more the maids of Helicon delight.
40Come then with me, O Goddess heavenly-gay!
Begin the song; and let it sweetly flow,
And let it wisely teach thy wholesom laws:
B 2
How
