The Blood, indu'd with animating Heat,
Did in th' impregnant Earth new Sons beget:
They, like the Seed from which they sprung, accurst,
Against the Gods immortal Hatred nurst.
An impious, arrogant, and cruel Brood;
Expressing their Original from Blood.
Which when the King of Gods beheld from high
(Without revolving in his Memory,
What he himself had found on Earth of late,
Lycaon's Guilt, and his inhumane Treat,)
He sigh'd; nor longer with his Pity strove;
But kindled to a Wrath becoming Jove:
Then call'd a General Council of the Gods;
Who summon'd, issue from their blest Abodes,
And fill th' Assembly with a shining Train.
A Way there is, in Heav'n's expanded Plain,
Which, when the Skies are clear, is seen below,
And Mortals, by the Name of Milky, know.
The Ground-work is of Stars; through which the Road
Lyes open to the Thunderer's Abode:
The Gods of greater Nations dwell around,
And, on the Right and Left, the Palace bound;
The Commons where they can: The Nobler sort
With Winding-doors wide open, front the Court.
This Place, as far as Earth with Heav'n may vie,
I dare to call the Louvre of the Skie.
When all were plac'd, in Seats distinctly known,
And he, their Father, had assum'd the Throne,
Upon his Iv'ry Scepter first he leant,
Then shook his Head, that shook the Firmament:
Air, Earth, and Seas, obey'd th' Almighty Nod;
And, with a gen'ral Fear, confess'd the God.
At length with Indignation, thus he broke
His awful Silence, and the Pow'rs bespoke.
I was not more concern'd in that Debate
Of Empire, when our universal State
Was