To Ocean

LXXXII.

TO OCEAN.

The Fumigation from AROMATICS

OCEAN I call, whose nature ever flows,
From whom at first both Gods and men arose;
Sire incorruptible, whose waves surround,  ³
And earth's concluding mighty circle bound:

p. 220

Hence every river, hence the spreading sea, 5
And earth's pure bubbling fountains spring from thee:
Hear, mighty fire, for boundless bliss is thine,
Whose waters purify the pow'rs divine:
Earth's friendly limit, fountain of the pole,
Whose waves wide spreading and circumfluent roll.
Approach benevolent, with placid mind,
And be for ever to thy mystics kind.

Footnotes

219:3 LXXXII. Ver. 3.] Whose waves surround, &c. Gesner well observes, that this opinion of the ocean surrounding the earth, is exceeding ancient. see his Præl. i. de Navigationibus vet. § I.