Yet oft the tempest rises unforeseen;
For short the foresight of the wisest men.
His secret plans in darkness Jove conceals,
Nor all his ways to mortal eye reveals.
Omnipotent is Jove—He may bestow
More wisdom on his creatures here below.50
For while his power extends through endless space,
He smiles propitious on our favour’d race.
Gives to the moon her varying silvery light,
Man’s guide and beacon through the wintry night.
Bids from the east each morn th’ unwearied sun
Through the high heaven his giant course to run.
And various other signs to mortals sends—
Warns them of danger, and events portends.
Those, who the weather’s various signs would trace,
Must watch fair Cynthia’s ever-changeful face:60
Mark her, when rising from the eastern waves—
Mark her, when in the west her limbs she laves.
If three days old her face be bright and clear,
No rain or stormy gale the sailors fear;
But if she rise with bright and blushing cheek,
The blustering winds the bending mast will shake.
If dull her face and blunt her horns appear
On the fourth day, a breeze or rain is near.
If on the third she move with horns direct,
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