35
In pledge of amnesty to every soul,
The calm'd Eumenides prepare the bowl,
Drop their wild tresses o'er the goblet's brink,
And, ere they drain it, give their serpents drink;
With songs of peace their threatening fury tame,
And light their torches at another flame.
Then birds unharm'd o'er dark Avernus flew,
No deadly vapours forth Amsanctus blew;
The torrent ceased to rage, the gulph was hushed;
From Acheron a milky fountain gush'd:
Cocytus decked him with an ivy crown,
And pour'd apace Lenean nectar down.
Now breaks stern Lachesis no vital thread;
No rites are marr'd by wailings for the dead:
Death stalks not now on earth with footsteps dire:
No parents weep around their children's pyre:
The sailor sinks not in the stormy main,
The soldier bleeds not on the battle plain:
The cities seek for growing numbers room,
In blest exemption from the stroke of doom.
Old Charon rows an empty bark along,
And, crown'd with reeds, relaxes in a song.
And now its Hesper lights the world of shade;
Now to her chamber door is led the Maid:
