Page:The Pleasures of Imagination - Akenside (1744).djvu/42

Of nature and of science; nurse divine
Of all heroic deeds and fair desires!570
O! let the breath of thy extended praise
Inspire my kindling bosom to the height
Of this untempted theme. Nor be my thoughts
Presumptuous counted, if, amid the calm
That sooths this vernal evening into smiles,575
I steal impatient from the sordid haunts
Of strife and low ambition, to attend
Thy sacred presence in the sylvan shade,
By their malignant footsteps ne'er profan'd.
Descend, propitious! to my favour'd eye;580
Such in thy mien, thy warm, exalted air,
As when the Persian tyrant, foil'd and stung
With shame and desperation, gnash'd his teeth
To see thee rend the pageants of his throne;
And at the lightning of thy lifted spear585
Crouch'd like a slave. Bring all thy martial spoils,
Thy palms, thy laurels, thy triumphal songs,
Thy smiling band of arts, thy godlike sires
Of civil wisdom, thy heroic youth
Warm from the schools of glory. Guide my way590
Thro' fair Lycéum's^{[O 1]} walk, the green retreats
Of Academus^{[O 2]}, and the thymy vale,
Where oft inchanted with Socratic sounds,

1. Lycéum.] The school of Aristotle.
2. Academus.] The school of Plato.

Ilissus