Click in the field, then press CTRL+C to copy the HTML code
<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=415298" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Judgment Of Paris</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">1</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Far in the depth of Ida's inmost grove,<br>A scene for love and solitude design'd;<br>Where flowery woodbines wild, by Nature wove,<br>Form'd the lone bower, the royal swain reclined.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>2</div><div style="margin:10px 0">All up the craggy cliffs, that tower'd to heaven,<br>Green waved the murmuring pines on every side;<br>Save where, fair opening to the beam of even,<br>A dale sloped gradual to the valley wide.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>3</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Echo'd the vale with many a cheerful note;<br>The lowing of the herds resounding long,<br>The shrilling pipe, and mellow horn remote,<br>And social clamours of the festive throng.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>4</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For now, low hovering o'er the western main,<br>Where amber clouds begirt his dazzling throne,<br>The Sun with ruddier verdure deck'd the plain;<br>And lakes and streams and spires triumphal shone.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>5</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And many a band of ardent youths were seen;<br>Some into rapture fired by glory's charms,<br>Or hurl'd the thundering car along the green,<br>Or march'd embattled on in glittering arms.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>6</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Others more mild, in happy leisure gay,<br>The darkening forest's lonely gloom explore,<br>Or by Scamander's flowery margin stray,<br>Or the blue Hellespont's resounding shore.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>7</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But chief the eye to Ilion's glories turn'd,<br>That gleam'd along the extended champaign far,<br>And bulwarks in terrific pomp adorn'd,<br>Where Peace sat smiling at the frowns of War.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>8</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Rich in the spoils of many a subject clime,<br>In pride luxurious blazed the imperial dome;<br>Tower'd 'mid the encircling grove the fane sublime,<br>And dread memorials mark'd the hero's tomb</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>9</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Who from the black and bloody cavern led<br>The savage stern, and soothed his boisterous breast;<br>Who spoke, and Science rear'd her radiant head,<br>And brighten'd o'er the long benighted waste:</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>10</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Or, greatly daring in his country's cause,<br>Whose heaven-taught soul the awful plan design'd,<br>Whence Power stood trembling at the voice of laws;<br>Whence soar'd on Freedom's wing the ethereal mind.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>11</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But not the pomp that royalty displays,<br>Nor all the imperial pride of lofty Troy,<br>Nor Virtue's triumph of immortal praise<br>Could rouse the langour of the lingering boy.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>12</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Abandon'd all to soft Enone's charms,<br>He to oblivion doom'd the listless day;<br>Inglorious lull'd in Love's dissolving arms,<br>While flutes lascivious breathed the enfeebling lay.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>13</div><div style="margin:10px 0">To trim the ringlets of his scented hair:<br>To aim, insidious, Love's bewitching glance;<br>Or cull fresh garlands for the gaudy fair,<br>Or wanton loose in the voluptuous dance:</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>14</div><div style="margin:10px 0">These were his arts; these won Enone's love,<br>Nor sought his fetter'd soul a nobler aim.<br>Ah, why should beauty's smile those arts approve<br>Which taint with infamy the lover's flame?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>15</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Now laid at large beside a murmuring spring,<br>Melting he listen'd to the vernal song,<br>And Echo, listening, waved her airy wing,<br>While the deep winding dales the lays prolong;</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>16</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When, slowly floating down the azure skies,<br>A crimson cloud flash'd on his startled sight,<br>Whose skirts gay-sparkling with unnumber'd dyes<br>Launch'd the long billowy trails of flickery light.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>17</div><div style="margin:10px 0">That instant, hush'd was all the vocal grove,<br>Hush'd was the gale, and every ruder sound;<br>And strains aërial, warbling far above,<br>Rung in the ear a magic peal profound.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>18</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Near and more near the swimming radiance roll'd;<br>Along the mountains stream the lingering fires;<br>Sublime the groves of Ida blaze with gold,<br>And all the Heaven resounds with louder lyres.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>19</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The trumpet breathed a note: and all in air,<br>The glories vanish'd from the dazzled eye;<br>And three ethereal forms, divinely fair,<br>Down the steep glade were seen advancing nigh.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>20</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The flowering glade fell level where they moved;<br>O'erarching high the clustering roses hung;<br>And gales from heaven on balmy pinion roved,<br>And hill and dale with gratulation rung.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>21</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The FIRST with slow and stately step drew near,<br>Fix'd was her lofty eye, erect her mien:<br>Sublime in grace, in majesty severe,<br>She look'd and moved a goddess and a queen.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>22</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Her robe along the gale profusely stream'd,<br>Light lean'd the sceptre on her bending arm;<br>And round her brow a starry circlet gleam'd,<br>Heightening the pride of each commanding charm.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>23</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Milder the NEXT came on with artless grace,<br>And on a javelin's quivering length reclined:<br>To exalt her mien she bade no splendour blaze,<br>Nor pomp of vesture fluctuate on the wind.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>24</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Serene, though awful, on her brow the light<br>Of heavenly wisdom shone; nor roved her eyes.<br>Save to the shadowy cliffs majestic height,<br>Or the blue concave of the involving skies.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>25</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Keen were her eyes to search the inmost soul:<br>Yet virtue triumph'd in their beams benign,<br>And impious Pride oft felt their dread control,<br>When in fierce lightning flash'd the wrath divine1.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>26</div><div style="margin:10px 0">With awe and wonder gazed the adoring swain;<br>His kindling cheeks great Virtue's power confess'd;<br>But soon 'twas o'er; for Virtue prompts in vain,<br>When Pleasure's influence numbs the nerveless breast.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>27</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And now advanced the QUEEN of melting JOY,<br>Smiling supreme in unresisted charms:<br>Ah, then, what transports fired the trembling boy!<br>How throbb'd his sickening frame with fierce alarms!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>28</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Her eyes in liquid light luxurious swim,<br>And languish with unutterable love.<br>Heaven's warm bloom glows along each brightening limb,<br>Where fluttering bland the veil's thin mantlings rove.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>29</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Quick, blushing as abash'd, she half withdrew:<br>One hand a bough of flowering myrtle waved.<br>One graceful spread, where, scarce conceal'd from view,<br>Soft through the parting robe her bosom heaved.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>30</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Offspring of Jove supreme! beloved of Heaven!<br>Attend.' Thus spoke the Empress of the Skies.<br>'For know, to thee, high-fated prince, 'tis given<br>Through the bright realms of Fame sublime to rise,</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>31</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Beyond man's boldest hope; if nor the wiles<br>Of Pallas triumph o'er the ennobling thought;<br>Nor Pleasure lure with artificial smiles<br>To quaff the poison of her luscious draught.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>32</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When Juno's charms the prize of beauty claim,<br>Shall aught on earth, shall aught in heaven contend?<br>Whom Juno calls to high triumphant fame,<br>Shall he to meaner sway inglorious bend?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>33</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yet lingering comfortless in lonesome wild,<br>Where Echo sleeps 'mid cavern'd vales profound,<br>The pride of Troy, Dominion's darling child,<br>Pines while the slow hour stalks in sullen round.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>34</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Hear thou, of Heaven unconscious! From the blaze<br>Of glory, stream'd from Jove's eternal throne,<br>Thy soul, O mortal, caught the inspiring rays<br>That to a god exalt Earth's raptured son.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>35</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Hence the bold wish, on boundless pinion borne,<br>That fires, alarms, impels the maddening soul;<br>The hero's eye, hence, kindling into scorn,<br>Blasts the proud menace, and defies control.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>36</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But, unimproved, Heaven's noblest boons are vain,<br>No sun with plenty crowns the uncultured vale:<br>Where green lakes languish on the silent plain,<br>Death rides the billows of the western gale.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>37</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Deep in yon mountain's womb, where the dark cave<br>Howls to the torrent's everlasting roar,<br>Does the rich gem its flashy radiance wave?<br>Or flames with steady ray the imperial ore?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>38</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Toil deck'd with glittering domes yon champaign wide,<br>And wakes yon grove-embosom'd lawns to joy,<br>And rends the rough ore from the mountain's side,<br>Spangling with starry pomp the thrones of Troy.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>39</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Fly these soft scenes. Even now, with playful art,<br>Love wreathes the flowery ways with fatal snare;<br>And nurse the ethereal fire that warms thy heart,<br>That fire ethereal lives but by thy care.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>40</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Lo! hovering near on dark and dampy wing,<br>Sloth with stern patience waits the hour assign'd,<br>From her chill plume the deadly dews to fling,<br>That quench Heaven's beam, and freeze the cheerless mind.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>41</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Vain, then, the enlivening sound of Fame's alarms,<br>For Hope's exulting impulse prompts no more:<br>Vain even the joys that lure to Pleasure's arms,<br>The throb of transport is for ever o'er.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>42</div><div style="margin:10px 0">O who shall then to Fancy's darkening eyes<br>Recall the Elysian dreams of joy and light?<br>Dim through the gloom the formless visions rise,<br>Snatch'd instantaneous down the gulf of night.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>43</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thou who, securely lull'd in youth's warm ray,<br>Mark'st not the desolations wrought by Time,<br>Be roused or perish. Ardent for its prey,<br>Speeds the fell hour that ravages thy prime.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>44</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And, 'midst the horrors shrined of midnight storm,<br>The fiend Oblivion eyes thee from afar,<br>Black with intolerable frowns her form,<br>Beckoning the embattled whirlwinds into war.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>45</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Fanes, bulwarks, mountains, worlds, their tempest whelms;<br>Yet glory braves unmoved the impetuous sweep.<br>Fly then, ere, hurl'd from life's delightful realms,<br>Thou sink to Oblivion's dark and boundless deep.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>46</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Fly, then, where Glory points the path sublime,<br>See her crown dazzling with eternal light!<br>'Tis Juno prompts thy daring steps to climb,<br>And girds thy bounding heart with matchless might.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>47</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Warm in the raptures of divine desire,<br>Burst the soft chain that curbs the aspiring mind;<br>And fly where Victory, borne on wings of fire,<br>Waves her red banner to the rattling wind.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>48</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Ascend the car: indulge the pride of arms,<br>Where clarions roll their kindling strains on high,<br>Where the eye maddens to the dread alarms,<br>And the long shout tumultuous rends the sky.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>49</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Plunged in the uproar of the thundering field,<br>I see thy lofty arm the tempest guide:<br>Fate scatters lightning from thy meteor-shield,<br>And Ruin spreads around the sanguine tide.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>50</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Go, urge the terrors of thy headlong car<br>On prostrate Pride, and Grandeur's spoils o'erthrown,<br>While all amazed even heroes shrink afar,<br>And hosts embattled vanish at thy frown.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>51</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When glory crowns thy godlike toils, and all<br>The triumph's lengthening pomp exalts thy soul,<br>When lowly at thy feet the mighty fall,<br>And tyrants tremble at thy stern control:</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>52</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When conquering millions hail thy sovereign might,<br>And tribes unknown dread acclamation join;<br>How wilt thou spurn the forms of low delight!<br>For all the ecstasies of heaven are thine:</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>53</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For thine the joys, that fear no length of days,<br>Whose wide effulgence scorns all mortal bound:<br>Fame's trump in thunder shall announce thy praise,<br>Nor bursting worlds her clarion's blast confound.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>54</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Goddess ceased, not dubious of the prize:<br>Elate she mark'd his wild and rolling eye,<br>Mark'd his lip quiver, and his bosom rise,<br>And his warm cheek suffused with crimson dye.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>55</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But Pallas now drew near. Sublime, serene,<br>In conscious dignity she view'd the swain:<br>Then, love and pity softening all her mien,<br>Thus breathed with accents mild the solemn strain:</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>56</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Let those whose arts to fatal paths betray,<br>The soul with passion's gloom tempestuous blind,<br>And snatch from Reason's ken the auspicious ray<br>Truth darts from heaven to guide the exploring mind.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>57</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'But Wisdom loves the calm and serious hour,<br>When heaven's pure emanation beams confess'd:<br>Rage, ecstasy, alike disclaim her power,<br>She woo's each gentler impulse of the breast.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>58</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Sincere the unalter'd bliss her charms impart,<br>Sedate the enlivening ardours they inspire:<br>She bids no transient rapture thrill the heart,<br>She wakes no feverish gust of fierce desire.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>59</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Unwise, who, tossing on the watery way,<br>All to the storm the unfetter'd sail devolve:<br>Man more unwise resigns the mental sway,<br>Borne headlong on by passion's keen resolve.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>60</div><div style="margin:10px 0">While storms remote but murmur on thine ear,<br>Nor waves in ruinous uproar round thee roll,<br>Yet, yet a moment check thy prone career,<br>And curb the keen resolve that prompts thy soul.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>61</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Explore thy heart, that, roused by Glory's name,<br>Pants all enraptured with the mighty charm—<br>And does Ambition quench each milder flame?<br>And is it conquest that alone can warm?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>62</div><div style="margin:10px 0">To indulge fell Rapine's desolating lust,<br>To drench the balmy lawn in streaming gore,<br>To spurn the hero's cold and silent dust—<br>Are these thy joys? Nor throbs thy heart for more?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>63</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Pleased canst thou listen to the patriot's groan,<br>And the wild wail of Innocence forlorn?<br>And hear the abandon'd maid's last frantic moan,<br>Her love for ever from her bosom torn?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>64</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Nor wilt thou shrink, when Virtue's fainting breath<br>Pours the dread curse of vengeance on thy head?<br>Nor when the pale ghost bursts the cave of death,<br>To glare distraction on thy midnight bed?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>65</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Was it for this, though born to regal power,<br>Kind Heaven to thee did nobler gifts consign,<br>Bade Fancy's influence gild thy natal hour,<br>And bade Philanthropy's applause be thine?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>66</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Theirs be the dreadful glory to destroy,<br>And theirs the pride of pomp, and praise suborn'd,<br>Whose eye ne'er lighten'd at the smile of Joy,<br>Whose cheek the tear of Pity ne'er adorn'd:</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>67</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Whose soul, each finer sense instinctive quell'd,<br>The lyre's mellifluous ravishment defies:<br>Nor marks where Beauty roves the flowery field,<br>Or Grandeur's pinion sweeps the unbounded skies.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>68</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Hail to sweet Fancy's unexpressive charm!<br>Hail to the pure delights of social love!<br>Hail, pleasures mild, that fire not while ye warm,<br>Nor rack the exulting frame, but gently move!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>69</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But Fancy soothes no more, if stern remorse<br>With iron grasp the tortured bosom wring.<br>Ah then! even Fancy speeds the venom's course,<br>Even Fancy points with rage the maddening sting.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>70</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Her wrath a thousand gnashing fiends attend,<br>And roll the snakes, and toss the brands of hell;<br>The beam of Beauty blasts: dark heavens impend<br>Tottering: and Music thrills with startling yell.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>71</div><div style="margin:10px 0">What then avails, that with exhaustless store<br>Obsequious Luxury loads thy glittering shrine?<br>What then avails, that prostrate slaves adore,<br>And Fame proclaims thee matchless and divine?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>72</div><div style="margin:10px 0">What though bland Flattery all her arts apply?<br>Will these avail to calm the infuriate brain?<br>Or will the roaring surge, when heaved on high,<br>Headlong hang, hush'd, to hear the piping swain?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>73</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In health how fair, how ghastly in decay<br>Man's lofty form! how heavenly fair the mind<br>Sublimed by Virtue's sweet enlivening sway!<br>But ah! to guilt's outrageous rule resign'd.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>74</div><div style="margin:10px 0">How hideous and forlorn! when ruthless Care<br>With cankering tooth corrodes the seeds of life,<br>And deaf with passion's storms when pines Despair,<br>And howling furies rouse the eternal strife.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>75</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Oh, by thy hopes of joy that restless glow,<br>Pledges of Heaven! be taught by Wisdom's lore;<br>With anxious haste each doubtful path forego,<br>And life's wild ways with cautious fear explore.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>76</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Straight be thy course: nor tempt the maze that leads<br>Where fell Remorse his shapeless strength conceals,<br>And oft Ambition's dizzy cliff he treads,<br>And slumbers oft in Pleasure's flowery vales.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>77</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Nor linger unresolved: Heaven prompts the choice,<br>Save when Presumption shuts the ear of Pride:<br>With grateful awe attend to Nature's voice,<br>The voice of Nature Heaven ordain'd thy guide.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>78</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Warn'd by her voice the arduous path pursue,<br>That leads to Virtue's fane a hardy band:<br>What though no gaudy scenes decoy their view,<br>Nor clouds of fragrance roll along the land?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>79</div><div style="margin:10px 0">What though rude mountains heave the flinty way?<br>Yet there the soul drinks light and life divine,<br>And pure aërial gales of gladness play,<br>Brace every nerve, and every sense refine.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>80</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Go, prince, be virtuous and be blest. The throne<br>Rears not its state to swell the couch of Lust:<br>Nor dignify Corruption's daring son,<br>To o'erwhelm his humbler brethren of the dust.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">81<br>But yield an ampler scene to Bounty's eye,<br>An ampler range to Mercy's ear expand:<br>And, 'midst admiring nations, set on high<br>Virtue's fair model, framed by Wisdom's hand.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>82</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Go then: the moan of Woe demands thine aid:<br>Pride's licensed outrage claims thy slumbering ire:<br>Pale Genius roams the bleak neglected shade,<br>And battening Avarice mocks his tuneless lyre.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>83</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Even Nature pines, by vilest chains oppress'd:<br>The astonish'd kingdoms crouch to Fashion's nod.<br>O ye pure inmates of the gentle breast,<br>Truth, Freedom, Love, O where is your abode?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>84</div><div style="margin:10px 0">O yet once more shall Peace from heaven return,<br>And young Simplicity with mortals dwell!<br>Nor Innocence the august pavilion scorn,<br>Nor meek Contentment fly the humble cell!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>85</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Wilt thou, my prince, the beauteous train implore<br>'Midst earth's forsaken scenes once more to bide?<br>Then shall the shepherd sing in every bower,<br>And Love with garlands wreathe the domes of Pride.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>86</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The bright tear starting in the impassion'd eyes<br>Of silent Gratitude: the smiling gaze<br>Of Gratulation, faltering while he tries<br>With voice of transport to proclaim thy praise:</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>87</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The ethereal glow that stimulates thy frame,<br>When all the according powers harmonious move,<br>And wake to energy each social aim,<br>Attuned spontaneous to the will of Jove:</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>88</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Be these, O man, the triumphs of thy soul;<br>And all the conqueror's dazzling glories slight,<br>That meteor-like o'er trembling nations roll,<br>To sink at once in deep and dreadful night.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>89</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Like thine, yon orb's stupendous glories burn<br>With genial beam; nor, at the approach of even,<br>In shades of horror leave the world to mourn,<br>But gild with lingering light the empurpled heaven.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>90</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thus while she spoke, her eye, sedately meek,<br>Look'd the pure fervour of maternal love.<br>No rival zeal intemperate flush'd her cheek—<br>Can Beauty's boast the soul of Wisdom move?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>91</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Worth's noble pride, can Envy's leer appal,<br>Or staring Folly's vain applauses soothe?<br>Can jealous Fear Truth's dauntless heart enthrall?<br>Suspicion lurks not in the heart of Truth.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>92</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And now the shepherd raised his pensive head:<br>Yet unresolved and fearful roved his eyes,<br>Scared at the glances of the awful maid;<br>For young unpractised Guilt distrusts the guise</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>93</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Of shameless Arrogance.—His wavering breast,<br>Though warm'd by Wisdom, own'd no constant fire,<br>While lawless Fancy roam'd afar, unblest<br>Save in the oblivious lap of soft Desire.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>94</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When thus the queen of soul-dissolving smiles:<br>'Let gentler fate my darling prince attend,<br>Joyless and cruel are the warrior's spoils,<br>Dreary the path stern Virtue's sons ascend.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>95</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Of human joy full short is the career,<br>And the dread verge still gains upon your sight;<br>While idly gazing far beyond your sphere,<br>Ye scan the dream of unapproach'd delight:</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>96</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Till every sprightly hour and blooming scene<br>Of life's gay morn unheeded glides away,<br>And clouds of tempests mount the blue serene,<br>And storms and ruin close the troublous day.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>97</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then still exult to hail the present joy,<br>Thine be the boon that comes unearn'd by toil;<br>No forward vain desire thy bliss annoy,<br>No flattering hope thy longing hours beguile.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>98</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Ah! why should man pursue the charms of Fame,<br>For ever luring, yet for ever coy?<br>Light as the gaudy rainbow's pillar'd gleam,<br>That melts illusive from the wondering boy!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>99</div><div style="margin:10px 0">What though her throne irradiate many a clime,<br>If hung loose-tottering o'er the unfathom'd tomb?<br>What though her mighty clarion, rear'd sublime,<br>Display the imperial wreath and glittering plume?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>100</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Can glittering plume, or can the imperial wreath<br>Redeem from unrelenting fate the brave?<br>What note of triumph can her clarion breathe,<br>To alarm the eternal midnight of the grave?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>101</div><div style="margin:10px 0">That night draws on: nor will the vacant hour<br>Of expectation linger as it flies:<br>Nor fate one moment unenjoy'd restore:<br>Each moment's flight how precious to the wise!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>102</div><div style="margin:10px 0">O shun the annoyance of the bustling throng,<br>That haunt with zealous turbulence the great:<br>There coward Office boasts the unpunish'd wrong,<br>And sneaks secure in insolence of state.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>103</div><div style="margin:10px 0">O'er fancied injury Suspicion pines,<br>And in grim silence gnaws the festering wound:<br>Deceit the rage-embitter'd smile refines,<br>And Censure spreads the viperous hiss around.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>104</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Hope not, fond prince, though Wisdom guard thy throne,<br>Though Truth and Bounty prompt each generous aim,<br>Though thine the palm of peace, the victor's crown,<br>The Muse's rapture, and the patriot's flame:</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>105</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Hope not, though all that captivates the wise,<br>All that endears the good exalt thy praise:<br>Hope not to taste repose: for Envy's eyes<br>At fairest worth still point their deadly rays.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>106</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Envy, stern tyrant of the flinty heart,<br>Can aught of Virtue, Truth, or Beauty charm?<br>Can soft Compassion thrill with pleasing smart,<br>Repentance melt, or Gratitude disarm?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>107</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Ah no. Where Winter Scythia's waste enchains,<br>And monstrous shapes roar to the ruthless storm,<br>Not Phoebus' smile can cheer the dreadful plains,<br>Or soil accursed with balmy life inform.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>108</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then, Envy, then is thy triumphant hour,<br>When mourns Benevolence his baffled scheme:<br>When Insult mocks the clemency of Power,<br>And loud dissension's livid firebrands gleam:</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>109</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When squint-eyed Slander plies the unhallow'd tongue,<br>From poison'd maw when Treason weaves his line,<br>And Muse apostate (infamy to song!)<br>Grovels, low muttering, at Sedition's shrine.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>110</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Let not my prince forego the peaceful shade,<br>The whispering grove, the fountain and the plain:<br>Power, with the oppressive weight of pomp array'd,<br>Pants for simplicity and ease in vain.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>111</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The yell of frantic Mirth may stun his ear,<br>But frantic Mirth soon leaves the heart forlorn;<br>And Pleasure flies that high tempestuous sphere:<br>Far different scenes her lucid paths adorn.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>112</div><div style="margin:10px 0">She loves to wander on the untrodden lawn,<br>Or the green bosom of reclining hill,<br>Soothed by the careless warbler of the dawn,<br>Or the lone plaint of ever-murmuring rill.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>113</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Or from the mountain glade's aërial brow,<br>While to her song a thousand echoes call,<br>Marks the wide woodland wave remote below,<br>Where shepherds pipe unseen, and waters fall.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>114</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Her influence oft the festive hamlet proves,<br>Where the high carol cheers the exulting ring;<br>And oft she roams the maze of wildering groves,<br>Listening the unnumber'd melodies of Spring.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>115</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Or to the long and lonely shore retires;<br>What time, loose-glimmering to the lunar beam,<br>Faint heaves the slumberous wave, and starry fires<br>Gild the blue deep with many a lengthening gleam.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>116</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then to the balmy bower of Rapture borne,<br>While strings self-warbling breathe Elysian rest,<br>Melts in delicious vision, till the morn<br>Spangle with twinkling dew the flowery waste.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>117</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The frolic Moments, purple-pinion'd, dance<br>Around, and scatter roses as they play;<br>And the blithe Graces, hand in hand, advance,<br>Where, with her loved compeers, she deigns to stray;</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>118</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Mild Solitude, in veil of rustic dye,<br>Her sylvan spear with moss-grown ivy bound;<br>And Indolence, with sweetly languid eye,<br>And zoneless robe that trails along the ground;</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>119</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But chiefly Love—O thou, whose gentle mind<br>Each soft indulgence Nature framed to share;<br>Pomp, wealth, renown, dominion, all resign'd,<br>Oh, haste to Pleasure's bower, for Love is there.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>120</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Love, the desire of Gods! the feast of heaven!<br>Yet to Earth's favour'd offspring not denied!<br>Ah! let not thankless man the blessing given<br>Enslave to Fame, or sacrifice to Pride.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>121</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Nor I from Virtue's call decoy thine ear;<br>Friendly to Pleasure are her sacred laws:<br>Let Temperance' smile the cup of gladness cheer;<br>That cup is death, if he withhold applause.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>122</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Far from thy haunt be Envy's baneful sway,<br>And Hate, that works the harass'd soul to storm;<br>But woo Content to breathe her soothing lay,<br>And charm from Fancy's view each angry form.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>123</div><div style="margin:10px 0">No savage joy the harmonious hours profane!<br>Whom Love refines, can barbarous tumults please?<br>Shall rage of blood pollute the sylvan reign?<br>Shall Leisure wanton in the spoils of Peace?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>124</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Free let the feathery race indulge the song,<br>Inhale the liberal beam, and melt in love:<br>Free let the fleet hind bound her hills along,<br>And in pure streams the watery nations rove.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>125</div><div style="margin:10px 0">To joy in Nature's universal smile<br>Well suits, O man, thy pleasurable sphere;<br>But why should Virtue doom thy years to toil?<br>Ah! why should Virtue's laws be deem'd severe?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>126</div><div style="margin:10px 0">What meed, Beneficence, thy care repays?<br>What, Sympathy, thy still returning pang?<br>And why his generous arm should Justice raise,<br>To dare the vengeance of a tyrant's fang?</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>127</div><div style="margin:10px 0">From thankless spite no bounty can secure;<br>Or froward wish of discontent fulfil,<br>That knows not to regret thy bounded power,<br>But blames with keen reproach thy partial will.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>128</div><div style="margin:10px 0">To check the impetuous all-involving tide<br>Of human woes, how impotent thy strife!<br>High o'er thy mounds devouring surges ride,<br>Nor reck thy baffled toils, or lavish'd life.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>129</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The bower of bliss, the smile of love be thine,<br>Unlabour'd ease, and leisure's careless dream.<br>Such be their joys who bend at Venus' shrine,<br>And own her charms beyond compare supreme.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>130</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Warm'd as she spoke, all panting with delight,<br>Her kindling beauties breathed triumphant bloom;<br>And Cupids flutter'd round in circlets bright,<br>And Flora pour'd from all her stores perfume.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>131</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Thine be the prize,' exclaim'd the enraptured youth,<br>'Queen of unrivall'd charms, and matchless joy.'—<br>O blind to fate, felicity, and truth!<br>But such are they whom Pleasure's snares decoy.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>132</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Sun was sunk; the vision was no more;<br>Night downward rush'd tempestuous, at the frown<br>Of Jove's awaken'd wrath: deep thunders roar,<br>And forests howl afar, and mountains groan,</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>133</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And sanguine meteors glare athwart the plain;<br>With horror's scream the Ilian towers resound,<br>Raves the hoarse storm along the bellowing main,<br>And the strong earthquake rends the shuddering ground.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=James+Beattie">James Beattie</a><div class=q>
<img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share">
<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=415298" data-title="The Judgment Of Paris de James Beattie" data-description="1

Far in the depth of Ida's inmost grove,
A scene for love and solitude design'd;
Where flowery woodbines wild, by Nature wove,
Form'd the lone bower, the royal swain reclined.


2

All up the craggy cliffs, that tower'd to heaven,
Green waved th..."></div>
</div>
</div>